Meetings Coverage

As the Sixth Committee (Legal), completing its work for the session today, approved seven draft resolutions and one draft decision without a vote, delegations strove to ensure consensus on a draft on measures to eliminate international terrorism. The draft would, among other provisions, have the Assembly strongly condemn all manifestations of terrorism as criminal and unjustifiable.

The General Assembly today returned to the long-standing issue of Security Council reform as it opened its annual debate, looking to end the deadlock among Member States over how to reshape what many speakers saw as the United Nations most powerful — and increasingly outdated — organ.

The Security Council today was briefed on legal issues and options regarding implementation of successor arrangements for the Development Fund for Iraq — due to expire by 31 December — by the United Nations Controller and the Head of the Committee of Financial Experts of the Government of Iraq.

The Palestinian Rights Committee this morning unanimously approved four draft resolutions relating to its own work, as well as that of the Division for Palestinian Rights and the Department of Public Information.

With the adoption of two draft resolutions today, the Fifth Committee gave its approval to the Board of Auditor’s scrutiny of the Organization’s 2009 financial statements and laid down a blueprint of guidelines meant to improve the staging of conferences.

Bringing the United Nations another step closer to the official 1 January 2010 launch of “UN Women”, the Economic and Social Council today elected - by acclamation and by secret ballot – the 41 inaugural members to the Executive Board of the new entity established to meet the unique and often under-represented needs of women and girls worldwide.

The menace of piracy off the coast of Somalia was outpacing international efforts to stem it, B. Lynn Pascoe, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, told the Security Council today, emphasizing: “Warships alone will not solve the problem.”

The General Assembly would request the Secretary-General to work towards convening a high-level meeting on ensuring accessibility for, and inclusion of, persons with disabilities in all aspects of development efforts, under the terms of a draft resolution approved by consensus today by the Third Committee.

The General Assembly, through elections and appointments, today filled vacancies in the Committee for Programme and Coordination, the main subsidiary body of the Assembly and the Economic and Social Council for such work, as well as in the Committee on Conferences, which advises the Assembly on all matters pertaining to the organization of United Nations conferences.

The international community needed to prevent a total collapse of the direct negotiations on the Palestinian track, and an end to the occupation and the return of refugees could serve as a “doorway” to resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict, delegates told the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today.