The achievements of the United Nations in the past 70 years were lights which helped to dispel the darkness of the disorder caused by unrestrained ambitions and collective forms of selfishness, said Pope Francis today, in a historic address to the General Assembly.
Acting on the recommendations of its General Committee, the General Assembly this morning adopted the work programme and agenda for its seventieth session, which contained 173 items, and endorsed the recommendation that its general debate would be held from 28 September to 3 October.
The historic seventieth session of the United Nations General Assembly must be one marked by concerted action against war, violent extremism, poverty, climate change and the many other crises besetting humanity, said the Assembly’s incoming President as he opened the session’s first meeting today.
Concluding its sixty-ninth session, the General Assembly this afternoon adopted one resolution and heard closing remarks that highlighted the unique vision of the 2030 agenda and the year’s other major accomplishments.
To a burst of applause, the General Assembly this morning adopted, without a vote, a text that sets the stage for negotiations on the long-pending issue of Security Council reform during the world body’s seventieth session, with some hailing it as a “landmark” decision, and others calling it technical rather than substantive progress on an issue that most agreed must urgently be resolved.
Resolutions aimed at fostering greater transparency in the selection of the next Secretary-General and equitable use of all six official languages in the activities of the United Nations were among six texts adopted by the General Assembly today, one of which required a recorded vote.
Amidst heated debates about the political value of symbolic gestures, the General Assembly today adopted five resolutions on a wide range of topics, including the raising of flags by non-member observer States at the United Nations and debt restructuring.
In a historic move today, the General Assembly adopted a resolution transmitting to its seventieth session a sweeping post-2015 development agenda aimed at eliminating poverty and hunger, protecting the planet and fostering peace, to be acted on during a high-level summit later this month.
The 193 Member States of the United Nations reached agreement today on the outcome document that will constitute the new sustainable development agenda that will be adopted this September by world leaders at the Sustainable Development Summit in New York.
Addressing a range of issues, the General Assembly today adopted a decision on the world body’s review of the implementation of outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society, filled a position in the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) and adopted a wide-ranging resolution on illicit trafficking in wildlife, taking steps to encourage States to end the “abhorrent” multibillion-dollar trade often associated with organized crime networks, armed groups and terrorist organizations.
