Sixty-third General Assembly

HIGHLIGHTS

AMID MYRIAD GLOBAL CRISES, ‘BUSY, DYNAMIC AND CONSTRUCTIVE’ GENERAL ASSEMBLY

UNDERSCORED IMPORTANCE OF GENUINE SOLIDARITY TO ENSURE STABLE, SECURE WORLD

In a year dominated by economic tumult that upended marquee financial institutions to their knees, catalysed dramatic swings in food and energy prices, drove uneasy trade partners from the global negotiating table and spurred long-time adversaries into renewed conflict in Somalia, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the General Assembly used the main part of its sixty-third session to begin shaping the broad contours of a strong and unified response.

Indeed, the “busy, dynamic and constructive work period” underscored the importance of fostering genuine solidarity that transcended differences, particularly amid the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system, said General Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua as he closed out the Assembly’s substantive session.  Emphasizing that he and the Secretary-General saw “eye to eye” on all that must be done to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, he invited Member States to set out strategic development priorities to achieve -– even exceed -– the agreed targets.  “We cannot afford to rest on our laurels,” he said, noting that there were many important issues that called for the Assembly’s collective dedication.

While presiding over the International Follow-Up Conference to the Monterrey Consensus, held in Doha, Qatar, Mr. d’Escoto told participants that there was a “moral duty” to do more than simply rearrange the faltering economic and financial system -– “we must transform it”.  To review the workings of the global financial system, he had convened an 18-member commission of experts on the reform of the monetary and financial system, which would suggest steps for States to take in securing a more stable and sustainable global economic order.  Such work dovetailed with his pledge to harness the efforts of the sixty-third session towards making the United Nations more democratic.

Half the world’s people knew no splendour -- they knew only squalor and levels of poverty that contradicted their inherent human dignity, he continued.  Every day, tens of thousands of people died from hunger, entire populations watched as their cultures disappeared and, with trillions being spent on wars of terror, the world desperately needed to move away from the “logic of death”.  Developed country pledges to allocate 0.7 per cent of their gross national product to development assistance were unfilled, and developing countries’ ability to service debt was now a “staggering” burden.

“We must reorder our priorities if we are to fulfil the promises of security and well-being that billions of people have entrusted to us,” Mr. d’Escoto declared during the Assembly’s general debate.  It was clear that such man-made problems called for human solutions, and he urged taking “brave steps to defuse the time bombs ticking at the heart of virtually all our societies”.

Determined to take “immediate and decisive actions” to overcome crises of food insecurity, climate change and the abrupt loss of confidence in the international economic system, the Assembly called on the United Nations to hold “at the highest level” a conference that would examine the impact of the world financial and economic crises on development.  To that end, the Assembly President said he would work closely with the Secretariat to set the organizational arrangements by March 2009.

That request was one of many contained in a sweeping resolution adopted by consensus endorsing the Doha Declaration on Financing for Development -- the outcome document of the Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development to Review the Implementation of the 2002 Monterrey Consensus.

By the nine-part text, the Assembly reaffirmed commitments outlined in the Monterrey Consensus, the landmark 2002 agreement between rich and poor nations -- signed in Monterrey, Mexico -- to combat poverty and advance development.  The text examined the ways in which developed and developing countries could deepen their partnership in such areas as domestic and international resource mobilization, trade, international financial and technical cooperation, external debt and systemic issues in global monetary, financial and trading systems.

The Assembly’s six-day general debate, which included a high-level meeting on the state of the Millennium Development Goals, heard 111 Heads of State and Government outline their priority concerns and reaffirm support for the 192-member body as the most democratic forum for global dialogue.  There were undeniable signs that the Assembly was getting its priorities straight, Mr. d’Escoto said,  noting that urgent appeals had been heard for a stronger United Nations, and for the Assembly to enter into serious negotiations in the coming months on realigning the Security Council to better reflect current geopolitical realities.

Echoing that call, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the Assembly’s debate with a sober reminder that the world had changed, “more than we may realize”, and that new reality brought with it challenges that were increasingly those of collaboration rather than confrontation.  There was a danger of turning inwards, of retreating from progress made, particularly in the realm of development, and more equitably sharing the fruits of global growth.

“If ever there was a call to collective action -– a call for global leadership -– it is now,” the Secretary-General said, urging global leaders to embrace a common vision for the future.  The world needed a new understanding of business ethics and governance, marked by more compassion and less faith in the “magic” of markets.  While global growth had raised billions of people out of poverty, the poorest had never felt it so sharply.  With international law and justice so widely embraced, those living in areas where human rights were abused had never been so vulnerable.  As most of the world lived in peace and security, there was deepening violence in nations that could least afford it. “This is not right,” he stressed.

With that, the Assembly spared no time in tackling the issues.  On the eve of its sixty-third session, world leaders adopted by consensus a political declaration on “ Africa’s development needs: state of implementation of various commitments, challenges and the way forward”, during a one-day high-level meeting of the same name.  With the text, delegates aimed to reinvigorate existing commitments -– notably those made in the Millennium Declaration, the 2002 Monterrey Consensus on development financing and the 2002 Johannesburg Declaration on sustainable development –- at a time of both promise and challenge for Africa.  The event featured four round-table discussions co-chaired by African Presidents, among others, and heard debate on issues ranging from debt relief to the effects of climate change on the continent’s agricultural sector.

The Assembly capped a year-long, global celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights with the adoption of its own declaration, which underscored that “the living, driving force of all human rights unites us in our common goal to eradicate the manifold ills that plague our world”.  By that text, the Assembly deplored that human rights and fundamental freedoms were not fully and universally respected in all parts of the world.  All States had the responsibility to redress human rights violations, and not “shy away” from the magnitude of that challenge.

Looking beyond 2008 at his year-end press conference, Mr. Ban said there was no time to waste in reaching a new climate change deal before the end of 2009.  “Extraordinary” leadership would be needed following the recent negotiations at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference in Poznań, Poland, and he planned to convene a climate change summit at the start of the Assembly’s sixty-fourth session.  Other issues -- such as combating malaria and HIV/AIDS, global terrorism, disarmament and non-proliferation -– also demanded attention, and in the area of human rights it would be essential to act upon the principle that justice was a pillar of peace, security and development.

Addressing the current unstable arms control and disarmament landscape, the Assembly adopted a series of resolutions on the recommendation of its First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) that urged Member States to take bolder steps towards ensuring security at national, regional and international levels.  In all, the Assembly adopted 57 text that covered nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, disarmament aspects of outer space, conventional weapons, regional disarmament and security, other disarmament measures and international security, and the United Nations disarmament machinery.

In an attempt to better understand and address the major economic and policy challenges to long-term economic growth and sustainable development, particularly in light of the global financial crisis, the General Assembly laid the groundwork for in-depth consideration of those issues by unanimously adopting -– among 34 development-related actions put forward by its Second Committee (Economic and Financial) -– a series of comprehensive resolutions.

In the sixtieth anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) trained its efforts on strengthening the existing human rights frameworks, including by approving a landmark text creating a new Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  That text, which established an individual complaints procedure for violations of economic, social and cultural rights, was one of 58 resolutions and 6 decisions recommended by the Third Committee.

Balancing its ongoing engagement with some of the world’s most persistent special political cases with the need to meet emerging challenges, the Assembly agreed to adopt resolutions that welcomed the commitment of the parties to the Western Sahara dispute “to enter into a more intensive phase of negotiations”, underlined the need to shore up the Scientific Committee, and stressed how space technology could mitigate the impacts of climate change and reduce disaster risk.  Those measures were among the 23 resolutions and 3 draft decisions adopted on the recommendation of the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization).

Acting on the main item of its current “personnel session”, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) approved new contractual arrangements for the United Nations, effective 1 July 2009, which would consist of temporary, fixed-term and continuing appointments, under a single set of staff rules.  It also paved the way for the implementation of the new system of justice as of 1 July 2009, approving the statutes of the newly constituted United Nations Dispute and Appeals Tribunals.  Based on its recommendations, the Assembly provided $429.5 million for 27 special political missions for the remainder of the biennium and assessed $449.86 million for the first six months of 2009 for the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID).

The Assembly adopted 12 resolutions and 2 decisions contained in 16 reports of its Sixth Committee (Legal), including a text calling for an ad hoc committee to continue working on outstanding legal issues related to the new two-tiered formal administration of justice system for the United Nations.  The Committee would meet from 20 to 24 April 2009 to take into account the views of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), as well as any further decisions taken before then.  Set to be established by 1 January 2009, the new system would be composed of an Appeals Tribunal and a Dispute Tribunal.  The new decentralized system would also strengthen the Ombudsman’s Office for a more effective address of grievances on an informal basis.

Summary of the plenary and Main Committees follows:

Plenary

Kicking off the substantive debate, a two-day high-level event on the Millennium Development Goals, convened jointly by the Secretary-General and the General Assembly President, resulted in a raft of new commitments from Member States and civil society partners -– including the private sector -– for projects spanning malaria prevention to reforestation.  The meeting took place just days after a United Nations report found that soaring food and fuel prices, as well as the global economic downturn, were impeding the achievement of the millennium targets.  In his concluding remarks, Secretary-General Ban said that fresh commitments to the Goals could amount to $16 billion, a figure that included some $1.6 billion to bolster food security.

Building on that momentum, the Assembly also held a day-long interactive panel on the global financial crisis, which marked the first in a series of intergovernmental consultations to address the unfolding financial turmoil.  The panel featured some of the world’s top economists, scholars and policy makers, including Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, who said Governments, including his own, had allowed banks to grow to the point where they were “too big to fail, and too big to bail out”.  The situation called for a response from the United Nations along four lines: it must be consistent with justice and social solidarity; the bonds of social solidarity must go across national boundaries; it must reflect an understanding of the necessary balance between Government and markets; and it must respect the principles of democratic due process, including full transparency.

However, the Assembly, later in the session, determined it was not just Wall Street that needed a bailout.  “We need to bail out all humankind from its social insensitivity,” said the General Assembly President as he launched a two-day high-level meeting on the culture of peace that was attended by more than 80 delegations and drew calls for shaping a future in which cultural and religious differences were celebrated.  Requested by Saudi Arabia, and held to build on a process set in motion at the 16-18 July World Conference on Dialogue in Madrid, Spain, the session lauded the right to freedom of religion as integral to building tolerant societies.  With the adoption of a consensus resolution, the Assembly encouraged States to consider initiatives that identified actions at all societal levels for promoting interreligious dialogue, tolerance and understanding.

Taking up a new agenda item, the Assembly adopted, by a vote of 77 in favour to 6 against, with 74 abstentions, a resolution drafted by Serbia to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legality of Kosovo’s declaration of independence earlier in the year.  The text received support from a geographic mix of regions, including Europe, Africa, South America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East, with delegates backing the measure out of respect for international law, the United Nations Charter and the Court’s position as the appropriate judicial body for ruling on such matters.  Those who voted against the text expressed concern that the Assembly’s involvement -- and a possible opinion from the Court -- could create interpretations that had a wider scale of application.

The Assembly’s annual debate on Afghanistan ended with the adoption of a wide-ranging resolution, by which it recognized the importance of holding free, fair and secure elections in 2009 and 2010.  The Assembly strongly condemned violence against women and girls, and expressed concern at the use of children by illegally armed and terrorist groups.

“To build a self-sustaining Afghanistan, the people must be able to trust their Government,” the country’s representative stressed.  To that end, he urged the international community to embark on a “smart” strategy that would include an expanded focus for multinational troops to move beyond targeting the Taliban to promoting comprehensive security of the Afghan people.   Afghanistan’s first priority was its relationship with Pakistan, which had suffered equal harm at the hands of the Taliban and Al-Qaida.

Pressing the idea that “peace and security cannot be maintained by a Security Council that is out of date and out of touch”, Assembly President d’Escoto, in remarks delivered by the Assembly Vice-President during the annual debate on Security Council reform, urged delegates to make headway so that intergovernmental negotiations on the expansion of and equitable representation in the Council could begin early next year, as planned.  His efforts would be fuelled by ambition to finish ahead of schedule.  To ensure an efficient process, he would engage all past efforts in the negotiations, which sought to iron out wrinkles among various reform proposals.

The three-day debate dovetailed with related annual discussion on revitalizing the Assembly, which delegates agreed was essential to restoring internal and public confidence in the United Nations, as it faced complex twenty-first century challenges.  President d’Escoto underscored that “radical” steps were needed for the Assembly to authoritatively perform its duties, especially in the context of a more fully democratized Organization, which itself was an overriding priority of his tenure.  Throughout the debate, delegates were uneasy with the Security Council’s shift into functions they considered under the purview of the Assembly, and equally adamant that the Assembly maintain its role in the area of international peace and security.

In a commemorative meeting marking the sixtieth anniversary of United Nations peacekeeping, the Assembly adopted a declaration honouring the memory of the more than 2,400 peacekeepers who had given their lives in the service of peace, and commending the efforts of United Nations and related personnel currently performing their duties.  Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro, speaking on behalf of the Secretary-General, who was at an emergency summit in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said that Mission alone “aptly illustrated” the importance of such operations.  The some 100,000 peacekeepers in 18 missions were moving beyond the traditional monitoring of ceasefires to helping rebuild post-conflict societies, nurturing democratic governance and disarming ex-combatants.

At the session’s end, and as part of its follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit, the Assembly adopted a text on “agriculture development and food security”, which aimed at addressing the serious challenge posed by high and volatile food prices, and the global food crisis, to the fight against poverty and hunger, as well as to efforts to achieve development goals.  By its terms, the Assembly reiterated the need to urgently address agricultural development and food security, in the context of national and international development policies.

First Committee

The Assembly adopted 57 texts -- following 30 separate recorded votes -- on the recommendation of its First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), including two new resolutions in the conventional weapons sphere -- one aimed at halting illicit brokering and another on the effort to ban cluster munitions.

Sergio Duarte, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, told the Committee’s 6 October opening meeting that mankind was still “confronted with an unprecedented threat of self-extinction arising from the massive and competitive accumulation of the most destructive weapons ever produced”.  The gravest challenges, then as now, came from weapons of mass destruction, especially nuclear weapons.  Tens of thousands of such weapons remained, with no operational plans for disarmament, and the number of States with nuclear weapons had grown.  Then there was the risk of nuclear terrorism, he added.

With that concern in mind, the Assembly adopted 16 resolutions and 1 decision dealing with the nuclear issue, including a resolution that called for immediate and urgent steps to reduce the dangers of the unintentional and accidental use of nuclear weapons, since the hair-trigger alert of such weapons carried unacceptable risks.

Adopting a resolution on the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the Assembly also stressed the vital importance and urgency of signature and ratification of that Treaty, without delay and without conditions, so as to achieve its earliest entry into force.  Deeply concerned by the threat of terrorism and the risk that terrorists might acquire, traffic in or use radioactive materials, the Assembly adopted a resolution calling on Member States to support global efforts to prevent the acquisition and use of such materials by terrorists.

Continuing its tradition of support for the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones, the Assembly adopted a text on a nuclear-weapon-free southern hemisphere and adjacent areas, affirming its conviction of the important role of such zones in strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation regime and in extending the areas of the world free of nuclear weapons.  With particular reference to the responsibilities of the nuclear-weapon States, it called upon States to support nuclear disarmament and work for the total elimination of all nuclear weapons.

Recognizing the links between disarmament and development, the Assembly adopted a resolution urging the international community to devote part of the resources made available by the implementation of disarmament and arms limitation agreements to economic and social development, with a view to reducing the ever widening gap between developed and developing countries.

Aware that illicit brokering in small arms was a serious problem that the international community should address urgently, the Assembly also adopted a resolution calling upon all States to implement the International Instrument to Enable States to Identify and Trace, in a Timely and Reliable Manner, Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons, among others, through the provision of information to the Secretary-General on the name and contact information of the national points of contact and on national marking practices related to markings used to indicate country of manufacture and/or country of import, as applicable.

The First Committee Bureau includes Committee Chairperson Marco Antonio Suazo ( Honduras); Vice-Chairpersons Martin Zvachula ( Federated States of Micronesia), Ivan Mutavdžić ( Croatia) and Miguel Graça ( Portugal); and Rapporteur Coly Seck ( Senegal).

Second Committee

After two months of intense discussion in the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) that linked the financial and economic turmoil spanning the globe to the current food and energy crises and climate change, the Assembly adopted, by a recorded vote of 123 in favour to 1 against (United States), with 52 abstentions, a resolution on the international economic situation and its impact on development.  The text aimed to help shape the United Nations thinking on how to build a new international economic order based on the principles of equity, sovereign equality, interdependence, common interest and cooperation among States.  The Assembly agreed to hold a comprehensive debate on the topic during its sixty-fourth session next year and asked the Secretary-General to provide input in his next report on globalization and interdependence.

In a related text, the Assembly expressed its deep concern over the financial crisis’ negative effect on developing countries seeking the financing necessary to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and other development objectives.  Development partners were encouraged to help those nations achieve the millennium targets in health, nutrition and sanitation, and to bolster their agricultural productivity through greater investment.  All countries were advised to harness knowledge and technology and to stimulate innovation, if they were to become competitive and benefit from trade and investment.  But developed countries in particular were asked to transfer such technology under fair, open terms so developing nations could implement key socio-economic strategies.

Under the poverty eradication umbrella were two resolutions, one on the Second United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2008-2017), by which the Assembly called on donor countries to provide adequate, predictable financing for developing countries attempting to erase that social ill.  By terms of the second resolution, on the role of microcredit and microfinance, the Assembly underscored the need for greater access to those tools in developing countries, particularly so small farmers could increase agricultural productivity and rural development.

In a resolution on development cooperation with middle-income countries -- the first such text on that subject presented to it for adoption by its Second Committee -- the Assembly emphasized that those countries must take primary responsibility for their own development, while acknowledging the challenges they faced in erasing poverty and achieving the millennium targets.  It also noted that national averages based on such criteria as per capita income did not always reflect the needs of those countries.

A text on international trade and development, and another titled “external debt and development: towards a durable solution to the debt problems of developing countries”, stressed the importance the Assembly gave to continued consideration of those topics, while requesting that the Secretary-General also report on them during the Assembly’s sixty-fourth session.  Another text focused on the report of the twelfth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and welcomed the offer by Qatar’s Government to hold UNCTAD’s thirteenth session.

Climate change issues were an underlying theme in much of the Committee’s work, especially concerning sustainable development.  By another text relating to the oil slick on Lebanese shores, the Assembly requested that Israel promptly and adequately compensate Lebanon and Syria for the costs of repairing the environmental damage caused by the destruction, including the restoration of the marine environment.  It decided to set up a voluntary trust fund for an eastern Mediterranean oil spill restoration to support integrated, environmentally sound management of the environmental disaster resulting from the destruction by the Israeli Air Force of the oil storage tanks near Lebanon’s Jiyah electric power plant.  The Assembly adopted that text by a recorded vote of 165 in favour to 7 against ( Australia, Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, United States), with 2 abstentions ( Cameroon, Colombia).

In a recorded vote, the Assembly adopted a resolution that reaffirmed the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and the population of the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources.  The Assembly adopted that resolution by a recorded vote of 64 votes in favour to 8 against (Australia, Canada, Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, United States), with 5 abstentions (Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu).

The Second Committee Bureau includes Committee Chairperson Uche Joy Ogwu ( Nigeria); Vice-Chairpersons Andrei Metelitsa ( Belarus), Troy Torrington ( Guyana) and Martin Hoppe ( Germany); and Rapporteur Awsan Abdullah Ahmed Al-Aud ( Yemen).

Third Committee

Approved by consensus, the new Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was aimed at resetting the balance between civil and political rights -- whose complaints mechanism came into force in 1976 -- and the rights provided for in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Political Rights.

Throughout the Third Committee’s (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) negotiations on the text, many delegates expressed their belief that economic, social and cultural rights -- such as the right to development, to food, to adequate housing and others -- could only be realized progressively, according to each nation’s own ability, and did not lend themselves to third party adjudication in the same manner as civil and political rights.  Moreover, there was a risk that the vague nature of those rights might invite rulings based on political preferences or that the Covenant’s monitoring Committee would end up functioning as a legislator, determining the allocation of States parties’ resources within that sphere. 

Nevertheless, in support of the universality, indivisibility and interrelatedness of both sets of rights, all Member States united to ensure the Protocol’s consensual passage.  The new High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, welcomed agreement by the Human Rights Council on the Optional Protocol when she delivered her inaugural address to the Third Committee in October.  The Protocol would become part of an expanding framework of international and national law, she said, while acknowledging the need to make that framework work better in the face of emerging human rights threats, such as climate change, the food crisis and the global financial crisis.

In light of those escalating global crises, Ms. Pillay also argued for a new, human rights-based approach to development, to give content and legitimacy to the United Nations development agenda by providing a motive for building the capacity of the poorest States.

With that in mind, the Committee went on to draft a number of texts on a wide range of subjects, including those drawing attention to the link between human rights and extreme poverty, one that highlighted the role of education in building a rights-based culture, and another that called for continued support for rights-based organizations in regions emerging from conflict.

The Committee’s resolution on the right to development itself drew attention to the high-level task force of the Human Rights Council’s Working Group on that right, which had begun developing a set of criteria to evaluate progress towards implementation of Millennium Development Goal 8, “developing a global partnership for development”.  Those criteria were understood by Member States as being potential building blocks for the Human Rights Council to evolve a basis for considering a binding legal standard on the right to development.

The Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Sha Zukang, speaking to the Committee at the start of its session, cautioned against potential “backsliding” in social development and human rights, especially given the global financial and food crises that had hit most nations.  He said the Third Committee had played a major role in advancing the causes of commonly excluded social groups, often bolstering their rights through the creation of normative instruments, such as the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, among others.

As in years past, a number of highly contentious resolutions were introduced in the Committee, including a follow-up resolution on a moratorium on the death penalty and three country-specific resolutions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Iran and Myanmar.  The country-specific resolutions ignited a heated debate over the Committee’s role now that the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review mechanism was in full operation.  Many delegates suggested that the review mechanism was now the most appropriate forum in which to deal with individual human rights situations and, as a result, country-specific resolutions no longer had a place in the Third Committee.  The resolution on a death penalty moratorium reaffirmed last year’s divisive resolution and was passed, this year, by a slightly larger majority.

The Third Committee Bureau includes Committee Chairperson Frank Majoor ( Netherlands); Vice-Chairpersons Divina Adjoa Seanedzu ( Ghana), Ara Margarian ( Armenia), Julio Peralta ( Paraguay); and Rapporteur Khalid M. R. H. Alwafi ( Saudi Arabia).

Fourth Committee

Tackling a broad agenda -- spanning political topics, such as self-determination and the question of Palestine, and important issues related to the work of the Secretariat, such as public information, outer space, atomic radiation and peacekeeping -- the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) drafted 23 resolutions and 3 decisions aimed at meeting emerging challenges even as they addressed the Organization’s historical mandate in each area.

In a resolution capping its week-long discussion of decolonization issues, the Committee reaffirmed that the existence of colonialism in any form was incompatible with the United Nations Charter and affirmed its support for the aspirations of peoples under colonial rule to exercise their right to self-determination.  Genuine dialogue aimed at finding fresh, concrete and more creative ways to eradicate colonialism was, nevertheless, needed to fully implement the decolonization mandate, the Chairman of the Special Committee on Decolonization, R. M. Marty M. Natalegawa of Indonesia, said on 6 October.

Delegates unanimously called for the momentum created by the Manhasset negotiation process on Western Sahara to be preserved so the stalemate gripping that Non-Self-Governing Territory for decades could finally be broken, approving a consensus text to that end.  During the annual discussion on Western Sahara, many of 53 petitioners underlined the complicating role of a sovereignty dispute in the decolonization process.  That was nowhere more apparent than in the Committee’s intense two-day debate over its annual text on 11 mostly small-island Territories.  That “omnibus” resolution achieved consensus only after an amendment to strike the mention of a sovereignty dispute in its second operative paragraph –- new this year and inapplicable to the Territories addressed in the text -– was approved by a recorded vote of 61 in favour to 40 against, with 47 abstentions.

Divergent views on the need for greater legal jurisdiction to prevent the militarization of space emerged when the Committee considered international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.  Some Member States called for new treaties to head off space’s transformation into an arena for armed confrontation.  Others stressed that proper implementation of existing agreements was essential, if not sufficient, to meet future challenges.  To that end, the Committee unanimously recommended that States not yet parties to the international treaties governing the uses of outer space consider ratifying or acceding to those treaties, in a resolution it recommended to the Assembly.

The Committee’s annual debate on atomic radiation touched on two emerging areas -- diagnostic medicine and the increasing use of nuclear power to blunt global warming -– where radiological exposure could have severe impacts and where the chronically underfunded and understaffed Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation could provide essential, objective scientific analysis.  A draft text forwarded to the Assembly recognized the Secretary-General’s conclusion that more predictable and sustainable support was required to strengthen the Scientific Committee’s professional secretariat.

On questions relating to information, the Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information, Kiyo Akasaka, underlined the new challenges the Department was tackling even as it coped with budget constraints and worked to maintain its essential services -- and protect its invaluable audiovisual archives -- during the historic renovation of the United Nations Headquarters complex.  In turn, delegations called for the Department to help narrow the digital divide, with some emphasizing the role of traditional media sources like print and radio, and others stressing the need to keep pace with the modernizing world.

During the Committee’s comprehensive review of the question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects, Under-Secretary-General Alain Le Roy said that some of the Organization’s 18 missions continued to face extremely trying times, while others would face pivotal moments in the months ahead.  As they underscored how United Nations peacekeeping efforts had, over the last 60 years, made the difference between life and death for many, speakers considered how to improve the peacekeeping doctrine to address today’s most precarious conflicts.  To that end, many said operations should strictly observe United Nations Charter principles, particularly the consent of the parties, the non-use of force except in self-defence and impartiality.

At session’s end, the Committee addressed the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories.  Although many countries criticized Israel’s blockade of Gaza, some expressed cautious optimism that the fragile Egypt-brokered ceasefire would bring real humanitarian relief and provide firmer ground for the peace process.   Israel stressed that the most substantial negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians since 2000 had taken place in 2008 and called on its critics to take real constructive measures to support both sides as they attempted to end the conflict.

The Fourth Committee Bureau includes Committee Chairperson Jorge Argüello ( Argentina); Vice-Chairpersons Amr Kamal Eldin Elsherbini ( Egypt), Alexandru Cujba ( Republic of Moldova) and Elmer G. Cato ( Philippines); and Rapporteur Paulá Parviainen ( Finland).

Fifth Committee

Acting on the recommendations of its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), the Assembly, in a major shift from the current system of contracts, approved new contractual arrangements consisting of temporary, fixed-term and continuing appointments, which would come into effect under a single set of staff rules, effective 1 July 2009.

The Assembly encouraged the Secretary-General, in accordance with legislative mandates, to ensure a judicious mix of career and fixed-term appointments, to achieve an appropriate balance between institutional memory, long-term commitment and independence, and the ability to bring in fresh insights and expertise, and to dismiss non-performing staff.  It would also acknowledge the need to centrally manage the conversion from fixed-term to continuing appointments on a competitive and transparent basis, and emphasize the need for strategic workforce planning.

By the terms of a 13-part resolution on human resources management -– the main item of the Committee’s current “personnel” session -– the Assembly also addressed other issues of human resources management reform, including the harmonization of conditions of service, recruitment and staffing, national competitive examinations, accountability, performance appraisal, mobility, career development, gender and equitable geographical representation.

On another major issue on the Fifth Committee’s agenda, administration of justice at the United Nations, the Assembly adopted the statutes of the new United Nations Dispute and Appeals Tribunals, which will become operational as of 1 July 2009, and emphasized that all possible use should be made of the informal system of justice in order to avoid unnecessary litigation.

To facilitate the transition to the new system, the Assembly decided that the current formal system would continue to function until the end of the transition period and that measures should be taken to reduce the existing backlog of cases.  The Joint Appeals Boards and Disciplinary Committees would be abolished as of 1 July 2009, with all their cases transferred to the Dispute Tribunal, and the existing Administrative Tribunal would not accept new cases as of that date.

Based on the proposals of the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), the Assembly also adopted a revised base/floor scale of salaries for Professional and higher categories of staff; an adjustment of the education grant maxima for 10 zones; flat rates for boarding for all zones; revised children’s and secondary dependent’s allowances in the amounts of $2,686 and $940, respectively; and a 5 per cent increase in the hardship, mobility and non-removal allowances.

As it usually does in a “non-budget year”, the Committee also laid the groundwork for preparing the Organization’s next budget proposal, by agreeing on its outline for 2010-2011 in the amount of $4.87 billion, and making the recommendations to the Assembly on the Organization’s eight main priorities and the biennial programme plan.

The Assembly provided $429.5 million for 27 special political missions for the remainder of the biennium, and assessed $449.86 million for the first six months of 2009 for the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID).  It also adopted a revised $37 million budget of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), following the termination of its mandate, effective 31 July 2008.

Also on the basis of Fifth Committee recommendations, the Assembly acted on the proposals to strengthen the Department of Political Affairs and established 91 posts in several development-related entities of the system.  Recognizing the critical importance of retaining highly skilled and specialized staff in the Rwanda and Former Yugoslavia International Tribunals in order to meet their completion strategies, the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to use existing frameworks to offer contracts to staff, in line with dates of planned post reductions, to remove uncertainty with regard to future employment.  It also approved a revised appropriation of some $305.38 million for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and $376.23 million for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for the current biennium.

The Fifth Committee Bureau includes Committee Chairperson Gábor Bródi ( Hungary); Vice-Chairpersons Olivio Fermín ( Dominican Republic), Mohamed Yousif Ibrahim Abdelmannan ( Sudan) and Henric Råsbrant ( Sweden); and Rapporteur Patrick A. Chuasoto ( Philippines).

Sixth Committee

Further strengthening the effectiveness of the United Nations system in the legal area, the Assembly adopted a text on criminal accountability of United Nations officials and experts on mission, by which it urged States to take appropriate measures to ensure that crimes did not go unpunished and that perpetrators were brought to justice.  States were also encouraged to cooperate with each other and with the United Nations in information exchange and investigation.  Stronger training measures on standards of conduct were also to be instituted.

The Committee’s work on the annual report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) resulted in the adoption of three resolutions related to a legislative guide on secured transactions and to a Convention on contracts for the international carriage of goods wholly or partly by sea.  By those, States were encouraged to use the legislative guide to revise national legislation on secured transactions.  They were also encouraged to participate in a signing ceremony for the carriage of goods Convention to be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, from 21 to 23 September 2009.

In relation to the International Law Commission’s report, two resolutions were adopted.  One related to draft articles on the “law of transboundary aquifers” under the topic of “shared natural resources”, and draft articles on “effects of armed conflicts on treaties”.  That resolution also requested Governments to provide the Commission with views on the topics of “reservations to treaties”, “responsibility of international organizations” and “protection of persons in the event of disasters”.  The Commission was requested to further enhance dialogue with the Sixth Committee through informal consultations.  By the second resolution, the Secretary-General was asked to submit options on support of the work of the special rapporteurs concerned with the topics.

Other resolutions adopted on the Law Commission’s recommendation were related to the law of transboundary aquifers; nationality of national persons in relation to the succession of States; measures to enhance the protection, security and safety of diplomatic and consular missions and representatives; the status of protocols additional to the 1949 Geneva Conventions relating to the protection of victims of armed conflict; the Charter Special Committee meeting to be held from 17 to 25 February; measures to eliminate international terrorism and the continued work of the Ad Hoc Committee aimed at elaborating a comprehensive convention on international terrorism, which would meet from 29 June to 2 July; the relationship between the Sixth Committee and the new Rule of Law Coordination and Resource Group supported by the Rule of Law Unit within the Secretary-General’s Office; and the Host Country Committee’s report.

Finally, observer status in the work of the General Assembly was granted to three organizations: the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea, a middle Asian regional mechanism; the 51-member South Centre for South-South solidarity; and the Costa Rica-based University of Peace for postgraduate studies.

The Sixth Committee Bureau includes Committee Chairperson Hamid Al Bayati ( Iraq); Vice-Chairpersons El Hadj Lamine ( Algeria), Ana Cristina Rodríguez-Pineda ( Guatemala) and Scott Sheeran ( New Zealand); and Rapporteur Marko Rakovec ( Slovenia).

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For information media • not an official record