Israel’s ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories and the Syrian Golan, colliding with the impacts of the COVID‑19 pandemic, have turned into a crisis within a crisis for the millions of people living there, delegates heard today as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) took up the issue of those lands.
In progress at UNHQ
Second Committee
With the COVID-19 pandemic upending economic gains and hampering efforts to push forward with country-level goals, speakers highlighted the need to harness South-South cooperation and ramp up funding for the United Nations development and resident coordinator systems, as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) took up operational activities for development today.
With COVID‑19 sending shockwaves through trade and supply chains and pushing developing countries further behind, speakers called for urgent reform of the global trade system that ensures an equitable and inclusive recovery for all, as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) took up macroeconomic policy today.
In rerouting the global community onto a sustainable path after COVID-19 setbacks and devastating natural hazards, speakers in the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today highlighted the need to restore degraded land, protect biodiversity, conserve natural ecosystems and tackle climate change.
Protecting nature and biodiversity are critical not only to sustainable development, but to the future of humanity and the planet, delegates stressed as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) took up sustainable development and heard reports on the topic today.
In recovering from economic downturns sparked by COVID‑19, warding off future calamities and meeting development targets, speakers urged nations to conserve resources and build resilience by closing wide inequities between countries, especially through debt forgiveness, as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) concluded its general debate today.
With their progress hindered by the climate crisis and the COVID‑19 pandemic, least developed countries aim to use an upcoming United Nations conference as a springboard to recover from their economic woes, echoed delegates as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) took up groups of countries and special situations today.
Stressing that developed countries must ramp up global cooperation to close the world’s glaring economic gap, speakers focused on the need to tackle vaccine inequity, the ruinous effects of COVID‑19, climate change and implementation of development goals, as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) continued its general debate today.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the world how ill-equipped it is to handle crises, needing new approaches to tackle health and climate change, as well as vaccine inequality, the digital divide and unequal access to education, Professor Mariana Mazzucato told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today, as it began its general debate.
The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) of the United Nations General Assembly held its first meeting of the seventy‑sixth session today, introducing the Bureau and approving its organization of work.