Meetings Coverage

Stressing the need for the Secretary-General to make every effort to ensure that technical and logistical support is provided for elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in full and on time, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today asked the General Assembly to appropriate $69.56 million to the Special Account for the United Nations Mission in that country.

The General Assembly met this afternoon to consider ways to improve the on-the-ground effectiveness of the United Nations and ensure that the Organization delivered on two decades’ worth of development commitments, with delegations focusing on ways to strengthen civilian capacity in the aftermath of conflict and following-up the historic Millennium Summit.

Stressing the importance of continued United Nations support for Libya’s transitional Government in addressing immediate priorities, the Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) until 16 March 2012.

The General Assembly would stress the need for active measures to reduce excessive food-price volatility, while acknowledging the incomplete understanding of its causes and the importance of carrying out more research, according to one of five draft resolutions that the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) approved by consensus today.

The General Assembly needed to be revitalized and empowered in order to meet the current global challenges and fulfil its central role, as envisaged by the United Nations Charter, General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser told that body today. More than ever, world events necessitated a strong and responsive General Assembly and it should not be restricted to being a venue for deliberation, he said.

The General Assembly would urge the international community to adopt urgent measures to eliminate the use of unilateral coercive economic measures against developing countries as they were inconsistent with the principles of international law and the multilateral trading system, according to one of 14 draft resolutions approved by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.

Stressing that popular uprisings across the Middle East were demanding greater inclusiveness and democracy, General Assembly delegates called today for peace and justice — as well as “re-energized” efforts to resolve old regional conflicts — to reign across the region, as it adopted six related resolutions. By six recorded votes, the Assembly adopted resolutions on both the “Question of Palestine” and on the wider “Situation in the Middle East”.

Improving transparency, interaction with non-Security Council Member States and the efficiency of its activities were some of the issues addressed by speakers during a day-long debate in the chamber today on the body’s working methods — the fourth ever held on the subject.

States Parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination this morning elected by secret ballot nine members of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to replace those whose four-year terms were set to expire on 19 January 2012.

Touting the United Nations ambitious projects in information and communications technology development and enterprise resource planning as the “engine and enabler” of the Organization’s reform and strengthening, the Deputy Secretary-General urged delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today to supply the necessary funds to implement them.