The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) opened its seventy‑seventh session today, with the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, a resurgence of conflicts and the climate emergency driving its general discussion, as delegates emphasized that colliding crises have reversed progress, exacerbated inequalities and impacted social development.
Syria must change its attitude and cooperate fully with the body charged with verifying its compliance with international law governing chemical weapons, the United Nations disarmament chief told the Security Council today, as speakers diverged over the propriety of that body’s efforts so far.
The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) met for a brief organizational meeting today, approving a work programme after electing Peter Mohan Maithri Pieris (Sri Lanka) as its Chair for the General Assembly’s seventy-seventh session, following the withdrawal of Magzhan Ilyassov (Kazakhstan) from that position.
The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization Committee) approved its work programme for the seventy-seventh session of the General Assembly today, covering topics ranging from the decolonization of the 17 remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories and United Nations peacekeeping operations, to the plight of Palestinian refugees and Israel’s practices in the occupied Palestinian and other Arab territories, among other agenda items.
The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) of the United Nations General Assembly held its first meeting of the seventy-seventh session today, introducing the Bureau and approving its organization of work.
The Security Council renewed for another year its authorization for Member States to inspect vessels on the high seas off Libya’s coast that they have reasonable grounds to suspect are being used for migrant smuggling and human trafficking from that country, and to seize those vessels that are confirmed as being used for those purposes.
Welcoming statements by the leaders of Israel and the State of Palestine during the seventy-seventh General Assembly session as a positive sign toward resuming the peace process, speakers in the Security Council today called for those words to be turned into action and progress be delivered on a two-State solution, especially in light continuing settlement activity and violence against civilians.
The so-called “referenda” conducted by de facto authorities in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine have been held during active armed conflict in the country and cannot be called a genuine expression of the popular will, the United Nations senior political and peacebuilding official told the Security Council today, as members condemned the Russian Federation’s “sham referenda”, while others called for a return to peace talks.
Afghanistan’s future depends on mutual engagement between the Taliban and the international community, a senior United Nations official for the country told the Security Council today, as members diverged over both the merits of that assessment and the correct path towards economic recovery in the only country in the world that bans secondary education for girls.
“Nuclear weapons are the most destructive power ever created — they offer no security, just carnage and chaos,” said António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, opening the plenary meeting to mark the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
