General Assembly

Many of the 1 billion disabled people around the world lacked the protections to which they were entitled, even though 132 countries had ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a senior official of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs said as the Conference of States Parties to that treaty opened its 2013 session today.

The time had come to move away from “constructive” to “transformative” dialogue between civil society and Member States on the issue of international migration and development, according to non-governmental organization representatives who addressed the General Assembly today.

The General Assembly this morning adopted two resolutions by consensus ‑ the first outlining the format and organizational aspects of a High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development to replace the Commission on Sustainable Development, as mandated by the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) last year, and the second reaffirming the role of the United Nations in global economic governance.

Stark disparities and widening gaps between the world’s rich and poor were a “reproach to the promise of the United Nations Charter”, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned the General Assembly today during a thematic debate on inequality.

Concluding its second resumed substantive session, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today recommended financial arrangements for 14 United Nations peacekeeping operations for the year beginning 1 July 2013 and ending 30 June 2014, which, once approved by the General Assembly, would exceed the previous year’s figure due to the addition of a new mission for Mali.

Acting on the recommendations of its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), the General Assembly today adopted its peacekeeping budget for the period 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014.

Calling for a bold response to the global employment crisis, the Secretary-General urged that young entrepreneurs be encouraged, educated and empowered in order to meet the challenge of filling nearly half a billion jobs by 2030.

Speakers at a special event today highlighted the private sector’s potential to help fragile countries emerge from years, if not decades, of conflict by creating jobs and economic stability while healing rifts among diverse peoples.

The increasingly complex nature of migration, coupled with the fact that more people were on the move than ever before, required the international community to address the deepening relationship linking international migration and development, Acting General Assembly President Rodney Charles ( Trinidad and Tobago), said today.

The Special Committee on Decolonization today concluded its 2013 substantive session by approving, by consensus, three draft resolutions, including one whereby the General Assembly would, for the first time since 1947, reaffirm the inalienable right of the people of French Polynesia to self-determination.