General Assembly

The General Assembly today elected by secret ballot Francis Belle (Barbados), Rachel Sikwese (Malawi), Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell (Trinidad and Tobago) and Margaret Tibulya (Uganda) to serve half-time terms of office on the United Nations Dispute Tribunal, each for seven years beginning immediately, while also deciding to endorse the accreditation of several major group organizations to participate in a review of the United Nations overarching development strategy for small-island States.

The General Assembly today adopted 22 draft resolutions and 1 draft decision forwarded by its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), thereby authorizing an annual United Nations peacekeeping budget of $6.51 billion for the 2019/20 fiscal year and requesting the Secretary-General explore options to improve the Organization’s cash position.

Concluding the second part of its resumed session, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today sent 22 draft resolutions and 1 draft decision to the General Assembly, asking it to authorize an annual United Nations peacekeeping budget of $6.51 billion and have the Secretary-General explore options to improve the Organization’s cash position.

Concluding its 2019 substantive session, the Special Committee on Decolonization today approved draft resolutions on five Non-Self-Governing Territories, including one that would have the General Assembly encourage the administering Power of French Polynesia to recognize and compensate persons impacted by three decades of nuclear testing in the South Pacific Territory.

The General Assembly today adopted three draft resolutions:  on assisting victims of terrorism, commemorating the anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development and on torture-free trade.

The Special Committee on Decolonization today approved draft resolutions on self‑determination questions in eight Non‑Self‑Governing Territories, heard petitioners from the British Virgin Islands, Guam, and Turks and Caicos, and took up the question of French Polynesia and New Caledonia.

While the responsibility to protect rests with national Governments, the international community has a duty to act when States themselves are the culprits of ethnic cleansing, are unable to prevent genocide or cannot ensure accountability for war crimes, delegates told General Assembly today.

The Special Committee on Decolonization today approved a draft resolution reiterating that the only way to end the special and particular colonial situation of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) is through a peaceful and negotiated settlement of the sovereignty dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom.

A total of 23 donors today announced contributions, or their intention to contribute, to the 2019 budget of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) after two young Palestinian students told the General Assembly Ad Hoc Committee how critical funding was making a deep, lasting and positive impact on the lives of millions of children like them.

The General Assembly today unanimously adopted an oral decision deciding to immediately continue informal intergovernmental negotiations on Security Council reform during its seventy-fourth session.