Against the backdrop of escalating violence in the Middle East, the United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs today warned of a dangerous expansion of the conflict in the wider region during the opening of the fourth session of the Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction.
The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) approved 12 draft resolutions today on a wide range of topics, including the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, the role of the United Nations in promoting democratization and violence against women migrant workers.
Describing a health system that is on the verge of collapse, the head of the United Nations health agency urged the Security Council today to secure an immediate ceasefire and unfettered humanitarian access in Gaza where “nowhere and no one is safe” as the war between Israel and Hamas rages on.
As people feel “intense frustration and disillusionment” amid growing conflict and international economic uncertainties on the heels of a deadly global pandemic, revitalizing the work of the General Assembly — the most democratic body of the United Nations — is growing increasingly critical, its President said today.
The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) approved six draft resolutions today, all by recorded votes, relating to the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, as well as a decision regarding its programme of work, thus completing its work for the main part of the General Assembly’s seventy eighth session.
The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today approved three resolutions, voting on two of them, including one demanding that Israel cease the exploitation, damage, cause of loss or depletion and endangerment of the natural resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and in the occupied Syrian Golan.
The Security Council, meeting independently from but concurrently with the General Assembly today, elected five judges to the International Court of Justice beginning on 6 February 2024.
The General Assembly today elected five new judges for the International Court of Justice in The Hague to begin their term 6 February 2024, acting simultaneously but separately with the Security Council.
Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today considered ongoing projects to improve working conditions and conference facilities at duty stations in New York and Nairobi while addressing the financial needs of the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone.
Unanimous in their support for the United Nations in attracting and retaining highly skilled and qualified personnel around the world, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today reviewed new and proposed changes to the compensation packages and policies aimed at boosting staff productivity, ensuring equitable geographical representation of the employee structure and justifying the confidence reposed in it.
