General Assembly

On 15 June, the United Nations General Assembly elected Mogens Lykketoft of Denmark to serve as the President of its seventieth session, which runs from September 2015 to September 2016.

Concluding its sixty-ninth session, the General Assembly this afternoon adopted one resolution and heard closing remarks that highlighted the unique vision of the 2030 agenda and the year’s other major accomplishments.

To a burst of applause, the General Assembly this morning adopted, without a vote, a text that sets the stage for negotiations on the long-pending issue of Security Council reform during the world body’s seventieth session, with some hailing it as a “landmark” decision, and others calling it technical rather than substantive progress on an issue that most agreed must urgently be resolved.

Resolutions aimed at fostering greater transparency in the selection of the next Secretary-General and equitable use of all six official languages in the activities of the United Nations were among six texts adopted by the General Assembly today, one of which required a recorded vote.

Amidst heated debates about the political value of symbolic gestures, the General Assembly today adopted five resolutions on a wide range of topics, including the raising of flags by non-member observer States at the United Nations and debt restructuring.

Peace did not automatically result from ending conflict, but rather from building societies that embraced diversity, equality, democratic participation and access to education, senior United Nations officials and eminent peace advocates stressed today during the General Assembly’s annual High-Level Forum on the Culture of Peace.

BRUSSELS, 8 September — Israeli settlement expansion would kill hope for an agreement towards the establishment of two sovereign States existing side by side peacefully, experts told the International Meeting on the Question of Palestine, which concluded this afternoon.

BRUSSELS, 8 September — Invoking universal jurisdiction and a referral to the International Criminal Court were among the legal strategies available to hold Israel accountable for its illegal activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, experts said this morning during the second plenary session of the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine.

The International Day against Nuclear Tests will be observed on 10 September at United Nations Headquarters.  This year’s official opening ceremony, marked by an informal meeting, will be convened by the President of the sixty-ninth session of the General Assembly, Sam Kutesa, and organized in cooperation with the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

BRUSSELS, 7 September — Israel’s illegal settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory directly ran counter to its stated objective to realize a two-State solution, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message to the International Meeting on the Question of Palestine, which opened here today.