Fifteen years since the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, racism and xenophobia were on the rise worldwide, four independent experts told the Third Committee today as delegates opened discussions on ending prejudice and derogatory perceptions of superiority dating to the colonial era and the transatlantic slave trade.
The Security Council this afternoon welcomed the election of the new President of Lebanon, Michel Aoun, urging him and other leaders to swiftly form a new Government and take other steps to promote the country’s stability.
Speakers pointed to the legally complex and politically sensitive nature of the work of the International Law Commission (ILC) during its sixty‑eighth session, as the Sixth Committee (Legal) continued its review of the Commission’s annual report.
Delegates of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today backed the Secretary-General’s $40.02 million project plan to retrofit the premises of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), as part of their discussion on upgrades of Commission buildings in Bangkok and Addis Ababa.
The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today sent 25 draft resolutions and 1 draft decision to the General Assembly, among them one that would pave the way for the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East.
With time running out for a two-State solution, the international community must redouble its efforts, after half a century, to identify concrete options for peace and end occupation in the Middle East, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today.
While conflict, climate change and chaotic migration had reinforced the world’s need for the United Nations human rights machinery, that system was at risk of abuse due to the many pressures arising from concurrent crises, delegates warned the Third Committee today (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), as they debated the Organization’s special procedures and mandates today.
With crimes against humanity multiplying around the world, States must push forward toward — and not back away from — universal support for the International Criminal Court, the General Assembly heard today, as it considered the latest annual report of the Hague-based judicial body.
The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) turned its attention to conventional weapons today, approving 10 texts, including one that would have the General Assembly reaffirm its determination to ensure the effective operation of the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms.
The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations-Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Joint Investigative Mechanism, the body mandated to determine responsibility for the use of chemical weapons in Syria, until 18 November.
