General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

United Nations Peacekeeping missions today were set in increasingly demanding and often perilous contexts, with operational and policy challenges that could only be addressed through collective action with an “international character”, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today as it continued its comprehensive review of peacekeeping operations in all its aspects.

“The Third Committee [Social, Humanitarian and Cultural] does not function in a vacuum,” the President of the General Assembly said today, emphasizing that the issues on agendas of the Main Committees were all inter-related.

As they continued deliberations on the International Law Commission’s annual report, Sixth Committee (Legal) delegates tackled an array of issues on the newly drafted conclusions that addressed the interpretation of treaties, and raised questions regarding the Commission’s consideration of crimes against humanity.

A strong global partnership was needed to address development issues such as poverty eradication and the impacts of climate change, said the representative of Lao People’s Democratic Republic, speaking on behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as the Second Committee (Financial and Economic) took up global partnerships today.

After seven years of hard work, the adoption of the Arms Trade Treaty signified “the first time in a generation” that nations from every corner of the world had shown what could be achieved with strong vision and a clear sense of purpose, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today as it continued its thematic debate on conventional weapons.

Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today again voiced their concerns about the methods, techniques and cutbacks the Secretariat had used to turn out a proposed $5.4 billion budget for the 2014-2015 budget cycle that begins with the new year. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had formally unveiled the upcoming budget outline at Monday’s Committee meeting.

The General Assembly, voting nearly-unanimously, adopted its twenty-second consecutive resolution calling for an end to the United States’ decades-long economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba.

Peacekeeping was one of the most effective tools at the disposal of the international community to assist countries in the difficult transition from conflict to peace, the Fourth Committee heard today as it began its comprehensive review of peacekeeping operations, with briefings by the heads of the Departments of Peacekeeping Operations and Field Support.

The biggest blind spot of the development international agenda – the Millennium Development Goals – was its silence over inequalities, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today, as it continued its discussions on the promotion and protection of human rights.

Building upon its work over the past year, the International Law Commission had made marked progress through launching many new undertakings, the Sixth Committee (Legal) heard today, as it began its review of the Commission’s annual report.