General Assembly

The General Assembly today adopted 56 resolutions and 9 decisions recommended by its Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), acting with new-found consensus on several historically contentious texts, including those on the rights of the child, the right to food and the report of the Human Rights Council.

With the United Nations poised to spend $599 million on 27 special political missions in 2010, including two large missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, speakers in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today called for greater accuracy in budget projections, as well as greater clarity on the rationale used to decide the type, size and scope of each mission.

Acting without a vote on the recommendations of its Sixth (Legal) Committee, the General Assembly this morning adopted 15 resolutions and two decisions on issues ranging from international terrorism to the rule of law, as it also adopted a text on assistance to the Palestinian people and continued its consideration of the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.

Following is the statement by the Bureau of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People on Israel’s settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem:

Acting without a vote, the Sixth Committee (Legal) today approved a resolution to grant observer status in the work of the General Assembly for the 25‑member Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, while also deciding to request that the General Assembly consider how best the Council of Presidents of the General Assembly could contribute its unique expertise to the Organization’s work once a resolution on recommending observer status for the group was withdrawn.

Concluding its sixty-fourth session today, the Second Committee approved five draft resolutions on a range of agenda items, including a text by which the General Assembly would note with deep concern that the world financial and economic crisis had severely impacted international trade, with a particular effect on developing countries, resulting in lower fiscal revenues and balance-of-payment problems.

Recognizing the devastating impact of conflicts fuelledby the illicit diamond trade and the gross human rights violations that have been perpetrated in such conflicts, the General Assembly today adopted a consensus resolution reaffirming its strong support for the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which imposes strict requirements on rough diamond shipments to certify them as “conflict free”.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today took up the $244.09 million budget of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the $301.89 million budget for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, being told that their work was expected to grow in complexity in 2010-2011, before they could wind down to a close.

Acting on the recommendations of its Fourth Committee, the General Assembly this afternoon adopted 25 draft resolutions and three draft decisions covering decolonization, outer space, atomic radiation, information and public outreach, the University for Peace, assistance in mine action, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and Israeli practices in the occupied Arab territories.

With millions fighting a daily battle against discrimination to gain access to education, health services and decent work, the President of the General Assembly today urged the United Nations family to join hands with Governments and other stakeholders around the world in embracing diversity and ending discrimination, during a special meeting to mark the end of the International Year of Human Rights Learning.