A severe cash shortfall is forcing the United Nations to slash spending and freeze hiring, jeopardizing its ability to deliver on mandated programmes and exposing the Organization to growing reputational risk, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) heard today, as Member States explored potential solutions to the liquidity crisis.
“We are doing this work because States are not,” civil society activists told the United Nations today at a special consultation on their initiatives to ensure accountability for Israel’s actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
As the Security Council met today to consider the issue of persons reported missing in armed conflict, speakers — including a woman whose father was abducted during the Korean War and a father whose son’s remains have yet to be returned from the one in Gaza — illustrated that the number of such persons has only continued to increase since the adoption of a resolution on this matter almost six years ago.
In a briefing to the Security Council today, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) underscored the Libyan Government’s stated commitment to cooperate with the Court and pursue justice for its people, while urging the handover of a suspect alleged to have committed grave crimes against detainees — including migrants and refugees.
“Palestinians are racialized as a security threat, because they — we — refuse to disappear,” the Palestinian Rights Committee heard today from a scholar who spoke at a special event remembering the seventy-seventh anniversary of the Nakba.
Despite a temporary lull in fighting, UN officials warned the Security Council that Yemen remains gripped by escalating regional tensions, deepening economic collapse and a worsening humanitarian crisis that continues to devastate civilians — particularly women and children — and derail prospects for lasting peace.
The United Nations top humanitarian official, briefing the Security Council today on the grim reality across the Gaza Strip, asked those present to reflect on what they will tell future generations when asked what they did to stop the “twenty-first-century atrocity” unfolding daily before the eyes of the world.
As of 30 April, the United Nations’ regular budget collections have trailed estimates and fallen significantly below last year’s levels, the Organization’s top finance official reported to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today, urging Member States to expedite their payments and communicate their payment plans promptly.
Approving two resolutions regarding the work of the Department of Global Communications as well as on ensuring equity in access to information, the United Nations Committee on Information concluded its forty-seventh session today.
The United Nations Forum on Forests concluded its twentieth session today, setting up its twenty-first session to be held at UN Headquarters from 11 to 15 May 2026 as its Chair observed that those present functioned similarly to that critical global resource — independent units growing together in harmony.
