Warned throughout the debate today in the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) that the “world cannot afford to stand still on the crucial issues of disarmament and non-proliferation”, delegations struggled once more to understand the root cause for the dysfunction in the United Nations disarmament machinery in order to evolve a common approach to correcting it.

United Nations peacekeeping, as the Organization’s pre-eminent instrument in maintaining international peace and security and complement to such crucial tools as mediation and peace accords, required a reliable partnership with the Security Council and the critical consent of the parties, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today during its debate on peacekeeping.

Drawing parallels to recent political uprisings in defence of freedom and self-determination, General Assembly delegates today again denounced the decades-old economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba, voting overwhelmingly to adopt the world body’s twentieth consecutive resolution calling for an end to the measures.

As the Sixth Committee (Legal) today resumed its consideration of the report of the International Law Commission, delegations lauded the recently finalized Guide to Practice on reservations to treaties as a sound legal reference for international law practitioners.

The following Security Council press statement on Liberia was issued today by Council President U. Joy Ogwu (Nigeria):

With multiple interrelated crises affecting developing countries and vulnerable populations disproportionately — causing further erosions in the progressive realization of human rights — it was time to recalibrate the human rights agenda to better include economic, social and cultural rights, along with the right to development, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today.

Arbitrary detention and disproportionate use of military force, the expansion of settlements and the blockade of the Gaza Strip continued to constrain the functioning of the Palestinian Authority while contributing to the growing economic and social hardship faced by its citizens, Rima Khalaf, Executive Secretary for Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to non-governmental organizations, in New York, 26 October:

Keeping biological, chemical and nuclear weapons from terrorists, bolstering regional and subregional arms control and speeding results from nuclear disarmament promises and processes were among the aims of the 17 draft texts approved today as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) began taking action on the 53 draft texts before it.

Welcoming positive developments in Libya and taking note of the Declaration of Liberation following the death of long-time leader Muammar al-Qadhafi, the Security Council this morning ended the authorization under which the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had conducted an air campaign with the mandated aim of protecting civilians, as of 31 October 2011.