General Assembly

The optimism stemming from the latest Middle East peace initiative had become fraught with dangers that could take it “back to square one”, the Fourth Committee heard today as it concluded its consideration of the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories.

Supporting the new post-2015 development agenda depended on the United Nations being “fit for purpose”, with a strengthened role in improving global dialogue and policymaking, the head of the Economic and Social Council told the General Assembly today during an open debate on that body.

Twenty-four countries pledged approximately $488 million during a Headquarters event in support of United Nations development activities primarily covering 2014. The amount represents a decline of approximately $377 million in comparison to last year’s pledges.

Despite Israel’s lack of cooperation with the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories, that body had confirmed a “number of disturbing trends”, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today, as it began its annual consideration of the item.

Nearing the conclusion of their work for the sixty-eighth session, delegates in the Sixth Committee (Legal) today took action on two draft resolutions and heard the oral reports by the Chairs of two working groups.

Over the next decade, new technologies, including artificial intelligence, data analytics, robotics, and synthetic biology, would start to improve productivity, the Director of Scanning and Foresight at Policy Horizons Canada told the Second Committee today.

With nearly $45 billion in assets at year-end 2012, the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund was paying out $2 billion a year in benefits to more than 67,000 people around the globe while preparing to meet its obligations to 85,000 beneficiaries by the end of the decade, the Chairman of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today.

The expansion of the Security Council with more balanced and equitable representation, especially regarding Africa, had gained broad support among delegates, as the General Assembly concluded its debate on reform of the 15-member body.

Israel supported the humanitarian work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) by approving the vast majority of its requests and providing it unrestricted access to Israeli officials, its representative told the Fourth Committee today, adding, however, that the country “deeply opposes UNRWA’s political agenda”.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) approved three draft resolutions today, including one addressing the needs of women in rural areas and another highlighting the twentieth anniversary of the International Year of the Family to be observed in 2014.