Fourth Committee

While peacekeeping operations remained an integral tool for maintaining peace and security, full‑scale military operations could not be seen as a replacement for long‑term peaceful diplomatic efforts, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) was told today as it concluded its debate on peacekeeping for the main part of the sixty‑sixth session.

Even as peacekeeping mandates increased in complexity and number, resources allotted to them were becoming scarcer, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) was told today during its consideration of the whole question of United Nations peacekeeping operations in all their aspects, which also brought to light the variance between developed and developing country contributions to the missions and the issue of including civilian protection in their mandates.

United Nations peacekeeping, as the Organization’s pre-eminent instrument in maintaining international peace and security and complement to such crucial tools as mediation and peace accords, required a reliable partnership with the Security Council and the critical consent of the parties, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today during its debate on peacekeeping.

It was the “responsibility and privilege” of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations to bring the Organization’s highest ideals to the service of people who, having endured conflict and war, still fought to grasp the promise of peace, security and prosperity, said the new Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hervé Ladsous, addressing the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) for the first time in that capacity.

The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, having served the vital function for the past 56 years of providing authoritative scientific review on the sources and effects of ionizing radiation, was ever more important as the use of radiation for peaceful purposes in the world was on the rise, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today as it met to consider the effects of atomic radiation.

The United Nations remained the “only credible advocate” for a peaceful, free and just world, and its voice must be heard clearly and loudly in every corner of the globe and by all its peoples, the Fourth Committee was told today as it concluded its consideration of questions relating to information, with the approval of two draft resolutions.

Information – from both new and traditional sources - was integral to an interdependent and interconnected world, especially in times of rapid political changes, calamities, and natural disasters, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today, as it continued to examine efficacy with which the Organization disseminated its message.

By broadening the use of different media platforms including traditional means of communication, as well as new media, and partners in outreach, the United Nations Under‑Secretary‑General for Communications and Public Information, Kiyo Akasaka, today told the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization), his Department was fulfilling its mission to “inform, engage [and] act.”

Delegates in the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today stressed the importance of preventing an arms race in space and ensuring that its peaceful uses remained cooperative and not competitive to avoid setting spacefaring nations against non-spacefaring ones, and to make the best use of space-driven data for sustainable development.

Space science and technology could significantly improve living conditions, conserve natural resources, and enhance natural disaster preparedness in developing countries, the Fourth Committee was told today as it continued its consideration of international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.