Following three weeks of deliberations, the Disarmament Commission reached consensus today on the draft report it would send to the General Assembly and on the reports of its subsidiary bodies, as it concluded its 2017 substantive session.
Prior to adopting resolutions on tax evasion and the United Nations Forum on Forests, as well as a decision on geospatial information, speakers informed the Economic and Social Council that the world was facing a serious crisis, with the lives of more than 20 million people now under serious threat due to extreme hunger.
The Peacebuilding Commission was rapidly becoming a “lynchpin” body that brought together the diverse activities of the United Nations in support of peace, speakers in the General Assembly stressed today, as they also adopted a draft decision accrediting intergovernmental groups to a conference on ocean conservation.
Cooperation and multilateral approaches would be needed to address interlinked conflicts, cross-border humanitarian crises and violent extremism, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council today, as it held its quarterly open debate on that region.
The General Assembly this morning confirmed the appointment of Achim Steiner of Germany as Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for a four-year term of office beginning 20 April.
The Economic and Social Council today adopted 10 decisions and elected dozens of members to its subsidiary bodies, as it kicked off the coordination and management meetings of its 2017 session.
Alarmed at the volatility and human rights situation in Libya, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative there cautioned today that the country risked a return to wide-spread conflict.
Given their intrinsic link to peace and security, the Security Council must take human rights into account in all its deliberations, the Secretary-General said today, as the Council held its first-ever thematic debate on that issue.
While a daunting $90 trillion would be required to tackle sustainable development challenges in the coming years, speakers at today’s General Assembly Action Event warned that the cost of inaction would ultimately be far deeper, with humanity’s very future hanging in the balance.
The Disarmament Commission elected the final member of its Bureau today, and heard presentations by the Chairs of its two working groups.
