FOURTH COMMITTEE ELECTS VICE-CHAIRMEN, ADOPTS PROGRAMME OF WORK
Press Release
GA/SPD/132
FOURTH COMMITTEE ELECTS VICE-CHAIRMEN, ADOPTS PROGRAMME OF WORK
19980917 The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization), this morning elected Tomas Hrbac (Slovakia) and Chun Hae-jin (Republic of Korea) as Vice-Chairmen. The Committee's third Vice-Chairman, who will also serve as its Rapporteur, will be elected at a future meeting. The Chairman of the Committee, Pablo Macedo (Mexico), was elected on 9 September.Also this morning, the Committee adopted its 13-item programme of work for the fifty-third session.
The Committee will begin its substantive work on Monday, 5 October, with a discussion of decolonization issues. That discussion, scheduled to last through 14 October, will include consideration of the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples; activities which affect the interests of the peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories; and information from those Territories transmitted under Article 73e of the United Nations Charter.
Other matters to be considered during the current session are the effects of atomic radiation; international cooperation on the peaceful uses of outer space; and questions relating to information. The Committee will also conduct a comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations.
The Fourth Committee will also consider the activities of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) as well as the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories.
As the Committee considered its work programme, the representative of Morocco said he regretted that many documents had not yet been issued, despite the rule that Secretariat documentation must be issued six weeks in advance of a Committee's consideration of an item. The representative of Egypt noted that there had been a departure from the Committee's past practice of considering in sequence the two agenda items related to the Middle East. Syria's representative stressed that political aspects, not only technical matters, should be a factor in scheduling the Committee's work.
Fourth Committee - - Press Release GA/SPD/132 2nd Meeting 17 September 1998
Committee Secretary Mohammad Sattar said the two items had been separated for technical scheduling reasons. On the questions of documents, he said that they were not being received on time from substantive departments. The Secretariat was striving to issue them at the earliest possible date.
The Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. on Monday, 5 October, to begin its general debate on decolonization issues.
* *** *