General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

Forwarding 18 drafts to the General Assembly addressing conventional weapons, other disarmament measures, regional disarmament and the disarmament machinery, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today took action on a raft of texts covering, among others items, preventing the spread of illicit small arms and light weapons, transparency of armaments, and on revitalizing the Conference on Disarmament and taking forward multilateral disarmament negotiations.

As peacekeeping was one of the most “visible flags” of the United Nations, it was important to conserve its legitimacy and ensure that the missions — often operating in unfamiliar and unforgiving environments — were in strict compliance with the foundational principles of its work, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today as it concluded its comprehensive review of peacekeeping operations in all its aspects.

Approving two draft resolutions on social development today, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) also continued its general discussion on the promotion and protection of human rights in relation to State sovereignty.

The global South was leading the post-crisis economic recovery, several heads of the United Nations Regional Commissions told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today during their annual dialogue.

Taking up a range of texts spanning clusters on nuclear weapons, other weapons of mass destruction and the disarmament aspects of outer space, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today approved a draft decision that would have the General Assembly include in the provisional agenda of its next session a sub-item on a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other explosive devices.

Seven years after they gave the go-ahead for the massive, multi-billion-dollar renovation of the United Nations historic Headquarters building, delegates at the Fifth Committee (Budgetary and Administrative) today urged the Secretariat and managers of the Capital Master Plan to rein in cost overruns and add-ons that tallied nearly $400 million.

Hailing the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court as leading examples of ending impunity, delegates in the General Assembly today examined reports on recent achievements and elaborated on challenges ahead during a day-long debate.

Political consensus coalesced today in the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) around the long-held view that United Nations peacekeeping was not only vital for international stability but also for consolidating regional and national gains, aided by shared expectations and the pooling among missions of assets, technologies and resources.

Elections were fundamentally political rather than technical events, and, more importantly, they were not an end in themselves, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today, as it resumed its general discussion on the promotion and protection of human rights.