At a press conference at Headquarters today, the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom, whose delegation holds the presidency of the Security Council for November, said that he hoped that his efforts would be noted for being transparent, interactive and action-oriented.
As peacekeeping operations moved away from traditional military frameworks and towards more multidimensional, dynamic models, consultations with troop- and police-contributing countries must remain at the heart of all aspects of United Nations mission planning, from the earliest stages to the exit strategies and beyond, speakers in the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) emphasized today as they continued their comprehensive review of peacekeeping.
Until donors ramped up contributions, humanitarian actors were no longer able to provide core assistance to the record number of displaced people worldwide, the head of the United Nations refugee agency told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today as it concluded discussions on racism and began consideration of humanitarian questions.
Greater cooperation among all stakeholders was needed for an open and comprehensive intergovernmental preparatory process to the Habitat III Conference, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) heard today as it took up its agenda item on the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).
In the wake of allegations of corruption against a previous President of the General Assembly, representatives of the 193-member body today debated the function of and the selection to the United Nations highest leadership positions.
Concerned about the possibility of outer space becoming “an arena for military confrontation”, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today approved a draft resolution, one of two on the topic, asking the General Assembly to urge an early commencement of substantive work to prevent the placement of weapons in outer space.
States had the obligation to cooperate with each other and with international organizations in protecting the atmosphere, delegations and legal advisors heard today as the Sixth Committee (Legal) continued its debate on the International Law Commission’s report.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today approved a draft resolution that aimed to improve the quality of conference services held in its offices around the globe while upholding the equal use of its six official languages in the written world of documents and publications as well as crucial interpretation and translation services.
The Secretary-General, urging the General Assembly to draw larger lessons from the allegations against John Ashe, President of its sixty-eighth session, described a number of specific steps, including an internal audit and establishment of an internal task force, to address, head-on, the important issues being raised.
Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the General Assembly on the revitalization of its work, in New York today:
