The General Assembly commemorated the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination today with a debate that focused on racial profiling and incitement to hatred, including in the context of migration, in which speakers underscored the responsibility of States to address a scourge seen to be on the rise worldwide.
The General Assembly today adopted a resolution committed to a zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse throughout the United Nations, stressing the importance of States holding perpetrators accountable.
The General Assembly today appointed a member of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions that helps the 193 delegates from the United Nations Member States manage the Organization’s vast human resources and its finances.
The General Assembly reaffirmed its strong commitment today to the Kimberley Process and its certification scheme, an international initiative launched by the United Nations in 2003 to break the link between rough diamond purchases and armed conflict.
Emphasizing the inextricable link between sustainable development and sustaining peace — “two agendas that stand or fall together” — speakers at a high-level General Assembly dialogue today urged a holistic response to the world’s many intertwined challenges, from economic inequality to violent extremism and beyond.
Concluding the main part of its seventy-first session, the General Assembly today adopted 14 resolutions and 1 decision recommended by its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) that tackled management and fiscal issues, as well as 11 resolutions from its plenary and First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) tackling a wide range of issues, including nuclear disarmament, oceans and international law.
Following a contentious discussion, the General Assembly adopted two draft resolutions, on the promotion of interreligious and intercultural dialogue, and cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), respectively.
Differing opinions on social and cultural issues, along with wider agreement on disadvantaged peoples’ need for humanitarian assistance, animated the General Assembly today, as it adopted 50 resolutions and 8 decisions recommended by its Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural).
Adopting two texts without a vote this morning, the General Assembly committed to implementing the Secretary-General’s newly presented approach to cholera in Haiti, with speakers welcoming the “long-anticipated” move and its focus on the provision of material assistance to the victims of the nearly six-year-long outbreak.
Adopting a draft resolution on global health and foreign policy that focused on the role of health employment in driving economic growth and helping Member States move toward sustainable development, the General Assembly also held a debate on the culture of peace and elected members to the Organizational Committee of the Peacebuilding Commission.
