General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

In multiple rounds of voting, the General Assembly elected four new non-permanent members to the Security Council today, but was unable to fill a fifth seat after a highly-contested campaign.

The Special Committee on Decolonization approved 14 draft resolutions today, including one addressing several critical aspects of the upcoming self-determination referendum to decide the future status of New Caledonia.

With speakers decrying the anachronistic situation and the “open wound” festering in the South Atlantic, the Special Committee on Decolonization today approved a draft resolution reiterating that a peaceful and negotiated settlement of the sovereignty dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom was the only way to end the “special and particular” colonial situation of the Falkland Island (Malvinas).

The Peacebuilding Commission committed this afternoon to better support nations moving from violent conflict to sustainable peace by providing a policy forum for all relevant stakeholders and strategic and targeted advice to the Security Council.

The Special Committee on Decolonization approved three draft resolutions today, welcoming the cooperative attitude towards Tokelau in the first text, and calling for greater efforts by both administering Powers and United Nations agencies, in the others, to implement the landmark 1960 Declaration on the granting of independence to Non-Self-Governing Territories and their peoples.

The Special Committee on Decolonization today approved a draft resolution calling on the Government of the United States to assume its responsibility to expedite a process that would allow the people of Puerto Rico to exercise fully their right to self-determination and independence.

The Special Committee on Decolonization continued its discussion on the question of Western Sahara today, with the representative of the Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el-Hamra y Rio de Oro (Polisario Front) calling for intensified efforts to resolve the dispute over the Territory’s status, amid strong and repeated objections to his participation by the observer for Morocco.

Approving the appropriation of $7.86 billion for 15 peacekeeping operations for the 2016/2017 fiscal period, the General Assembly today adopted 25 resolutions and one decision contained in reports from its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) concluded the work of its seventieth session today, amid pointed calls for it to align its work methods and plans with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and strong concerns that entrenched differences over those tactical processes risked side-lining it from the important work ahead.

Speakers today emphasized the right of the Saharans to seek self-determination through a referendum that would be held under United Nations auspices, as the Special Committee on Decolonization took up the question of Western Sahara on the second day of its substantive session.