Amid growing concerns over unilateral coercive measures and their unintended humanitarian consequences, several delegations stressed today that sanctions remain a relevant tool for the maintenance of international peace and security, as the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization opened its 2021 session.
United Nations peacekeeping operations are central to multilateralism, speakers told the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations at its first meeting of the 2021 session, expressing their commitment to further spur collective action through the Action for Peacekeeping initiative launched in 2018.
Acting unanimously today, the General Assembly decided on an exceptional basis to provide Angola — which had stood poised to graduate from the United Nations list of least developed countries — with an additional preparatory period of three years, in light of socioeconomic vulnerabilities exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
With the pandemic exposing massive disparities in access to health, education and employment across the world, countries must urgently usher in a socially just transition towards sustainable development — first and foremost by enacting policies that close the digital divide, United Nations officials emphasized today, as the Commission for Social Development opened its fifty-ninth session.
The unresolved question of Palestine underlines the continuing importance of the Palestinian Rights Committee, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said today, during that body’s first formal meeting of 2021, warning that unliteral actions jeopardize the possibility of restarting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
The Peacebuilding Commission will seek to strengthen its advisory, bridging and convening roles, with a focus on engaging all actors to prioritize “impact” in support of national peacebuilding objectives, its new Chair said today, outlining the body’s work plan for 2021.
The General Assembly concluded its discussion of the Secretary-General’s report on the work of the United Nations today, taking note of his report (document A/75/1), as delegates resoundingly called for a renewed multilateralism that prioritizes the needs of countries in varying degrees of distress as they struggle to emerge stronger than ever from the onslaught of COVID-19.
Following a year of devastating economic, social and development setbacks, Secretary-General António Guterres briefed the General Assembly today on his urgent priorities for 2021, calling upon nations to embrace bold, green and equitable shifts “or risk locking the world into harmful practices for decades to come”.
Calling for greater efforts to promote a culture of tolerance and peace at all levels, the General Assembly adopted a resolution today inviting the Secretary‑General to convene a global conference aimed at advancing the United Nations Plan of Action to Safeguard Religious Sites, involving Governments, political figures, religious leaders, civil society and the media, among other stakeholders.
Citing concerns over COVID-19, the General Assembly decided today to postpone, until 10-12 May 2021, the organizational session of the Ad Hoc Committee to Elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the Use of Information and Communications Technologies for Criminal Purposes.
