General Assembly

Acting without a vote as it concluded the first part of its resumed sixty-eighth session this evening, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) approved eight draft texts relating to the Capital Master Plan, a new staff mobility framework and progress towards establishing an accountability system for the United Nations, among other things.

The General Assembly today affirmed its commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty, political independence, unity and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, underscoring the invalidity of the 16 March referendum held in autonomous Crimea.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today examined the financial implications of a proposed draft resolution on strengthening the United Nations human rights treaty body system — a text that would have a far-reaching impact on how it operates.

The Peacebuilding Commission must better coordinate its work with key United Nations bodies, intergovernmental entities and donors in order to maximize its impact in post-conflict countries, delegates said today as the General Assembly reviewed the annual reports of the nine-year-old body and its principal financing mechanism, the Peacebuilding Fund.

Noting the vulnerability of the Beirut headquarters of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia to attack in light of recent targeted explosions throughout Lebanon’s capital, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today welcomed the Secretary-General’s proposed measures to improve staff safety and security at the complex.

Efforts to eradicate the legacy of slavery must continue, speakers in the General Assembly said today, emphasizing that the long-abolished scourge was “not yet a thing of the past”.

As the General Assembly began a special commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination today, United Nations officials and human rights experts alike called for robust strategies and policies to end socioeconomic disparities among racial groups as well as hate crimes and institutionalized discrimination, emphasizing that racism remained pervasive.

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will convene the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine in Quito, Ecuador, on 25 and 26 March, at Swissôtel Quito. The theme of the Meeting is “Engaging for peace — the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People”.

Commending the progress made towards completing the massive, $2.2 billion renovation of the United Nations Headquarters begun eight years ago, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today sought new ways to rein in cost overruns, relocate the functions of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library and South Annex buildings, and keep the project on track for completion by 2015.