General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

The General Assembly today elected Miroslav Lajčák, Slovakia’s Minister for Foreign and European Affairs, as President of its seventy-second session, while also selecting members to the Bureaux of its six Main Committees.

Delegates today expressed support for a budget proposal to establish a new counter-terrorism office, as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) took up reports on the Organization’s Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and on peacekeeping missions in Abyei and Lebanon.

Taking up three texts on the role of professional translation, and cooperation between the United Nations and the International Organization of la Francophonie, the General Assembly adopted two draft resolutions and a draft decision today.

KINGSTOWN, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, 18 May — The Caribbean Regional Seminar on Decolonization had produced innovative ideas on a broad range of issues with a view to advancing progress towards self-determination for the remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories, participants said today at the conclusion of the event’s third and final day.

KINGSTOWN, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, 17 May — The United Nations must break its long impasse and tailor effective approaches to self-determination that would lead swiftly to a future based on the aspirations of people living under colonial rule, delegates said today, as the Caribbean Regional Seminar on Decolonization entered its second day.

As some 1,000 Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails marked 30 days of a “freedom and dignity” hunger strike, Israel continued to ignore their most basic demands and intensify its abuse and collective punishment, the Palestinian Rights Committee heard today.

KINGSTOWN, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, 16 May — Opening the Caribbean Regional Seminar on Decolonization today, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said all stakeholders had a collective responsibility to advance progress towards decolonization, with cooperation underpinning success.

Speakers expressed concern over the inconsistent recording of expenditures as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today considered the 2015/16 budget performance and 2017/18 budget proposal of the United Nations Logistics Base in Brindisi, Italy.

The General Assembly today appointed two members to its Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions following the recommendation of its Fifth Committee (Budgetary and Administrative).

Concerned by the high level of overdue payments for peacekeeping operations, speakers in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today called on Member States to meet their financial obligations to the United Nations promptly so it could completely fulfil its mandate to maintain international peace and security.