Sixty-second General Assembly

Plenary

116^th Meeting (AM)

show commitment to 2008 games by strengthening peace, harmony culture based

on spirit of olympic truce, urges General Assembly President

Member States Approve Appointment of New High Commissioner for Human Rights

The President of the General Assembly appealed to Member States this morning to demonstrate their commitment to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing through concrete actions at all levels to promote and strengthen a culture of peace and harmony, based on the spirit of the Olympic Truce.

In his solemn appeal (document A/62/912), the President recalled that in 1992, the International Olympic Committee had renewed the ancient Greek tradition of the ekecheiria (Olympic Truce), a hallowed principle of the Games.  In 1993, the General Assembly, in its resolution 48/11, had urged Member States to observe the Olympic Truce from the seventh day before the opening to the seventh day following the closing of each Olympic Games.

Last October, the Assembly adopted resolution 62/4 in connection with the forthcoming XXIX Olympiad and the Paralympic Games to be held in Beijing, urging Member States to observe the Olympic Truce from 8 to 24 August and from 6 to 17 September 2008, respectively, based on the slogan “One World, One Dream”.

Today, the Assembly took note of that appeal, which also recalls that the Olympic movement aspires to contribute to a peaceful future for all humankind through the educational value of sport.  The Games bring together athletes from all parts of the world in the greatest of international sporting events as a means to promote peace, mutual understanding and goodwill among nations and peoples -- goals that are also part of the founding values of the United Nations.  As an expression of those common objectives, the International Olympic Committee decided in 1998 to fly the United Nations flag at all competition sites of the Games.  The two bodies have subsequently strengthened their mutual cooperation through joint endeavours in such fields as poverty alleviation, human development, education, health promotion, gender equality and environmental protection.

Also this morning, the Assembly approved the appointment of Navanethem Pillay of South Africa as the new United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for a term of four years, beginning on 1 September 2008.  Judge Pillay, an internationally renowned jurist, has served as a judge of the South African High Court.  She was a founding judge, and later President, of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and Judge of the International Criminal Court.

Representatives of France (on behalf of the Group of Western European and Other States), Ethiopia (on behalf of the African States), Barbados (on behalf of the Latin American and Caribbean States), Cuba (on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement), South Africa and Estonia (on behalf of the Eastern European Group) congratulated Judge Pillay on her appointment, reaffirming the relevance of her mandate to promote and protect the enjoyment of all human rights by all, and expressing high confidence in her ability to discharge her duties.

In other action today, the Assembly decided to re-establish the Ad Hoc Committee on the Administration of Justice at the United Nations for one meeting, for the sole purpose of taking note of the oral report of the coordinator on informal inter-sessional consultations on the draft statute of the newly-established United Nations Dispute and Appeals Tribunals.  The coordinator’s summary is to be issued as an addendum to the report of the Ad Hoc Committee.

With the mandate of the judges of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda set to expire at the end of this year, but with trials expected to continue beyond that time, the Assembly extended the term of office of 9 permanent and 17 ad litem judges to allow for the completion of the Tribunal’s work.

In doing so, it endorsed the recommendations of the Secretary-General -- also endorsed by the Security Council in its resolution 1824 of 18 July -- to extend the terms of office of two permanent judges who are members of the Appeals Chamber until 31 December 2010, or until the completion of the appeals (if sooner), and extended the terms of the rest of the judges through 31 December 2009, as requested by the Tribunal President.

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For information media • not an official record