Meetings Coverage

The General Assembly today elected 18 members of the Economic and Social Council to serve three-year terms beginning 1 January 2013.

Facing a multitude of security challenges, Libya needed strong support from the international community to ensure that perpetrators of crimes committed during the 2011 conflict that led to Muammar Qadhafi’s downfall were brought to justice, and that the country continued on its path towards stability, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court told Security Council members today.

The Security Council this morning reauthorized the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to maintain its deployment for four months, until 7 March 2013, while deciding to expand the United Nations support package for the Mission to additional civilian personnel.

The rapidly growing number of refugees was complicating the task of finding a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today during the conclusion of its debate on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), even as delegates disagreed on how the refugee question should be resolved.

As new conflicts multiplied in 2011 - especially in Africa and the Middle East – the collective capacity to respond to people uprooted by violence and persecution was “being put to the test in unforeseen ways” amid increased demand for humanitarian relief and an uncertain operating environment, the United Nations top refugee official told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today.

The Rio+20 United Nations Conference had been a “crucial milestone” for the international community and had ushered in “a new era of sustainable development”, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) heard today.

As the sixty-seventh session of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) drew to a close today, Committee Chair Desra Percaya of Indonesia thanked delegations for “hanging with” him and the Committee during the session’s challenges since, as Benjamin Franklin said, “if we do not hang together, we hang separately”.

It was not only politically risky but also morally wrong to reduce the services provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today as it began its consideration of that Agency.

Universal recognition of the inalienable right to self-determination was the most effective way the global community could guarantee protection of fundamental freedoms, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today, as it concluded discussion on several human rights issues.

During the Sixth Committee’s (Legal) final debate on the International Law Commission’s annual report, delegates urged the Geneva-based body to diligently study State practice and, where possible, arrive at international rules of customary law to rectify the divergent views on several pressing issues before the Commission.