Meetings Coverage

Against a backdrop of the widely-held view that more than 20,000 nuclear weapons still existed in the world today, legally binding negative security assurances, or promises that nuclear-weapon States would never use those weapons against those countries that did not have them, and a verifiable and irreversible nuclear weapons convention were sure ways to motivate the “marathon towards global zero”, the Disarmament Committee heard today in the course of its debate.

While deliberations continued on nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation, sight must not be lost of the really immense problem of small arms and light weapons in parts of the world, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today, as it continued its annual general debate.

As it took a look ahead at the Organization’s objectives for the years 2012 and 2013, the Fifth Committee today praised the strategic plan shaped by Secretariat officials, while affirming the General Assembly’s key role in setting the priorities.

Continuing its general debate on decolonization issues today, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) focused its attention on the question of Western Sahara, as petitioners appealed for resolute action on the part of the United Nations and the wider international community to effectively tackle a raft of injustices they believed gripped the region, including terrorism, slavery, natural resource exploitation and human rights abuses.

From cybercrime and trafficking in cultural property to poaching on the high seas, speakers in the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today drew attention to new forms of transnational crimes that warrant an international response.

The struggle against organized crime, corruption and trafficking in illicit drugs and human beings is too big for any one country to tackle alone, Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, told the Third Committee today, as he appealed to Member States for sustainable funding to enable his Office to fulfil its mandates.

The rule of law and not the rule of power should be promoted in dealing with issues related to disarmament and international security, and exclusive and discriminatory approaches should be avoided, the First Committee heard today as it continued its annual general debate.

Calling attention to the failure of the United Nations and the international community to preserve the human rights of Saharawis, petitioners for Western Sahara called for a resolution to the “last decolonization process in Africa”, as the Fourth Committee continued its consideration of remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories this afternoon.

As developing countries struggled to gain economic traction, there was an increasingly urgent need to set up systems to relieve their external debt, bolster their clout in international financial institutions and prevent a recurrence of the reckless speculative developed-world financial practices that had wreaked havoc on their economies, several speakers told the Second Committee as it concluded its general debate today.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today adopted by consensus a resolution that lets six Member States — the Central African Republic, Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Sao Tome and Principe, and Somalia — keep voting during this year’s sixty-fifth General Assembly session, even though they have fallen behind in their annual payments to the Organization’s budget.