Meetings Coverage

After ending its debate on the rule of law, the Sixth Committee (Legal) today considered the reports of the Special Committee on the Charter and the Repertory and Repertoire, and continued to review the outstanding requests for Observer Status in the General Assembly, on both of which topics there were extensive discussions on efficient working methods.

Resuming its 2011 substantive session, the Economic and Social Council elected a Vice-President to its Bureau today and filled vacancies in a number of its subsidiary bodies, having deferred several elections from previous sessions.

In Press Release GA/SPD/479 issued 4 October, during the debate on the question of Western Sahara, the statement made by journalist Jose Maria Garre Gil was incorrectly attributed to Juan Jose Ibarretxe Markuartu, President of the Gobierno Vasco.

A new democracy based on the rule of law and the will of the people had sprung from the recent revolution in Tunisia, instituting deep-seated reforms that would guarantee Tunisian citizens the right to a dignified life, the delegate of Tunisia told the Sixth Committee (Legal) today as it took up its agenda item: the rule of law at the international and national levels.

Efforts must be redoubled to “counter the biggest danger facing our planet today”, namely, nuclear proliferation, France’s delegate told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today, championing arms non-proliferation as the critical component to strengthening and safeguarding security.

While multilateralism had never been more vital, “inertia and deadlock prevailed on critical issues”, the representative of Guyana told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today as it concluded its general debate.

The world community was facing a series of complex and interconnected threats that together formed a web of drugs, crime, corruption and even terrorism, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today, as it began its general discussion on crime prevention, criminal justice and international drug control.

In a session during which the General Assembly was slated to scrutinize the complex methodology used to determine each Member State’s annual budget contribution, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today adopted a consensus resolution that allowed six countries to retain their voting rights even though they had fallen behind in paying their annual dues to the Organization.

Despite the dire need for humanitarian assistance in the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria, much of that aid was misappropriated and wound up in the markets of Algiers and Timbuktu, one of 33 petitioners on the question of Western Sahara told the Fourth Committee today as it continued its debate on decolonization. Humanitarian aid rarely reached the camps, as most of it was sold in North African markets to buy weapons, stressed one petitioner who spoke today.

As democratic movements drove political change in North Africa and the Middle East, and as new economic powers transformed the geopolitical landscape, the United Nations, to maintain its respected stature, must define effective, multifaceted strategies suited for a new era, General Assembly delegates said today as they considered the Secretary-General’s report on the Organizations’ work.