In an impassioned address to the Security Council today detailing the death and destruction caused by Russian forces in Moscow’s war against Ukraine, the President of that country challenged members to uphold international law or disband the United Nations, calling for the convening of a global conference in Kyiv to determine how to reform the world security system.
Meeting after a three-year hiatus, the Disarmament Commission opened its 2022 substantive session today amid rising geopolitical tensions and concerns over deepening mistrust between some of the world’s largest military Powers.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today wrapped up the first part of its resumed seventy-sixth session by sending the General Assembly three resolutions and one decision, yet still not giving the Secretary-General guidance on human resources or resolving the Organization’s ongoing liquidity problems.
The Security Council today unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing a previous decision it made with the African Union to reconfigure the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) into the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia, as speakers underscored the need to continue countering al-Shabaab and expressed hope that the Government of Somalia will gradually assume greater security responsibilities going forward.
The Security Council requested the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals today to submit, by 14 April 2022, a report on its work progress since June 2020, including detailed schedules for the ongoing proceedings, as well as factors related to projected completion dates for the remaining cases.
There can be no atonement if there is no repair, the keynote speaker during the General Assembly’s annual event commemorating the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade said today, as many speakers joined the growing calls for reparations to the descendants of human beings bought and sold as chattel for generations.
The activities of armed groups in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo present a grave threat to efforts to improve national security and regional stability, the top United Nations official in the country told the Security Council today, stressing the need for a comprehensive political strategy to address the conflict’s structural causes.
The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has created not only an immediate humanitarian crisis, but also a threat to future global food security in the form of rising prices and decreased production capabilities, speakers told the Security Council today, underscoring the need to urgently address these issues against the backdrop of Russian and Ukrainian delegations meeting for negotiations in Istanbul.
Humanity continues to do more harm than good to nature, with the planet facing multiple existential threats requiring urgent corrective action, speakers and panellists today told the Preparatory Committee for “Stockholm+50: a healthy planet for the prosperity of all — our responsibility, our opportunity”, the international environmental conference scheduled for 2 and 3 June 2022 in Stockholm, Sweden.
