General Assembly

Recommendations from a group of senior peacekeeping experts to craft a more equitable, predictable system for reimbursing troop contributors to United Nations peacekeeping operations drew much praise, as well as some concerns, from the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today, as it examined several reports on that subject.

The General Assembly today appointed Vinay Kumar (India) to the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, effective immediately, for a term ending on 31 December.

Concern over reimbursement rates for peacekeeping troop contributors, the cost of staff air travel, implementation of the staff mobility initiative, and the report of the Joint Inspection Unit dominated the debate of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today, as it opened its resumed session.

ROME, 28 February — A robust, financially stable Palestinian Authority was vital to ensuring enhanced international engagement, a viable Palestinian economy and sustainable human development in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, speakers said this afternoon as the United Nations Seminar on Assistance to the Palestinian People wrapped up its work.

ROME, 28 February — As the United Nations Seminar on Assistance to the Palestinian People continued today, experts highlighted the complex challenges of developing a self-sustaining economy under occupation and outlined programmes aimed at rebuilding the severely eroded Palestinian agriculture sector, ensuring high governance standards and generating donor support for reconstruction of Gaza.

ROME, 27 February — The situations that triggered humanitarian strife in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip — severe restrictions on movement and constraints on livelihoods — were man-made: the consequence of Israel’s occupation, experts said today as the United Nations Seminar on Assistance to the Palestinian People held its first plenary session.

ROME, 27 February — With cash-starved Palestinian institutions standing on “political quicksand”, and mounting tensions in the West Bank over settlement construction and the recent death of a Palestinian prisoner in Israeli custody, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the parties to refrain from actions that could undermine the prospects of reopening long-stalled peace negotiations.

Opening the 2013 substantive session of the Special Committee on Decolonization, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on that body to devise “fresh and creative” approaches in mobilizing the political will needed to eradicate colonialism, saying it had no place in the modern world.

The General Assembly today decided that a special session on the follow-up to the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development will be held on 22 September 2014 in New York “in the most efficient and cost-effective manner”.

The views of troop- and police-contributing countries must be reflected at all levels of United Nations peacekeeping operations — not just on the ground but also at Headquarters — the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations heard as it concluded its general debate today.