Considering that there were enough nuclear weapons to put an end to the whole planet in minutes without anyone or anything able to help, nuclear doctrines were therefore “doctrines of death” in which “all were losers,” the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference heard today during its fourth day of deliberations.
Hopes of achieving the universality of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) were becoming “ever more remote” amid new challenges to the global security architecture and a general slackening of political will, its Review Conference heard today, as State parties continued a third day of deliberations.
The recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights to self-determination, autonomy and self-governance must be woven into the post-2015 development agenda to ensure inclusive political participation and a sharpened focus on outstanding land disputes and other pressing concerns, delegates heard as the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues discussed emerging issues and continued its segment on rights.
Transparency, inclusivity, multilingualism and a balance between new media and traditional forms of communications were paramount in the work of the Department of Public Information, Cristina Gallach, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information of the United Nations, told delegates as the Committee on Information concluded its general debate.
The Security Council this morning decided to extend until 30 April 2016 a modified arms embargo on Côte d’Ivoire, as well as the targeted travel and financial sanctions on individuals deemed to threaten reconciliation in the West African country.
Deciding to extend by one year the mandate for the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), the Security Council adopted today a resolution calling on all parties to continue to show political will to enter into a more intensive and substantive phase of negotiations to resolve the territorial dispute.
The Security Council today decided to extend by one year the mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) and recalled its intention to continuously review the current troop ceiling of 10,750 military personnel, including additional troops authorized by resolution 2212 (2015).
As large segments of the world’s population relied on traditional media for information on the United Nations and world affairs, delegates warned about the dangers of the digital divide, while hailing the broad reach of new media in disseminating the Organization’s message, as the Committee on Information continued its general debate.
As a thematic advisory body of the Human Rights Council, the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples must include the full, effective, and equal participation of all concerned communities, speakers stressed today, as the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues held a discussion on an optional protocol to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
“No State or international body could address the immediate humanitarian emergency caused by a nuclear weapon detonation or provide adequate assistance to victims,” Austria’s Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurtz told delegates today, as the month-long Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) reconvened.
