General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

Around the world, too many children were being left behind, due to poverty, malnutrition and “unpardonable” discrimination, the head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, urging States to reform their laws, improve health and education outcomes, and show the strong political commitment required to fully implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Asserting that the Sixth Committee (Legal) was the frontline guardian of the Organization’s Charter, Vuk Jeremić, President of the General Assembly, told its delegates today that international law was the backbone of effective multilateral relations.

Despite working far beyond its mandate, the office charged with responsibility for countries in special situations was not receiving resources commensurate with its expanded role, its new High Representative told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.

The First Committee today opened its thematic debate segment, starting with nuclear weapons, during which national positions converged on the principles of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation while the classic differences over their practical enforcement persisted.

Delegates gathered today in the General Assembly to assess progress on the implementation of New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) — the African-owned strategy adopted in 2001 to drive the continent’s political and socio-economic transformation — acknowledged significant achievements and looked to a future that would incorporate the Partnership’s priorities in the United Nations post-2015 agenda and in formulating sustainable development goals.

Today’s debate on women’s rights and perspectives was critical for achieving gender equality, a goal that should receive wide support in all corners of the world, General Assembly President Vuc Jeremić told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, pledging his readiness to engage with delegates on all such issues during the sixty-seventh session.

The Sixth Committee met this morning to take up five requests for observer status in the work of the General Assembly, of which two had been deferred from the Committee’s sixty-sixth session.

Discussions for a proposed conference on ridding the Middle East region of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction would be difficult and the path would be long, but the “prize” — the security of the region and the world — would be worth the time and effort, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today.

The Fourth Committee today, having considered the question of decolonization in depth since its began its session on 8 October, forwarded 11 draft texts to the General Assembly, with half approved without a vote, reaffirming the rights of the people of Non-Self-Governing Territories to shape their destiny.