General Assembly

As threats posed by increasing pressures on arable land continued to impact millions of farmers, fisherman and indigenous people that depend on access to land and water for their livelihoods, it was to vital to move swiftly towards promoting the rights of land users as human rights, the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food said at a Headquarters press conference today.

The process leading to elections in Myanmar, planned for 7 November, could not be called inclusive or independent, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the South-East Asian country said at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

Calling upon States to “reconnect with the values” of the Convention against Torture, Claudio Grossman, Chairperson of the Committee against Torture, emphasized at Headquarters today the imperative of fighting attempts to make torture acceptable, particularly during emergency situations.

In a press conference at Headquarters today, Mazlan Othman, Director of the Office for Outer Space Affairs and Deputy Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna, gave an overview of work being done on the peaceful uses of outer space through the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization Committee).

With the prevalence of discrimination and violence against women rising around the world, all States must become parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and its Optional Protocol, to ensure the dignity and respect that women worldwide deserved, Zou Xiaoqiao, Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, stressed today.

Ion Botnaru, Director of the General Assembly and Economic and Social Council Affairs Division in the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management, briefed correspondents today on the rules of procedure for tomorrow’s election of five non-permanent members of the Security Council.

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People today adopted its annual draft report of its work, which welcomed renewed direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and reiterated the body’s call on Israel to completely halt all settlement activity, including in East Jerusalem.

Unblocking the long fallow Conference on Disarmament was the subject of a ministerial meeting convened today by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who urged delegations to recall that body’s status as the “undisputed home of international arms control efforts”, which even in the complex political and security context of the cold war had managed to conclude far-reaching and forward-looking treaties.

Isabelle Picco, Permanent Representative of Monaco to the United Nations, was elected Chair of the Sixth Committee (Legal) on 11 June 2010.

Ochir Enkhtsetseg, Permanent Representative of Mongolia to the United Nations, was elected Chair of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) on 11 June 2010.