Meetings Coverage

The General Assembly adopted six draft resolutions today, including one — by a recorded vote — that underscored cooperation between the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today opened the first part of its resumed seventy-fifth session, with a view to ending the ongoing deadlock in negotiations on aspects of the United Nations human resources management reform, such as greater recruitment of staff members from unrepresented or underrepresented countries and the removal of career advancement barriers for General Service staff.

The Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on Strengthening the Role of the Organization adopted its 2021 draft report today, concluding its annual session and sending a package of recommendations to the General Assembly.

The Economic and Social Council, holding its first in-person meeting in 2021, adopted a range of decisions today, extending COVID-19-related procedures, rescheduling delayed meetings and filling several vacancies, including on the Executive Board of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women).

The General Assembly decided today to convene a high-level meeting from 8 to 10 June to take stock of global efforts to end the HIV/AIDS crisis by 2030, adopting a draft resolution to that effect after a lengthy debate on the situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

Expediting the decolonization process must be seen as an imperative, United Nations Secretary-General Antônio Guterres told the Special Committee on Decolonization today, emphasizing that a constructive relationship with administrating Powers and all involved is indispensable for progress on a case-by-case basis.

Africa must occupy a special place in managing and settling crises on the continent, Senegal’s representative said today, as the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations concluded its general debate.

The Commission for Social Development concluded its fifty-ninth session today, forwarding four draft resolutions, all without a vote, to the Economic and Social Council for consideration, including one that addressed this year’s priority theme for the 46-member subsidiary body — the role of digital technologies on social development and the well-being of all.

Amid growing concerns over unilateral coercive measures and their unintended humanitarian consequences, several delegations stressed today that sanctions remain a relevant tool for the maintenance of international peace and security, as the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization opened its 2021 session.

United Nations peacekeeping operations are central to multilateralism, speakers told the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations at its first meeting of the 2021 session, expressing their commitment to further spur collective action through the Action for Peacekeeping initiative launched in 2018.