General Assembly

Despite “high rhetoric and moralistic assertions”, the fact was that nuclear weapons remained integral to strategic doctrines of military alliances, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) was told today, while nuclear-weapon States insisted they were “working relentlessly” to live up to commitments.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today aired its views on the evolving administrative justice system at the United Nations and the need to assess its effectiveness as Secretariat officials unveiled their annual reports on the system.

New media technologies were not just instruments of communication, but “channels of citizen participation”, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today, as it continued its consideration of questions relating to information, including in the context of how the United Nations Department of Public Information was measuring up to the challenges.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today approved eight draft resolutions relating to crime prevention, criminal justice and international drug control, including a text aimed at curbing the trafficking of cultural property ‑ an emerging issue in the global struggle against transnational organized crime.

Lack of adequate and reliable funding could threaten the future of the Programme of Assistance in the Teaching, Study, Dissemination and Wider Appreciation of International Law, the Secretary of the Advisory Committee cautioned Sixth Committee delegates as deliberations on the subject began.

It was time to place a value on unpaid work carried out by women, the head of UN-Women stressed today as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) considered poverty eradication.

Although the “special responsibility” of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) to tackle the myriad challenges of disarmament and non-proliferation was not easy or quick, those efforts should not be allowed to “wither on the vine”, Genxin Li, Director of Legal and External Relations of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), said today as the Committee began its thematic debate on nuclear weapons.

While acknowledging the overall financial health of the United Nations, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) voiced their worries today about the unpaid assessments that produce a cash flow shortage in the Organization’s regular budget each December.

In one round of voting, the General Assembly today elected Chad, Chile, Lithuania, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia to serve as non-permanent members of the Security Council for the next two years.

“Working with you,” Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, told the Fourth Committee today as it opened its yearly consideration of questions relating to information, “we can, through action and message, help to sustain — or to win — the engagement and support of the peoples you represent.”