The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today approved 14 draft resolutions concerning decolonization, as well as another on assistance in mine action and a decision on the body’s future programme of work, as members completed their work for the main part of the General Assembly’s seventy‑sixth session.
The General Assembly, acting without a vote, today adopted a resolution that called upon all States not yet signed onto the Rome Statute ‑ the international treaty that created the International Criminal Court at a conference in Rome in 1998 ‑ to contemplate joining the 123 States parties that have already ratified the accord.
After deferring observer status requests to the seventy‑seventh session, delegates in the Sixth Committee (Legal) today, in the debate on revitalizing the work of the General Assembly, stressed the need to strengthen the Committee’s prized tradition of consensus by including substantive discussions and constructive dialogue.
With the Committee for Programme and Coordination unable to reach consensus and recommend the approval of programme plans in 2021, delegates in the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today exchanged differing views on the role of their Committee in addressing programme planning, following the General Assembly’s decision to allocate that agenda item to all its Main Committees and the Plenary.
Delegates today stressed the importance of the International Criminal Court executing its mandate in an impartial manner, as the Court’s President updated the General Assembly on its caseload and judgements over the past year.
The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) approved 11 draft resolutions today, covering issues that included the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights, the situation of women and girls in rural areas, and the imposition of unilateral coercive measures.
Taking up draft resolutions relating to topics discussed over its recent weeks of substantive work, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today approved six texts concerning Israeli-Palestinian issues and eight on decolonization matters — as well as six additional drafts on various subjects — to be forwarded to the General Assembly for adoption.
After approving three draft resolutions, the Sixth Committee (Legal) took up the report of the Committee on Relations with the Host Country today, with many speakers stressing that visa and travel restrictions imposed on the delegations of certain States ‑ motivated by these States’ bilateral relations with the host country ‑ threaten their ability to participate fully in United Nations activities.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today sent the General Assembly six nominations for the International Civil Service Commission, an independent body that regulates service conditions for thousands of staff throughout the United Nations Common system, while delivering 13 additional recommendations for four other bodies, including the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ).
Delegates addressing the General Assembly today lauded concrete steps taken by the organ’s ad hoc working group on revitalization, stressing that a more streamlined Assembly is crucial to ensure the United Nations can help people grappling with the real-life impact of complex global challenges, from the COVID‑19 pandemic to the climate crisis and beyond.
