The inaugural United Nations Ocean Conference opened today with a call for urgent action to improve the health of the world’s seas, now in peril after decades of pollution, overfishing and the unattended effects of climate change that were decimating marine life, and in turn, livelihoods.
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Senior United Nations officials joined representatives of the world’s indigenous communities and Member States today as the General Assembly marked the tenth anniversary of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and explored ways to further its implementation.
Despite gains to end enforced disappearance and redress its harrowing legacy on families worldwide, the number of cases of one of the most egregious human rights violations was on the rise, parties to the Convention on the matter told the General Assembly today, urging universal ratification of the instrument.
The United Nations Conference to negotiate a nuclear-weapon ban elected its president today, and adopted — as orally revised — the draft provisional agenda for its four-week substantive session, to begin in March.
The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will convene the United Nations Round Table on the Question of Palestine at the Holiday Inn–Convention Centre in Managua, Nicaragua, on 4 February.
The General Assembly concluded its high-level dialogue on sustainable development and sustaining peace today with its President underscoring the need to take the debate beyond the halls of the United Nations while reforming the Organization with the active support of its Member States.
The following communiqué on the commutation of the sentence of Oscar López Rivera was issued today by the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples:
Beginning its work against the backdrop of an expanding global refugee crisis, deepening political divisions and a spate of terror attacks across the globe, the General Assembly’s seventy-first session convened a record number of topical meetings, while also embarking on the daily business of implementing the newly adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Reaffirming the role of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) in promoting sustainable development, the General Assembly today adopted 36 resolutions and one decision forwarded by that Committee.
The following statement was issued today on behalf of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples on the fifty-sixth anniversary of the Declaration: