The United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) has an increasingly important role as the countries in the region seek to counter an unprecedented level of violence, relentless terrorism and other cross-border threats, speakers said today, as the Security Council continued to discuss the Office’s mandate renewal.
Concluding the main part of its seventy-fourth session, the General Assembly adopted 22 resolutions and one decision recommended by its main Committees, including a $3.07 billion regular budget for the Secretariat in 2020, some $200 million more than the amount requested by the Secretary-General.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) concluded the main part of its seventy‑fourth session on Friday, approving resources totalling $3.07 billion for 2020, its first annual budget since 1973 and $200 million more than the $2.87 billion outlay proposed by Secretary‑General António Guterres in early October.
The General Assembly decided today to defer its recess and to extend the work of its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) until Friday, 27 December.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) briefly met today to inform Member States of the extension of its work until Friday, 27 December.
The Special Envoy for Syria told the Security Council today that he is forging ahead with efforts to unify Government and opposition representatives around an agreed agenda for the newly launched Constitutional Committee, aiming to bring the protracted political process back on track.
The Security Council today failed to adopt two draft resolutions on extending the authorization for the mechanism that allows cross‑border delivery of humanitarian aid in Syria today — one tabled by Belgium, Germany and Kuwait; the other by the Russian Federation.
The Economic and Social Council today filled two regular vacancies in the Executive Board of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN‑Women) and elected four additional members to the Executive Committee of the Programme of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Expressing concern that ongoing military activities have the potential to escalate tensions between Israel and Syria, the Security Council today decided to renew the mandate of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) for six months.
Iran’s delegate described United States sanctions against his country as “tantamount to economic terrorism”, while a senior United Nations official called for preventing a serious confrontation in the region, as the Security Council considered the milestone 2015 agreement governing Tehran’s nuclear activities.
