General Assembly

Passionate revolutionary, apostle of peace, champion of human rights, nation builder and beacon of freedom were among the terms of endearment bestowed on former South African President Nelson Mandela during a special meeting of the General Assembly today to pay tribute to his life and memory.

The United Nations must provide predictable and sufficient funds to its intergovernmental bodies, Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) delegates said today as they scrutinized the costs during the next biennium of new and existing activities of entities focused on human rights and sustainable development.

The General Assembly today adopted 68 draft resolutions recommended by its Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) on a range of issues relating mainly to human rights, social development and crime prevention, while deferring action on three texts until the issuance of their budgetary implications.

Spotlighting global cooperation to combat violent extremism, the scourge of “conflict diamonds” and assistance to Rwandan genocide survivors, the General Assembly adopted five resolutions today that focused, among other things, on building a culture of peace to reduce tensions around the world. It also elected two members to the Peacebuilding Commission’s Organizational Committee.

The President of the United Nations General Assembly, John Ashe (Antigua and Barbuda), held an end-of-year press conference today at Headquarters in which he discussed highlights from the past year and outlined expected activities for 2014 and beyond, including the long-standing issue of Security Council reform.

Delegations of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today voiced their concerns with the cost overruns of the Organization’s two-year, multibillion-dollar budget that ends on 31 December 2013, as well as with the significant financial demands of nearly two dozen special political missions for the upcoming two-year budget cycle that begins in January.

Underscoring the substantive work of the Sixth Committee (Legal) this year on the advancement of international law, the General Assembly stressed, through the adoption of 21 resolutions, 3 decisions and 2 procedural items in 23 reports today, the crucial role of international law in maintaining peace and security.

As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) charted progress made in building new office space at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) headquarters in Addis Ababa, delegates voiced serious concern over architectural and contracting mishandling that had significantly delayed its completion and given rise to extra costs.

Against a grim backdrop plagued by a rising frequency and severity of climate change impacts and continued bloodshed and violence in conflict-affected States, capacity-building efforts and enhanced cooperation must be priorities in shaping the world’s humanitarian response strategies, delegates heard today as the General Assembly unanimously adopted a package of five resolutions. Doing so, the Assembly concluded its joint debate on that subject and on assistance to Rwandan genocide survivors.

Recognizing the multitude of humanitarian crises that had occurred worldwide this year and the emergency responses they had sparked, the General Assembly considered a number of resolutions today, including one aimed at strengthening the coordination of United Nations assistance.