General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

In a complex and dangerous world, the “bitter reality” was that the possession of nuclear weapons by some gave others the excuse to acquire them, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) was told today during its thematic debate on nuclear weapons, which also heard the introduction of three draft resolutions.

Space science and technology could significantly improve living conditions, conserve natural resources, and enhance natural disaster preparedness in developing countries, the Fourth Committee was told today as it continued its consideration of international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.

Protection systems and monitoring mechanisms rarely addressed the special challenges facing girls, children with disabilities and the world’s most impoverished young people at great cost not just to them, but to their entire societies, the head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today.

The principle of universal jurisdiction — how and to what extent it should be applied — was the central concern of the Sixth Committee (Legal) today as it reviewed the report of the Secretary-General on the matter and deliberated on its possible misuse and imposition on State sovereignty. Delegates from a large number of Member States took part in the all-day discussion.

Concerned that the global economic crisis would take its toll on official development assistance (ODA) from the developed world, delegates in the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today looked to the great potential existing in the global South, while also calling for greater balance in the core and non‑core resources of United Nations operational activities for development.

“We are sorry to report,” the Deputy Secretary-General of the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today, “once again — despite the genuine efforts of the successive Presidents, negotiations on any issue on its agenda have been absent”.

As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) took up its agenda item on the pattern of conferences, delegates today prodded the Secretariat to work more quickly to simplify overall efforts to shorten the length of documents and issue them on time, as well as to increase the efficient use of the Organization’s meeting facilities.

Concluding its consideration of decolonization issues, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) would have the General Assembly recommend that all States intensify their efforts to ensure the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, by one of five draft texts approved today.

States needed to promote women’s rights, so they could be “agents of change” for sustained socio-economic development and security around the world, delegates told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as it continued its three-day discussion on the advancement of women.

Amid the urgent global need for jobs, there was a growing consensus that rebuilding the link between markets and people was necessary for the creation of a new model of political commitment to production and employment growth, a senior official with UN Women told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.