General Assembly

Warned throughout the debate today in the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) that the “world cannot afford to stand still on the crucial issues of disarmament and non-proliferation”, delegations struggled once more to understand the root cause for the dysfunction in the United Nations disarmament machinery in order to evolve a common approach to correcting it.

Drawing parallels to recent political uprisings in defence of freedom and self-determination, General Assembly delegates today again denounced the decades-old economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba, voting overwhelmingly to adopt the world body’s twentieth consecutive resolution calling for an end to the measures.

It was the “responsibility and privilege” of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations to bring the Organization’s highest ideals to the service of people who, having endured conflict and war, still fought to grasp the promise of peace, security and prosperity, said the new Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hervé Ladsous, addressing the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) for the first time in that capacity.

Urging States to fully ensure the right to health, the Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on that right called for decriminalizing the provision of information on sexual and reproductive health, the supply and use of all forms of contraception, and abortion today, as the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) began its second week of debate on the promotion and protection of human rights.

Before the Sixth Committee (Legal) began its annual review of the report of the International Law Commission today, its Chairman, Hernán Salinas Burgos (Chile), requested a moment of silence on the recent death of Justice Antonio Cassese.

A Nobel Laureate’s pessimistic appraisal of global economic prospects at Headquarters today included a warning that the current emphasis on austerity in policy responses to the world financial crisis was not only failing to solve its underlying causes but might actually amount to “economic suicide”.

Building confidence and meeting disarmament and non-proliferation goals via measures unique to regions would have a broader impact on international peace and security, delegates told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) during thematic debates on regional disarmament and on the disarmament machinery, which heard the introduction of seven draft resolutions, including divergent texts concerning the Conference on Disarmament.

The International Civil Service Commission’s attempts over the past year to streamline and improve the conditions of service for thousands of United Nations staff worldwide drew the ire of staff union representatives, as well as one of the Organization’s biggest financial contributors during today’s meeting of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).

The General Assembly today elected 18 members of the Economic and Social Council to serve three-year terms beginning 1 January 2012.

An overhaul of inequitable agricultural business models was needed to reduce global poverty and ensure long-term sustainability for farmers and farm systems, said an independent United Nations food expert at a New York Headquarters press conference today.