Meetings Coverage

Following statements by petitioners and an impassioned plea by the President of Argentina to leave behind an “outdated story” of prejudice and cliché, the Special Committee on Decolonization today reiterated that ending the “special and particular” colonial situation relating to the Falkland Islands (Malvinas)* required a peaceful, negotiated settlement of the sovereignty dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom.

While sanctions imposed on Iran concerning its nuclear programme had been effective, the “cost of acquisition” had not yet forced Iran to reach a compromise solution requiring that strict adherence to the sanctions must continue, the Security Council was told today as it was briefed by the head of the Committee charged with monitoring those sanctions.

Determining that the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons remained a threat to international peace and security, the Security Council this morning extended the mandate of a Panel of Experts — established to analyse incidents of non-compliance with its resolution 1718 (2006) concerning the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea — until 12 July 2013.

The Fifth Committee today concluded its second resumed substantive session by recommending financial arrangements for 14 United Nations peacekeeping operations, which, once endorsed by the General Assembly, would total slightly more than $7 billion.

The Palestinian Rights Committee this afternoon approved the provisional programme of the upcoming United Nations Asian and Pacific Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace, to be held in Bangkok, as it also heard reports on previous international meetings, as well as on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The Security Council today demanded the cessation of all actions aimed at undermining Yemen’s Government of National Unity and political transition — such as attacks on oil, gas and electricity infrastructure, interference with the restructuring of the armed and security forces, and obstruction of implementation of presidential decrees — and expressed its readiness to consider further measures, including under the Charter’s Article 41, if such actions continued.

While “considerable” progress had been made in combating the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, a mutiny led by officers in the Congolese army had caused a serious deterioration of security in North and South Kivu provinces, and an easing of pressure on other armed groups operating in the region, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told the Security Council today.

The twenty-second Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on the Law of the Sea concluded its annual session today with the approval of a 3 per cent reduction in the proposed budget of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for the biennium 2013-2014, bringing the total figure to €21,239,130, an increase of just over 4 per cent from the Tribunal’s previous budget.

While efforts to halt new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths had steadily intensified in the last year, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pressed Governments in the General Assembly today to enhance prevention measures, provide greater access to treatments and step up badly needed investment for AIDS — as agreed at last year’s High-level meeting on HIV and AIDS — “so that we can win the race” against the epidemic.

The Special Committee on Decolonization this morning, resuming its session, approved by consensus requests for hearings from several Non-Self-Governing Territories in the coming days, as well as three draft resolutions on the transmission and dissemination of information on decolonization.