The Intergovernmental Conference to draft a new maritime biodiversity treaty convened its second plenary session today, hearing reports from facilitators and feedback from participants on the developments of the small working groups tasked with tackling different aspects of the draft agreement.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the opening of the 2023 session of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, in New York today:

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

With the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine just days away, the senior United Nations political affairs official told the Security Council today that the Organization is not in a position to verify or confirm any recent claims regarding alleged acts of sabotage against the two Nord Stream undersea gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, in September 2022.

Opening its 2023 session today, the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization heard from speakers debating the propriety of sanctions, the Committee’s working methods and consideration of proposals, as well as its role of supporting Member States in the peaceful settlement of disputes.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Vanessa Frazier (Malta):

With Tropical Cyclone Freddy putting 2.6 million people in Madagascar, Mozambique and Zimbabwe at risk, the United Nations and its partners have pre-deployed about 80 staff, has pre-positioned emergency stocks to areas likely to be affected and has two aircraft on standby to facilitate assessments and initial response.

Upcoming local elections — the first planned in the Central African Republic since 1988 — present the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to advance the country’s peace and political process, senior officials told the Security Council today, as members highlighted the deteriorating security and socioeconomic situations and their heavy toll on civilians.

Hailing peacekeeping as the truest form of international solidarity, speakers at the first meeting of the 2023 session of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations underscored the need to strengthen missions and operations through strategic communications, gender mainstreaming and better protections for those who serve in them.

The General Assembly adopted five consensus resolutions today on Africa’s development and durable peace across the continent, sustainable development, global health and chemical weapons, with the latter surviving a challenge by a competing resolution put forth by the Russian Federation, which also issued a litany of amendments to the text.