Optimistic that interlinked reform processes juxtaposed with improved service delivery within the United Nations will reinvigorate the Sustainable Development Goals at all levels and redirect savings towards development and carrying out the UN’s mandate, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today called for more detailed information and data on the concept.

The General Assembly today designated 7 September as World Duchenne Awareness Day, to be observed as a United Nations day every year, beginning in 2024, as it held its annual debate on global health, with speakers expressing deep alarm over the persistent and deadly spread of tuberculosis.

Fifty-three days since the Israel-Gaza war began, speakers called today for the current humanitarian pause to become a sustained ceasefire — and for renewed efforts to be made for a two-State solution in the Middle East — during a ministerial-level meeting of the Security Council that coincided with the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

On 24 November 2023, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1970 (2011) concerning Libya decided to grant a humanitarian travel exemption, pursuant to paragraph 16(a) of resolution 1970 (2011), effective from 1 December 2023 through 31 May 2024, to the following two individuals:

The resumed thirty-third Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, presided over by Cornel Ferută (Romania), was held at Headquarters on 28 November.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that the humanitarian pause, agreed upon by Israel and Hamas, has been largely maintained on 27 November for the fourth consecutive day. This has enabled humanitarian actors to enhance the delivery of assistance into and across Gaza.

Speakers requested more details as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today considered the Secretariat’s request for a $2.56 million infusion of capital to establish 19 new posts in the Department of Safety and Security in 2024, while also supporting proposed funding to keep the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia running smoothly next year.

Opening a day-long meeting on the question of Palestine, the General Assembly President warned that the longer the fear, distrust, appetite for revenge, hatred and anxiety fester and further deepen, the more lethal the psychological chasm grows, and the darker the shadow it will cast over generations to come.

Sustained, operationalized de-escalation is urgently needed as regional developments continue to be felt inside Syria, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, as members echoed concerns about potential regional conflagration.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, observed on 29 November: