The Security Council today outlined sweeping actions to improve implementation of its landmark women, peace and security agenda, covering its work on countering violent extremism and terrorism, improving working methods and broadly taking up the gender recommendations of a just-completed global study it had requested two years ago.
As the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) met today to consider poverty eradication, delegates debated the merits of rural and industrial development in achieving that.
While 2015 had seen renewed commitments on the advancement of women, States must go beyond political will and adopt concrete measures for gender equality and women’s empowerment, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today during the second day of its thematic debate.
By building an extraordinary legal edifice of international criminal accountability, the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia had helped lay the groundwork for future generations to prosecute international law violations more efficiently and with a better understanding of the law, the General Assembly heard today as it took up the latest reports on the courts.
During a meeting characterized by impassioned pleas, calls for justice and appeals to rationale, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard testimony on Western Sahara for a second day in an effort to find a solution to the Territory’s 40-year pursuit of self-determination.
Transition from the Millennium Development Goals to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development required support tailored to “our changing needs and priorities”, the representative of Maldives told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) as it took up its agenda item on operational activities today.
Despite multifaceted international efforts, speakers in the Sixth Committee (Legal) today noted with alarm the growth of terrorist groups, stressing that if measures diverged from the norms of international law, the crisis would only worsen.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today heard United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon formally unveil an initial budget proposal of $5.57 billion for the 2016-2017 budget cycle that begins 1 January 2016. The proposal was down 1.6 per cent, or $90.8 million, from the appropriation for the current two-year budget cycle that ends in December and up $10.2 million, or 0.2 per cent, from the budget outline figure set by the General Assembly nearly a year ago.
The United Nations should be realistic about future challenges, and ambitious in its responses, speakers told the General Assembly today, as it took up the Secretary-General’s report on the future of the Organization’s peace operations.
Petitioners on the question of Western Sahara voiced strident opinions on the long-standing dispute as the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) continued its annual debate on decolonization matters this morning, with experts warning that the contested territory could become a “safe haven for terrorism” if the issue was not promptly resolved.
