General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

If the flagship Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament could not agree on a way to break its 15-year-long deadlock, there was a chance that the United Nations would “lose legitimacy in disarmament affairs”, panellists heading the key components of the Organization’s disarmament machinery today warned in the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security).

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) forwarded this afternoon a draft text that would have the General Assembly endorse the Committee for Programme and Coordination’s conclusions and recommendations on evaluation, the annual overview report of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination for 2010-2011 and United Nations system support for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.

The General Assembly today elected Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan and Togo to serve as non-permanent members of the Security Council for the next two years; but after nine rounds of voting, the seat allocated to a member from the Eastern European States was not filled, with Azerbaijan and Slovenia trading the leading edge.

The United Nations remained the “only credible advocate” for a peaceful, free and just world, and its voice must be heard clearly and loudly in every corner of the globe and by all its peoples, the Fourth Committee was told today as it concluded its consideration of questions relating to information, with the approval of two draft resolutions.

The prolonged Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories had placed a tremendous burden on civilians, and had an even heavier impact on children, “whose development is deformed by pervasive deprivations affecting health, education and overall security,” a top UN Official told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian, Cultural) today.

Looking to move forward on agreements made at the Fourth United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries in Istanbul, delegates in the General Assembly’s Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today stressed the need for full implementation of the Programme of Action to address the many challenges and vulnerabilities still facing least developed countries, small island developing States, and landlocked developing countries.

The unregulated traffic-laden information highway posed a major non-traditional security threat, forcing cyberspace onto the international community’s arms control agenda, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard as its thematic debate continued with the introduction of six draft texts on the agenda, under “other disarmament measures and international security”.

Member States gathered at the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) meeting today prodded each other once again to pay their financial obligations in full and on time as they discussed improving the Organization’s financial situation and prepared to kick off talks on the 2012-2013 budget cycle.

Information – from both new and traditional sources - was integral to an interdependent and interconnected world, especially in times of rapid political changes, calamities, and natural disasters, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today, as it continued to examine efficacy with which the Organization disseminated its message.

Recent events unfolding across the Middle East and North Africa underscored the pressing need to bolster human rights as the third pillar — alongside security and development — of the United Nations, the High Commissioner for Human Rights told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today.