Meetings Coverage

The General Assembly today adopted, without a vote, six resolutions covering humanitarian assistance, the Programme of Action for landlocked developing countries and the role of diamonds in conflict.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, which was established in April last year, would receive more than $628.7 million for the year ending 30 June 2015, should Member States approve the proposed amount, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) heard today.

Before commencing discussions on strengthening global coordination in humanitarian assistance and relief, the General Assembly adopted without a vote two resolutions today, with one commemorating 21 June as the International Day of Yoga and the other aimed at fortifying the role of the United Nations in guiding global health and foreign policy. 

Weak institutions, cyclical environmental shocks, vast ungoverned spaces, fragile economies and poverty had contributed to suffering and created conditions for transnational criminal organizations in the Sahel, the Security Council heard today, as the Secretary‑General’s Special Envoy for the region said the need for sustaining the 15-member body’s attention there was “greater than ever”.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) concluded its work today, approving eight draft resolutions, which were expected to be taken up by the General Assembly in the coming days ahead.

Transparency, synergy, and cooperation were vital to the working methods of the 2140 Committee on Yemen, the Security Council heard today during a presentation of the body’s second report.

When the Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda 20 years ago, on the heels of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia the previous year, the landscape of international criminal law was altered forever, members heard today as they reviewed developments.

As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today scrutinized how exchange rate fluctuations and inflation had impacted the United Nations expenditures, developed nations pushed for reform of “recosting”, the method of factoring in those elements to subsequently revise an initial budget, while developing countries rejected any changes.

In a presidential statement adopted today, the Security Council expressed concern at the grave security situation in parts of Central Africa within the remit of the United Nations Regional Office there, in particular, the ongoing crisis in the Central African Republic and its regional impact, the continuing threat of the Lord’s Resistance Army, and the expansion of Boko Haram terrorist activities into countries in the subregion.

Highlighting the role of the Sixth Committee (Legal) in promoting justice and international law, the General Assembly today, without a vote, adopted 17 resolutions and took two decisions recommended in 19 reports from the Committee.