Meetings Coverage

The Economic and Social Council today approved a draft decision, in addition to electing a Vice-President and agreeing upon the division of responsibilities for its 2020 session.

The Security Council decided today to renew until 15 November the support provided by the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) to the Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism of Sudan and South Sudan.

Freedom of peaceful assembly, global refugee protections, women’s civil liberties and the well-being of human-rights defenders are values under siege, United Nations experts told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as delegates continued their debate on the promotion and protection of human rights.

Nature‑based solutions can deliver over one‑third of weather mitigation needed by 2030 in stabilizing global warming to below 2°C, a climate change expert told delegates in a joint meeting of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) with the Economic and Social Council today.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today began reviewing the proposed programme budget for special political missions, good offices and other political initiatives during 2020, with delegates seeking clarification and justification for some resource requirements.

The devastating impacts of climate change threaten the progress and even existence of least developed countries, speakers told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today during the first of two days of debate on the issue of sustainable development.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) opened its debate on human rights today, holding a series of dialogues with United Nations experts — on topics ranging from the rights of migrants and safety of journalists, to the prevention of torture — and assessing the work of treaty bodies tasked with monitoring State behaviour.

Implementation of the rule of law principle on the international level — particularly in the area of conflict resolution — was being undermined by States failing to adhere to their international obligations, along with the selective enforcement and exploitation of existing frameworks and mechanisms, delegations stressed as the Sixth Committee (Legal) concluded its consideration on the topic today.

Cautioning against the start of a new worldwide arms race, on Earth and in outer space, delegates called for urgent, renewed efforts to move beyond the decades‑long stalemate in the disarmament machinery, as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) continued its general debate today.

Two nuclear‑weapon States, China and the Russian Federation, today said that a third, the United States, is contributing to global insecurity by failing to fulfil its obligations under existing arms control, disarmament and non‑proliferation instruments, as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) continued its general debate.