Petitioners speaking today on the question of Western Sahara cited court judgments and advisory opinions on Morocco’s relationship to the Territory, while others continued to sound alarms over human rights violations reportedly committed there, as the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) concluded its hearing of petitioners on decolonization matters.
While the international disarmament machinery remains elemental in the pursuit of a world free of weapons of mass destruction, that effort is stalling in the face of unabated existential threats, delegates emphasized today, as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) entered the fifth day of its general debate.
Indigenous peoples living in urban areas are liable to face racial discrimination, poverty and stigmatization, the United Nations expert responsible for assessing their well-being told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as delegates held a discussion on the issue.
As the Sixth Committee (Legal) began its debate on the rule of law at the national and international levels today, many delegates championed rebuilding public institutional trust — eroded by rampant inequalities laid bare by COVID-19 — through a people-centered approach, while others stressed the need to respect State sovereignty in this arena.
In recovering from economic downturns sparked by COVID‑19, warding off future calamities and meeting development targets, speakers urged nations to conserve resources and build resilience by closing wide inequities between countries, especially through debt forgiveness, as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) concluded its general debate today.
The world is at a point where cooperation and multilateralism must replace tensions and division, the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs said today, as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) convened the first of three virtual dialogues to be held during its seventy-sixth session.
Petitioners described human rights violations faced by women in Sahrawi refugee camps, as the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) continued its hearing of petitioners on the question of Western Sahara today in the context of its consideration of items related to decolonization.
Condemning the use of chemical and biological weapons as unacceptable under any context or circumstances, delegates urged all States to abide by critical existing international instruments for their regulation, as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) continued its general debate today.
Amidst sharing lessons learned from counter-terrorism battles on old and new fronts, delegates, while noting that the vacuum created by the lack of a comprehensive convention was an overarching concern, cautioned against double standards and called for whole-society solutions, as the Sixth Committee (Legal) continued its debate on measures to eliminate international terrorism.
More than 8,400 children were killed or maimed in 2020, with Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and Somalia featured as the deadliest conflict zones for children, United Nations experts told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as delegates pointed to war, disregard for international humanitarian law and the COVID-19 pandemic as persistent obstructions to the rights of minors.
