General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

The Palestinian Rights Committee today approved by consensus four draft resolutions relating to the question of Palestine, as it considered the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly with regard to the current hostilities in the Gaza Strip.

Enhanced alliances between the United Nations and regional and treaty bodies were needed to address current and emerging global challenges, as well as to achieve several longstanding — and as yet unmet — international goals, said delegates today as the General Assembly adopted consensus texts reaffirming cooperation with a number of such organizations.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today approved a draft resolution that would have the General Assembly hold a high-level meeting in 2013 to assess progress in the global community’s fight against the grave challenge of human trafficking.

Upholding its tradition of consensus, the Sixth (Legal) Committee concluded its current session by approving one request for observer status by the European Organization for Nuclear Research and 11 draft resolutions, including the text on the revitalization of the General Assembly.

The implementation delays and cost overruns surrounding the Secretariat’s efforts to carry out a major enterprise resource planning (ERP) project meant to streamline the administrative practices and boost efficiency of the United Nations were in the spotlight at today’s meeting of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).

Fourth Committee concludes work with the approval of nine draft resolutions on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and Israeli practices, another on peacekeeping, and a draft decision on its work, forwarding a total of 28 texts to the General Assembly.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today approved a draft resolution that would have the General Assembly condemn all forms of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and call on States to fully implement the absolute, non-derogable prohibition of such abuse.

Determining whether migration was a positive or a negative phenomenon depended on how it was managed, Michelle Klein-Solomon, Permanent Observer of the International Organization for Migration, told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today as it a panel discussion on that subject.

Despite recognizing the need to make the Security Council more representative and fit to tackle complex global challenges, delegates remained divided on the future makeup of the 15-nation body, as the General Assembly today discussed the Council’s work and reforming its structure.

In its six years of existence, the Human Rights Council had successfully built on the strong desire of all Member States to address the root causes of human rights violations and raise awareness about them in a non-confrontational, consistent and coherent manner, but more funding was needed for its growing mandates, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today.