Plenary

Encouraged by political leaders’ strong support for the United Nations as the centre stage of dialogue and collective action to address the world’s multiple challenges, outgoing General Assembly President Ali Abdussalam Treki today implored the 192-member body, as the only global organ with a truly global agenda, to continue to innovate, build consensus and implement its resolutions to “stem the erosion of its authority”.

In a flurry of activity before the opening tomorrow of its sixty-fifth session, the General Assembly adopted three resolutions and two decisions today on issues related to the layout of its upcoming high-level meetings on the Millennium Development Goals, the Mauritius Strategy for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, and the International Year of Biodiversity, among others.

The United Nations General Assembly today welcomed the European Union’s readiness to facilitate dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo over the province’s unilateral declaration of independence, saying that the process of such talks would itself be a factor for peace, security and stability in the Balkan region.

Acting on a request by Azerbaijan, the General Assembly decided today to defer to its sixty-fifth session consideration of a draft resolution on “observance of international law and international human rights law in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan”.

In one round of balloting today, the General Assembly elected Joan Donoghue of the United States as a member of the International Court of Justice, in an election run independently of, but concurrently with, the Security Council.

Reiterating strong and unequivocal condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, “by whomever […] and for whatever purposes” they were committed, the General Assembly today reaffirmed its support for the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and called on the world body’s Member States and entities, along with other international and regional organizations, to step up implementation of the four-year-old initiative.

By a vote of 50 in favour to 17 against, with 86 abstentions, the General Assembly today adopted a resolution recognizing the right of return of all internally displaced persons and refugees and their descendants, regardless of ethnicity, to their homes throughout Georgia, including in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

With thousands of people forced into labour, servitude or the sex trade each year, the General Assembly formally launched the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons today, one month after its adoption as a consensus resolution outlining the terms of the Plan.

The General Assembly today elected Joan Clos ( Spain) as Executive Director of United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) to a four-year term of office, beginning on 18 October 2010 and ending on 17 October 2014.

The General Assembly today concluded its two-day discussion on providing urgent humanitarian assistance to flood-stricken Pakistan, with some 49 speakers taking the floor to urge drastically scaling up efforts to meet the United Nations’ $460 million flash appeal, coordinate aid distribution with the Pakistani authorities, and — from neighbouring countries that had experienced similar natural disasters — heed what was indeed a moral obligation to quickly address the unfolding human tragedy.