Plenary

Despite progress in the worldwide fight against HIV and AIDS, the international community should not let confidence turn to complacency, the United Nations Secretary-General warned the General Assembly today. The headway made in the implementation of the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS was the focus of the day’s meeting, with delegates reflecting on advancements made, while lamenting the enormous challenges that remained in the battle against the disease.

Concerned about forced demographic changes, as well as the humanitarian situation resulting from armed conflict in Georgia, the General Assembly recognized today the right of all internally displaced persons, refugees and their descendants to return to their homes throughout that country, including Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia.

Sustained, inclusive growth aimed at creating decent, quality jobs for the millions of unemployed, underemployed and informally employed people around the world was the key to reducing poverty in the post-2015 era, speakers in the General Assembly said today.

The General Assembly decided today to convene a high-level meeting on 20 November 2014 to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Welcoming actions by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to pursue a more systematic engagement with the United Nations, the General Assembly, through a consensus resolution, encouraged both parties to work closely in various fields, in particular, peace and security, economic and social development, international law, and human rights and gender issues.

Recognizing the negative socioeconomic impact of non-communicable diseases on nations around the world, the General Assembly decided today to convene a high-level meeting in July to review and assess global progress towards preventing and controlling such illnesses.

The General Assembly today adopted a resolution entitled the “Second United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries”, by which a 10-year review of the Almaty Declaration and Action Programme would be convened from 3 to 5 November, and by which preparatory sessions on 12 and 13 June and 2 and 3 October in the run-up to the event would be held.

The General Assembly decided unanimously today to include the financing of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic on its agenda for the sixty-eighth session.

Mutual trust was the central pillar of effective cooperation between the public and private spheres, the President of the Economic and Social Council said today in closing remarks at the end of a two-day thematic debate on the role of partnerships in implementing the post-2015 development agenda.

Deaths and injuries in road traffic accidents posed a serious threat to global health and had a negative impact on social and economic progress, as well as sustainable development, the General Assembly heard today.