Meetings Coverage

The “success” of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the last 60 years could also be interpreted as a measure of the collective failure to resolve the political question that had led to the refugee crisis in the first place, Indonesia’s representative told the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) as it continued its general debate on the work of that Agency this afternoon.

As the Sixth Committee today concluded its current consideration of the report of the International Law Commission, the representative of Trinidad and Tobago called for a study of State practice to determine whether the obligation to extradite or prosecute was a requirement from which there was no derogation, which he said would be a step towards combating impunity for crimes.

One out of every three people residing in cities around the globe lived in a slum, and unless the problem was dealt with, another 400 million people would join their ranks by 2020, Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today, as it continued its consideration of sustainable development.

Strengthening multilateralism and reframing the disarmament debate had advanced the present positive momentum and led to the approval of 54 key texts, more than half by consensus, bolstering treaties on nuclear test bans and arms control and halting the spread of nuclear weapons, the First Committee Chairman José Luis Cancela said today as the Committee wrapped up its sixty-fourth session.

If Member States accepted a lesser deal during the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Conference than what was scientifically needed to cut greenhouse gas emissions, they would be threatening the very existence of small island countries, the representative of the Federated States of Micronesia told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) as it began its consideration of sustainable development today.

Viewing the Durban Review Conference as the start of a new era in combating racial discrimination, several speakers in the Third Committee commended the Special Rapporteur on racism for his decision to use the Conference’s Outcome Document as a blueprint for his work, and asked for support for that document even from non-attending States.

Amid calls for a new collective security system in which no country felt the need to rely on nuclear weapons, General Assembly delegates today adopted a consensus resolution reaffirming their strong support for the International Atomic Energy Agency in encouraging the practical application of nuclear energy for peaceful uses.

The most immediate challenge facing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East was a funding shortfall that risked a suspension of essential services, the Agency’s head said this afternoon, as the Fourth Committee launched its annual consideration of the Agency’s work.

The Sixth Committee today continued its consideration of the report of the International Law Commission by turning to the new topics of “obligation to extradite or prosecute”, “most-favoured-nations clause”, and “treaties over time”, while completing its debate on the last cluster.

The First Committee today recommended that the General Assembly convene a conference on an arms trade treaty in 2012 to elaborate a legally binding instrument on the highest possible international standards for conventional arms transfers, recognizing that the absence of agreed standards for those transfers to address the problems relating to unregulated trade and their diversion to the illicit market contributed to armed conflict, the displacement of people, organized crime and terrorism.