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.
Speakers in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) agreed today that the capacity to pay must remain the core principle that determines how much each Member State must pay into the United Nations’ regular and peacekeeping budgets, but they differed on how best to readjust the scales of assessment for the period 2022‑2024, particularly in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
As the Sixth Committee (Legal) met to approve its work programme for the seventy-sixth session and begin its consideration of the Secretary-General report on measures to eliminate international terrorism, delegates welcomed the Organization’s coordinating role in the fight against the global threat and praised its updated counter-terrorism strategy.
Gender‑based violence and discrimination against women continue unabated, even as the pandemic continues to exact a greater toll on them than their male counterparts, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today, as it commenced its debate on the advancement of women.
The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today heard introductory statements and held interactive discussions on the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and the Special Committee tasked with investigating Israeli practices affecting human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, while also beginning its consideration of agenda items related to the issue of decolonization.
Instead of racing to contain the coronavirus pandemic, a number of nations have entered a deadly arms race, delegates said today, as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) began its general debate.
The rights of women and children are a central focus of Government policymaking as countries work to close the social fissures ripped wide open by the COVID-19 pandemic, delegates in the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian, Cultural) said today, amid calls for greater cooperation in the response plans.
Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today stressed the need to share responsibility for the Organization’s financial stability to avert any liquidity crisis and achieve the essential mandates laid out by the General Assembly.
The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) continued its general debate today, with delegates expressing concerns about the economic and social toll exacted by COVID-19 on the free expression of human rights and drawing attention to the ways their countries are working to meet the needs of the most vulnerable as they emerge from the crisis.
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.
