General Assembly Session 55 meeting 81

The President

The General Assembly will consider the reports of the Third Committee on agenda items 103 to 114 and 12.

I request the Rapporteur of the Third Committee, Ms. Anzhela Korneliouk of Belarus, to introduce in one intervention the reports of the Third Committee.

Ms. Korneliouk (Belarus)

I have the honour to present for consideration the following reports of the Third Committee on the agenda items allocated to it by the General Assembly.

Under agenda item 103, entitled "Social development, including questions relating to the world social situation and to youth, ageing, disabled persons and the family", the Third Committee recommends in document A/55/591, paragraph 9, the adoption of one draft resolution.

Under agenda item 104, entitled "Follow-up to the International Year of Older Persons", the Third Committee recommends in document A/55/592, paragraph 9, the adoption of one draft resolution.

Under agenda item 105, entitled "Crime prevention and criminal justice", the Committee recommends in document A/55/593, paragraph 20, the adoption of six draft resolutions.

I would like to draw the attention of the Assembly to paragraph 14 of the report, which falls under the discussion of draft resolution A/C.3/55/L.8/Rev.1, entitled "Combating the criminal misuse of information technologies". In that paragraph, the names of Norway and Venezuela should be added to the list of sponsors.

In addition, I would also like to draw the attention of the Assembly to a correction in draft resolution V, on page 15 of A/55/593, last preambular paragraph, beginning "Noting the work". The title of the Committee should read "Committee of Experts on Crime in" -- not "and" -- "Cyberspace of the Council of Europe". In the same paragraph, after "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland", "in May 1998" should read "on 17 May 1998".

Under agenda item 106, entitled "International drug control", the Third Committee recommends in document A/55/594, paragraph 7, the adoption of one draft resolution.

Under agenda item 107, entitled "Advancement of women", the Third Committee recommends in document A/55/595 and corrigenda 1 and 2, paragraph 35, the adoption of six draft resolutions and, in paragraph 36, the adoption of one draft decision.

I would like to draw the attention of the Assembly to part III of the report. In draft resolution I, entitled "Working towards the elimination of crimes against women committed in the name of honour", the following corrections should be made to the text to bring it into line with the text of A/C.3/55/L.11/Rev.1, as it was before the Third Committee at the time of its adoption.

In the third preambular paragraph, the phrase "a common feature of which is premeditation," should be deleted, and the phrase "and that the failure to do so constitutes a human rights violation" should be added to the end of the same paragraph.

The following paragraph should be inserted after the fourth preambular paragraph:

"Noting general recommendation 19 concerning violence against women adopted by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women".

In the seventh preambular paragraph, the words "awareness campaigns through print and electronic media, as well as educational programmes, are required to underline" should be deleted and replaced by "fundamental changes in societal attitudes are required, and underlining".

In operative paragraph 1, the word "crimes" before "that are identified in the outcome document" should be deleted and replaced by the word "those". The phrase "a common feature of which is premeditation", which appears after "including crimes against women committed in the name of honour", should be deleted.

In operative paragraph 7, after the phrase "elimination of the crimes in question", the phrase "and on the issue of crimes of passion" should be deleted.

Under agenda item 108, entitled "Implementation of the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women and of the special session of the General Assembly entitled 'Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century'", the Third Committee recommends in document A/55/596, paragraph 10, the adoption of one draft resolution.

Under agenda item 109, entitled "Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, questions relating to refugees, returnees and displaced persons and humanitarian questions", the Committee recommends in document A/55/597*, paragraph 25, the adoption of six draft resolutions and, in paragraph 26, the adoption of one draft decision. I would like to draw the attention of the Assembly to paragraph 21 of the report, which falls under the discussion of draft decision A/C.3/55/L.70, entitled "Assistance to refugees, returnees and displaced persons in Africa". In that paragraph, the name of Japan should be added to the list of sponsors.

Under agenda item 110, entitled "Promotion and protection of the rights of children", the Third Committee recommends in document A/55/598, paragraph 14, the adoption of two draft resolutions and, in paragraph 15, the adoption of one draft decision. I would like to draw the attention of the Assembly to paragraph 8 of the report, which falls under the discussion of draft resolution A/C.3/55/L.18/Rev.2, entitled "The rights of the child". In that paragraph, the name of Morocco should be added to the list of sponsors.

Under agenda item 111, entitled "Programme of activities of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People", the Committee recommends in document A/55/599, paragraph 8, the adoption of one draft resolution.

Under agenda item 112, entitled "Elimination of racism and racial discrimination", the Committee recommends in document A/55/600, paragraph 26, the adoption of four draft resolutions and, in paragraph 27, the adoption of one draft decision.

Under agenda item 113, entitled "The right of peoples to self-determination", the Committee recommends in document A/55/601, paragraph 17, the adoption of three draft resolutions.

Under agenda item 114, entitled "Human rights questions", the Committee recommends, in paragraph 4 of document A/55/602, the adoption of one draft decision.

Under agenda item 114 (a), entitled "Human rights questions: implementation of human rights instruments", the Committee recommends, in paragraph 16 of document A/55/602/Add.1, the adoption of three draft resolutions.

Under agenda item 114 (b), entitled "Human rights questions: human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms", the Committee recommends, in paragraph 94 of its report contained in documents A/55/602/Add.2 and Corr.1, the adoption of 21 draft resolutions.

I would like to draw the attention of the Assembly to revisions in draft resolution V, entitled "Situation of human rights in Cambodia". The word "Mr." should be inserted before the name Thomas Hammarberg in paragraph 4 and before the name Peter Leuprecht in paragraph 5. In paragraph 8, the initial letters of the words "Governance Action Plan" should be capitalized. In paragraph 17, a comma should appear after the second appearance of the words "Khmer Rouge". In paragraph 27, the words "to take all steps" should be inserted before the words "to prevent such violence", and the final words of the paragraph should read "through seeking technical assistance". Finally, in paragraph 29, the word "requests" before the words "the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees" should be replaced by the word "asks".

Under agenda item 114 (c), entitled "Human rights questions: human rights situations and reports of special rapporteurs and representatives", the Committee recommends, in paragraph 49 of document A/55/602/Add.3, the adoption of eight draft resolutions. In connection with that report, I would like to draw the attention of the Assembly to a correction to draft resolution VI, entitled "Situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo". In the sixth preambular paragraph, the word "all" before the word "parties" should be deleted.

Under agenda item 114 (d), entitled "Human rights questions: comprehensive implementation of and follow-up to the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action", the Committee indicates in its report contained in document A/55/602/Add.4 that no draft proposals were submitted and no action taken under that sub-item.

Under agenda item 114 (e), entitled "Human rights questions: report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights", the Committee indicates in its report contained in document A/55/602/Add.5 that no draft proposals were submitted and no action taken under that sub-item.

Under agenda item 12, entitled "Report of the Economic and Social Council", the Committee recommends, in paragraph 8 of document A/55/603, the adoption of two draft decisions.

In conclusion, I should like to thank the members of the Group of Eastern European States for having given me the honour of representing them as a member of the Bureau of the Third Committee. I should like also to thank the Chairperson of the Committee and her deputies, the Secretariat staff and the interpreters for their efforts to ensure the success of our work.

The President

I should like to inform members that the representative of the Dominican Republic has expressed the desire to make a statement in connection with the report of the Third Committee on agenda item 107, "Advancement of women", contained in documents A/55/595 and corrigenda 1 and 2. May I take it that the General Assembly, bearing in mind rule 66 of the rules of procedure, agrees to discuss that report?

The President

I shall call on the representative of the Dominican Republic when we come to agenda item 107.

Other statements will therefore be limited to explanations of vote or position.

The positions of delegations regarding the recommendations of the Third Committee have been made clear in the Committee and are reflected in the relevant official records. May I remind members that under paragraph 7 of decision 34/401 the Assembly agreed that

"When the same draft resolution is considered in a Main Committee and in plenary meeting, a delegation should, as far as possible, explain its vote only once, i.e., either in the Committee or in plenary meeting, unless that delegation's vote in plenary meeting is different from its vote in the Committee."

May I remind delegations too that, also in accordance with General Assembly decision 34/401, explanations of vote are limited to 10 minutes and should be made by delegations from their seats.

Before we begin to take action on the recommendations contained in the reports of the Third Committee, I should like to advise representatives that we are going to proceed to take decisions in the same manner as was done in the Third Committee, unless the Secretariat is notified otherwise in advance. That means that, where a recorded vote or separate vote was taken, we will do the same. I would also hope that we may proceed to adopt without a vote those recommendations that were adopted without a vote in the Third Committee.

The President

The Assembly will take a decision on the draft resolution recommended by the Third Committee in paragraph 9 of its report. The draft resolution, entitled "International Year of Volunteers", was adopted by the Third Committee without a vote. May I take it that the General Assembly likewise wishes to adopt the draft resolution?

The President

May I take it that it is the wish of the General Assembly to conclude its consideration of agenda item 103?

The President

The General Assembly will take a decision on the draft resolution recommended by the Third Committee in paragraph 9 of its report. The draft resolution, entitled "Follow-up to the International Year of Older Persons: Second World Assembly on Ageing", was adopted by the Third Committee without a vote. May I take it that the General Assembly too wishes to adopt the draft resolution?

The President

May I take it that it is the wish of the General Assembly to conclude its consideration of agenda item 104?

The President

The Assembly has before it six draft resolutions recommended by the Third Committee in paragraph 20 of its report.

The Assembly will take a decision on the six draft resolutions one by one. After all the decisions have been taken, representatives will again have the opportunity to explain their vote or position.

We turn first to draft resolution I, entitled "Vienna Declaration on Crime and Justice: Meeting the Challenges of the Twenty-first Century".

The Third Committee adopted draft resolution I without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?

The President

The Third Committee adopted draft resolution II, entitled "Follow-up to the Tenth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders", without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do likewise?

The President

Draft resolution III is entitled "An effective international legal instrument against corruption".

The Third Committee adopted draft resolution III without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?

The President

The Third Committee adopted draft resolution IV, entitled "United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders", without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do likewise?

The President

The Third Committee adopted draft resolution V, entitled "Combating the criminal misuse of information technologies", without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?

The President

The Third Committee adopted draft resolution VI, entitled "Strengthening of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme, in particular its technical cooperation capacity", without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do likewise?

The President

The Assembly has thus concluded this stage of its consideration of agenda item 105.

The President

The Assembly will now take a decision on the draft resolution recommended by the Third Committee in paragraph 7 of its report.

The Third Committee adopted the draft resolution, entitled "International cooperation against the world drug problem", without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?

The President

May I take it that it is the wish of the General Assembly to conclude its consideration of agenda item 106?

The President

The Assembly has before it six draft resolutions recommended by the Third Committee in paragraph 35 of its report and in corrigenda l and 2, as well as on a draft decision recommended by the Third Committee in paragraph 36 of its report.

In this connection, I would like to inform members that action on draft resolution VI will be postponed to a later date to allow time for the review of the programme budget implications by the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions and the Fifth Committee. The Assembly will take action on the draft resolution as soon as possible, before the recess in December.

In accordance with the decision taken by the General Assembly at the beginning of this meeting, I now give the floor to the representative of the Dominican Republic.