General Assembly

The Fourth Committee today, having considered the question of decolonization in depth since its began its session on 8 October, forwarded 11 draft texts to the General Assembly, with half approved without a vote, reaffirming the rights of the people of Non-Self-Governing Territories to shape their destiny.

The elimination of the persistent and continued violence against women throughout the world was a core element for achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today, at the start of its three-day discussion on the advancement of women.

The work of UNCITRAL was essential to upholding the rule of law and could only be realized when States put binding legal texts into action, Hrvoje Sikirić, Chairperson of the Commission’s forty-fifth session, told the Sixth Committee (Legal) as it considered the Commission’s report and concluded its debate on two additional items: criminal accountability of the Organization’s officials and experts on mission; and the administration of justice at the United Nations.

Millions of poor people around the world deserved the best and most serious efforts from the international community, stressed United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson today, as the Second Committee took up operational activities for development.

As the First Committee today heard from a high-level panel of experts on the progress and impasses of the international disarmament machinery, delegates were told that the world must “put an end to nuclear testing before nuclear testing puts an end to the world”.

As the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia approached the completion of their mandates - and the twentieth anniversaries of their inception - it was now up to their smaller, leaner successor body to preserve the “new international culture of accountability” they had created, top officials from the courts said today as they briefed the General Assembly.

As the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia approached the completion of their mandates - and the twentieth anniversaries of their inception - it was now up to their smaller, leaner successor body to preserve the “new international culture of accountability” they had created, top officials from the courts said today as they briefed the General Assembly.

As a deep-seated desire for peace and democracy shapes a new world in the Mediterranean, it was vital to do away with cold war perspectives and consider the Western Sahara dispute with new eyes, Morocco’s representative told the Fourth Committee today as it concluded its debate on decolonization.

Arbitrary, unilateral sanctions infringed on development, violated human rights, defied the rule of law and harmed innocent people and States, delegates told the Sixth Committee (Legal), today, as it concluded its debate on the Special Committee on the Charter and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization and began consideration of criminal accountability of United Nations officials and experts on mission.

Efforts to bridge the security gap between those who had nuclear weapons and those who did not drew the attention of the Disarmament Committee today, as the non-nuclear-armed States reiterated their longstanding demand for legally binding assurances that those weapons would not be used against them, as a surer path to protection pending fulfilment of the goal of complete nuclear disarmament.