General Assembly

On the recommendation of its First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), where concern over the paralysis in the United Nations disarmament machinery and the resulting negotiating impasse on key issues had informed much of the session’s debate, the General Assembly today adopted 47 resolutions and five decisions in its ongoing effort to temper national positions with a more flexible approach to revitalizing the multilateral disarmament process.

The General Assembly would urge the international community to adopt urgent measures to eliminate the use of unilateral coercive economic measures against developing countries as they were inconsistent with the principles of international law and the multilateral trading system, according to one of 14 draft resolutions approved by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.

The General Assembly needed to be revitalized and empowered in order to meet the current global challenges and fulfil its central role, as envisaged by the United Nations Charter, General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser told that body today. More than ever, world events necessitated a strong and responsive General Assembly and it should not be restricted to being a venue for deliberation, he said.

Broader involvement and greater engagement had driven forward the latest round of talks on reforming the Security Council, the Chair of the negotiations on that process said at Headquarters today.

States Parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination this morning elected by secret ballot nine members of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to replace those whose four-year terms were set to expire on 19 January 2012.

Stressing that popular uprisings across the Middle East were demanding greater inclusiveness and democracy, General Assembly delegates called today for peace and justice — as well as “re-energized” efforts to resolve old regional conflicts — to reign across the region, as it adopted six related resolutions. By six recorded votes, the Assembly adopted resolutions on both the “Question of Palestine” and on the wider “Situation in the Middle East”.

The need to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had taken on greater urgency with the historic transformations taking place across the region, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said today on behalf of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during the commemoration of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

Touting the United Nations ambitious projects in information and communications technology development and enterprise resource planning as the “engine and enabler” of the Organization’s reform and strengthening, the Deputy Secretary-General urged delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today to supply the necessary funds to implement them.

“A historic moment is before Member States to act, to uphold their legal obligations and the United Nations Charter,” declared the Permanent Observer of Palestine today, as he challenged the General Assembly to rectify the injustice that had uprooted millions of Palestinians from their homeland and had led to nearly 65 years of Israeli occupation.

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will hold a special meeting in observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, in Conference Room 2, North Lawn Building, at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 29 November, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 32/40 B of 2 December 1977.