Meetings Coverage

“We are in the midst of a delicate period which will determine whether a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks is possible,” the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs told the Security Council today, adding that the continued diplomatic impasse over settlement construction since the moratorium ended on 26 September was worrying.

Condemning and deploring all acts of piracy and armed robbery against vessels in the waters off the coast of Somalia, the Security Council today extended for 12 months its authorizations granted to States and regional organizations cooperating with the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia in the fight against such acts.

Expressing its deep concern at the continuing instability in Guinea-Bissau, in particular the lack of civilian oversight and control of the armed forces and the continued detentions without due process of law that followed the events of 1 April, the Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in that country, UNIOGBIS, until 31 December 2011.

Concluding its work for the current session today, the Third Committee approved eight draft resolutions involving issues ranging from the follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action to monitoring the use of mercenaries and combating defamation of religions. These approvals brought the total number of texts that the Committee will forward to the General Assembly for adoption during the sixty-sixth session to 58.

Abdou Salam Diallo of Senegal was today elected Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. Mr. Diallo’s nomination by Oumar Daou (Mali) was seconded by Hamidon Ali (Malaysia) as B. Lynn Pascoe, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, facilitated the election.

Non-communicable diseases related to tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and the harmful use of alcohol have emerged as a serious macroeconomic and development challenge around the globe, exacerbating poverty and requiring urgent attention to curb related productivity loss and rapidly rising health-care costs, General Assembly delegates said today.

Expressing deep regret that civilians continued to account for the vast majority of casualties in conflict situations, including as a result of deliberate targeting, indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks and sexual and gender-based violence, the Security Council today demanded that all relevant parties immediately end such practices, and reaffirmed its readiness to adopt appropriate measures.

On the eve of the completion of its work for this session, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) approved six resolutions today, including one that would have the General Assembly reaffirm that States must ensure that their efforts to combat terrorism comply with their international human rights obligations, and another that would have it emphasize that no religion should be equated with terrorism.

The global economic and financial crisis had highlighted the need to reform the international financial system and architecture, and added a new impetus to ongoing international discussions on that subject, the General Assembly would stress, according to one of three draft resolutions approved without a vote by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.

Resolutions that would have the General Assembly declare an International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, as well as establish an open-ended working group to strengthen the protection of human rights of older persons, were among the nine texts approved today by the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural).