With more than two dozen speakers and the heads of two of the world’s ocean and sea authorities proclaiming the crucial importance of healthy oceans and seas to coastal and landlocked States alike, the General Assembly today adopted a resolution on sustainable fisheries without a vote while deferring action on a draft text on oceans and the Law of the Sea.
The General Assembly today, closely following the recommendation of its First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), where delegates increased their participation in debates by 40 per cent from last year, adopted 57 draft resolutions and decisions — 23 on nuclear weapons — requiring 29 recorded votes in all, including on separate provisions.
Confronting an increasingly polarized world where religious intolerance, discrimination, xenophobia, conflict and the emergence of new extremist ideologies abounded, the General Assembly today adopted, without a vote, two resolutions that stressed the advancement of a culture of peace and non-violence based on education, tolerance, dialogue and cooperation.
Gains made in the areas of human rights and development contrasted sharply with the volatile and deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, the General Assembly heard today from three dozen speakers as the 193-member body took up the situation in that country.
The General Assembly today adopted six resolutions on Palestinian and Middle East issues, as diverse as the Syrian Golan and the United Nations special information programme on the question of Palestine, all by recorded votes, exposing divisions in the world body.
The world was just one major provocation in Jerusalem away from a descent into an unprecedented religious war, the General Assembly was told today as it took up the question of Palestine and heard the introduction of four draft resolutions on that matter.
A comprehensive new approach requiring the efforts of the entire international community was needed to tackle the dramatic and unprecedented refugee crisis in the Mediterranean basin, the General Assembly heard today, as it held a day-long debate on the subject, with a particular focus on the plight of Syrian asylum seekers.
The General Assembly today unanimously adopted texts on widely differing topics — one which gave its members the chance to reflect on the history of the Organization as well as on the idealism inspired by a past leader and another on the Board tasked with promoting sustainable consumption and production patterns.
The General Assembly today elected the Secretary-General’s proposed candidate, Filippo Grandi (Italy), as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), while filling vacancies in the United Nations tribunals that address internal grievances and disciplinary matters.
The General Assembly today adopted, by a recorded vote of 99 in favour to none against, with 10 abstentions (Bolivia, Chad, Cuba, Nicaragua, Russian Federation, Sudan, Syria, United Republic of Tanzania, Venezuela and Zimbabwe), a resolution on the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
