General Assembly

The rule of law could never be realized if States continued to threaten and disrupt the internal affairs of others, support extremists abroad, and apply unilateral sanctions, Syria’s delegate told the Sixth Committee (Legal) as it concluded its debate on the rule of law and began consideration of the Special Committee on the Charter and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization.

While aspiring to achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world, the prospects of new agreements were becoming more and more illusive as the “tectonic shifts” from hasty implementation of unilateral measures were affecting strategic stability, the Russian Federation’s delegate today told the Disarmament Committee.

The United Nations top management official today told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) that the Organization’s financial indicators for 2012 were generally “positive and sound” though the regular budget’s cash level was under pressure with $855 million of the $2.4 billion budget still outstanding.

“I’m afraid that we are confronted with the choice of either adapting to the new times, or simply being left behind,” General Assembly President Vuk Jeremić said today as delegates discussed ways to reinvigorate the 193-member body, which faced an ever-widening gap between its duties and its capabilities.

The political ambiguity surrounding the decades-old conflict in Western Sahara, despite the string over the years of settlement proposals and initiatives to resolve it, again underpinned debate today in the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) as petitioners laid bare both the plight of the Saharans and their potential to secure a positive future.

The world continues to face a series of complex and interconnected threats that, taken together, “form a web of drugs, crime and sometimes terrorism”, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today, as it began its general discussion on crime prevention, criminal justice and international drug control.

The United Nations had brought neutrality and global profundity to the progression of international law, which resulted in the first High-level Meeting on the subject and a declaration that exhibited the will of States, Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told the Sixth Committee as it began its debate on the rule of law at the international and national levels.

The international community must launch a “fully fledged war” to eradicate poverty, the world’s greatest challenge, the representative of the Dominican Republic told the Second Committee today, as it concluded its general debate. Poverty denied people their right to a decent life, broke down democratic institutions and made full participation in society elusive, he said, adding that it was no coincidence that drastically reducing poverty was the major aim of the Millennium Development Goals.

Unblocking progress towards a fissile material ban was a logical and absolutely necessary next step on the path to global nuclear disarmament, the United States’ delegate told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today, warning that her country’s patience on the issue was “not infinite”, vowing to push for what was in the best interest of global security.

Despite “significant risks” posed by its contractor’s performance, the United Nations project team in Ethiopia had succeeded in containing construction costs for new office space at the Addis Ababa-based Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and was expected to complete the project within budget, a senior management official told the Fifth Committee this morning as it considered the status of both that venture and a similar project at the United Nations Headquarters in Nairobi.