Plenary

The Republic of South Sudan was admitted as the 193rd Member of the United Nations this morning by a General Assembly resolution adopted by acclamation upon the recommendation of the Security Council. “When we started our journey, we could hardly imagine that the road would lead us to this point, however much we may have hoped for it,” Riek Machar Teny, Vice-President of South Sudan, said as he delivered his country’s first statement to the Assembly.

The United Nations and its partners sought to ensure that the history of the twenty-first century was the first “not to be written in the blood of innocents”, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said as the General Assembly convened an interactive thematic debate on the role of regional and subregional arrangements in implementing the responsibility to protect.

Emphasizing the fundamentally civilian character of aid, the General Assembly today reaffirmed the need for the consent of disaster-affected States when using military assets to support the implementation of humanitarian assistance, in conformity with international law, including international humanitarian law, and humanitarian principles.

In the early hours of the morning today, the General Assembly, acting on the recommendations of its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), adopted a peacekeeping budget of more than $7 billion for the period from 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012.

Recalling that Member States committed to assisting the world’s 48 least developed countries with an overarching goal of enabling half of them to meet the criteria for graduation from that status by 2020, the General Assembly today adopted a consensus resolution reiterating that graduation not disrupt development progress already achieved.

With gaps in the world’s multilateral frameworks hindering the international community’s ability to comprehensively and equitably meet the most critical global challenges, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for improving the multilateral system’s coherence and efficiency today as the General Assembly convened a day-long informal thematic debate on the United Nations in global governance.

The General Assembly this afternoon elected Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, the Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations, as President of its sixty-sixth session.

Amid calls for more unified development and conflict-prevention efforts, the General Assembly today adopted two resolutions focusing, respectively, on support for the African Union’s flagship development programme, and on the “untapped potential” of mediation in the peaceful settlement of disputes.

Acting on the recommendation of the Security Council, the General Assembly this afternoon unanimously appointed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for a second five-year term beginning 1 January 2012. In a draft resolution adopted by acclamation, the Assembly also expressed its appreciation for Mr. Ban’s effective and dedicated service during his first term. After taking the oath of office, Mr. Ban said the Assembly had given him a great honour that was “beyond expression”.

Five years after the creation of the Human Rights Council as the United Nations’ key forum for tackling entrenched human rights concerns around the world, the General Assembly today decided to maintain the 47-member body’s status as one of its subsidiary organs, concluding a year-long review of its work and functioning within the Organization, carried out in Geneva and New York.