General Assembly

Despite recognizing the need to make the Security Council more representative and fit to tackle complex global challenges, delegates remained divided on the future makeup of the 15-nation body, as the General Assembly today discussed the Council’s work and reforming its structure.

In its six years of existence, the Human Rights Council had successfully built on the strong desire of all Member States to address the root causes of human rights violations and raise awareness about them in a non-confrontational, consistent and coherent manner, but more funding was needed for its growing mandates, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today.

Gathering in the General Assembly Hall today, delegates assessed the work of the Human Rights Council covering an ever-increasing array of topics that came under its purview, but with scant resources to address them all.

A total of 25 Member States pledged approximately $865 million today, during a Headquarters event in support of United Nations development activities for 2013.

The work of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation affected decisions in several domains, including energy, waste management, radiation medicine, and the protection of the public, workers and the environment, the Fourth Committee heard today as it approved a draft resolution on atomic radiation, concluding its consideration of that subject.

Low productivity, reduced investment, land degradation, water scarcity and climate change had combined to form a “perfect storm” of challenges to the agricultural output of several Member States, General Assembly President Vuk Jeremić (Serbia) told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.

Voting nearly-unanimously to adopt the General Assembly’s twenty-first consecutive resolution calling for an end to the United States’ blockade against Cuba, United Nations delegates urged President Barack Obama, fresh-off a re-election victory, to “act on the right side of history” and lift Washington’s crushing economic, commercial and financial embargo on the island nation.

On a day in which the Fourth Committee heard many speakers denounce Israel’s policies and activities as “shrinking the window” of opportunity for a two-State solution and describe the Occupied Palestinian Territory as the “largest prison in the world”, that delegation discredited the discussion, calling it one-sided, inflammatory rhetoric constantly disrupting the Committee’s work.

While the revolution in mobile telephony had helped bridge the digital divide, it could not address all the challenges relating to information and communications technology and development, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) heard today.

The General Assembly today elected 18 States to serve on the Human Rights Council, the United Nations key forum for tackling entrenched human rights concerns around the world.