Armed conflicts and weather-related disasters resulted in prolonged refugee situations, severely affecting host communities as well as humanitarian organizations, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today as it concluded its discussion on refugees, returnees and displaced persons. The Committee also introduced several draft resolutions covering a range of issues, from missing persons to safety for journalists.
The real solution to the suffering and plight of refugees was not humanitarian action but political decisiveness, a top United Nations official told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today as it began its thematic debate on related issues, returnees and displaced persons.
Commending the perseverance of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the face of adverse conditions on the ground, speakers in the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today called for renewed international financial and political commitment to end the suffering of Palestinian refugees, as they concluded consideration of the Agency’s work.
Consideration of States’ constitutional challenges was crucial to the provisional application of treaties, speakers underscored today, as the Sixth Committee (Legal) concluded deliberations on a number of topics from the International Law Commission’s annual report.
Regional frameworks could assist the mobilization of financial and technological resources, and “serve as a catalyst to strengthen the global partnership for sustainable development by facilitating access to science, technology and innovation, and enhancing knowledge sharing and capacity-building”, Sebastiano Cardi (Italy) told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today while chairing its annual dialogue with the Regional Commissions.
As the United Nations Office in Burundi (BNUB) prepared to withdraw at the end of 2014, the Office’s Head stressed to the Security Council the need for continued international support ahead of critical elections and in face of development challenges.
The Security Council today urged accelerated action to dismantle armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, expressing deep concern over the lack of progress of the voluntary disarmament process of the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR).
All peoples had a fundamental entitlement to sovereignty and the State of Palestine must be able to exercise that right, several delegates told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today as it concluded its general discussion on self-determination and the elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
As the First Committee’s session drew to a close, its Chair, Courtenay Rattray of Jamaica, commended the positive and constructive tone of discussions despite the persistence of divergent views, with delegations according priority attention to the world’s deadliest weapon of mass destruction and the most lethal and indiscriminate of all, nuclear weapons.
Growing needs due to escalating conflict in the region amid a glaring funding shortfall in the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees had brought new urgency to the international community to address the vulnerability of the refugee community, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today, as it began its annual consideration of the Agency’s work.
