Meetings Coverage

Two cornerstones of United Nations action against terrorism have no proper legal basis in the organization’s Charter today, since international terrorism was not “a permanent threat to peace” and did not justify the Security Council’s supranational powers over individuals or Member States, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today.

Marking the tenth anniversary of its landmark resolution on women and peace and security, the Security Council today expressed support for taking forward a set of indicators to measure progress in filling urgent gaps in the protection and empowerment of women. The Council noted with grave concern that, despite the normative framework and a wide range of activities spurred by the adoption of resolution 1325 (2000), women and girls were still ravaged by violence.

Condemning nearly a half-century of sanctions against Cuba as a “policy in search of a justification”, General Assembly delegates today called for a swift, complete end to the United States economic, commercial and financial embargo against the island nation, which they said had crippled its development and whose justification was morally indefensible.

With information and communications technology increasingly driving development in everything from business to health-care services to education programmes, it was imperative that all countries had the necessary broadband connectivity, speakers told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.

Halting the production of bomb-making material, holding to non-proliferation promises and forging a united effort to eliminate nuclear weapons were among the core challenges put to nuclear-weapon States today in the provisions of 12 draft resolutions and one decision approved by the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), as it began taking action on the 60 texts before it.

The classic practice of inserting peacekeepers between warring parties had shifted as troops now confronted intra-State issues, requiring new dimensions in civilian, policing and civic domains, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) was told today, as it continued its general debate on the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects.

The General Assembly today elected 18 members of the Economic and Social Council to serve three-year terms beginning 1 January 2011. Those elected today were Australia, Cameroon, China, Ecuador, Finland, Gabon, Hungary, Latvia, Malawi, Mexico, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Senegal and the United Kingdom.

Mounting concerns that advances in ballistic missile defence technology and recognition of the inherent instability — possible arms race in space and cascading proliferation on Earth — that could result from the pursuit of space weapons for security informed the debate in the Disarmament Committee today, which heard the introduction of two draft resolutions on the domain long hoped would be preserved for peaceful purposes to the benefit of all humankind.

As the Sixth Committee (Legal) began its annual review of the report of the International Law Commission today, the Committee Chairperson, Isabelle Picco (Monaco), welcomed the presence of legal advisers from numerous capitals and expressed her confidence that their participation would enrich the debate on the Commission’s work.

There was no greater sign of a Member State’s commitment to collective security than the willingness to send its nationals into harm’s way under the United Nations flag, Fourth Committee delegates heard today as their Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) entered day two of their annual discussion of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects.