Delegates detailed their country’s efforts regarding radiation safety, urging sufficient resourcing for the Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, as the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) approved a draft resolution on the effects of atomic radiation and another on special political missions.
The committee charged with providing an open forum for delegations to bring their concerns about relations between the United States as host country and the United Nations community had tackled matters of immunities awarded to mission premises and travel restrictions on diplomatic staff, its Chair told the Sixth Committee (Legal) today, as it took up that body’s report.
While some speakers welcomed the Human Rights Council’s efforts to investigate alleged violations in countries ranging from Myanmar to South Sudan to Yemen, others voiced concern that selectivity had begun to creep into its agenda and working methods, as the General Assembly began its annual consideration of the 11‑year‑old intergovernmental body.
The President of Human Rights Council urged Governments to ensure that efforts to protect fundamental freedoms existed “not just in words, but in practice”, as he presented his annual report to the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian, Cultural) today.
Sending a total of 58 draft resolutions and decisions to the General Assembly, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today concluded its seventy‑second session with the approval of a draft on the implementation of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and of Their Destruction.
The High Commissioner for Refugees described a new model for meeting the needs of millions around the world forced to flee their homes due to crisis, presenting his annual report to the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) amid calls for more equitable sharing of responsibility.
As the Sixth Committee (Legal) concluded its debate on the third and final cluster of topics from the International Law Commission report today, delegates called for further clarification regarding the topic, “Protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts”, as well as on “Peremptory norms of general international law”.
A project approved last year to make the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) headquarters more resistant to earthquake damage and address periodic maintenance requirements was on track to be completed by 2023, with minor revisions to the overall cost plan, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) heard today.
The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) met today to introduce 36 draft resolutions, including one highlighting the adverse effects of climate change, such as persistent drought, extreme weather, land degradation, sea level rise and retreat of mountain glaciers.
The General Assembly today adopted its annual resolution calling for an end to the United States-led economic, commercial and financial embargo on Cuba, expressing near universal concern over President Donald Trump’s announced intention to tighten the blockade, a reversal from the previous Administration’s efforts to normalize relations.
