Meetings Coverage

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) of the United Nations General Assembly held its first meeting of the seventy‑fourth session today, introducing its Bureau and approving its organization of work.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) opened its session today, with delegates underscoring the need to focus on the world’s most vulnerable groups — including youth, older persons and people living with disabilities — in order to achieve true social development.

Multilateral cooperation remains an accepted and reliable method of managing relations between States, the President of the General Assembly emphasized today at the conclusion of the general debate of the seventy‑fourth session, as Member States exchanged their views on how to mobilize such collaboration to resolve conflict and achieve sustainable development.

Sketching out the contours of a newly agreed Constitutional Committee for Syria today, the senior United Nations official in that country urged all parties there, as well as Security Council members, to seize that new development as a “sign of hope for the long-suffering Syrian people”.

The world needs stronger multilateralism to tackle its toughest challenges, from climate change and poverty eradication to abuses of human rights and arms proliferation, but its efforts cannot be at the expense of respect for national sovereignty, a bedrock principle of the Charter of the United Nations, speakers emphasized today as the General Assembly continued its annual general debate.

World leaders gathered at United Nations Headquarters today endorsed a political declaration aimed at protecting small island developing States from the impacts of climate change and accelerating sustainable development in those countries, as the General Assembly held a midterm review of the 10-year action plan, known as the Samoa Pathway, for transforming the lives of people in those islands.

World leaders today spotlighted the importance of multilateralism and the responsibility of the United Nations to bring countries together, address persisting injustices, and promote a level playing field where all can develop and prosper, as the General Assembly continued its annual high-level debate.

The only way to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons is to eliminate nuclear weapons themselves, the Secretary-General of the United Nations told delegates today, as the General Assembly met in plenary for a high-level commemoration event.

Declining levels of official development assistance (ODA) and rising levels of debt are impeding the world’s ability to pay for the Sustainable Development Goals and address the negative impacts of climate change, particularly in Africa and among small island developing States, speakers warned today as the General Assembly hosted a high-level dialogue on financing for development.

The adverse impacts of decades-old protracted conflicts — including on human rights, sustainable growth and social cohesion — took centre stage today, as world leaders continued to address the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate.