General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

Emphasizing that the future of the United Nations depended on a joint vision and shared responsibilities, the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Kiyo Akasaka, told the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today that the Department of Public Information “stands ready” to contribute to the achievement of the Organization’s goals by building understanding and support for the Organization among the peoples of the world.

In promoting women’s empowerment it was critical that the international community systematically link women to the development agenda, speakers told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as it continued its discussion on the advancement of women.

As the Sixth Committee (Legal) this morning addressed the issue of criminal accountability of United Nations officials and experts on missions, the debate centred on impunity, language regarding scope of accountability and the need for an international convention.

A regulatory overhaul to strengthen regional development banks, a scaling up of international aid tailored to Africa’s special needs, and debt relief were urgently needed to help buoy African economies weakened by the global financial and economic crisis, several speakers told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) this afternoon, as it continued its consideration of macroeconomic policy questions.

Countries must step up efforts to address essential, but unresolved issues in advance of the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Robert Orr, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Strategic Planning, today told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) during a panel discussion on “Climate Change Negotiations: Road to Copenhagen”.

Efforts to stem the spread of violence and armed conflict had found intergovernmental allies from areas as diverse as agricultural development to global financing, greatly boosting the chances of eventually achieving disarmament goals, the United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Sergio Duarte, told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today.

Member States praised the work of the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC) this morning, as they took up issues related to programme planning in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).

While the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) had broken new ground in many areas ‑‑ including clarifying the concept of sexual and reproductive health and setting a quantitative goal for universal delivery of such services ‑‑ substantial progress must be made to stop women from dying of preventable pregnancy-related causes, delegates in the General Assembly stressed today, as they concluded their two-day commemoration of the Conference.

The Fourth Committee would have the General Assembly reaffirm the right of peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories to self-determination, while also calling once again on all Governments that had not yet done so to take legislative, administrative or other measures to put an end to enterprises in the Territories that were detrimental to the interests of the inhabitants, by one of 10 draft resolutions approved today.

Embarking on a two-day discussion on the advancement of women, members of the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today encouraged speedy completion of proposals for a new United Nations body to oversee gender equality and women’s empowerment, in a process overseen by the Secretary-General with involvement from the Deputy Secretary-General, which was expected to conclude at year’s end.