General Assembly

Recognizing the intrinsic role of health in achieving international development goals, the General Assembly today – through the unanimous adoption of a resolution on global health and foreign policy – encouraged Governments to plan or pursue the transition towards universal access to affordable and quality health-care services.

The General Assembly would stress the importance of responsible lending and borrowing, while emphasizing the shared responsibility of creditors and debtors for preventing unsustainable debt situations, according to one of three draft resolutions approved without a vote in the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.

Secretariat officials today unveiled a $5.34 billion outline to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) that will provide the basis early next year for the Secretary-General’s proposed programme budget for the 2014-2015 biennium.

Deeply concerned by the continued threat of human activities on the planet’s marine environments and biodiversity, the General Assembly today – by the terms of its annual omnibus resolution – reaffirmed its commitment to the far-reaching 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and called, in particular, for action to deliver on the three dimensions of sustainable development in the context of the world’s vital waterways.

The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, acting as a “constitution for the oceans”, guided every aspect of maritime affairs and set out a delicate balance of rights and duties, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today as the General Assembly celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the opening for signature of the nearly universal treaty.

The General Assembly would urge donors to increase voluntary funding to the United Nations Environment Programme, including to the Environment Fund, according to one of eight draft resolutions that the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) approved today.

While generally lauding the aim of the United Nations initiative to expand the pool of civilian experts providing immediate aid to countries emerging from conflict, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this morning said the plan lacked specifics on its servicing and resource requirements, as well as performance and development benchmarks.

The Bureau of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People issued the following statement today, 6 December:

The General Assembly would stress the need to increase the share of new and renewable sources of energy in the global mix as an important contribution to universal access to sustainable modern energy services, according to one of four draft resolutions that the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) approved by consensus today.

Twenty-seven donors today announced contributions, or their intention to contribute, to the 2013 budget of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), as officials estimated that the chronically underfunded Agency would begin the year facing a deficit of some $69 million.