As democratic movements drove political change in North Africa and the Middle East, and as new economic powers transformed the geopolitical landscape, the United Nations, to maintain its respected stature, must define effective, multifaceted strategies suited for a new era, General Assembly delegates said today as they considered the Secretary-General’s report on the Organizations’ work.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

As the Sixth Committee (Legal) today considered measures to eliminate international terrorism, delegates commemorated the tenth anniversary of the events of 11 September 2001, and urged a conclusion to the draft articles of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism that would clearly define terrorism and address its root causes.

On 4 October 2011, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1988 (2011) approved the addition of the three entries specified below to the Committee’s List (the 1988 Sanctions List) of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 1988 (2011).

The Security Council this afternoon failed to adopt a resolution that would have condemned “grave and systematic human rights violations” in Syria, and would have warned of options for action to be considered against the Government of President Bashar al-Assad if the unfolding situation warranted, including measures under the section of the United Nations Charter that allowed sanctions.

During the concluding discussion in the Sixth Committee (Legal) on the subject of measures to eliminate international terrorism, delegates today repeatedly illustrated that no country or State in the world was immune from terrorism, and that it now was imperative to finalize the draft articles of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.

Austerity measures adopted by developed countries to address the current economic upheaval hurt global growth and pushed millions more into poverty just when greater social protection was needed, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today.

As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) opened the second meeting of its sixty-sixth session with a discussion on the scale of assessments, several delegates raised a red flag over revising the complex methodology used to set the scale if the changes boosted the contributions of developing countries.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s 2011‑12 Otto L. Walter Lecture at New York Law School on 4 October:

Governments must consider new, more equitable development models to ensure that their economies reaped the benefits of a globalized world amid heightened food insecurity, increased pressure on natural resources and a widening gap between rich and poor that was severely hampering prospects for economic recovery, Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, stressed today as he opened the general debate of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial).