General Assembly

The Second Review Conference on the United Nations Programme of Action on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons opens today at United Nations Headquarters in New York. The Programme of Action, which Governments adopted by consensus in 2001, contains concrete recommendations for improving national legislation and controls over illicit small arms, fostering regional cooperation and promoting international assistance and cooperation on the issue.

Expressing serious concern over a deteriorating humanitarian situation, as well as evictions and demolitions of homes, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People would continue to call on the Security Council and the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to hold Israel accountable, its Chair said today.

Gravely concerned by the escalating violence in Syria, the General Assembly today strongly condemned Damascus’ indiscriminate use of heavy weapons in civilian areas and its widespread violations of human rights, demanding that all parties “immediately and visibly” commit to ending a conflict that United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called “a test of everything this Organization stands for”.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women concluded its work today by adopting observations and recommendations arising from its consideration of eight country reports that it took up during its fifty-second session. Under consideration during the three-week session were periodic reports submitted by the Governments of Guyana, Indonesia, Bulgaria, Jamaica, Mexico, New Zealand, Samoa and the Bahamas.

The responsibility now rested on the world to demonstrate its deep commitment to translating sustainable development into concrete results, according to the much-anticipated “Rio+20” draft resolution adopted unanimously by the General Assembly today.

In what was seen as a major breakthrough in negotiations at the ongoing United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty, delegates today received their first comprehensive paper from the Conference President containing elements to be incorporated into a legally binding text, and came together to discuss it in plenary after many informal meetings that lasted into the night and throughout the weekend.

Concerned about violence against women and children, and the tragic plight of the latter in African conflict situations, the General Assembly adopted today a draft resolution on causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development on the continent.

As the United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty entered its final week today, delegates heard an update on negotiations that took place over the weekend.

Despite high unemployment, rising crime and socio-economic woes arising from the global financial crisis and natural disasters, the Bahamas had steadily improved the lot of its women through a range of legal reforms, awareness-raising campaigns and action plans, members of the country’s delegation told the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women today.

Balancing the position of women in the national culture against step-by-step advances in their political participation, while ensuring that rural women participated in development, Samoa was meeting its obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the country’s delegation said today.