Meetings Coverage

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).

Barely seven weeks away from crucial referendums in Southern Sudan that will determine whether the country will split into two nations, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today considered the Secretary-General’s request for $85.7 million for the United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS), as it provides assistance in creating a safe, free and secure voting process.

Acting on the recommendations of its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), the General Assembly today appointed officials to several of its subsidiary bodies for terms of office beginning on 1 January 2011, including its influential Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), which plays a crucial role in managing the United Nations vast human and financial resources.

Calling on all Bosnia and Herzegovina’s political leaders to refrain from divisive rhetoric and make further concrete and tangible progress towards European Union integration, the Security Council this afternoon authorized for another year, until 18 November 2011, the European Union Stabilization Force (EUFOR) mandated to ensure continued compliance with the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended fighting in the country in 1995.

Draft resolutions that would have the General Assembly address the human rights situations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Iran and Myanmar were approved by the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, but not before delegations debated the validity of such country-specific motions.

The General Assembly would demand that Israel stop exploiting, damaging, depleting or endangering natural resources in occupied Arab lands, by the terms of one of five draft resolutions approved today by its Second Committee (Economic and Financial).

Emphasizing that the situation in Sudan represented one of the most urgent challenges facing the Security Council, the 15-member body, convening at the ministerial level, underlined today that full and timely implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), including the holding of referenda on the self-determination of Southern Sudan and the status of Abyei, was essential to national as well as regional peace and stability.

Concerned about the extreme social and economic disadvantages that indigenous peoples have faced, the Third Committee approved a draft resolution today that would have the General Assembly organize a high-level plenary meeting in 2014 — to be known as the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples in 2014 -- to share perspectives and best practices on the realization of indigenous peoples’ rights.