Meetings Coverage

In a single secret ballot today, the General Assembly elected Australia, Finland and Switzerland to the Economic and Social Council, the body responsible for addressing global economic, social and environmental challenges.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today recomended personnel apppointments to fill upcoming vacancies in the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) and four other bodies that help manage the United Nations vast human resources and its finances.

The General Assembly failed to elect the fifth remaining member today to the International Court of Justice.  After seven rounds of voting, which were held concurrently of, but independently from, the voting process in the Security Council, the final choice between the two bodies did not concur.

Nearing the end of formal deliberations in the sixty-ninth session, the Sixth Committee (Legal) took action today on four draft resolutions and heard oral reports by the Chairs of two working groups.

With extremist ideology “spreading like a malignant disease” across the Middle East, Israel was on the “frontline” of combatting the enemy, and while it might be convenient to point fingers at it that did not address the heart of the problem, the country’s representative told the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today.

The Security Council, meeting independently from, but concurrently with the General Assembly, today failed to elect the final judge for the International Court of Justice.   The vacancy must be filled in February 2015, when the terms of five members will expire.

Delegates at the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today urged the Secretariat to detail and clarify the benefits — financial and operational — of a costly major enterprise planning project that would streamline administrative practices and boost efficiency throughout the Organization.

The General Assembly today, working concurrently, but independently, of the Security Council, elected four judges from an initial pool of eight candidates to the International Court of Justice for terms of nine years beginning 6 February 2015.

Armed conflicts and weather-related disasters resulted in prolonged refugee situations, severely affecting host communities as well as humanitarian organizations, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today as it concluded its discussion on refugees, returnees and displaced persons.  The Committee also introduced several draft resolutions covering a range of issues, from missing persons to safety for journalists.

Special Committee Presents Reports, Palestine Observer Says Despite Grave Situation, Palestinians ‘Have Not Given Up on Peace’

The appalling level of violence and unprecedented scale of destruction unleashed by Israel upon the people of Gaza in July and August exacerbated the suffering of a population already reeling from years of repression and restriction, the Fourth Committee heard today, as it began its consideration of the Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Terri