Meetings Coverage

In a brief organizational meeting today, the Fourth Committee (Special, Political and Decolonization) approved its work programme for the current session, during which it planned to consider more than a dozen topics, ranging from the peaceful uses of outer space to the University of Peace and the decolonization of the remaining non-self-governing territories.

The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), in a brief organizational meeting today, adopted its agenda and programme of work for the sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), during its organizational meeting this morning, agreed on its provisional programme of work for the first week of the sixty-fourth session, on the understanding that necessary adjustments would be made in the course of the session, as required.

With hundreds of instances of nuclear material going missing each year, the nightmare scenario of non-State actors gaining access to weapons of mass destruction made Security Council resolution 1540 (2004), and the work of its Committee, more critical today than ever before, stakeholders at all levels said today as a comprehensive review of that resolution’s implementation began.

The Security Council decided this morning to specifically mandate peacekeeping missions to protect women and children from rampant sexual violence during armed conflict, as it requested the Secretary-General to appoint a special representative to coordinate a range of mechanisms to fight the crime.

The formation of an effective Afghan Government and the development of its strategies demanded decisions that would determine prospects for ending the intensified conflict in the country, the top United Nations official there told the Security Council this morning.

The Security Council today expressed its concern at the delay in publication of the provisional voters list for the first round of free, fair and transparent presidential elections in Côte d’Ivoire to be held on 29 November.

No longer satisfied with a power balance that favoured the few but risked imperilling the many in another economic tailspin, world leaders addressing the General Assembly today appealed for a new brand of multilateralism that reflected developing nations’ concerns in global decision-making, as they wrapped up the annual general debate.

Concerned that the United Nations outdated structure left it ill-equipped to deal with twenty-first century realities, Government Ministers addressing the General Assembly today pressed the world body to revamp its institutions, extend its alliances and break old mindsets that had hampered its credibility as the world’s pre-eminent negotiating forum.

Still reeling in the aftermath of a global economic crisis begun far beyond their shores, leaders of small island nations, among others addressing the General Assembly today, exhorted large economies to drastically reduce greenhouse gases that were threatening their ecosystems and sending shock waves through the very markets and industries on which their fragile economies depended.