General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

The sixteenth Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women this morning elected by secret ballot 12 members of the 23-member body, which monitors compliance with the Treaty.

Concluding its 2010 session, the Special Committee on Decolonization unanimously approved today a draft resolution, which, if adopted by the General Assembly, would pave the way for the Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism beginning in 2011, as well as a draft decision by which the Assembly would designate 14 December as the day for commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.

After hearing petitioners on the question of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) as well as a statement by the Foreign Minister of Argentina, the Special Committee on Decolonization recommended today that the General Assembly reiterate its call for direct negotiations between Argentina and the United Kingdom over that Non-Self-Governing Territory.

Acting on the recommendations of its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), the General Assembly this afternoon adopted a peacekeeping budget of $7.2 billion for the period from 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011.

Expressing deep concern that colonialism had not yet been totally eradicated 50 years after the General Assembly adopted the seminal Declaration on Decolonization, the “Special Committee of 24” unanimously approved today a draft resolution reaffirming the obligations of all administering Powers to create the necessary economic, social and other conditions to enable Non-Self-Governing Territories under their purview to achieve genuine self-government and economic self-reliance.

Speaking out against the militarization of Guam by the United States, several petitioners today called upon members of the Special Committee on Decolonization to visit the Non-Self-Governing Territory and see the situation for themselves as soon as possible.

“While long-term peace is difficult to achieve, it is more likely when a peacekeeping mission is part of the picture,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a special General Assembly meeting today, as he emphasized the need to ensure that the United Nations was equipped with the requisite human, material and financial resources, and political backing of its Member States, to deploy successful peace operations.

The Special Committee on Decolonization today approved a draft resolution calling on the Government of the United States to expedite a process that would allow the Puerto Rican people to exercise fully their right to self-determination and independence, and for the General Assembly formally to consider the situation concerning Puerto Rico, which the world body had not formally taken up since the Territory’s removal from the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories in 1953.

As the General Assembly today concluded its special high-level meeting on transnational organized crime, speakers agreed that the best way to stamp out organized crime and mark the tenth anniversary this year of the landmark United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime and its additional Protocols was through stronger global follow-up and coordination.

Taking two weeks longer than planned, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today concluded its second resumed session by recommending to the General Assembly a peacekeeping budget of $7.2 billion for the period from 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011 — slightly less than that approved in the previous financial year. It also produced a consensus draft resolution on cross-cutting issues, which had eluded the Committee for three years.