General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) took action today on three draft resolutions — all adopted without a vote — that would have the General Assembly welcome the establishment of UN Women, declare 23 June every year International Widows’ Day and condemn all forms of violence against women and girls.

Israel’s continuing restrictions on Palestinian movement and access to natural resources, its expansion of settlements, and its military offensive against the Gaza Strip in December 2008 and January 2009 had deepened the hardship suffered by the Palestinians, Amr Nour, Director of the United Nations Regional Commissions New York Office, told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today considered the financing needs of the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT), as the Mission prepared to wind down its operations by year’s end and liquefy millions of dollars in assets.

Reiterating the urgent need to tackle the interconnected challenges in Afghanistan – from increased extremist violence, to the development of sound institutions and strong democratic processes - the General Assembly today adopted by consensus a broad based resolution appealing to the international community for continued support for a coherent, Afghan-driven strategy that would help the Government keep the war-torn country on the road to recovery.

As the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) neared the conclusion of two weeks of discussions on human rights, representatives of 20 countries took the floor today to address a wide range of issues dealing with self-determination, racism and refugees.

In assessing the importance of equity in evaluating different growth strategies, the international community must consider the cultural context rather than simply comparing poverty levels, Jan Kubiš, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), told the Second Committee this afternoon during its annual dialogue with the United Nations regional commissions.

In their fourth annual debate on the work of the Human Rights Council, General Assembly delegates said today that in its five years of existence, the Geneva-based body had managed to build a solid foundation, yet, its progress hinged on improving its record on mainstreaming human rights into the United Nations system.

Facing chronic financial shortfalls and the persistent blockade of the Gaza Strip, UNRWA would continue to struggle to meet its mandate to provide basic services without a significant infusion of donor supply across all fields of operations and a further easing of border closures around the constricted enclave, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) was told as it concluded its general debate on the work of that Agency this afternoon.

The past year has been the worst in two decades for the voluntary repatriation of refugees, and due to the changing nature and intractability of some conflicts, the world was now faced with “quasi-permanent global refugee populations,” the Third Committee was told today by the head of the United Nations refugee agency.

Despite marked improvements for millions of slum-dwellers worldwide over the last decade, the number of people living in urban squalor was still rising and must be addressed through global action, Joan Clos, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today as it began consideration the work of that agency.