Plenary

The General Assembly today elected 18 members of the Economic and Social Council to serve three-year terms beginning 1 January 2019. Those elected were Angola, Armenia, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Jamaica, Kenya, Luxembourg, Mali, Netherlands, Pakistan, Paraguay, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and the United States.  The 18 outgoing members were Afghanistan, Algeria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czechia, Guyana, Iraq, Italy, Lebanon, Nigeria, Peru, Republic of Moldova, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, United States and Viet Nam.

Having made considerable progress in reducing the rates of new HIV infections and expanding the availability of antiretroviral drugs, the global community must resist the temptation to “rest on its laurels” and instead redouble efforts to completely eradicate the virus, the General Assembly heard today, as delegates outlined national progress towards meeting testing and treatment benchmarks to that end.

In a single round of voting today, the General Assembly elected Belgium, Dominican Republic, Germany, Indonesia and South Africa as non-permanent members of the Security Council for two-year terms spanning 2019-2020.

The General Assembly elected María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés (Ecuador) today as President of its seventy-third session — making her only the fourth woman to helm the 193-member organ in its more than seven-decades-long history — while also electing 21 Vice-Presidents by acclamation.

To a burst of applause, the General Assembly adopted today a landmark consensus resolution on repositioning the United Nations development system, hailed by Secretary‑General António Guterres as ushering in the most ambitious and comprehensive transformation of those activities in decades.

While the Peacebuilding Commission had become more adaptive — expanding its work to the Gambia, Solomon Islands and the Sahel — it must do more to coordinate its efforts, particularly with the Security Council, delegates in the General Assembly stressed today, as they explored how the advisory body could foster coherence among United Nations endeavours in building and sustaining peace around the world.

National parliamentarians were essential in responding to people’s demands for a more transparent and accountable global governance system, the General Assembly heard today as it adopted a resolution inviting Member States to boost their engagement with the Inter‑Parliamentary Union (IPU).

The General Assembly adopted a resolution by which it decided to establish a working group to identify gaps in international environmental law, and possibly convene a conference for the creation of a new international instrument.

The General Assembly capped its high-level debate on peacebuilding and sustaining peace today with a consensus resolution welcoming the Secretary-General’s January 2018 report on those activities and deciding to further discuss his recommendations to address existing gaps.

The General Assembly continued its high‑level debate on peacebuilding and sustaining peace today with speakers underscoring the value of the Peacebuilding Fund, a people‑centred approach to human security and the need to tackle poverty and other causes of violence by way of the Sustainable Development Goals.