General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

Palestinian efforts for full membership of the United Nations and its agencies was not a provocation but rather the exercise of their legal right to sovereignty and independence, Riyad Mansour, head of the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine, assured the Palestinian Rights Committee today.

Only by streamlining responses to the world’s complex humanitarian landscape would the needs of those affected by disasters and emergencies be met, speakers stressed today as the General Assembly adopted four resolutions relating to humanitarian assistance.

The Preparatory Committee for the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development today elected three members of its Bureau. Elected by acclamation were Kim Sook (Republic of Korea) from the Group of Asian States as Co‑Chair; and Bedrich Moldan (Czech Republic) from the Group of Eastern European States and Keith Christie (Canada) from the Group of Western European and Other States as Vice-Chairs.

Humanitarian assistance must be scaled up and made “smarter” as global emergencies continued to expand in both frequency and complexity, delegates in the General Assembly stressed today during their annual debate on the coordination of disaster relief efforts.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today took stock of the financing requirements for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, as it heard Secretariat officials shed light on progress in completing the Tribunals’ work and preparing their transfer to residual mechanisms.

The General Assembly today elected Julia Sebutinde of Uganda to a much-contested seat on the International Court of Justice, ending a weeks-long stalemate between the Assembly and the Security Council. Following a single ballot — which brought to 12 the total number of voting rounds in the Assembly — Ms. Sebutinde received in both organs the absolute majority required to clinch the fifth and final vacant seat on the Court.

The General Assembly today, recommitting itself to honouring the victims of what several delegates called “the most tragic chapter in human history”, adopted a resolution endorsing the construction at United Nations Headquarters of a permanent memorial to those who had suffered under the yoke of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade system.

Concluding its session today, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) approved three draft resolutions, including one on information and communications technology for development, by which the General Assembly would stress that the development promise of science and technology remained unfilled for the majority of the poor.

The ambitious, multi-year overhaul of the historic United Nations Headquarters — known as the Capital Master Plan — was on track for completion by the end of 2014 within a variance of no more than 4 per cent of the original approved budget of $1.88 billion, the Plan’s top official told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today.

In keeping with the tradition of consensus practiced in the Sixth Committee (Legal), the General Assembly adopted without a vote 22 resolutions and three draft decisions that highlighted the priorities of the Organization in the international legal arena.