Meetings Coverage

The General Assembly, acting on the recommendation of its First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), today adopted 54 texts, including one new resolution adopted by consensus in the nuclear weapons sphere -– naming 29 August as the international day against nuclear tests.

Describing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) as a lifeline for millions of Palestinians affected by recurring regional violence, and expressing concern over its current funding shortfall, 19 donors this morning pledged roughly $91.4 million to UNRWA for 2010, with several more indicating their contributions would be forthcoming.

Fresh from observing the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the General Assembly this morning concluded two days of plenary debate on the question of Palestine and the broader situation in the Middle East with the adoption, by recorded vote, of six resolutions aimed at promoting the inalienable rights of Palestinians -– particularly to statehood –- and permanently ending Israel’s “illegal” actions in Jerusalem and Syrian Golan.

Officials from dynamic emerging economies asserted today that their Governments were ready to improve socio-economic conditions at home and help raise development prospects across the global South, proof that many developing countries were now capable of taking the lead in designing and implementing their own long-term development plans.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) this afternoon approved by consensus three draft resolutions, including texts concerning the Fourth United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries, science and technology for development, and the sustainable development of small island developing States.

As the General Assembly today wrapped up its annual debate on the question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East, several delegations urged the international community to end six decades of “collective failure” to answer the Palestinian question through a peaceful settlement.

The many challenges now facing the international community called for stronger and more innovative cooperation between developing countries -– particularly neighbouring States -- as well as between them and developed countries, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said today as she helped to open the most significant United Nations meeting on the subject in decades, in Nairobi, Kenya.

“Among the Mission’s mandated activities, and among the efforts of the UN in Darfur, none is as important as those aimed at achieving a comprehensive political solution to end Darfur’s marginalization and enable its rightful representation in the national political process”, Edmond Mulet, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, told the Security Council today.

The Security Council today decided to renew, for a period of 12 months, its previous authorizations for States and regional organizations cooperating with the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) to enter Somalia’s territorial waters and use all necessary means to fight piracy and armed robbery at sea off the Somali coast, provided advance notification was given by the TFG to the Secretary-General.

The Security Council, condemning the continuing illicit traffic of weapons in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, decided this morning to extend and expand the arms embargo there and its related sanctions regime until 30 November 2010.