The General Assembly today elected 18 members of the Economic and Social Council to serve three-year terms beginning 1 January 2015. Those elected today were Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, India, Japan, Mauritania, Pakistan, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Presidential elections in Côte d’Ivoire next year would be a “critical” moment to assess progress in the security situation, as the West African nation continued to recover from its 2011 political crisis, the Chair of the United Nations body overseeing the sanctions regime told the Security Council today.
With a main focus on the draft articles addressing “expulsion of aliens” and the “protection of persons in the event of disasters”, the Sixth Committee (Legal) continued deliberations today on the report of the International Law Commission.
“While the world has sufficient capacity and resources to ensure adequate food and good nutrition for the global population, over 800 million people are still suffering from chronic hunger”, Viet Nam’s representative told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today as it met to discuss agriculture development, food security and nutrition.
The General Assembly today adopted a resolution which for the twenty-third year in a row called for an end to the United States economic, commercial and financial embargo on Cuba.
The “remarkable” scale of United Nations peacekeeping operations, where personnel often operated in remote areas, across massive distances and in increasingly hostile environments, came alive today in the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) during briefings by senior Secretariat officials, as that body began its annual comprehensive review of the subject.
The Security Council today urged States, other parties to conflicts and the United Nations system to step up measures to protect and empower displaced women and girls and those facing threats of violent extremism, ahead of a day-long debate on women, peace and security.
Civil society spaces were shrinking around the world as ordinary people’s lives were being changed without their input and against their will, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today as it continued its consideration of human rights, with presentations by six experts who had investigated problems in specific countries, and two reporting on global issues.
The growing prospect of cyber warfare needed to be addressed urgently before such weapons broke down the entire edifice of international security, heard the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) as it considered other disarmament measures, before concluding its thematic debate.
Private education choices must help, not hinder, the public system and the achievement of inalienable rights for all, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today as it continued discussions on the protection and promotion of human rights, hearing from eight United Nations experts and delegates participating in interactive debates on a range of issues, from the right to adequate housing to physical and mental health.
