General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

Mounting concerns that advances in ballistic missile defence technology and recognition of the inherent instability — possible arms race in space and cascading proliferation on Earth — that could result from the pursuit of space weapons for security informed the debate in the Disarmament Committee today, which heard the introduction of two draft resolutions on the domain long hoped would be preserved for peaceful purposes to the benefit of all humankind.

The General Assembly today elected 18 members of the Economic and Social Council to serve three-year terms beginning 1 January 2011. Those elected today were Australia, Cameroon, China, Ecuador, Finland, Gabon, Hungary, Latvia, Malawi, Mexico, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Senegal and the United Kingdom.

United Nations peacekeeping was a dynamic and essential element of the international community’s response to global peace and security threats, but success was never guaranteed because peacekeeping, almost by definition, went to the most physically and politically demanding environments, and the process faced rapidly diminishing resources, overstretch and the need for greater consensus, said the United Nations Peacekeeping Chief today in the Fourth Committee.

United Nations experts charged with examining the human rights of migrants told the Third Committee today that over the past two years the trend towards the “increasing criminalization” of irregular migration had continued, with migrants facing racist attacks, abuse and “appalling” housing conditions throughout the world.

While approving a draft decision on the administration of justice at the United Nations, delegates of the Sixth Committee (Legal) this morning also discussed activities of the legal Programme of Assistance, and called for its funding from the United Nations regular budget, since the rule of law had steadily emerged as a universal aspiration.

In efforts towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, it would be impossible to tackle poverty effectively and comprehensively without both understanding its multidimensional nature and creating decent employment opportunities for all, the Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.

Mounting a successful campaign to counter, and finally eradicate, what many perceived to be the greatest contemporary security threat — weapons of mass destruction — depended on concrete enforcement and verification, delegates heard today as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) addressed some of the obstacles to strengthening the key conventions prohibiting biological and chemical weapons.

The Department of Public Information was the public voice of the Organization, and the promotion of multiculturalism and multilingualism must remain the hallmark of the United Nations, infusing efforts to achieve common undertakings and mature responses in every aspect of its work, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today just prior to its approval, without a vote, of two draft resolutions on questions relating to information.

The world was witnessing a situation in which pressures on land and water were increasing at “unprecedented speed,” with dramatic consequences for millions of farmers, fishermen and indigenous people and their right to food, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian, Cultural) was told today.

When the Sixth Committee (Legal) today took up the issue of transboundary harm from hazardous activities, the discussion centred largely on how the draft articles on prevention of the harm and the draft principles on allocation of loss could be most effectively engaged, either in concert or independently of one another.