General Assembly

The General Assembly today welcomed the Secretary-General’s report on expediting United Nations efforts to bring the global AIDS epidemic fully under control, deciding to include that question as an item on the agenda of its sixty-eighth session.

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will convene the United Nations International Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace in Beijing, China, at the Sofitel Wanda Hotel, on 18 and 19 June. The theme of the Meeting is “Reviving the collective international engagement towards a two-State solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.

States parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination elected nine members to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination today, replacing colleagues whose four-year terms are set to expire on 19 January 2014.

QUITO, 30 May ‑ At the conclusion of its three-day review of development and trends associated with the decolonization process today, participants in the 2013 Caribbean Regional Seminar exchanged views on the event’s impact and considered the way forward in promoting the goals of the Third International Decade.

QUITO, 29 May ‑ On its second day, the Caribbean Regional Seminar on the Implementation of the Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism discussed developments and trends in the decolonization process of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

QUITO, 28 May ‑ In a message to the Caribbean Regional Seminar on the Implementation of the Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon encouraged participants to review recent developments as well as trends that are likely to influence developments in the upcoming period.

A senior Secretariat official asked the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today to meet the start-up requirements of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) by approving $454.43 million in financing for the 25 April to 31 December 2013 period.

Pointing to the further deterioration of Syria’s security situation, a senior Secretariat official asked the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today for an extra $8 million to maintain the United Nations peacekeeping operation stationed in the Golan Heights.

Acting on the recommendation of its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), the General Assembly today appointed Thomas David Smith (United Kingdom) as a member of the Committee on Contributions for a term of office beginning on 21 May 2013 and ending on 31 December 2014.

Palestinians were “exerting every possible effort” to ensure the success of current efforts to re-start peace negotiations with Israel, their lead negotiator told the Palestinian Rights Committee today.