Third Committee

Taking action for the first time this session, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today approved five draft resolutions that aim to bolster the global struggle to fight transnational organized crime and bring justice — including by strengthening international cooperation to curb drug trafficking and agreeing to better treatment for migrants and prisoners — as well as a draft decision on ending female genital mutilation.

Around the world, too many children were being left behind, due to poverty, malnutrition and “unpardonable” discrimination, the head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, urging States to reform their laws, improve health and education outcomes, and show the strong political commitment required to fully implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Today’s debate on women’s rights and perspectives was critical for achieving gender equality, a goal that should receive wide support in all corners of the world, General Assembly President Vuc Jeremić told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, pledging his readiness to engage with delegates on all such issues during the sixty-seventh session.

The elimination of the persistent and continued violence against women throughout the world was a core element for achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today, at the start of its three-day discussion on the advancement of women.

Trafficking in persons and illicit drugs were two of the most heinous forms of transnational organized crime and they would continue to ravage the world’s economies without holistic and coordinated action by source, transit and destination countries alike, delegates in the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) said today, as they wrapped up their two-day discussion on crime prevention and international drug control.

The world continues to face a series of complex and interconnected threats that, taken together, “form a web of drugs, crime and sometimes terrorism”, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today, as it began its general discussion on crime prevention, criminal justice and international drug control.

The creation of decent work opportunities — especially for the world’s 74.8 million unemployed young people — was vital to reducing inequality, eradicating poverty and promoting sustained, equitable economic growth, speakers said today, as the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) wrapped up its two-day discussion of social development.

As the target date for the Millennium Development Goals approaches, no challenge was more daunting than the continuing rise in inequality and its impact on vulnerable groups, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Wu Hongbo told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today as it opened its annual session with a debate on social development.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) of the General Assembly today elected, by acclamation, Henry L. Mac-Donald (Suriname) as Chair of its sixty-seventh session.

Strongly condemning the continued grave and systematic human rights violations by the Syrian authorities, the General Assembly would call for Syria to immediately put an end to all human rights violations, to protect their population and to fully comply with their obligations under international human rights law by a text approved by the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, at the conclusion of its current session.