Twenty six donors today announced contributions, or their intention to contribute, to the 2015 budget of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), as officials estimated that the chronically underfunded Agency would begin the year facing a $35 million deficit.
In a meeting held today to observe the twentieth anniversary of the International Year of the Family, representatives of the General Assembly said the role of the family was essential in promoting social stability and economic development and that families should be afforded the same rights, importance, and dignity as individuals.
The General Assembly would urge parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to facilitate the transfer of technology for the effective implementation of the Convention in accordance with its provisions, according to one of four draft resolutions approved today by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial).
The General Assembly today, closely following the recommendation of its First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), where delegates had record-breaking participation and, as in past sessions, accorded priority attention to nuclear weapons, adopted 57 resolutions and six decisions, requiring 47 recorded votes in all, including on separate provisions of texts.
The General Assembly would call upon the United Nations system and the international community to assist Caribbean countries in their efforts to ensure the protection of the Caribbean Sea from degradation, according to one of four draft resolutions approved today by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial).
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today discussed the Organization’s efforts to develop a contemporary information and communications technology system that will ramp up the system’s security, reduce its severe fragmentation and finally envelope peacekeeping operations.
New perspectives emerged in the Security Council on United Nations policing, peacekeeping and sanctions during the month of November amid attention to a range of urgent crises, the Permanent Representative of Australia and President of the body said in a monthly wrap-up meeting.
The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) concluded its work today, approving a total of 62 draft resolutions, which were expected to be taken up by the General Assembly the following month.
By the terms of one of six draft resolutions that the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) approved this afternoon, the General Assembly would express serious concern at the lack of progress in the Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations and would reiterate the call for the necessary flexibility and political will needed to break the current impasse in the negotiations.
In the four months since the adoption of resolution 2165 (2014), the United Nations had sent humanitarian aid to nearly all hard-to-reach locations in Syria’s four governorates, primarily through cross-border deliveries, but “considerable” challenges remained in accessing the most besieged areas, the Security Council heard today.
