The General Assembly today adopted its annual resolution calling for an end to the United States-led embargo on Cuba, with speakers emphasizing how urgent it is to end the restrictive economic policies in light of crippling COVID‑19 challenges and the mounting global food, fuel, and inflation crises.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) today released its Adaptation Gap Report, which finds that global efforts in adaptation planning, financing and implementation are not keeping pace with the growing risks.

Expressing concern over the fragmentation of standards and arrangements in the employment conditions and compensation of United Nations staff worldwide, delegates reiterated their commitment to a single, unified common system and called for solutions, as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) reviewed the Secretary-General’s proposals to promote consistency.

The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), having approved nearly 50 drafts thus far on nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, outer space (disarmament aspects), and conventional weapons, focused today on positions regarding other disarmament measures and international security, on which voting is set for Thursday, 3 November.

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

As the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) continued its general debate on all aspects of United Nations peacekeeping, speakers called today for realistic mandates, improved strategic communication and support for regional partnerships.

The Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine has driven the fastest, largest displacement witnessed in decades, with some 14 million people forced from their homes since 24 February, Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told the Security Council today.

States must maintain a spirit of constructive dialogue when implementing mandates stemming from resolutions adopted by the Human Rights Council, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today, as it continued its general discussion on the report by that body and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The Security Council today failed to adopt a resolution put forth by the Russian Federation to set up a commission consisting of all members of the Council to investigate its complaint about the non-compliance by the United States and Ukraine with their obligations under the Biological Weapons Convention.

Tackling the topic, “General principles of law”, the Sixth Committee (Legal) concluded its consideration of Cluster 3 of the International Law Commission’s report today — and thereby, its consideration of that report as a whole — as delegates delved into the complexity of achieving consensus on aspects of international law for which little to no uniform State practice exists.