After two decades of stalled action on Security Council reform, it was high time to move the process forward, the General Assembly heard today, with many speakers calling for an updated Council that would better reflect the sweeping global changes that had occurred since the founding of the United Nations in 1946.
Peace operations today increasingly faced asymmetrical threats from violent extremist and terrorist groups that specifically targeted peacekeepers, Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told the Security Council today.
The human rights situation was not getting better, but worse, the President of the Human Rights Council told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) as delegates discussed ways to counter increasing divisions within that body over the mandates under its purview.
While some delegates spotlighted the link between ensuring fundamental freedoms and achieving sustainable development, several others expressed concern that the Human Rights Council was overstepping its mandate, the General Assembly heard today, as it considered that body’s annual report.
After receiving oral reports of four different Working Groups, the Sixth committee today approved without a vote three resolutions recommending to the General Assembly requests for Observer status.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today recommended delegates to fill dozens of vacancies in six United Nations bodies – including the essential Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions – that help the 193 delegates manage the Organization’s vast human resources and its finances.
Palestine refugees had suffered unimaginable hardship, including obstacles to the delivery of humanitarian aid, and those in Syria had been twice displaced, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today as it concluded its general debate on the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
The General Assembly met today to elect members of the International Law Commission, the United Nations organ tasked with the progressive development of international law and its codification.
Strongly condemning repeated ceasefire violations in Mali by armed groups over the last few months, the Security Council urged those factions, as well as the Government to expeditiously carry out all their commitments under the 2015 Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation for the country.
Taking action for the first time during the seventy‑first session, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today unanimously approved three resolutions on literacy, crime prevention, and alternative development programmes, and heard the introduction of a draft text on obstetric fistula.
