General Assembly

Debate today in the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) amplified a wide range of issues underpinning improvement in both the operational and doctrinal aspects of peacekeeping, including the need to address deficiencies in staff, funding and equipment, the value of further engaging regional and subregional organizations, and the multidimensional aspect of peacekeeping mandates that might now encompass human rights, civilian protection and peacebuilding components.

All human rights and freedoms were inter-dependent and indivisible, Member States told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as it completed its debate on the promotion and protection of human rights.

Desertification affected one third of the earth’s surface and about 1.5 billion people globally, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) was told today as it continued its general discussion on sustainable development.

The General Assembly today elected 18 members of the Economic and Social Council to serve three-year terms beginning 1 January 2013.

The rapidly growing number of refugees was complicating the task of finding a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today during the conclusion of its debate on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), even as delegates disagreed on how the refugee question should be resolved.

As new conflicts multiplied in 2011 - especially in Africa and the Middle East – the collective capacity to respond to people uprooted by violence and persecution was “being put to the test in unforeseen ways” amid increased demand for humanitarian relief and an uncertain operating environment, the United Nations top refugee official told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today.

The Rio+20 United Nations Conference had been a “crucial milestone” for the international community and had ushered in “a new era of sustainable development”, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) heard today.

As the sixty-seventh session of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) drew to a close today, Committee Chair Desra Percaya of Indonesia thanked delegations for “hanging with” him and the Committee during the session’s challenges since, as Benjamin Franklin said, “if we do not hang together, we hang separately”.

It was not only politically risky but also morally wrong to reduce the services provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today as it began its consideration of that Agency.

Universal recognition of the inalienable right to self-determination was the most effective way the global community could guarantee protection of fundamental freedoms, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today, as it concluded discussion on several human rights issues.