Meetings Coverage

In a long-awaited address, the President of the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament shared with the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) his insights about the 16-year impasse in that treaty negotiating body and, summing it up this way, said, “Do not ask what the CD can do for your country, ask what your country can do for the CD”.

Any international plan to combat the risks of sovereign debt default must be capable of handling a potential crisis in one of the world’s largest economies, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) heard today.

A United Nations expert today called for boycotting businesses that were profiting from Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian lands until they brought their operations in line with international human rights and humanitarian law, as he presented his annual report to the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural).

More than any other institution, the Department of Public Information understood that the media could either be the messenger of peace and tolerance or of misunderstanding and hatred, the Fourth Committee was told today as it concluded its consideration of questions relating to information, with the approval of two draft resolutions and one draft decision.

With renewed violence in Sudan’s Darfur region, including attacks on peacekeepers, the United Nations’ top peacekeeping official called on the parties to engage fully in implementing the lagging peace process, which he said could ease the high tensions that still existed there, as he briefed the Security Council this afternoon.

The recent protracted violence in a number of sensitive areas around the world was a reminder that the prevention of conflict and protection of human rights in times of conflict remained among the world’s most daunting challenges, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today.

Although least developing countries were overwhelmingly dependent on trade as an engine of growth and development, they had enjoyed a mere 1.4 per cent share of global trade in 2011, India’s representative told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today, as it concluded its consideration of macroeconomic policy questions.

Despite the formidable communications and information demands of today’s world, the international community had a United Nations that could be accessed in a multitude of ways, as it broadened its reach to tell its story in step with the revolutionary technological trends, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today as it continued its consideration of the topic.

Widespread agreement was evident today in the First Committee on the need for arms restraint, but chronic ambivalence in policies aimed at promoting exports and transfers while preventing their diversion to illicit markets and protecting national interests stirred debate on finalization of an arms trade treaty whose text was already on the table.

Even as the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund posted near record assets of $44 billion as of this month, the increase in the Fund’s actuarial deficit drew the concerns of delegates at the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) meeting today.