Meetings Coverage

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.

The Security Council this afternoon decided to extend the term of office of five judges of the Appeals Chamber of the international tribunal established in the wake of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, until 31 December 2014, or completion of the cases to which they have been assigned, if sooner.

Demanding that the Government of Liberia fulfil its obligations to freeze the financial assets of former President Charles Taylor and his associates, the Security Council this afternoon extended for 12 months the sanctions regime on the country, along with the mandate of the expert panel monitoring the measures.

The General Assembly would stress the need to increase investment from all sources in agriculture and rural development, including by providing technical and financial assistance to least developed and net food-importing developing countries, according to one of three draft resolutions approved by consensus in the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.

Recognizing the intrinsic role of health in achieving international development goals, the General Assembly today – through the unanimous adoption of a resolution on global health and foreign policy – encouraged Governments to plan or pursue the transition towards universal access to affordable and quality health-care services.

The General Assembly would stress the importance of responsible lending and borrowing, while emphasizing the shared responsibility of creditors and debtors for preventing unsustainable debt situations, according to one of three draft resolutions approved without a vote in the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.

Secretariat officials today unveiled a $5.34 billion outline to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) that will provide the basis early next year for the Secretary-General’s proposed programme budget for the 2014-2015 biennium.

Deeply concerned by the continued threat of human activities on the planet’s marine environments and biodiversity, the General Assembly today – by the terms of its annual omnibus resolution – reaffirmed its commitment to the far-reaching 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and called, in particular, for action to deliver on the three dimensions of sustainable development in the context of the world’s vital waterways.

In a high-level meeting on the Sahel this morning, the Security Council called for the finalization of an integrated strategy for the North-African region encompassing security, governance, human rights, humanitarian needs and development, while it strongly condemned terrorism, human rights abuses and the destruction of historic sites in Mali.