Meetings Coverage

As the Sixth Committee (Legal) today addressed the organization of its work for 2009, and reviewed the new system of administering justice at the United Nations, which had been introduced earlier this year and was generally welcomed, concerns were expressed about certain structural details of the new system, which is now subject to formalization by the General Assembly.

The Security Council today called for a wide range of measures to strengthen the participation of women at all stages of peace processes, as it began an intensive day-long discussion on the topic. Through the unanimous adoption of resolution 1889 (2009), the Council reaffirmed its landmark 2000 resolution 1325 on “women and peace and security”, and condemned continuing sexual violence against women in conflict and post-conflict situations.

For global efforts to succeed in preventing mass destruction weapons from falling into the hands of non-State actors, individual countries needed practical, targeted assistance to close current dangerous gaps in the implementation of Security Council resolution 1540 (2004), participants in a comprehensive review on that legally binding resolution said today as three days of meetings concluded.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), during its organizational meeting this morning, agreed on its provisional programme of work for the first week of the sixty-fourth session, on the understanding that necessary adjustments would be made in the course of the session, as required.

In a brief organizational meeting today, the Fourth Committee (Special, Political and Decolonization) approved its work programme for the current session, during which it planned to consider more than a dozen topics, ranging from the peaceful uses of outer space to the University of Peace and the decolonization of the remaining non-self-governing territories.

The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), in a brief organizational meeting today, adopted its agenda and programme of work for the sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly.

Citing ever greater risks to the nuclear non-proliferation regime, which were challenging Security Council resolution 1540 (2004) to effectively bind every State to enforce domestic controls to prevent weapons of mass destruction from falling into the hands of non-State actors, concerned organizations grappled with the text’s far-reaching legislative and technical obligations today, as a comprehensive review of implementation continued at Headquarters.

The Security Council decided this morning to specifically mandate peacekeeping missions to protect women and children from rampant sexual violence during armed conflict, as it requested the Secretary-General to appoint a special representative to coordinate a range of mechanisms to fight the crime.

With hundreds of instances of nuclear material going missing each year, the nightmare scenario of non-State actors gaining access to weapons of mass destruction made Security Council resolution 1540 (2004), and the work of its Committee, more critical today than ever before, stakeholders at all levels said today as a comprehensive review of that resolution’s implementation began.

The formation of an effective Afghan Government and the development of its strategies demanded decisions that would determine prospects for ending the intensified conflict in the country, the top United Nations official there told the Security Council this morning.