General Assembly

There was “no good purpose for bad weapons”, heard the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today as a cross-section of non-nuclear-armed States called for greater global disarmament efforts.

As the African continent moved towards greater integration, the Western Sahara “weighs heavily” on the Maghreb region, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today as it concluded its general debate on decolonization, with calls for enhanced cooperation between the Special Committee and administering Powers.

Conscious of women’s potential as agents for development, heads of United Nations agencies called for removing barriers to their full participation in all facets of life, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today, beginning its discussion on the advancement of women with an interactive debate.

As the Sixth Committee (Legal) took up the report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the Chair of that Commission’s forty-seventh session highlighted the finalization and approval of a draft Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration.

Disorderly restructuring of sovereign debt could lead to costly socializing of private debt, attendant economic distress and significant human suffering, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) heard today as delegates met to discuss external debt sustainability and development.

The administration of justice could not be measured in monetary terms alone, the General Assembly was told today as the Presidents of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals and the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and for the Former Yugoslavia presented their annual reports.

Human trafficking and illicit drugs were jeopardizing peace and social order by ravaging communities, spilling over borders and violating the human rights of its victims worldwide, delegates told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) as it concluded a two-day discussion on crime prevention, criminal justice and international drug control.

Access to justice must be ensured if a society were to be truly based on the rule of law, Sixth (Legal) Committee delegations emphasized today as they continued their deliberations on the principle and shared national practices.

The difficult and complex conventional arms control challenge, which delegates hoped would be mitigated with the coming entry into force of the Arms Trade Treaty, dominated debate in the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today.

Petitioners made impassioned appeals for settling the Western Sahara question for a third and final day today, as the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) considered Morocco’s role and record in the territory.