General Assembly

A paradigm shift in the international conversation on peace and development was needed to respond to the emerging global challenges of the twenty-first century, Bangladesh’s representative told the Disarmament Committee, suggesting that it might be wise to “take a step back and seriously question our approach, while we allow the mindless arms race around us to flourish unencumbered”.

Jurisdictional fissures that allowed United Nations staff on mission to go unprosecuted for committing criminal acts threatened the reputation of the United Nations, some delegates told the Sixth Committee (Legal) today, as it addressed the issue of holding United Nations staff on mission accountable for criminal offences.

The multipolar world of the twenty‑first century called for “a new thinking on security featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination”, China’s representative told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), even amid forceful calls by the non‑nuclear‑armed countries to bind and universalize the pledges that nuclear weapons would never be used against them.

As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) took up its agenda item on programme planning today, delegates praised the work of the United Nations main subsidiary body for planning, programming and coordination and urged managers in the Secretariat to diligently implement its conclusions and recommendations concerning the programme budget for the biennium 2012-2013.

The many decolonization achievements of the United Nations over the years could not be considered truly global while some peoples continued to live under colonial rule, Jamaica’s representative told the Fourth Committee today as it continued its consideration of decolonization issues.

The power of organized criminal groups trafficking in drugs and weapons could destabilize countries, and even whole regions, if States did not strengthen international cooperation and provide more resources for the fight against them, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today, as it concluded its general discussion on crime prevention, criminal justice and international drug control.

After ending its debate on the rule of law, the Sixth Committee (Legal) today considered the reports of the Special Committee on the Charter and the Repertory and Repertoire, and continued to review the outstanding requests for Observer Status in the General Assembly, on both of which topics there were extensive discussions on efficient working methods.

With membership in the 65-nation Conference on Disarmament came rights but also responsibilities, the representative of the Netherlands told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today, deeming the ongoing stalemate in that treaty-negotiating body “unacceptable”.

Despite the dire need for humanitarian assistance in the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria, much of that aid was misappropriated and wound up in the markets of Algiers and Timbuktu, one of 33 petitioners on the question of Western Sahara told the Fourth Committee today as it continued its debate on decolonization. Humanitarian aid rarely reached the camps, as most of it was sold in North African markets to buy weapons, stressed one petitioner who spoke today.

In Press Release GA/SPD/479 issued 4 October, during the debate on the question of Western Sahara, the statement made by journalist Jose Maria Garre Gil was incorrectly attributed to Juan Jose Ibarretxe Markuartu, President of the Gobierno Vasco.