The obligations of States parties to assist victims of nuclear weapons use or testing took centre stage today, with participants divided over whether to impose that primary burden on the nuclear weapons-possessor responsible, as the Conference working to codify a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons continued negotiations.
Regional actors and international partners must press for confidence-building measures that would be conducive for holding an inclusive and credible political dialogue in Burundi, Assistant Secretary-General Tayé-Brook Zerihoun told the Security Council this afternoon as it considered the situation in that country.
On the fiftieth anniversary of the Six-Day War, achieving a negotiated two-State outcome was the only way to lay the foundations for an enduring peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Security Council heard today, as it held its regular briefing on the situation in the Middle East.
Building upon the progress it had made in 2016, the Peacebuilding Commission would now seek to review its working methods to enhance efficiency and flexibility, the Security Council heard today in its regular briefing on the intergovernmental advisory body’s work.
Continuing their deliberations on a legally binding instrument prohibiting nuclear weapons, Member States suggested today ways in which to improve the proposed text as well as various amendments to several of its draft articles.
The Special Committee on Decolonization today sent a draft resolution to the General Assembly calling on the Government of the United States to assume its responsibility to expedite a process that would allow the people of the island to fully exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.
Speakers voiced support for the requirement that all States parties destroy their existing nuclear arsenals, as the Conference convening to codify a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons and lead towards their total elimination entered its second day.
Despite progress towards peace in Mali, terrorist attacks remained a major obstacle, the head of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in that country told the Security Council today, as the State’s Foreign Minister called for the Council’s authority to deploy a regional counter-terrorism force so as to keep the nation on the road to reconciliation.
The pursuit of a world free of nuclear weapons was becoming more urgent than ever before, particularly in the midst of a deteriorating international security landscape, the senior-most United Nations disarmament official said today.
In what its President called the first major institutional reform presented by Secretary-General António Guterres, the General Assembly unanimously decided today to establish the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, while also electing 18 members to the Economic and Social Council.
