General Assembly

After months of collecting inputs and suggestions from countries, regional groups, civil society organizations and international organizations, United Nations Member States will meet 15‑16 December to discuss the structure and format of the outcome document that will be finalized by world leaders at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development — Rio+20 — to be held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012.

The Preparatory Committee for the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development today elected three members of its Bureau. Elected by acclamation were Kim Sook (Republic of Korea) from the Group of Asian States as Co‑Chair; and Bedrich Moldan (Czech Republic) from the Group of Eastern European States and Keith Christie (Canada) from the Group of Western European and Other States as Vice-Chairs.

Humanitarian assistance must be scaled up and made “smarter” as global emergencies continued to expand in both frequency and complexity, delegates in the General Assembly stressed today during their annual debate on the coordination of disaster relief efforts.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today took stock of the financing requirements for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, as it heard Secretariat officials shed light on progress in completing the Tribunals’ work and preparing their transfer to residual mechanisms.

The General Assembly today elected Julia Sebutinde of Uganda to a much-contested seat on the International Court of Justice, ending a weeks-long stalemate between the Assembly and the Security Council. Following a single ballot — which brought to 12 the total number of voting rounds in the Assembly — Ms. Sebutinde received in both organs the absolute majority required to clinch the fifth and final vacant seat on the Court.

The General Assembly today, recommitting itself to honouring the victims of what several delegates called “the most tragic chapter in human history”, adopted a resolution endorsing the construction at United Nations Headquarters of a permanent memorial to those who had suffered under the yoke of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade system.

Concluding its session today, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) approved three draft resolutions, including one on information and communications technology for development, by which the General Assembly would stress that the development promise of science and technology remained unfilled for the majority of the poor.

The ambitious, multi-year overhaul of the historic United Nations Headquarters — known as the Capital Master Plan — was on track for completion by the end of 2014 within a variance of no more than 4 per cent of the original approved budget of $1.88 billion, the Plan’s top official told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today.

In keeping with the tradition of consensus practiced in the Sixth Committee (Legal), the General Assembly adopted without a vote 22 resolutions and three draft decisions that highlighted the priorities of the Organization in the international legal arena.

Acting on the recommendation of its Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization), the General Assembly this morning adopted 24 resolutions and two decisions, nine among them concerning the Arab‑Israeli conflict, with others focused on decolonization, outer space, atomic radiation, information and public outreach, and peacekeeping. Recorded votes were required for more than half.