General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

Noting with satisfaction the establishment of a new strategic relationship between the Russian Federation and the United States and the desire of the two to bring their nuclear postures into alignment with that new relationship, and their endeavour to reduce further the role and importance of nuclear weapons, the First Committee today approved a draft resolution welcoming the signing of the new START Treaty.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today wrapped up its debate on proposals to overhaul the management of the Organization’s global staff, as several delegates urged management to boost the ranks of employees from developing countries, while others remained unhappy with the Secretary-General’s plan for issuing continuing appointments.

Five years after its establishment, the Peacebuilding Commission was today at a crossroads, and the United Nations must choose whether to place peacebuilding at the heart of its work, or allow the advisory body to settle into the limited role it had developed thus far, General Assembly delegates stressed today as they pledged to conduct their first in-depth review of the Organization’s peacebuilding architecture.

Given the current “renaissance of nuclear energy”, Member States and other users were ever more eager to evaluate risk and establish appropriate safety and protection standards over radiation levels from energy production and exposure to nuclear installations, and to assess the consequences on human health and the environment, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today as it began its consideration of the effects of atomic radiation.

The Third Committee took action today on two resolutions on social development, while postponing action on a third regarding efforts to end all forms of violence against women, after it concluded its discussion on the promotion and protection of human rights.

As the Sixth Committee (Legal) today continued to consider the report of the International Law Commission, with continued focus on expulsion of aliens, effects of armed conflict on treaties and protection of persons in natural disasters, the delegate of Italy called on the Commission to interact with organizations working in the field to protect victims of natural disasters and meet in Geneva with members of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Given its stagnant food production and rising levels of malnourishment, Africa would not be able to feed itself unless the outside world helped with money and technology to spur agriculture across the continent, Malawi’s representative told the Second Committee today as it considered agriculture development and food security.

Convinced that conventional arms control needed to be pursued primarily in the regional and subregional contexts, since most threats to peace and security in the post-cold-war era arose mainly among States in the same region or subregion, militarily significant States and those with larger military capabilities had a special responsibility in promoting such agreements for regional security, according to one of 16 draft texts approved today in the Disarmament Committee.

With opening remarks by Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro, the Fifth Committee today began debating the latest management reform proposals aimed at boosting the Organization’s efficiency by overhauling how tens of thousands of staff around the world are hired, trained and paid.

The Presidents of the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court told the General Assembly today they had made great progress in their work promoting the rule of law and confronting impunity, while Assembly delegates noted the growing complexity of their cases and increased workload, and pushed for the judicial bodies to receive more human and financial resources.