General Assembly

The United Nations General Assembly today, by a recorded vote of 114 in favour to 18 against, with 44 abstentions, adopted a resolution giving Israel and the Palestinians three months to undertake “independent, credible investigations” into serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law committed during the conflict in Gaza that broke in late December 2008.

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea was enhancing its own visibility and that of its dispute-settlement system, in anticipation of an increased need as exploitation of marine resources advanced, the Tribunal President told the Sixth Committee as today, at a meeting at which Programme of Assistance in the Teaching, Study, Dissemination and Wider Appreciation of International Law was also taken up by the Committee.

An estimated 35 million new homes with the attendant infrastructure and services must be built annually over the next 25 years in order to accommodate the burgeoning number of urban dwellers in cities from Calcutta to Rio de Janeiro, Sudan’s representative told the Second Committee today, as it began considering implementation of the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements and strengthening of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).

During the special meeting convened by the General Assembly today to weigh the report of the Human Rights Council on the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, Arab and Non-Aligned delegations praised the survey, saying it had “unmasked double standards” regarding Israel’s actions in Gaza, while Israel’s envoy said the entire debate was hypocritical and that the report had been “conceived in hate”.

To celebrate the unifying spirit and fortieth anniversary of the Plastic Ono Band’s universal anthem, “Give Peace a Chance”, Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and Julian Lennon have partnered with EMI Music and Sony/ATV Music Publishing to donate net proceeds from the sale of a commemorative fortieth anniversary digital single to the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund.

The “success” of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the last 60 years could also be interpreted as a measure of the collective failure to resolve the political question that had led to the refugee crisis in the first place, Indonesia’s representative told the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) as it continued its general debate on the work of that Agency this afternoon.

Five “mega-trends” -- population growth, urbanization, climate change, migration and food, water and energy insecurity –- made contemporary forms of displacement increasingly complex, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today.

As the Sixth Committee today concluded its current consideration of the report of the International Law Commission, the representative of Trinidad and Tobago called for a study of State practice to determine whether the obligation to extradite or prosecute was a requirement from which there was no derogation, which he said would be a step towards combating impunity for crimes.

One out of every three people residing in cities around the globe lived in a slum, and unless the problem was dealt with, another 400 million people would join their ranks by 2020, Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today, as it continued its consideration of sustainable development.

The General Assembly, through elections and appointments, today filled several vacancies to subsidiary organs of the Assembly and other United Nations administrative and budgetary bodies, including the Committee on Conferences and the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU).