Sixty-second General Assembly

Plenary

52^nd Meeting (AM)

GENERAL ASSEMBLY FILLS SEATS ON SUBSIDIARY ORGANS; NOMINATIONS

MATCH NUMBER OF VACANCIES, SO ALL DECISIONS BY CONSENSUS

 

The General Assembly, through elections and appointments, today filled several vacancies to subsidiary organs of the Assembly and other United Nations administrative and budgetary bodies, including inaugural appointments to the recently established Independent Audit Advisory Committee.

Earlier, the Assembly decided by consensus to postpone until Monday next (19 November) action on the draft resolution entitled “Overview of United Nations activities relating to climate change”.

The Assembly then proceeded with its elections and appointments to several bodies, among them, the Committee for Programme and Coordination; the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); and the Committee on Conferences -- as well as several entities brought before Member States by the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).  All the decisions were taken by consensus, without voting.

Based on the recommendations of that Committee, the Assembly selected three members, each to serve a three-year term on the Independent Audit Advisory Committee, as well as two members, each to serve a four-year term, all beginning 1 January 2008.  The three-year appointees were Vadim Dubinkin of the Russian Federation, Vijayendra Nath Kaul of India, and Adrian Patrick Strachan of Jamaica.  John Muwanga of Uganda and David Walker of the United States were appointed to four-year terms.

Again, acting on the Fifth Committee’s recommendation, the Assembly named six new appointees to the 16-member Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) for a three-year term of office, beginning 1 January 2008.  They were:  Jorge Flores Callegas of Honduras, Imtiaz Hussain of Pakistan, Misako Kaji of Japan, Jerry Kramer of Canada, Peter Maddens of Belgium, and Nagesh Singh of India.

Further, following Fifth Committee approval, the Assembly selected six new members of the Committee on Contributions for a three-year term, beginning on 1 January 2008:  Joseph Acakpo-Satchivi of Benin, Abdelmalek Bouheddou of Algeria, Gordon Eckersley of Australia, Bernardo Greiver del Hoyo of Uruguay, Luis Mariano Hermosillo Sosa of Mexico, and Eduardo Manuel da Fonseca Fernandes Ramos of Portugal.

Again acting on the Committee’s recommendation, the Assembly confirmed the appointment of Achim Kassow of Germany, and the reappointments of William McDonough of the United States and Hélène Poix of France, to the Investments Committee.  All will serve three-year terms beginning on 1 January 2008.  In addition, Ivan Pictet of Switzerland was made an ad hoc member for a one-year term from the same date.

Continuing with appointments previously approved by the Fifth Committee, the Assembly appointed the Auditor-General of the General Audit Office of China to be a member of the Board of Auditors for a six-year term, starting on 1 July 2008.

Finally, again in accordance with the Fifth Committee, Augustin Gordillo of Argentina was appointed, and Dayendra Wijewardane of Sri Lanka was reappointed, to the United Nations Administrative Tribunal.  Each will serve for four years, beginning 1 January 2008.

Outside of Fifth Committee matters, the Assembly elected 29 members to the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme for four-year terms.  Since the number of candidates corresponded with the number of vacancies, and in the absence of any delegation requesting a vote, these countries were declared elected:  Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Fiji, Finland, Guinea, Hungary, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Mali, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Niger, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Spain, Tunisia and Tuvalu.

They will join the following countries, whose terms continue:   Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Burundi, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, France, Germany, Haiti, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, South Africa, Thailand, Uganda, United States and Uruguay.

Seven new members were elected to the Committee for Programme and Coordination:   Bangladesh, China, Jamaica, Kenya, Libya, Niger and Republic of Korea.  They join these States, who remain as members of the Committee:   Argentina, Armenia, Belarus, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria, Central African Republic, Comoros, Cuba, France, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Pakistan, Portugal, Russian Federation, Senegal, South Africa, Switzerland, Uruguay, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

Two vacancies remain on the Committee for Programme and Coordination -- for the Group of Western European States -- and the Assembly will act on those upon receiving nominations from the Economic and Social Council.

The Assembly today appointed six new members to fill vacancies in the Committee on Conferences:   Austria, China, Japan, Kenya, Tunisia and United States.  They join Belarus, Burundi, El Salvador, France, Germany, Honduras, Lesotho, Malaysia, Nigeria, Philippines, Russian Federation, Senegal and Syria.

The Assembly will continue to hold consultations regarding one remaining vacancy on that Committee, for the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States.

In addition to the elections and appointments, the Assembly today approved an extension of the work of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee), which will hold one more meeting next Tuesday, 20 November.

The General Assembly will meet again at 10 a.m. on Monday, 19 November, to take action on the President’s draft resolution on climate change, and to take up matters related to effective coordination of humanitarian assistance.

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For information media • not an official record