Despite some progress in lowering poverty in least developed countries, it remains worrisomely high, hindering progress at all levels, a senior United Nations official told delegates today as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) took up groups of countries in special situations.
As the Sixth Committee (Legal) today began consideration of the International Law Commission’s draft articles on the protection of persons in the event of disasters, speakers diverged over whether that product appropriately balanced the need to protect the rights of those affected by a disaster against those of the State in which it occurred, and if an international legal framework should be elaborated based on those texts.
Due to a backsliding in human rights exacerbated by global crises and conflicts, gender equality has fallen farther out of reach, while States play catch-up with initiatives supporting access to services and promoting women’s economic and political development, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today, continuing its debate today on the advancement of women.
Petitioners speaking today on the question of Western Sahara called for the adoption of the autonomy plan put forward by Morocco in 2006, while others voiced alarm over human rights reportedly committed in the Tindouf camps, as the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) continued its hearing of petitioners on decolonization matters.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today considered the Secretary-General’s appeal for $775.3 million to fund more than three dozen special political missions in 2024 as several delegates again pushed for the creation of a special financing mechanism to sustain them. While supportive of the missions’ crucial part in the Organization’s global peace and security pillar, delegates voiced their concern that the 39 missions consume a quarter of the Organization’s regular budget.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the General Assembly consultation on Our Common Agenda, in New York today:
Without Ukraine’s right to self-defence, there will be no sustainable peace and security in Europe, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today as it continued its general debate.
The UN Conference on Trade and Development’s newly released Trade and Development Report 2023 warns of a stalling global economy this year, with growth slowing in most regions and only a few countries bucking the trend. The agency calls for a change in policy direction and institutional reforms to avert a lost decade.
Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the Second Sustainable Blue Economy Investment Forum, in Estoril, Portugal, today:
The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf will hold its fifty-ninth session from 4 October to 21 November.
