Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the wreath‑laying ceremony for peacekeepers, in Bangui today:
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is increasingly concerned by escalating displacement in several key regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where 3.9 million people are internally displaced and the challenges of getting aid to people in need are growing fast.
Following is the text of UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ video message in Olympia, Greece for the torch relay ceremony for the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea:
As the Sixth Committee (Legal) continued its consideration of the report of the International Law Commission today, delegates delved into the topic, “Provisional application of treaties” and the related draft guidelines, spotlighting the legal differences between treaties that were provisionally applied versus ones that were in full force. (For background, see Press Release GA/L/3554).
While welcoming the overall sound financial health of the United Nations, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) meeting today expressed concern about the potential of the employee benefits liabilities decimating the regular budget over time should it remain unfunded.
The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) approved two draft resolutions on questions relating to information today, concluding its general debate on that subject.
States and international organizations must take simple, practical measures to ensure inclusivity, experts told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today as delegates debated the human rights of persons with disabilities, alongside broader freedoms of expression, belief and religion in an era of growing intolerance.
Israeli occupation and natural resource exploitation continued to hamper social and economic development in the occupied State of Palestine and the Syrian Golan, speakers told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) as it discussed those territories today.
United Nations Secretary‑General António Guterres arrived in Washington, D.C., from New York on Thursday afternoon, 19 October.
It will take more than 100 years to end child marriage in West and Central Africa at current rates of reduction, UNICEF reported today. The new projections, released during a high-level meeting on ending child marriage in Dakar, Senegal, this week, aim to bring the spotlight on the region where girls face the highest risk of marrying in childhood.
