General Assembly

Domestic violence, political participation, discriminatory family law, eliminating stereotypes and preventing trafficking will be among the areas explored by a committee of 23 experts charged with ensuring that Governments eliminate discrimination against women, when it meets in New York from 20 July to 7 August at United Nations Headquarters.

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will convene a United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine on 22 and 23 July 2009 at the United Nations Office at Geneva. The theme of the Meeting is “Responsibility of the international community to uphold international humanitarian law to ensure the protection of civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory in the wake of the war in Gaza”.

General Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann said the international community should be “very happy” about the outcome of the Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development, which had affirmed the 192-member body as the most suitable venue for discussion of serious economic matters.

After five days of debate, the United Nations Conference on the world financial crisis concluded today, with General Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann urging delegates to be inspired by the work they had done on the outcome document “and sustain the same sense of urgency and commitment as we translate this bold new framework into effective action”.

Struggling to recover from steep declines in export earnings, tax revenues and overall economic growth, delegates from developing and middle-income countries alike today pressed rich nations to dismantle protectionist trade measures and fulfil pledges for official development assistance to avert a humanitarian catastrophe, as the plenary debate of the Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development continued at United Nations Headquarters.

Asking the donor community to keep funds flowing, top officials from United Nations agencies, speaking at a round table discussion this morning on the Organization’s development response to the crisis, warned that business as usual would not be enough to maintain traction on development.

General Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann said that the global conversation begun this week achieved what many believed to be unachievable, at a Headquarters press conference to announce the adoption of an outcome document meant to spark a redesign of the world’s financial and economic architecture.

With the world facing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Government leaders and senior ministers meeting at United Nations Headquarters in New York today agreed on a sweeping action plan to help blunt the impact of the economic downturn, especially for developing counties, but “in the interest of all nations [...] to achieve more inclusive, equitable, balanced, development-oriented and sustainable economic development to help overcome poverty and inequality”.

The outcome of the Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development in its third day at United Nations Headquarters provided a means for continued discussion, but in no way measured up to the extreme gravity of the situation facing developing countries, representatives of civil society groups told correspondents today, also at Headquarters.

Decrying a world economic order that had rewarded the powerful, marginalized the poor and promoted an unbridled capitalism that ignited unprecedented financial contagion, General Assembly delegates today urged swift and concerted measures to restructure international finance bodies and forge people-centred policies that addressed human security.