General Assembly Adopts 20 Texts of Its Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian, Cultural), as Procedural Wrangling Slows Action across Agenda

General Assembly Adopts 20 Texts of Its Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian, Cultural), as Procedural Wrangling Slows Action across Agenda

(Note: A complete summary of today's General Assembly meetings will be available at a later time.)

Against expectations of a day marked by sweeping action on draft resolutions and decisions emerging from its Third (Social, Humanitarian, Cultural), Second (Economic, Financial) and Sixth (Legal) Committees, the General Assembly's work unfolded far more narrowly, as protracted procedural wrangling reshaped the pace of proceedings.

By late afternoon, rather than advancing across the full slate of texts before it, the UN's 193-member deliberative body had confined the bulk of its action to draft resolutions submitted by its Third Committee.

The Assembly adopted 20 resolutions by recorded vote and postponed action on all other Third Committee drafts, as proceedings were bogged down by extensive procedural objections over an amendment introduced to a text related to the rights of persons with disabilities.

The Assembly had before it 56 draft proposals - 55 resolutions and one decision. The texts span a broad spectrum of the United Nations' normative work in human rights, social development, the advancement of women and gender equality, and the protection of vulnerable groups - including children, refugees and persons with disabilities - as well as a range of cultural questions.

Committee Rapporteur Edna Stephanie Williams (Ghana), introducing the body's report (document A/80/545), said the Committee held 52 plenary meetings and heard introductory statements from 80 special procedures mandate holders, chairs of treaty bodies and other experts and 16 United Nations officials during the interactive dialogues under the agenda items. She said that 41 of the proposals were put to a vote before they were approved.

"The eightieth session has been marked by a liquidity crisis that tested the rhythm and resources of our work," she said, adding that adjustments were made to its working methods. However, "at every step, we were guided by the conviction that human dignity must remain central to the international agenda," she said, declaring: "The impact of our work reaches far beyond this hall. It is felt in the lives of people who may never know our names."

Many texts that had previously been adopted by consensus were put to a vote this year. Explaining his delegation's position, the representative of the United States said Washington, D.C., had engaged "selectively", focusing its efforts on negotiating resolutions "only where we saw opportunities to advance US priorities". He said his country disengaged from negotiations and voted against texts that, in its view, recycled "performative, divisive and irrelevant issues year after year". He added that numerous resolutions proposed amounted to little more than "a globalist wish list" of divisive cultural causes, citing issues such as climate change, sexual and reproductive health, gender, and what he described as a "perverse donor-recipient industrial complex".

The representative of Denmark, speaking for the European Union, expressed regret that "this year, almost all previously consensual resolutions have been called to a vote", voicing concern that "this undermines our collective efforts and the constructive spirit of striving for consensus that has been a tradition in this Committee - a spirit that the EU and its member States are committed to uphold".

While no brand-new draft resolutions were tabled during the current main session, the Assembly remained seized of global challenges, such as ongoing conflicts and occupations in various regions, by adopting several texts aimed at promoting and protecting the right to self-determination - a fundamental principle enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

The draft resolution "The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination" (document A/C.3/80/L.26) was adopted by a vote of 164 in favour to 8 against (Argentina, Israel, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, United States) with 9 abstentions (Cameroon, Ecuador, Fiji Marshall Islands, Panama, Samoa, South Sudan, Togo, Tonga).

By the text, the Assembly reaffirmed the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to their independent State of Palestine, and urged all States and the specialized agencies and organizations of the United Nations to continue to support and assist the Palestinian people in the early realization of their right to self-determination.

The draft resolution "Use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination" (document A/C.3/80/L.42) was adopted by a vote of 121 in favour to 53 against with 5 abstentions (Fiji, Palau, Paraguay, Switzerland, Tonga).

By the text, the Assembly urged, once again, all States to take the steps necessary and exercise the utmost vigilance against the menace posed by the activities of mercenaries and ensure that their nationals do not take part in the recruitment, assembly, financing, training, protection or transit of mercenaries for the planning of activities designed to impede the right of peoples to self-determination.

Follow-up to Landmark Conferences

Several recurrent texts drew renewed attention, including "Implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly" (document A/C.3/80/L.12/Rev.1) and "Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly" (document A/C.3/80/L.59).

This year marked the thirtieth anniversary of these landmark 1995 global conferences - the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen and the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. The former produced the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action, which set out a comprehensive framework to advance social development. At the latter, States adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, an outcome widely regarded as the most ambitious global blueprint for achieving women's rights and gender equality.

By the terms of "L.12/Rev.1", which was adopted a vote of 180 in favour to 3 against (Argentina, Israel, United States) with 0 abstentions, the Assembly welcomed the convening of the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha from 4 to 6 November 2025 and urged Member States to strengthen social policies, as appropriate, paying particular attention to the specific needs of disadvantaged and marginalized social groups, inter alia, women, children, youth, persons with disabilities, people living with HIV/AIDS, older persons, Indigenous Peoples, refugees, internally displaced persons, migrants and other persons in vulnerable situations.

By the terms of "L.59", which was adopted a vote of 179 in favour to 3 against (Argentina, Israel, United States) with 0 abstentions, the Assembly called upon Governments and all other stakeholders to systematically mainstream a gender perspective into the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in contribute to the full, effective and accelerated implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

Some resolutions have been controversial, including "Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance" (document A/C.3/80/L.2), which was adopted, as amended, by a vote of 119 in favour to 51 against with 10 abstentions (Bahamas, Côte d'Ivoire, Dominica, Fiji, Myanmar, Samoa, Switzerland, Tonga, Türkiye, Tuvalu).

Before the text was adopted as a whole, the Assembly approved an insertion of a provision by which the 193-member organ noted "with alarm that the Russian Federation has sought to justify its territorial aggression against Ukraine on the purported basis of eliminating neo-Nazism, and underlines that the pretextual use of neo-Nazism to justify territorial aggression seriously undermines genuine attempts to combat neo-Nazism".

The representative of the Russian Federation expressed regret that Western countries sought to transform the Russian initiative into a politicized, country-specific document by such a provocative amendment. The aim of the original text was simple, she said, emphasizing that ideologies of racial superiority and other forms of exceptionalism, as well as discrimination on ethnic, religious and other grounds, have no place in the modern world.

The proceedings were stalled when an amendment (document A/80/L.40) to the draft resolution "Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol thereto: amplified barriers in diverse contexts" (document A/C.3/80/L.44/Rev.1) was introduced. The amendment resulted in a tie vote, with 74 votes in favour to 74 against with 18 abstentions. Following a lengthy and contentious procedural debate, the Committee decided to postpone further action by a vote of 76 in favour to 75 against, with 2 abstentions (Haiti and Nepal).

The Assembly will take action on the remaining drafts at a later date.

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Complete Live Blog coverage of today's meeting can be found here.