Meetings Coverage

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today began its consideration of the Secretariat’s review of the first year of the 2012-2013 budget cycle, an exercise that this year re-evaluated budget requirements for the current two year-biennium upwards by $263.3 million, or 5.1 per cent, to $5.41 billion.

Tackling an array of topics that spanned from augmenting civilian capacity in the aftermath of conflict to infusing a culture of peace into multilateral relations, the General Assembly today adopted seven consensus resolutions, including on the need for “voices of moderation” to promote tolerance and understanding, and combat extremism.

Concluding its session today, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) approved four draft resolutions, including one by which the General Assembly would stress the primary responsibility of Governments for their countries’ development and for coordinating all external assistance, including that provided by multilateral organizations, on the basis of national strategies and priorities.

In scrutinizing the Secretary-General’s proposed budget for 33 special political missions for 2013, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today expressed concern over the unabated growth in financing those missions and the present arrangements for doing so.

Underscoring the substantive work of the Sixth Committee (Legal) this year on the rule of law, the General Assembly stressed, through the consensus adoption of 17 resolutions, that support from the United Nations and compliance by States were critical to the principle’s successful integration into all components of society.

The head of the committee charged with monitoring sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear programme reported this afternoon on alleged violations of those measures, as some Security Council members called for investigation into reports of Iranian arms flows to conflict areas in its region and warned of dangers posed by the country’s continued stonewalling of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency.

Ongoing reported violence in Darfur could constitute new charges of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court told Security Council members today, urging swift action to save lives and repair a war-weary region by bringing the perpetrators to justice.

The General Assembly would stress the essential role of official development assistance in complementing, leveraging and sustaining financing for development objectives, including internationally agreed development targets, the Millennium Development Goals in particular, according to a draft resolution approved by consensus in the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.

Adopting today a number of resolutions focused on the vital humanitarian interventions of the United Nations and its partners, the General Assembly – recognizing that populations around the world were becoming ever more vulnerable to the effects of disasters, conflicts and the ongoing fall out from the global financial and economic crisis – called for a more coordinated, strategic and accountable response to such increasingly complex challenges.

As cooperation between peacekeeping missions was increasingly in demand and more frequently used in times of both calm and crisis, the United Nations peacekeeping operations chief told the Security Council today that the measure should be used only as a flexible, temporary tool of necessity, not of choice.