General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

The General Assembly today, acting on the recommendation of its Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization), drew divided support among its resolutions and decisions on decolonization and issues concerning Israeli practices and the United Nations Agency tasked with mitigating the plight of the region’s refugees, but attracted broad backing for drafts on the effects of atomic radiation, peacekeeping, outer space, information and University for Peace.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today began its consideration of the Secretariat’s review of the first year of the 2012-2013 budget cycle, an exercise that this year re-evaluated budget requirements for the current two year-biennium upwards by $263.3 million, or 5.1 per cent, to $5.41 billion.

Tackling an array of topics that spanned from augmenting civilian capacity in the aftermath of conflict to infusing a culture of peace into multilateral relations, the General Assembly today adopted seven consensus resolutions, including on the need for “voices of moderation” to promote tolerance and understanding, and combat extremism.

Concluding its session today, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) approved four draft resolutions, including one by which the General Assembly would stress the primary responsibility of Governments for their countries’ development and for coordinating all external assistance, including that provided by multilateral organizations, on the basis of national strategies and priorities.

In scrutinizing the Secretary-General’s proposed budget for 33 special political missions for 2013, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today expressed concern over the unabated growth in financing those missions and the present arrangements for doing so.

Underscoring the substantive work of the Sixth Committee (Legal) this year on the rule of law, the General Assembly stressed, through the consensus adoption of 17 resolutions, that support from the United Nations and compliance by States were critical to the principle’s successful integration into all components of society.

The General Assembly would stress the essential role of official development assistance in complementing, leveraging and sustaining financing for development objectives, including internationally agreed development targets, the Millennium Development Goals in particular, according to a draft resolution approved by consensus in the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.

Adopting today a number of resolutions focused on the vital humanitarian interventions of the United Nations and its partners, the General Assembly – recognizing that populations around the world were becoming ever more vulnerable to the effects of disasters, conflicts and the ongoing fall out from the global financial and economic crisis – called for a more coordinated, strategic and accountable response to such increasingly complex challenges.

The General Assembly would stress the need to increase investment from all sources in agriculture and rural development, including by providing technical and financial assistance to least developed and net food-importing developing countries, according to one of three draft resolutions approved by consensus in the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.

Recognizing the intrinsic role of health in achieving international development goals, the General Assembly today – through the unanimous adoption of a resolution on global health and foreign policy – encouraged Governments to plan or pursue the transition towards universal access to affordable and quality health-care services.