Exposing deep rifts between its 193 members, the General Assembly voted today to adopt a resolution demanding an immediate end to all hostilities in Syria, as speakers decried the Security Council’s continued impotence on a situation that threatened to become “the shame of our time”.
After adopting a decision on future meetings of the Expert Committee on International Cooperation in Tax Matters, the Economic and Social Council then held a special meeting on the matter.
In discussing human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Security Council risked disturbing the situation in that country, some delegates warned today following a procedural vote that narrowly approved a meeting on that subject.
Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today shared their views on the United Nations efforts to combat sexual exploitation and abuse in its ranks, stressing the need for a more cohesive approach to eradicating the problem that included adherence to its zero-tolerance policy and training for peacekeepers, both before deployment and in the field.
The Economic and Social Council met this morning to fill regular and outstanding vacancies in nine of its subsidiary bodies.
Confident that the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia would “close its doors” at the end of 2017, its President informed the Security Council today that the Tribunal only had one trial, one appeal and one contempt case remaining and requested a final extension of the judges’ mandates until the end of November next year.
The General Assembly would stress the importance of overcoming silos in sustainable development by the terms of a draft resolution approved by recorded vote, one of 15 draft resolutions taken up today by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial).
Tasked with addressing and alleviating the largest scale of human suffering — 130 million dependent on aid for survival — since the founding of the United Nations, the General Assembly took up a plethora of humanitarian issues today, adopting five resolutions on a sector whose workers were increasingly in demand and danger.
Delegates supported the restructuring of the body charged with enhancing the Organization’s partnership with the African Union on peace and security matters, but asked for more details on staffing and operations as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today examined the Secretary-General’s proposal on the matter.
Adopting two resolutions related to the conservation and management of the Earth’s oceans, the General Assembly today proclaimed 2 May World Tuna Day, spotlighting the vital socioeconomic importance of the widely consumed fish to peoples around the globe.
