In progress at UNHQ

‘Convert Words into Action’, Secretary-General Urges as Biodiversity Conference Opens to Advance Earth Rescue Plan

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Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message for the opening ceremony of the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16), in Cali, Colombia, today.

Justifying Deterrence as Legitimate Security Doctrine Gives ‘False Credence’ to Value of Nuclear Weapons for National Security, First Committee Hears

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“It is imperative to put an immediate end to continued and evolving nuclear weapons-sharing arrangements and extended deterrence that in fact is a new nuclear-arms race,” Indonesia’s delegate, speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today, in its thematic debate on nuclear weapons.

International Community Must Address Digital Gap between Developed, Developing States, Speakers Stress, as Second Committee Takes Up Information Technology

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While artificial intelligence (AI) and other innovations hold endless promise for driving prosperity and growth, the international community must urgently address the critical and widening digital gap between developed and developing countries, senior United Nations officials and Member States told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today as it took up information and communications technologies (ICTs) for sustainable development as well as globalization and interdependence.

Sixth Committee Speakers Argue for Inclusive, Equal Participation in Upholding Rule of Law, Despite Challenging Geopolitical Events, as Debate Concludes

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Inclusion and equal participation in systems that provide law and justice — for all individuals at the national level and all States at the international one — is crucial to upholding the rule of law, speakers stressed in the Sixth Committee (Legal) today, as it concluded its debate on that principle against the backdrop of a challenging geopolitical context.

Security Council Renews Sanctions Regime on Haiti for One Year, Unanimously Adopting Resolution 2752 (2024)

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The Security Council today authorized the renewal for one year the sanctions regime on Haiti, continuing a travel ban and asset freeze, and expanding the scope of an arms embargo as well as the designation criteria for those measures initially established in October 2022 and later renewed in October 2023 to quell rampant gang violence and restore security in the crisis-torn nation.

As Gaza Faces Starvation, Food Rights Expert Tells Third Committee ‘You Did Not Act’ on Genocide Risk

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Major world Powers all tacitly agree to allow starvation to be a geopolitical weapon, an independent expert told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, citing conflict as the leading driver of hunger and malnutrition, as materialized in the looming famine in Gaza.