The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated rising, pervasive and deeply rooted systemic racism around the world that must be dismantled and exorcised — including through reparations — speakers said today as the General Assembly commemorated the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, observed annually on 21 March, date of the 1960 massacre in Sharpeville, South Africa.
A resolution proclaiming 15 March as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia was unanimously adopted by the General Assembly today, along with three other texts addressing the difficulties facing widows, the preservation of rangelands and a call to integrate bicycles into public transportation methods.
Member States today overwhelmingly adopted a resolution demanding the Russian Federation immediately end its invasion of Ukraine and unconditionally withdraw all its military forces from that neighbouring country, as the General Assembly continued its emergency session on the crisis.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the press following the General Assembly vote on Ukraine, in New York today:
At the dawn of a new era forced upon the world by the Russian Federation’s war in Ukraine, Member States must now take sides and choose between peace and aggression, delegates said today as the General Assembly moved into the second day of its emergency special session.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the General Assembly Emergency Special Session on Ukraine, in New York today:
The United Nations stands with the people of Ukraine, including more than 500,000 who crossed the country’s borders fleeing relentless attacks by Russian forces, Secretary-General António Guterres told an emergency special session of the General Assembly today, warning of potentially dire consequences for the world at large.
The General Assembly today adopted without a vote two decisions that expand the involvement of non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders in a global environmental meeting in Stockholm this June while also adopting by consensus a resolution that reschedules the substance of the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries to March 2023 in Doha.
The General Assembly discussed recent developments in eastern Ukraine today, with the top United Nations official declaring that the Russian Federation has punctured the inviolability of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by its formal acknowledgement of the independence of the latter’s territories of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the General Assembly in New York today:
