Managing personnel costs while exercising fiscal constraint guided the discussion of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today, as it examined new and proposed compensation rules that governed, among other things, separation payments, dependency allowances and salary scales for staff in Geneva.
Non-compliance on the part of States had hindered the ability of human rights rapporteurs to investigate violations in countries under their purview, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today during its first day of interactive dialogue on area-specific situations.
Amid an increasingly complex global security landscape, special political missions could play a vital role in preventing conflicts and building sustainable peace, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today as it began its consideration of that matter.
Approving four draft resolutions relating to the report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the Sixth Committee (Legal) today reaffirmed the important role of that body and its work, before continuing its deliberations on the report of the International Law Commission.
Taking action on more than 22 texts, many aimed at bolstering disarmament efforts, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) once again approved a draft resolution that would ask the General Assembly to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East, seeking to provide a measure of assurance in a region brimming with turmoil and insecurity.
Seventy years after its inception, the International Court of Justice — the principal judicial organ of the United Nations and “tireless custodian of the international legal order” — was more needed now than ever before, the General Assembly heard today, as it considered the Court’s latest annual report.
NEW YORK, 27 October (Joint Investigative Mechanism) — The Security Council considered the fourth report (document S/2016/888) of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)–United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism, pursuant to resolution 2235 (2015), which mandated the Mechanism to identify to the greatest extent feasible those involved in the use of chemicals as weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic where the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission determined that a specific incident involved or likely involved the use of chemicals as weapons.
The Secretary-General is appalled by reports of attacks that killed students and teachers in a school complex in Haas village, Idlib governorate, Syria, on 26 October. He calls for immediate and impartial investigation of this and other similar attacks against civilians in Syria.
To mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of Babi Yar Ravine, the United Nations Department of Public Information, in partnership with the Permanent Missions of Ukraine and Israel to the United Nations, will host a round-table discussion from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, 2 November, in Conference Room 1 at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:
