Plenary

Completing their consideration of the annual reports on the work of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, General Assembly delegates today hailed the latter’s issuance of its first judgment, stressed the importance of full cooperation by States to ensure that Court’s further success and were divided on the relationship between the Court and the Security Council.

Nuclear technology would continue to play an integral role in securing energy and promoting socioeconomic development, delegates said today as the General Assembly discussed the 2011 report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and adopted a resolution reaffirming “strong support” for its indispensable role.

With an outpouring of praise for the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, delegates gathered today in the General Assembly to assess the work of that body and to hear the introduction of the report on the work of the International Criminal Court.

Emerging from the “Rio+20” with a reaffirmed mandate as one of the primary United Nations bodies responsible for sustainable development, the Economic and Social Council must be reinvigorated to play an active role in following up the outcomes of that summit and in setting the post-2015 development agenda, the General Assembly was told today as delegates gathered for their annual joint debate on the Council’s work.

In two rounds of voting, the General Assembly today elected Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, Republic of Korea and Rwanda to serve as non-permanent members of the Security Council for the next two years.

Delegates gathered today in the General Assembly to assess progress on the implementation of New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) — the African-owned strategy adopted in 2001 to drive the continent’s political and socio-economic transformation — acknowledged significant achievements and looked to a future that would incorporate the Partnership’s priorities in the United Nations post-2015 agenda and in formulating sustainable development goals.

As the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia approached the completion of their mandates - and the twentieth anniversaries of their inception - it was now up to their smaller, leaner successor body to preserve the “new international culture of accountability” they had created, top officials from the courts said today as they briefed the General Assembly.

As the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia approached the completion of their mandates - and the twentieth anniversaries of their inception - it was now up to their smaller, leaner successor body to preserve the “new international culture of accountability” they had created, top officials from the courts said today as they briefed the General Assembly.

“I’m afraid that we are confronted with the choice of either adapting to the new times, or simply being left behind,” General Assembly President Vuk Jeremić said today as delegates discussed ways to reinvigorate the 193-member body, which faced an ever-widening gap between its duties and its capabilities.

Citing an increasingly interdependent world in which the three pillars of the United Nations - peace and security, development and human rights – continued to converge in complex ways, General Assembly delegates today called for greater equity between developed and developing countries in matters ranging from multilateral decision-making to sustainable development policy, as they considered the Secretary-General’s annual report on the work of the United Nations system.