The General Assembly opened its seventy-ninth session today, with its new President outlining his key priorities — fostering economic growth, preventing and resolving conflicts, protecting human rights and strengthening international law.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at a wreath laying ceremony to commemorate the sixty-third anniversary of the death of Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, in New York today:
The General Assembly concluded its seventy-eighth session today, with outgoing President Dennis Francis (Trinidad and Tobago) urging Member States to recommit to ending poverty and hunger, combating inequalities and building peaceful societies that leave no one behind in a world currently aflame with heightened conflict.
The Security Council in an open debate today examined United Nations peacekeeping activities and explored ways to improve them, including bolstering the relationship with host countries, cooperating with regional organizations and establishing clearly defined mandates.
Taking up the remaining business before the closure of its current session, the General Assembly adopted several resolutions and decisions today, including drafts on multilingualism and indigenous peoples’ participation in United Nations meetings.
Insufficient information provided by Syria regarding potentially undeclared chemical-weapons activities resulted in the opening of two new outstanding issues with Syria’s declaration under the Chemical Weapons Convention, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, noting that 19 of the now 26 such matters remain unresolved.
Despite progress made, the threat posed by nuclear weapons still looms unacceptably large, exacerbated by a world once again torn apart by conflict and strife, the President of the General Assembly warned today on the International Day against Nuclear Tests.
Against the backdrop of the recent killing of six Israeli hostages, a mounting Palestinian death toll in Gaza and increasing settler violence in the occupied West Bank, speakers in the Security Council today urged Israel and Hamas to reach a deal that includes a ceasefire and unconditional release of those still held captive.
The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People met this afternoon to hear a report from the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations.
Escalating attacks in recent weeks on Ukraine have cause civilian deaths and destruction to surge, a senior United Nations disarmament official said today, as he briefed the Security Council on the rise in military assistance and transfers of arms and ammunition to that country, stressing that such activity must adhere to international law.
