Third Committee

Rounding out a three-day discussion on the promotion and protection of the rights of the child, members of the Third Committee (Social, Cultural and Humanitarian) detailed national initiatives to safeguard and nurture their future generations, while calling for further assistance and support to “the most vulnerable of the vulnerables”.

Taking action for the first time this session, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today approved four draft resolutions that aim to bolster the global fight against transnational organized crime — including by strengthening international cooperation to curb money-laundering and terrorism financing — and a text that welcomes the launch of the International Year of Cooperatives, slated for 31 October.

Protection systems and monitoring mechanisms rarely addressed the special challenges facing girls, children with disabilities and the world’s most impoverished young people at great cost not just to them, but to their entire societies, the head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today.

States needed to promote women’s rights, so they could be “agents of change” for sustained socio-economic development and security around the world, delegates told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as it continued its three-day discussion on the advancement of women.

Following a remarkable year in the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment that was marked by the establishment of UN-Women and the launch of the Secretary-General’s Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, it was now time to turn the momentum generated in 2010 into clear, tangible gains for women and girls everywhere, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today.

The power of organized criminal groups trafficking in drugs and weapons could destabilize countries, and even whole regions, if States did not strengthen international cooperation and provide more resources for the fight against them, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today, as it concluded its general discussion on crime prevention, criminal justice and international drug control.

The world community was facing a series of complex and interconnected threats that together formed a web of drugs, crime, corruption and even 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.

Austerity measures adopted by developed countries to address the current economic upheaval hurt global growth and pushed millions more into poverty just when greater social protection was needed, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today.

Rising social inequalities stemming from the still-unfolding global economic downturn were a “time bomb” that, if left unaddressed, would tear apart the moral fabric of society and undermine prospects for social development, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Sha Zukang, 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) met this morning to fill vacant positions on its Bureau for the upcoming sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly.