Irrespective of the current global financial crisis, it was “time to get back to basics”, the General Assembly heard today, as delegations reaffirmed the mutual responsibilities and obligations of their Governments to fulfil commitments on development financing agreed at the dawn of the new century, and discussed new ways of raising more funds to rescue millions of people from poverty.

With Palestinian refugees gaining none of the political and human rights advances seen elsewhere in the Middle East, and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) facing severe financial constraints, 18donors pledged contributions to the Agency’s 2012 budgetthis afternoon, with several Governments expressing their intention to announce their pledges at a later date.

Despite extreme poverty, rampant unemployment and isolated violent incidents, Burundi’s overall political and security landscapes were “calm” with much anticipated for the Government’s long-term vision, the top United Nations official in that country told the Security Council today.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the thirty-third Ministerial Meeting of the United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa, originally delivered in French by Abou Moussa, Special Representative of the Secretary General for Central Africa and Head of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), in Bangui, Central African Republic, on 8 December:

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the event on ending violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, delivered by Ivan Šimonović, Assistant Secretary-General in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in New York, on 8 December:

The deliberations that took place over the fifth High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development should be seen as an important step towards renewing and improving the global partnership for development launched by the landmark Monterrey Consensus and its follow-up Doha Declaration, the Acting President of the General Assembly said today.

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

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

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed György Busztin of Hungary as his Deputy Special Representative for Iraq.

Acting on the recommendation of its Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization), the General Assembly this morning adopted 24 resolutions and two decisions, nine among them concerning the Arab‑Israeli conflict, with others focused on decolonization, outer space, atomic radiation, information and public outreach, and peacekeeping. Recorded votes were required for more than half.