Meetings Coverage

Conflicts over water -- the world’s most precious resource -- were at the heart of regional instability, but they could be a catalyst for cooperation and peace if managed properly, Aaron Wolfe, a specialist in water resource policy and conflict resolution, said this morning during a panel discussion on “Enhancing governance on water” held by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial).

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this morning made recommendations to the General Assembly regarding appointments to the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), the Committee on Contributions, the Investments Committee, the Board of Auditors and the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC).

Welcoming the peaceful presidential elections in Guinea-Bissau held on 28 June and 26 July, the Security Council today took note of the commitment of the new President of the country to combat impunity, foster national reconciliation and achieve socio-economic development.

The Millennium Development Goals could only be achieved with the participation of all stakeholders, including Governments, the private sector and civil society, the representative of Sweden said today, as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) considered global partnerships.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this morning approved a text that would have the General Assembly reaffirm the role of the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC) as the main subsidiary organ for planning, programming and coordination.

The United Nations General Assembly today, by a recorded vote of 114 in favour to 18 against, with 44 abstentions, adopted a resolution giving Israel and the Palestinians three months to undertake “independent, credible investigations” into serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law committed during the conflict in Gaza that broke in late December 2008.

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea was enhancing its own visibility and that of its dispute-settlement system, in anticipation of an increased need as exploitation of marine resources advanced, the Tribunal President told the Sixth Committee as today, at a meeting at which Programme of Assistance in the Teaching, Study, Dissemination and Wider Appreciation of International Law was also taken up by the Committee.

An estimated 35 million new homes with the attendant infrastructure and services must be built annually over the next 25 years in order to accommodate the burgeoning number of urban dwellers in cities from Calcutta to Rio de Janeiro, Sudan’s representative told the Second Committee today, as it began considering implementation of the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements and strengthening of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).

During the special meeting convened by the General Assembly today to weigh the report of the Human Rights Council on the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, Arab and Non-Aligned delegations praised the survey, saying it had “unmasked double standards” regarding Israel’s actions in Gaza, while Israel’s envoy said the entire debate was hypocritical and that the report had been “conceived in hate”.

The “success” of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the last 60 years could also be interpreted as a measure of the collective failure to resolve the political question that had led to the refugee crisis in the first place, Indonesia’s representative told the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) as it continued its general debate on the work of that Agency this afternoon.