Meetings Coverage

The promise of a new Somalia emerging from decades of violence and instability remained fragile, the Security Council heard today, amid calls for stepped-up measures by the United Nations to bolster the Government’s capacity to protect international operations over the long term.

Elections were fundamentally political rather than technical events, and, more importantly, they were not an end in themselves, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today, as it resumed its general discussion on the promotion and protection of human rights.

The Security Council adopted today its annual report to the General Assembly for the period 1 August 2012 to 31 July 2013.

United Nations Peacekeeping missions today were set in increasingly demanding and often perilous contexts, with operational and policy challenges that could only be addressed through collective action with an “international character”, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today as it continued its comprehensive review of peacekeeping operations in all its aspects.

After seven years of hard work, the adoption of the Arms Trade Treaty signified “the first time in a generation” that nations from every corner of the world had shown what could be achieved with strong vision and a clear sense of purpose, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today as it continued its thematic debate on conventional weapons.

The General Assembly, voting nearly-unanimously, adopted its twenty-second consecutive resolution calling for an end to the United States’ decades-long economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba.

“The Third Committee [Social, Humanitarian and Cultural] does not function in a vacuum,” the President of the General Assembly said today, emphasizing that the issues on agendas of the Main Committees were all inter-related.

As they continued deliberations on the International Law Commission’s annual report, Sixth Committee (Legal) delegates tackled an array of issues on the newly drafted conclusions that addressed the interpretation of treaties, and raised questions regarding the Commission’s consideration of crimes against humanity.

Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today again voiced their concerns about the methods, techniques and cutbacks the Secretariat had used to turn out a proposed $5.4 billion budget for the 2014-2015 budget cycle that begins with the new year. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had formally unveiled the upcoming budget outline at Monday’s Committee meeting.

While “slow and tortured” improvements had helped the Security Council gradually build greater transparency and efficiency, the 15-member body must urgently step up efforts to improve its working methods, including through the collective voluntary suspension of veto rights in cases involving mass atrocity crimes, speakers said today.