Plenary

The Presidents of the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court told the General Assembly today they had made great progress in their work promoting the rule of law and confronting impunity, while Assembly delegates noted the growing complexity of their cases and increased workload, and pushed for the judicial bodies to receive more human and financial resources.

Condemning nearly a half-century of sanctions against Cuba as a “policy in search of a justification”, General Assembly delegates today called for a swift, complete end to the United States economic, commercial and financial embargo against the island nation, which they said had crippled its development and whose justification was morally indefensible.

The General Assembly today elected 18 members of the Economic and Social Council to serve three-year terms beginning 1 January 2011. Those elected today were Australia, Cameroon, China, Ecuador, Finland, Gabon, Hungary, Latvia, Malawi, Mexico, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Senegal and the United Kingdom.

In the prevailing complex economic and financial climate, the work of the Economic and Social Council took on particular relevance, with its specialized discussion forums — the Annual Ministerial Review, the Development Cooperation Forum and the high-level meeting with the Bretton Woods institutions among them — uniquely tailored to address social ills endemic to a world emerging from sharp downturn, the General Assembly heard today as it took up the Council’s 2010 annual report.

During a day of lively and wide-ranging discussion on the significance of sport as a driving force for peace and development, and intercultural dialogue as a tool to ensure respect and the equal dignity of all cultures, the General Assembly adopted a consensus resolution recognizing the potential of sport to help attain the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, and foster an atmosphere of tolerance.

In the wake of the General Assembly’s renewed commitment to galvanizing political momentum towards implementation of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, it was crucial for international partners to cooperate on redressing the ills of the world’s most strife-ridden continent, said delegates gathered today for their annual joint debate on development in Africa.

Provision of a range of financial services to the poor - from loans and savings to payments and transfer services – played a significant role in the fight against poverty, and more efforts were needed to ensure that coverage reached the most marginalized, who often lived farthest from banks and markets, General Assembly delegates said today as they measured progress in the follow-up to the 2005 International Year of Microfinance.

In three rounds of voting, the General Assembly today elected Colombia, Germany, India, Portugal and South Africa as five non-permanent members of the Security Council for two-year terms beginning on 1 January 2011.

Pressed to conclude their work over the next two years, top officials from the United Nations war crimes Tribunals investigating atrocities committed during the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the Balkan wars of the 1990s, today appealed to the General Assembly for more time, resources and, especially, incentives to help attract and hold onto qualified staff.

While the United Nations had seen breakthroughs in its efforts to serve the poor and empower women, the Organization must harness its convening power to achieve a binding climate agreement, ensure respect for basic rights of self-determination and, above all, reform its key structures to reflect current geopolitical realities, General Assembly delegates stressed today as they considered the Secretary-General’s report on the work of the Organization.