The question of Western Sahara generated sharp debate today as the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) continued its annual hearing of petitioners, with many speakers decrying conditions in refugee camps and the potentially dire consequences for youth and children in particular.
The recent signing up of additional parties to a road map for ending conflict in Darfur must be followed by action to consolidate peace and ensure delivery of aid to those displaced by long-term and recent fighting in the western region of Sudan, the head of United Nations peacekeeping told the Security Council today.
A debate over the best interests of Non-Self-Governing Territories stimulated confrontational exchanges and elicited strong opinions from a broad range of representatives and petitioners today, as the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) entered its second day of debate on decolonization issues.
Preventing climate change, enhancing international cooperation, and acknowledging the needs of specific groups and categories of States were necessary to implement the 2030 Agenda and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, Member States said today as the General Assembly’s Second Committee (Economic and Financial) concluded its general debate.
Speakers in the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) called for more robust efforts to revive stalled disarmament processes, with some discussing whether the General Assembly should launch negotiations that would lead to a worldwide nuclear-weapon ban.
Regional cooperation was critical to combating terrorism as that threat expanded and took on new forms, ranging from cyberterrorism to State-sponsored terrorism, speakers stressed, as the Sixth Committee (Legal) continued its deliberations on measures to eliminate international terrorism today.
Casting an overview of challenges facing social development - ranging from inequalities in employment through specific issues facing rural populations - the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) began its work today, with delegates calling for closer international cooperation and solidarity with the world’s most vulnerable groups.
The decolonization process was “in stagnation” despite the progress made since the adoption of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples in 1960, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today, as it opened its annual debate on that issue.
Rule of law and respect for human rights must stay at the heart of the fight against terrorism, the Sixth Committee (Legal) heard today as it opened its first meeting of the seventy-first General Assembly session.
Flexibility and creativity were needed in order to find common ground and move past recent setbacks across the disarmament landscape, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today, opening its general debate.
