Concluding the main part of its seventy-first session, the General Assembly today adopted 14 resolutions and 1 decision recommended by its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) that tackled management and fiscal issues, as well as 11 resolutions from its plenary and First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) tackling a wide range of issues, including nuclear disarmament, oceans and international law.

As it managed the first year of the current 2016-2017 budget cycle and zeroed in on ways to make the Organization run more efficiently in a world facing fiscal constraints, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today approved 14 resolutions and two decisions on a wide range of management and fiscal issues.

14 Delegations in Favour of Resolution 2334 (2016) as United States Abstains

The Security Council reaffirmed this afternoon that Israel’s establishment of settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, had no legal validity, constituting a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the vision of two States living side-by-side in peace and security, within internationally recognized borders.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

Despite the conclusion of efforts to evacuate the eastern districts of Aleppo, the situation in Syria remained catastrophic, a senior United Nations humanitarian official told the Security Council this morning.

John Ging, Operations Director of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told the Security Council that the evacuation operation from eastern Aleppo, Syria, ended late last night, with more than 35,000 people evacuated, including 20,000 people since resolution 2328 (2016) was passed earlier this week.

The Security Council voted this morning against imposing an arms embargo on South Sudan and targeted sanctions on three key Government and opposition figures whose dispute has spiralled into widespread violence in the young nation.

On 23 December 2016, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1988 (2011) enacted the amendments specified with strikethrough and underline in the entry below to its List (the 1988 List) of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 2255 (2015) adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) for a final period until 30 March 2018.

On Wednesday, 21 December, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, accompanied by Madam Ban Soon-taek, visited the United States State of Illinois.