The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
Hailing the recent and historic rapprochements in the Horn of Africa, the Security Council today decided to lift the arms embargo, travel ban, assets freeze and targeted sanctions previously imposed on Eritrea, while simultaneously renewing its sanctions imposed against neighbouring Somalia.
The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) approved 11 draft resolutions today, amid heated debate around the call for a moratorium on use of the death penalty.
Discriminatory practices, excessive use of force and collective punishment against Palestinians are leading to a rapid deterioration of the human rights and humanitarian situation across the occupied territories, speakers told the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today.
Speakers explored on the multidimensional nature of resilience and proposed forward‑looking solutions that could help vulnerable small island developing States to confront hurricanes, typhoons, drought and other impacts of climate change, during a special meeting of the Economic and Social Council today.
One of the world’s most environmentally degraded areas, the Sahel is suffering from a rise in intercommunal conflict over resources depleted by desertification, drought and other climatic extremes, speakers told a joint meeting of the Economic and Social Council and the Peacebuilding Commission today.
Despite an ongoing Ebola outbreak and continued attacks by armed groups, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is nevertheless on track to hold critical elections as planned on 23 December, the top United Nations official in the country told the Security Council today, as delegates expressed hope that a peaceful handover of power could bring longed-for stability to some 85 million people.
As the Sixth Committee (Legal) wrapped up its seventy‑third session today by taking action on 13 draft resolutions, including a historic text, and one draft decision, several delegations, while highlighting the Committee’s tradition of approving resolutions without a vote, at the same time, disassociated themselves from several paragraphs in those draft texts that they deemed contentious.
On 13 November 2018, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1518 (2003) approved the removal of the following entity from its List of Individuals and Entities subject to the assets freeze set out by paragraphs 19 and 23 of Security Council resolution 1483 (2003) adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.
The United Nations refugee agency today called upon countries to take faster and more resolute action to help end statelessness. High Commissioner Filippo Grandi urged politicians, Governments and legislators around the world to take and support decisive action to eliminate statelessness globally by 2024.
