Third Committee

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) approved 11 draft resolutions today, including a text on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation.

Recognizing the positive economic and political development occurring in Myanmar, speakers called today upon the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) to discontinue future action on the relevant draft resolution, as it took action on four country-specific texts.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) approved several draft resolutions today, including a text titled “Improving the coordination of efforts against trafficking in persons”.

The participation of all States was crucial in enabling the Human Rights Council to conduct a successful second cycle of assessing the human rights records of each country — a process known as the universal periodic review — that body’s President told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) approved today a draft resolution on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and heard the introduction of 11 texts, most of them relating to the promotion and protection of human rights.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) approved three draft resolutions today, including one addressing the needs of women in rural areas and another highlighting the twentieth anniversary of the International Year of the Family to be observed in 2014.

The limits of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees were being severely tested by a combination of the unparalleled emergency in Syria and the persistence of all the other crises around the world, the head of that agency told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today as it considered refugee-related issues.

The right to self-determination was an integral element of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today as it concluded its general discussion on that subject, and on the elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

A United Nations expert urged support today for the proposed International Decade for People of African Descent as the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) began its discussion on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and the right to self-determination.

Delegates stressed today the importance of seeking constructive engagement with United Nations human rights mechanisms, as the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) concluded its general discussion on the promotion and protection of human rights.