The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said it was deeply alarmed by the escalating violence and widespread loss of civilian life in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel, underlining that only robust political action could prevent further escalation.

The fight against terrorism began in the building of peaceful and inclusive societies and effective and accountable institutions, as well as an international comprehensive convention, the Sixth Committee (Legal) heard today.

By building an extraordinary legal edifice of international criminal accountability, the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia had helped lay the groundwork for future generations to prosecute international law violations more efficiently and with a better understanding of the law, the General Assembly heard today as it took up the latest reports on the courts.

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the Security Council at its open debate on women, peace and security, in New York today:

The Security Council today outlined sweeping actions to improve implementation of its landmark women, peace and security agenda, covering its work on countering violent extremism and terrorism, improving working methods and broadly taking up the gender recommendations of a just-completed global study it had requested two years ago.

Despite multifaceted international efforts, speakers in the Sixth Committee (Legal) today noted with alarm the growth of terrorist groups, stressing that if measures diverged from the norms of international law, the crisis would only worsen.

Armed conflict had caused the world to become fragmented and left it “shaken to the core” as the system of global security became diluted, and international relations turned to “mutual alienation and mistrust”, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today during its general debate.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today heard United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon formally unveil an initial budget proposal of $5.57 billion for the 2016-2017 budget cycle that begins 1 January 2016.  The proposal was down 1.6 per cent, or $90.8 million, from the appropriation for the current two-year budget cycle that ends in December and up $10.2 million, or 0.2 per cent, from the budget outline figure set by the General Assembly nearly a year ago.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video message for ITU Telecom World 2015, in Budapest today:

The new Sustainable Development Goals could not be achieved without full and equal rights for all women, top United Nations officials told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as it began its discussion on the advancement of women with an interactive debate.