The General Assembly would establish two open-ended working groups related to the prevention of an arms race in outer space, according to overlapping draft resolutions approved today by the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), which had delegations warning that parallel processes would lead to further polarization and fragmentation of efforts to preserve space security.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks on the occasion of the opening of the pre-twenty-eighth Conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), in Abu Dhabi today:

The following statement by UN Secretary-General António Guterres was issued today:

In Ukraine, an Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs official, briefing the Security Council today, said that more than 9,900 civilians have been killed since the start of the invasion and damage to infrastructure continues to impact civilians’ access to electricity, heating, water and telecommunications.

On 19 October 2023, and in pursuance of paragraph 5 of resolution 2664 (2022), a representative of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), on behalf of the Emergency Relief Coordinator, briefed the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 2206 (2015) concerning South Sudan on the delivery of life-saving assistance and other activities that support essential human needs in South Sudan.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ peace message remarks, in Lumbini, Nepal today:

Following the Secretary-General’s strategic review of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), the Security Council today extended until 31 October 2024 the Mission’s mandate and tasks, as set out in resolutions 2158 (2014) and 2592 (2021).

Detailing the death and destruction in the nearly two-year war in Ukraine, a senior UN official urged all parties to spare all civilians and civilian objects and facilitate the swift and unhindered provision of humanitarian relief during his briefing to the Security Council today, emphasizing that what Ukrainians need, above all, is an end to the devastating war.

The head of the UN refugee agency appealed to the Security Council today to call for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, emphasizing that there is urgent need for its 15 members to overcome their differences, unite and resolve a raft of conflicts which have displaced staggering 114 million people around the world.

Civilians in Gaza must not be the target of collective punishment, speakers told the Security Council today, as calls for a ceasefire gained greater urgency amid the intensification of Israel’s lethal military offensive into the besieged enclave, following the 7 October attacks by the armed group Hamas against that country.