General Assembly

Noting the similarities between Latin America’s politically repressive and violent past and the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict, representatives of non-governmental organizations attending a United Nations Meeting in the Uruguayan capital today called on Latin American and Caribbean civil society to work together to help resolve the conflict in the Holy Land and bring justice to the Palestinian people.

The 18-member Human Rights Committee was briefed today by Yuji Iwasawa, expert from Japan, on the results of the Inter-Committee Meeting Working Group on Follow-up, held in Geneva from 12 to 14 January 2011.

The United Nations Latin American and Caribbean Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace closed today in Montevideo, Uruguay with an urgent call to the parties to resume serious negotiations to resolve permanent status issues within an agreed timeframe and to Israel to fully and immediately cease all settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.

As the United Nations Latin American and Caribbean Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace continued this afternoon, speakers discussed Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as the international community’s willingness to accept the status quo, among other obstacles to advancing peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

The Human Rights Committee today adopted the progress report of its Special Rapporteur for Follow-Up on Concluding Observations, which provides a country-by-country update on correspondence with States parties on implementation of the expert body’s recommendations on their compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

As the United Nations Latin American and Caribbean Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace opened this morning in Montevideo, Uruguay, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the parties to bolster efforts to reach agreement on permanent status issues and to cease unilateral action that could jeopardize peace talks aimed at achieving Palestinian statehood.

The United Nations Disarmament Commission, meeting ahead of its 2011 substantive session, slated to run from 4 to 22 April, today elected Hamid Al-Bayati of Iraq as Chair and decided to take up for the third consecutive year a three-pronged agenda on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, the fourth disarmament decade, and confidence-building in the field of conventional weapons.

The Human Rights Committee today continued its second reading of a draft general comment on the obligations of State parties under Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which sets out the rights to hold an opinion without interference, and to freedom of expression.

Continuing its second read-through of a draft general comment on article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights — concerning freedom of opinion and expression — the Human Rights Committee today determined the language for four paragraphs, covering the substance, forms and context in which such communications take place.

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will convene the United Nations Latin American and Caribbean Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace on 29 and 30 March in Montevideo, Uruguay.