General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

Without greater awareness of the human rights values and concerns encompassed in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, its implementation would be “difficult, if not impossible”, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today, as it began its general discussion on the rights of indigenous peoples.

Despite the more than 40 years it had taken the International Law Commission to finalize its draft articles on State responsibility for internationally wrongful acts, delegates could still not find consensus on whether to codify them in a convention, as the Sixth (Legal) Committee began deliberations on the matter.

A lack of access to the sea, as well as remoteness, made doing business with major markets expensive for landlocked developing countries, said the representative of Botswana today as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) discussed countries in special situations.

No State or international body could address the immediate humanitarian emergency caused by a nuclear weapon detonation or provide adequate assistance to victims, the representative of New Zealand told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today, in a joint statement on behalf of 124 Member States and the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today discussed a wide range of hiring and workplace practices — from recruitment to ethics to consultants — as it considered nearly a dozen reports meant to monitor the management of tens of thousands of the Organization’s employees around the globe.

The General Assembly today adopted a resolution endorsing the construction at Headquarters of a permanent memorial to honour the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade, and encouraging Member States and other interested parties to contribute to the Trust Fund set up to pay for it.

Information was power, and the United Nations Department of Public Information was rising to the formidable communications demands of a complex world, delegates in the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) said today as they concluded their consideration of questions relating to information, with the approval of two draft resolutions.

Failing to intervene and invest in children carried a high price for any society, delegates stressed, as the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) concluded a three day debate on the rights of children.

Although crucial in the fight against impunity, universal jurisdiction must be used selectively and exceptionally, as a means of last resort, and without violating international law and the principles of the United Nations Charter, delegates told the Sixth Committee (Legal) today as it concluded its debate on the scope and application of the principle of universal jurisdiction.

Despite “high rhetoric and moralistic assertions”, the fact was that nuclear weapons remained integral to strategic doctrines of military alliances, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) was told today, while nuclear-weapon States insisted they were “working relentlessly” to live up to commitments.