The Security Council has once again failed to act in the face of the crisis that has escalated for six months in Gaza, imperiling peace and security and causing unchecked suffering and devastation, speakers told the General Assembly today, in a meeting sparked by a veto cast by the United States, which blocked a draft resolution on 18 April that would have granted the State of Palestine full membership in the United Nations.
Amid multiplying disinformation, rising tensions and armed conflicts — including in Gaza and Ukraine — the Department of Global Communications serves as a vital bridge between the United Nations and the global community, delegates told the Committee on Information today, as it concluded the general debate of its forty-sixth session today.
The Department of Global Communications engages global audiences not just on the state of a world troubled by spreading pollution, inequality, hate and violence, but also on “the solutions that are out there”, its top official told the Committee on Information during the opening of its forty-sixth session today, as delegates highlighted the need to combat disinformation through facts communicated by the United Nations across and beyond its six official languages.
More than seven years after it created a mechanism to analyse evidence of human rights abuses in Syria, the General Assembly today considered the work of this body and heard from its Head that additional funding is needed in order to continue assisting national investigations of these crimes, before adopting several draft texts recommended by the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).
Amidst ongoing paralysis in the Security Council due to the proliferating use — and misuse — of the veto despite escalating global crises, speakers in the General Assembly today called for action to ensure that casting one is not the end of United Nations action when the eyes of the world are looking to the Organization to deliver an effective response.
In a meeting triggered by a veto cast by the Russian Federation on 28 March to reject the adoption of a Council resolution that would have extended the mandate of the sanctions panel monitoring the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s nuclear weapon and missile programmes, speakers warned the General Assembly that the veto sets a dangerous precedent and could have a cascading effect on other Council sanctions.
Concluding its second resumed session on the International Law Commission’s draft articles on “Crimes against humanity” today, the Sixth Committee (Legal) adopted a written summary of its deliberations during both the 2023 and 2024 resumed sessions on this topic, also taking note of the Chair’s summary of the same, as orally amended, after multiple delegations raised concerns over its wording and content.
The Security Council failed to speak on a matter of grave importance as it remained paralyzed for months as the crisis in Gaza continued and vetoes proliferated, speakers told the General Assembly today, in a meeting triggered by vetoes cast by the Russian Federation and China on 22 March to reject the adoption of a Council resolution submitted by the United States on the conflict in Gaza.
The Sixth Committee (Legal) met this afternoon to hear oral reports from co-facilitators on the thematic clusters that oriented the Committee’s discussion this week, as it considered the International Law Commission’s draft articles on “Crimes against humanity”.
The Sixth Committee (Legal) continued its consideration of the International Law Commission’s draft articles on “Crimes against humanity” today, with delegates further illustrating the nuance required to approach international codification on such crimes as they debated provisions seeking to establish safeguards before turning to the larger issue — the Commission’s recommendation to elaborate a convention on this topic.
