Meetings Coverage

In a consensus text adopted today, the General Assembly resolved that the post-2015 agenda should reinforce the international community’s commitment to poverty eradication and sustainable development.

The “deafening silence” of the Special Committee on Decolonization to Gibraltar’s requests as to whether it had achieved a full measure of self-government did nothing to advance that Territory’s progress towards decolonization, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) was told today as it grappled with the methodological quandary that keeps the decolonization debate at the forefront of international concerns.

As the Sixth Committee (Legal) continued its debate on measures to eliminate international terrorism, delegates insisted that all courses of action must remain within the framework of international law.

A broad range of stakeholders’ commitments, criticisms and concerns had built momentum towards redoubling efforts in achieving the Millennium Development Goals and towards advancing the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015, said General Assembly Vice-President Octavio Errázuriz today at the close of the High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development.

The “appalling” scenes that emerged from Syria in August were a “stark and horrific reminder” of why the international community had a duty to eliminate weapons of mass destruction in all their forms, Ireland’s delegate told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today as its annual debate on the broad spectrum of items before it continued in the glare of recent events.

Older persons were an invaluable social force that could contribute to social development, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today as more than 40 speakers took part in the conclusion of its general discussion on that topic, with one describing longer lives as “a triumph of human development”.

A 60-year-old injustice had been corrected when French Polynesia was re‑inscribed on the United Nations-identified list of Non-Self-Governing Territories, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) was told today as it continued its annual decolonization debate, informed by both fresh perspectives and traditional takes on one of the Organization’s foundational pursuits.

Like a river that flowed in two directions, the deliberations of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) had been characterized by two opposing currents, the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Angela Kane, said today at the start of that body’s annual debate.

The work of the United Nations on social development had reached “an important juncture” as inequality continued to plague its efforts, a senior official of the Organization said today as the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) began its substantive work.

As the Sixth Committee began its consideration of measures to eliminate international terrorism, delegates once again called for flexibility and political will towards agreeing on a definition of that act, so that consensus could be reached towards a comprehensive convention.