United Nations, July 28 (IANS) Washington and Paris have clashed over the reelection of Volker Turk as the UN human Rights chief, and it boiled over in the Security Council with the US staging a dramatic walkout when France began to speak.Dan Negrea, a senior US diplomat, accused France of “disingenuous grandstanding” on human rights after he walked out on Monday as France’s Permanent Representative Jerome Bonnafont began speaking during a discussion Ukraine.The public spat between the two…
Latest General Assembly News & Updates
United Nations, July 15 (IANS) India has warned that people’s view of the UN is sinking as it fails to reform the Security Council to make it capable of ending conflicts end human suffering.“Public perception about the UN has changed adversely in the recent past primarily due to the Security Council’s inability to meaningfully intervene in raging conflicts across different parts of the globe”, India’s Permanent Representative P Harish said on Tuesday.“The Security Council has been in…
United Nations, July 14 (IANS) External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Monday launched India’s candidature for the Security Council with a six-point manifesto centered on Shanti, a profoundly significant acronym for “Securing Holistic Advancement through Norms, Trust [and] Integrity”. Speaking to delegates and diplomats from around the world here, EAM Jaishankar said India would be the Voice of the Global South at the Council, and was running on its record of helping developing nations, parti…
United Nations, July 13 (IANS) India is pursuing parallel roads to the UN Security Council (UNSC), launching on Monday a campaign for election to it, while continuing its bid for a permanent seat.External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar is to formally announce India’s candidature for the Asia Pacific non-permanent seat in next year’s elections for the two-year term starting in 2028.India, which has served eight terms as an elected member, will continue its fight against terrorism, a hall…
United Nations, July 11 (IANS) India has called for an end to economic embargoes and sanctions, assailing them as barriers to economic and social development, and infringements on the sovereignty of nations.“As the world’s largest democracy, India regards multilateralism as an article of faith”, Eldos Mathew Punnoose, a counsellor at India’s Permanent Mission, told the General Assembly on Friday.Embargoes and sanctions “impede the realisation of human rights, including the rights to deve…
United Nations, July 6 (IANS) As artificial intelligence races at “runaway speed”, the UN launched on Monday a global meeting to ponder the existential question posed by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres: Will humanity “shape this transformation together — or let it shape us”? “Today, that question has an answer — right here, at this Global Dialogue on AI Governance,” he said. “For the first time, every country has a seat at the table, and we have a shared base of evidence.””Some lines, once …
United Nations, July 2 (IANS) The General Assembly has overwhelmingly again urged the adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) proposed by India.The Ninth Review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (GCTS), which was carried by 140 votes with three against on Wednesday, urged member nations to “make every effort” to adopt the CCIT, which has been languishing for 31 years after New Delhi proposed it.India’s Permanent Representative P. Harish warned t…
United Nations, July 2 (IANS) The world organisation is in danger of going broke by the end of next month despite a lifeline thrown to it by the General Assembly through a change in funding procedure, according to UN officials. Assistant Secretary-General Chandramouli Ramanathan put it bluntly on Wednesday (local time): “We don’t have cash beyond August”.That’s just before the UN’s annual high-level meeting that convenes in September with a parade of world leaders.Come “September, money is gone”…
United Nations, July 1 (IANS) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the General Assembly’s decision on unspent budget funds.”I welcome today’s (Tuesday’s) decision by the General Assembly to reform financial rules that were putting the Organization’s stability at risk. By its vote, the Assembly has agreed to introduce, for a four-year trial period, a new methodology to ensure that unspent funds are returned to Member States only when they are backed by cash,” said Guterres in a statemen…
United Nations, June 4 (IANS) In a contentious race to succeed Pakistan for a seat earmarked for the Asia Pacific region on the UN Security Council, Kyrgyzstan has defeated the Philippines after four rounds of voting. To be elected, countries have to get a two-thirds majority. In elections held in the General Assembly on Wednesday, Portugal and Austria defeated the European powerhouse, Germany, for the two Western European seats.With the combination of votes for the two seats, Portugal received …