Five days after celebrating the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the international community still had a long way to go to erase the vast socio-economic inequities that existed from Argentina to Zimbabwe, several speakers told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today, as it began its consideration of the eradication of poverty and other development issues.

As the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) concluded its general debate on the peaceful uses of outer space this afternoon, delegates greeted the increase in the number of countries focusing on outer space issues, affirming space technologies as of “inestimable value” to the Earth’s population, but warned at the same time of the danger of its militarization.

Continuing its wide-ranging discussion on the promotion and protection of human rights, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) approved six draft resolutions on a range of social-economic issues, including one that would have the General Assembly proclaim 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message delivered today to the fifty-seventh Congress of Femmes Chefs d’Entreprises Mondiales, taking place in Yaoundé, Cameroon, 23-30 October:

United Nations peacekeeping was an increasingly complex and dangerous endeavour that rested on the shared partnership of Member States, the Security Council and the Secretariat, succeeding quietly, every day, in mitigating harm to thousands of civilians around the globe, Under-Secretary-General Alain Le Roy told the Fourth Committee today, as it began its comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping in all its aspects.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Lieutenant General Sikander Afzal (Pakistan) as the Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in Liberia.

A stable and steady approach on the part of the international community was required to ensure the long-term stability of Timor-Leste, Atul Khare, Special Representative of the Secretary-General, told the Security Council this morning.

Peace and security could only be achieved with strong regional action and strict compliance with existing arms agreements, otherwise the present arms races would erect stumbling blocks along the road to stability around the world, the Disarmament Committee heard today, concluding its thematic debate on regional disarmament and security, with the introduction of eight related draft resolutions, and opening its discussion on the disarmament machinery.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this morning recommended that the General Assembly endorse the recommendations of the Board of Auditors on the financial report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the year ended 31 December 2008, for which the Board had issued a qualified audit opinion this year, with three emphases of matter.

United Nations Day will be observed this year at Headquarters with a concert to be held this evening, Friday 23 October, in the General Assembly Hall, from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.