Plenary

While efforts to halt new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths had steadily intensified in the last year, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pressed Governments in the General Assembly today to enhance prevention measures, provide greater access to treatments and step up badly needed investment for AIDS — as agreed at last year’s High-level meeting on HIV and AIDS — “so that we can win the race” against the epidemic.

The General Assembly this morning elected Vuk Jeremić, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, as President of its sixty-seventh session, voting by secret ballot for the first time in more than 20 years.

In the wake of what United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described as yet another “shocking and sickening” massacre of civilians in Syria, senior United Nations and Arab League officials today joined forces “at a grave and grievous hour” to rally international support for envoy Kofi Annan’s faltering peace plan and press the Syrian Government and opposition groups to immediately end the violence.

With General Assembly delegations gathered to seek common ground on the concept of human security and its possible application in the work of the United Nations, senior officials called for comprehensive, people-centred strategies to tackle current and emerging threats, so millions of people struggling each day with a sense of profound insecurity could “build towards a future that is more peaceful and prosperous for all”.

Welcoming efforts made by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to provide a greater parliamentary contribution and enhanced support to the United Nations, the General Assembly today encouraged closer cooperation between the two organizations, particularly to help strengthen parliamentary institutions in countries emerging from conflict or undergoing a transition to democracy.

Acting on the recommendation of the Secretary-General, the General Assembly this afternoon extended for two years the appointment of Navi Pillay as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Member States to strengthen individual and collective conflict mediation efforts through better coordination, funding and sharing of best practices, as high-level officials, academics, civil society leaders and others convened in an informal high-level General Assembly meeting on the topic today.

With the much-anticipated United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development just a month away, and with intergovernmental negotiations on an outcome mired in minutiae, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called today for ambitious leadership to seize this “once in a generation opportunity” to transform ideas and aspirations into bold action “for the sake of our planet and our children”.

The General Assembly this morning, after defeating two proposals put forward by Syria, found consensus and endorsed the Secretariat’s recommendations for the accreditation of non-governmental organizations and other major groups currently not in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, but wishing to attend and contribute to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.

Deeply concerned over the slow pace of global economic recovery and the risk of another recession, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on Governments to strengthen their resolve to achieve sustainable development.