General Assembly

In a flurry of activity before the opening tomorrow of its sixty-fifth session, the General Assembly adopted three resolutions and two decisions today on issues related to the layout of its upcoming high-level meetings on the Millennium Development Goals, the Mauritius Strategy for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, and the International Year of Biodiversity, among others.

Welcoming the General Assembly’s accomplishments over the past 12 months – especially the spirit of consensus shown by Member States on issues ranging from achievement of the Millennium Development Goals to ensuring long-term support for disaster-struck Haiti and Pakistan — Ali Abdussalam Treki, the 192-member body’s outgoing President, today said there was nevertheless “room for improvement,” especially to strengthen it’s working methods and reassert its authority on the international stage.

The United Nations General Assembly today welcomed the European Union’s readiness to facilitate dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo over the province’s unilateral declaration of independence, saying that the process of such talks would itself be a factor for peace, security and stability in the Balkan region.

Acting on a request by Azerbaijan, the General Assembly decided today to defer to its sixty-fifth session consideration of a draft resolution on “observance of international law and international human rights law in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan”.

In one round of balloting today, the General Assembly elected Joan Donoghue of the United States as a member of the International Court of Justice, in an election run independently of, but concurrently with, the Security Council.

Reiterating strong and unequivocal condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, “by whomever […] and for whatever purposes” they were committed, the General Assembly today reaffirmed its support for the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and called on the world body’s Member States and entities, along with other international and regional organizations, to step up implementation of the four-year-old initiative.

By a vote of 50 in favour to 17 against, with 86 abstentions, the General Assembly today adopted a resolution recognizing the right of return of all internally displaced persons and refugees and their descendants, regardless of ethnicity, to their homes throughout Georgia, including in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The Meeting of States Parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights this morning re-elected six members and elected three new members to its monitoring body, the Human Rights Committee.

Equal access to education — with accommodating teachers, understanding students and a supportive administration — coupled with respect for the right of disabled persons to choose where and with whom they lived were vital elements for realizing the full spectrum of human rights, the third Conference of States Parties of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was told today, in two round table discussions concerning those issues.

The third Conference of States Parties of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities opened today amid calls to equally include disabled persons in community life, health and education systems, and to effectively fill planning and execution gaps in Government strategies that often fell short of addressing their needs, especially in times of conflict or natural disaster.