Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today gave mixed reviews of the Secretary-General’s plans to consolidate the United Nations fragmented administrative services, which if properly implemented, would improve its ability to serve global duty stations and field offices through a leaner, more effective and cost-efficient structure.
The role of the Sixth Committee (Legal) was crucial to strengthening international cooperation to confront threats to peace and security, the General Assembly affirmed today, as it adopted 25 resolutions and 4 decisions of that Committee without a vote.
Seeking to strengthen the international response to terrorism, the Security Council today unanimously adopted a resolution aimed at enhancing and fortifying judicial cooperation worldwide.
The General Assembly, taking up a range of items this afternoon, considered the latest report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) — the main United Nations organ devoted to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy — while also adopting a text related to the work of the Credentials Committee and electing seven members to the Committee for Programme and Coordination.
António Guterres of Portugal was sworn in today as the next Secretary-General of the United Nations, with the General Assembly paying tribute to his predecessor, Ban Ki‑moon.
After adopting a decision on future meetings of the Expert Committee on International Cooperation in Tax Matters, the Economic and Social Council then held a special meeting on the matter.
In discussing human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Security Council risked disturbing the situation in that country, some delegates warned today following a procedural vote that narrowly approved a meeting on that subject.
Exposing deep rifts between its 193 members, the General Assembly voted today to adopt a resolution demanding an immediate end to all hostilities in Syria, as speakers decried the Security Council’s continued impotence on a situation that threatened to become “the shame of our time”.
Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today shared their views on the United Nations efforts to combat sexual exploitation and abuse in its ranks, stressing the need for a more cohesive approach to eradicating the problem that included adherence to its zero-tolerance policy and training for peacekeepers, both before deployment and in the field.
Confident that the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia would “close its doors” at the end of 2017, its President informed the Security Council today that the Tribunal only had one trial, one appeal and one contempt case remaining and requested a final extension of the judges’ mandates until the end of November next year.
