Vowing to break the world’s paralysis in the face of mass atrocities typified by the Holocaust, the Khmer Rouge killing fields and the Rwanda genocide, delegates in the General Assembly grappled today with how -– and whether -– to implement the responsibility to protect (R2P) doctrine, during a half-day informal interactive dialogue.

Reaffirming the need to strengthen the synergy between Africa’s economic and social development programmes on the one hand, and its peace and security agenda on the other, the General Assembly today adopted a resolution that stressed the critical importance of a regional approach to conflict prevention on that continent.

The General Assembly debate on protecting civilians from the most serious atrocities continued today as delegates wrestled with the extent to which States should step in to stop -– and ultimately prevent -- genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

Concluding the General Assembly’s debate on States’ responsibility to protect their people from mass-atrocity crimes, delegates today weighed whether that multifaceted and controversial concept provided sufficient legal grounds for collective intervention in national affairs.

The General Assembly today decided to establish an ad hoc open-ended working group to follow up on issues described in the outcome document of the conference on the impact of the world financial and economic crisis on development and report to the world body before the end of its sixty-fourth session.

In the General Assembly today, Member States threw their support behind the Secretary-General’s push to inject multilateralism with the renewed vigour it needs to combat today’s global crises.

Pressed to conclude their work by 2010, top officials from the 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 compensation for staff who were throwing their full weight behind the pursuit of justice for victims.

At a General Assembly session commemorating today the fifteenth anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development, United Nations Secretary‑General Ban Ki-Moon lauded that landmark meeting for sparking a shift in the international mindset on population issues and prodding Governments everywhere to recognize each individual’s right to reproductive health.

While the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) had broken new ground in many areas ‑‑ including clarifying the concept of sexual and reproductive health and setting a quantitative goal for universal delivery of such services ‑‑ substantial progress must be made to stop women from dying of preventable pregnancy-related causes, delegates in the General Assembly stressed today, as they concluded their two-day commemoration of the Conference.

In one round of voting, the General Assembly today elected Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Gabon, Lebanon and Nigeria to serve as five non-permanent members of the Security Council for two-year terms beginning on 1 January 2010. They will fill seats to be vacated by Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia, Libya and Viet Nam. Meanwhile, Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey and Uganda will continue to serve as elected Council members during 2010, for the second year of their respective terms.