General Assembly

Concluding its two-week session today, the second United Nations conference to review the 2001 Programme of Action on trafficking in small arms and light weapons adopted a consensus outcome document that highlighted the international community’s renewed commitment to preventing, combating and eradicating the illicit trade.

The Meeting of States Parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights this morning re-elected four members and elected five new members to its monitoring body, the Human Rights Committee.

Despite a fragile moratorium on nuclear-weapons testing, the risks posed by such activities still loomed heavily over the international community, expert panellists said today as delegates and other participants gathered in observance of the international day devoted to bringing an end to testing. “Nuclear tests are a threat to human health and global stability,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Assembly in a video message.

Presenting his fourth report on the responsibility to protect, which addressed the third pillar concept of “timely and decisive response”, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today that he was haunted by a fear that the international community did not live up to the vow of “Never again.”

The General Assembly’s Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today elected Noel Nelson Messone (Gabon) as Chair for its sixty-seventh session.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) of the General Assembly today elected, by acclamation, Henry L. Mac-Donald (Suriname) as Chair of its sixty-seventh session.

The General Assembly’s Sixth Committee (Legal) today elected Yuriy A. Sergeyev (Ukraine) as Chair for its sixty-seventh session.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) of the General Assembly today elected, by acclamation, George Wilfred Talbot (Guyana) as Chair of its sixty-seventh session.

The General Assembly’s First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today elected, by acclamation, Desra Percaya (Indonesia) as Chair of its sixty-seventh session.

The General Assembly’s Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today elected Miguel Berger (Germany) as Chair of its sixty-seventh session. Elected by acclamation, Mr. Berger has been the Deputy Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations since July 2010, after having worked in his country’s foreign service since 1988.