Meetings Coverage

Opening its 2010 session today, the Special Committee charged with weighing proposals to enhance the United Nations Charter heard from more than a dozen delegations on the application and impact of sanctions and on assistance to third States affected by them. It also heard a proposal to request the International Court of Justice to consider the question of the use of force without prior approval by the Security Council.

The Fifth Committee (Budgetary and Administrative) today began the first part of its resumed session, expected to last three weeks, approving the first week of its programme of work and taking up the report of the Joint Inspection Unit for 2009 and programme of work for 2010.

Welcoming the steps taken by the Iraqi Government to support the international non-proliferation regime and adhere to global disarmament standards, the United Nations Security Council today underlined its readiness to consider lifting the trade sanctions it imposed on Iraq following Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, including on materials that were capable of being used for chemical and biological weapons or ballistic missiles.

Recognizing the important role of the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) in promoting peace, stability and development in the nascent South-East Asian nation, the Security Council today extended the Mission’s mandate until 26 February 2011 at current levels, while endorsing the Secretary-General’s intention to reconfigure its police component, including its drawdown, in line with the phased resumption process of policing responsibilities by the national police.

Taking note of the Secretary-General’s recent inconclusive report on investigations into possible violations of international law during the deadly 2008/2009 conflict in Gaza, the General Assembly today requested a further report in five months.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today that 2010 would be an important year for the Special Committee on Decolonization because it marked both the end of the Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism and the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.

With the top United Nations anti-drug official urging concerted global action to “break the vicious circle between insecurity and underdevelopment” being increasingly fuelled by criminal networks, drug smugglers and human traffickers, the Security Council today called on the world body’s Member States to increase international and regional cooperation to tackle transnational organized crime.

Though Timor-Leste had made “remarkable progress” since 2006, when a dispute over discrimination among military forces sparked protests and widespread violence that drove thousands of people from their homes, the top United Nations official there warned the Security Council today that the tiny country was still fragile and faced a raft of socio-economic challenges that could prove even more daunting to tackle.

United Nations peacekeepers were performing commendably despite the complexity of mandates and the lack of key capabilities, the representative of Bangladesh told the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations today as it concluded its general debate. He said that prevailing mismatches between complex mandates and resources might be overcome through careful study and building up the required capabilities.

The General Assembly this afternoon recognized the International Day of Nowruz, a spring festival of Persian origin, and moved back the dates of the next high-level dialogue on Financing for Development, as it continued its sixty-fourth session.