The Sixth Committee (Legal) continued its consideration of measures to eliminate international terrorism today, with many delegates disagreeing on how to finalize a comprehensive convention on the matter and develop a global response to a threat that has yet to be defined, particularly when identifying State-sponsored actions.
The proliferation and stockpiling of illicit weapons continue to threaten international peace and security, exacerbating the plight of civilians in strife-torn countries worldwide, the senior United Nations disarmament official told the Security Council today.
Calling for swift remedies to mend a fractured non-proliferation landscape, nuclear-weapon-free States demanded an immediate end to deterrence policies and the start of dismantling atomic arsenals, as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) moved into the third day of its general debate.
Special Procedure Mandate Holders underscored the importance of digital inclusion today, as delegates in the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) tackled the many ways the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened social inequities among persons with disabilities and older adults.
Speakers in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) agreed today that the capacity to pay must remain the core principle that determines how much each Member State must pay into the United Nations’ regular and peacekeeping budgets, but they differed on how best to readjust the scales of assessment for the period 2022‑2024, particularly in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Creating nuclear-weapon-free zones is even more urgent as the major powers continue to develop arsenals that threaten the existence of humanity, delegates told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today, as it continued its general debate.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the world how ill-equipped it is to handle crises, needing new approaches to tackle health and climate change, as well as vaccine inequality, the digital divide and unequal access to education, Professor Mariana Mazzucato told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today, as it began its general debate.
As the Sixth Committee (Legal) met to approve its work programme for the seventy-sixth session and begin its consideration of the Secretary-General report on measures to eliminate international terrorism, delegates welcomed the Organization’s coordinating role in the fight against the global threat and praised its updated counter-terrorism strategy.
Gender‑based violence and discrimination against women continue unabated, even as the pandemic continues to exact a greater toll on them than their male counterparts, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today, as it commenced its debate on the advancement of women.
Noting the ongoing security challenges in several provinces, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo today called on the Security Council to continue providing its “full backing” to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in that country.
