| Date | 18 December 2008 |
|---|---|
| Started | 10:00 |
| Ended | 13:15 |
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Agenda item 104
Elections to fill vacancies in subsidiary organs and other elections
(b) Election of seven members of the Organizational Committee of the Peacebuilding Commission
Draft resolution A/63/L.58
The Acting President
The Assembly will now take a decision on draft resolution A/63/L.58, entitled "Election by the General Assembly of seven members of the Organizational Committee of the Peacebuilding Commission: term of office". May I take it that the Assembly wishes to adopt draft resolution A/63/L.58?
The Acting President
I now give the floor to the representative of Japan to make a statement on the resolution just adopted.
Mr. Takasu (Japan)
First of all, I should like to welcome the adoption of resolution 63/145. I should like to express my sincere appreciation to all those delegations that participated in the consultations on the resolution for their support and understanding. I thank in particular those delegations which expressed and demonstrated maximum flexibility to reach an agreement on the allocation of a seat for members of the Peacebuilding Commission. This arrangement will enable the Peacebuilding Commission to continue its effective work.
I would like to take this opportunity to record the two understandings. The first understanding is that this arrangement is of a provisional nature, applicable for the next two years, 2009 and 2010. Any arrangement beyond 2011 will be reviewed in conjunction with the general review of the Peacebuilding Commission to take place in 2010. The other understanding is that the chairmanship of the country-specific configuration of the Peacebuilding Commission will be determined by the first meeting of the Organizational Committee of the Peacebuilding Commission next year. The provisional rules of procedure of the Peacebuilding Commission state that the Organizational Committee decides on the presiding officer of country-specific meetings. Therefore, the Organizational Committee is in a position to decide continuity of chairmanship. If it so decides, Belgium will continue to chair the Central African Republic configuration and Brazil that of Guinea-Bissau.
The Acting President
The Assembly has thus concluded this stage of its consideration of sub-item (b) of agenda item 104.
Reports of the Third Committee
The Acting President
The General Assembly will consider the reports of the Third Committee on agenda items 39, 55, 56, 58, 60 to 64, 97, 98, 110 and 119. I request the Rapporteur of the Third Committee, Mr. Khalid Alwafi of Saudi Arabia, to introduce the reports of the Third Committee in one intervention.
Mr. Alwafi (Saudi Arabia)
I have the honour to present for the consideration of the General Assembly the following reports of the Third Committee on the agenda items allocated to them by this Assembly.
Under agenda item 39, entitled "Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, questions relating to refugees, returnees and displaced persons and humanitarian questions", the Third Committee recommends, in paragraph 22 of document A/63/423, the adoption of four draft resolutions.
Under agenda item 55, entitled "Social development", the Third Committee recommends, in paragraph 39 of document A/63/424, the adoption of five draft resolutions.
Under agenda item 56, entitled "Advancement of women", the Third Committee recommends, in paragraph 27 of document A/63/425, the adoption of five draft resolutions.
Under agenda item 58, entitled "Report of the Human Rights Council", the Third Committee recommends, in paragraph 13 of document A/63/435/Add.1, the adoption of one draft resolution. It may be recalled that, at its sixty-sixth plenary meeting on 10 December, the General Assembly adopted the draft resolution which was recommended by the Third Committee in document A/63/435, entitled "Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights".
Under agenda item 60, entitled "Promotion and protection of the rights of children", the Third Committee recommends, in paragraph 18 of document A/63/426, the adoption of one draft resolution and, in paragraph 19, the adoption of one draft decision. I understand, however, that the Assembly will defer its consideration of the draft resolution, entitled "Rights of the child", to such a time when it has before it the pertinent Fifth Committee report.
Under agenda item 61, entitled "Indigenous issues", the Third Committee recommends, in paragraph 10 of document A/63/427, the adoption of one draft resolution and, in paragraph 11, the adoption of one draft decision.
Under agenda item 62, entitled "Elimination of racism and racial discrimination", the Third Committee recommends, in paragraph 31 of document A/63/428, the adoption of three draft resolutions.
I understand that the Assembly will defer its consideration of draft resolution II, "Global efforts for the total elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and the comprehensive implementation of and follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action", and draft resolution III, "International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination", to such a time when it has before it the pertinent Fifth Committee report.
Under agenda item 63, entitled "Right of peoples to self-determination", the Third Committee recommends, in paragraph 19 of document A/63/429, the adoption of three draft resolutions.
Under agenda item 64, entitled "Promotion and protection of human rights", the Third Committee recommends, in paragraph 5 of document A/63/430, the adoption of one draft decision.
Under agenda item 64 (a), entitled "Promotion and protection of human rights: implementation of human rights instruments", the Third Committee recommends, in paragraph 17 of document A/63/430/Add.1, the adoption of two draft resolutions.
Under agenda item 64 (b), entitled "Promotion and protection of human rights: human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms", the Third Committee recommends, in paragraph 182 of document A/63/430/Add.2, the adoption of 23 draft resolutions. I understand, however, that the Assembly will postpone its consideration of draft resolution XXIII, entitled "Committee on the Rights of the Child", until such time as it has before it the relevant report of the Fifth Committee. In addition, I wish to correct the following error in the English version of document A/63/430/Add.2. In paragraph 91 of the report, on page 27, "43rd meeting" should read "38th meeting".
Under agenda item 64 (c), entitled "Promotion and protection of human rights: human rights situations and reports of special rapporteurs and representatives", the Third Committee recommends, in paragraph 29 of document A/63/430/Add.3, the adoption of three draft resolutions. I understand, however, that the Assembly will postpone its consideration of draft resolution II, "Situation of human rights in Myanmar", until such time as it has before it the relevant report of the Fifth Committee.
Under agenda item 64 (d), entitled "Promotion and protection of human rights: comprehensive implementation of and follow-up to the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action", the Third Committee advises, in document A/63/430/Add.4, that no action was taken under that sub-item.
Under agenda item 64 (e), entitled "Promotion and protection of human rights: Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities", the Third Committee recommends, in paragraph 8 of document A/63/430/Add.5, the adoption of one draft resolution. Through you, Mr. President, I wish to recommend to the Assembly that paragraph 2 of the draft resolution, which provides the status of signatures and ratifications of the Convention and of the Optional Protocol thereto, be updated, as a number of States have signed or ratified those instruments since the Third Committee adopted the draft resolution on 11 November. I am advised by the Secretariat that, as of yesterday, there are 137 States signatories and 45 States parties to the Convention and 80 States signatories and 27 States parties to the Optional Protocol. The number of regional integration organizations that have signed the Convention remains unchanged.
Under agenda item 97, entitled "Crime prevention and criminal justice", the Third Committee recommends, in paragraph 26 of document A/63/431, the adoption of four draft resolutions and, in paragraph 27, the adoption of one draft decision.
Under agenda item 98, entitled "International drug control", the Third Committee recommends, in paragraph 13 of document A/63/432, the adoption of one draft resolution.
Under agenda item 110, entitled "Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly", the Third Committee recommends, in paragraph 7 of document A/63/433, the adoption of one draft decision.
Finally, under agenda item 119, entitled "Programme planning", the Third Committee recommends, in paragraph 23 of document A/63/434, the adoption of one draft decision.
Mr. Alwafi (Saudi Arabia)
Before concluding, I should like to thank the Chairman and the other members of the Bureau of the Third Committee for their support and help in ensuring the successful completion of the work of the Committee. I also take this opportunity to thank the secretariat of the Committee for its support. I respectfully commend the reports of the Third Committee to the plenary of the General Assembly for its consideration.
The Acting President
If there is no proposal under rule 66 of the rules of procedure, I shall take it that the General Assembly decides not to discuss the reports of the Third Committee that are before the Assembly today.
The Acting President
Statements will therefore be limited to explanations of vote.
Members will also recall that, at its sixty-sixth plenary meeting on 10 December 2008, the General Assembly considered the report of the Third Committee on agenda item 58, "Report of the Human Rights Council", contained in document A/63/435. At that meeting, it was decided that explanations of vote on the resolution contained in that report would be made during the consideration of the other reports of the Third Committee. Members are therefore invited to immediately indicate to the Secretariat their intention to speak in explanation of vote on the recommendation contained in document A/63/435 when the Assembly resumes its consideration of agenda item 58 to consider document A/63/435/Add.1.
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 General 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, that is, 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 also remind delegations that, 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 separate votes or recorded votes were taken, we will do the same. I should also hope that we may proceed to adopt without a vote those recommendations that were adopted without a vote in the Third Committee.
Before proceeding further, I would like to draw the attention of members to a note by the Secretariat, entitled "List of draft proposals contained in the reports of the Third Committee", which has been circulated as document A/C.3/63/INF/1. This note has been distributed desk to desk in the General Assembly Hall as a reference guide for action on draft resolutions and decisions recommended by the Third Committee in its reports.
In this connection, members will find in column three of the note the numbers of the draft resolutions or decisions for action in the plenary, with the corresponding numbers of draft resolutions or decisions in the Third Committee in column four of the same note.
Agenda item 39
Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, questions relating to refugees, returnees and displaced persons and humanitarian questions
Report of the Third Committee (A/63/423)
The Acting President
The Assembly has before it four draft resolutions recommended by the Third Committee in paragraph 22 of its report. We will now take a decision on draft resolutions I to IV.
Draft resolution I is entitled "Enlargement of the Executive Committee of the Programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees". The Third Committee adopted draft resolution I without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do likewise?
The Acting President
Draft resolution II is entitled "New international humanitarian order". The Third Committee adopted draft resolution II without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?
The Acting President
Draft resolution III is entitled "Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees". The Third Committee adopted draft resolution III without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do likewise?
The Acting President
Draft resolution IV is entitled "Assistance to refugees, returnees and displaced persons in Africa". The Third Committee adopted draft resolution IV without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?
The Acting President
May I take it that it is the wish of the General Assembly to conclude its consideration of agenda item 39?
The Acting President
The Assembly has before it five draft resolutions recommended by the Third Committee in paragraph 39 of its report (A/63/424). We will now take a decision on draft resolutions I to V, one by one.
Draft resolution I is entitled "Realizing the Millennium Development Goals for persons with disabilities through the implementation of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities".
Before taking action on draft resolution I, I wish to inform members that I have received a communication from the Secretariat that, despite the recorded vote in the Third Committee, there is no need to proceed with a vote in the General Assembly on draft resolution I. May I therefore take it that the Assembly wishes to adopt draft resolution I without a vote?
The Acting President
Draft resolution II is entitled "Follow-up to the Second World Assembly on Ageing". The Third Committee adopted draft resolution II without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do likewise?
The Acting President
Draft resolution III is entitled "Implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly". The Third Committee adopted draft resolution III without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?
The Acting President
Draft resolution IV is entitled "Follow-up to the implementation of the International Year of Volunteers". The Third Committee adopted draft resolution IV without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do likewise?
The Acting President
Draft resolution V is entitled "United Nations Literacy Decade: education for all". The Third Committee adopted draft resolution V without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?
The Acting President
I call on those delegations wishing to speak in explanation of position on the resolutions just adopted.
Mr. McMahan (United States)
With respect to resolution 63/150, I would like to draw attention to the explanation made by the United States on 25 November regarding what is now the fifth preambular paragraph. I would also like to note that 93 members of the Third Committee either voted against or abstained on a proposed amendment to include that paragraph in this resolution.
Mrs. Eilon Shahar (Israel)
I would like to refer to resolution 63/150, just adopted by consensus, and give a brief explanation of position. Israel is committed to the advancement of the rights of persons with disabilities and several steps have already been initiated in Israel with a view to promoting the implementation of the Convention.
With regard to the resolution, we would like to thank the delegation of the Philippines for the constructive way it led the negotiations and express our regret that certain elements of politicization were included in the text, in particular the fifth preambular paragraph. The attempt to draw artificial parallels between two different legal regimes under international law -- those of human rights law and the law of armed conflict -- only undermines the effectiveness of each regime. Israel would therefore like to place on record our concern regarding the reference in this resolution to elements taken from the law of armed conflict.
The Acting President
May I take it that it is the wish of the General Assembly to conclude its consideration of agenda item 55?
The Acting President
The Assembly has before it five draft resolutions recommended by the Third Committee in paragraph 27 of its report (A/63/425).
I now give the floor to the representative of Senegal.
Mr. Badji (Senegal)
The delegation of Senegal is pleased to take the floor to address the issue of the important draft resolution IV, entitled "Supporting efforts to end obstetric fistula". The draft resolution seeks to find solutions to one of the most devastating maternal injuries and thus to save the lives of thousands of women throughout the world. This explains, of course, the strong support expressed by delegations for the draft resolution.
Unfortunately, when this draft resolution was adopted in the Third Committee on 30 October 2008, the fifth and twelfth preambular paragraphs were inadvertently omitted from the text. It was only after the draft resolution was adopted that it was brought to our attention that the text did not contain the two aforementioned paragraphs. Unfortunately, once again, it was not possible to reinsert them in the text before the Third Committee. Therefore, allow me to read out, in English, the two paragraphs that should be inserted into the text before it is adopted in plenary.
The fifth preambular paragraph reads as follows:
Mr. Badji (Senegal)
"Taking note with appreciation of the report of the Secretary-General on supporting efforts to end obstetric fistula, and welcoming the conclusions of recommendations therein."
Mr. Badji (Senegal)
"Welcoming ongoing partnerships between stakeholders at all levels to address the multifaceted determinants of maternal mortality and the commitments announced at the 2008 high-level event on the Millennium Development Goals to accelerate progress on Millennium Development Goal 5."
Mr. Badji (Senegal)
Bearing in mind that those two paragraphs enjoyed the full support of Member States during the negotiations in the Third Committee, as I mentioned, my delegation would like to propose that they be reinserted in the text of the draft resolution prior to its adoption, in accordance with the consensus it enjoyed within the Third Committee.
The Acting President
We will now take a decision on draft resolutions I to V, one by one.
We turn first to draft resolution I, entitled "Intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women". The Third Committee adopted draft resolution I without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?
The Acting President
Draft resolution II is entitled "Trafficking in women and girls". The Third Committee adopted draft resolution II without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do likewise?
The Acting President
Draft resolution III is entitled "Future operation of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women". The Third Committee adopted draft resolution III without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?
The Acting President
Draft resolution IV is entitled "Supporting efforts to end obstetric fistula". This resolution was orally corrected by Senegal. The Third Committee adopted draft resolution IV without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to adopt draft resolution IV, as orally corrected?
The Acting President
Draft resolution V is entitled "Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly". The Third Committee adopted draft resolution V without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?
The Acting President
I give the floor to the representative of the United States of America in explanation of position on the resolutions just adopted.
Mr. McMahan (United States)
The United States disassociates itself from the consensus on resolution 63/159 just adopted on the follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly. At this time I would like to draw members' attention to the explanation of position made by the United States on 24 November 2008 upon the adoption, in the Third Committee, of draft resolution A/C.3/63/L.73.
The Acting President
May I take it that it is the wish of the General Assembly to conclude its consideration of agenda item 56?
Agenda item 58 (continued)
Report of the Human Rights Council
Reports of the Third Committee (A/63/435 and Add.1)
The Acting President
We first turn to document A/63/435. As announced earlier, the General Assembly considered this document at its 66th plenary meeting, on 10 December 2008, and adopted the recommendation contained therein as General Assembly resolution 63/117. At that meeting, it was agreed that explanations of vote on the recommendation contained in that report would be made at this meeting.
I now call on those representatives who wish to speak in explanation of vote.
Ms. Janson (Canada)
As a State party since 1976 to the two International Covenants on Human Rights, Canada is fully committed to the progressive realization of economic, social and cultural rights and the protection of civil and political rights. Canada recognizes that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated.
Canada has consistently raised concerns with respect to the communications procedure for economic, social and cultural rights. One of our main concerns is that the Optional Protocol does not sufficiently take into account the deference that must be accorded to States when assessing their policy choices and resource allocations. We also believe that some of the rights in the Covenant are set out in such broad terms that they cannot easily be subjected to quasi-judicial assessment.
We would like to reiterate our understanding that Part I of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is not included within the scope of the Optional Protocol, including the individual communications and inquiry procedures established by it. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights should follow the views of the Human Rights Committee in declining to consider communications relating to common article 1 of the two Covenants.
The right of peoples to self-determination set out in Part I of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights remains subject to the State reporting process set out by the Covenant. Canada continues to strongly support this reporting process.
Canada recognizes the importance of the Optional Protocol to many States. Canada has therefore joined the consensus in adopting this instrument in order to permit those States that wish to submit themselves to its provisions to do so.
Mr. Lundberg (Finland)
Finland attaches great importance to the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Optional Protocol constitutes a significant step towards the full realization of all human rights and enjoys the full support of the Government of Finland. We regard this carefully drafted text to be well balanced and to successfully reflect the compromises achieved during the hard negotiations conducted over several years.
Finland considers all human rights as universal and indivisible. We believe that civil and political rights, on the one hand, and economic, social and cultural rights, on the other, cannot be separated from each other, as they are interconnected and mutually reinforcing in many ways. This Optional Protocol represents an important contribution to the human rights of individuals, as it takes into account the indivisible and interrelated nature of the aforementioned rights.
We thank all Member States for their constructive approach towards adopting the Protocol by consensus, and we hope that signatures and ratifications of this instrument will soon follow. Finland intends to sign the Optional Protocol at the earliest possible occasion.
Ms. Jeurlink (United Kingdom)
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| /data/vhost/www.undemocracy.com/docs/trunk.py in |
| 194 if __name__ == "__main__": |
| 195 pathpart = os.getenv("PATH_INFO") |
| 196 maintrunk(pathpart) |
| 197 |
| 198 |
| maintrunk = <function maintrunk>, pathpart = '/generalassembly_63/meeting_70/highlight_A-RES-63-175' |
| /data/vhost/www.undemocracy.com/docs/trunk.py in maintrunk(pathpart='/generalassembly_63/meeting_70/highlight_A-RES-63-175') |
| 131 elif pagefunc == "gameeting": |
| 132 LogIncomingDB(hmap["docid"], hmap["gadice"] or "0", referrer, ipaddress, useragent, remadeurl) |
| 133 WriteHTML(hmap["htmlfile"], hmap["pdfinfo"], hmap["gadice"], hmap["highlightdoclink"]) |
| 134 elif pagefunc == "agendanumexpanded": |
| 135 LogIncomingDB(pagefunc, hmap["agendanum"], referrer, ipaddress, useragent, remadeurl) |
| global WriteHTML = <function WriteHTML>, hmap = {'docid': 'A-63-PV.70', 'gadice': '', 'gameeting': 70, 'gasession': 63, 'highlightdoclink': 'A-RES-63-175', 'htmlfile': '/home/undemocracy/undata/html/A-63-PV.70.html', 'pagefunc': 'gameeting', 'pdfinfo': <pdfinfo.PdfInfo instance>} |
| /home/undemocracy/unparse-live/web2/unpvmeeting.py in WriteHTML(fhtml='/home/undemocracy/undata/html/A-63-PV.70.html', pdfinfo=<pdfinfo.PdfInfo instance>, gadice='', highlightth='A-RES-63-175') |
| 322 if dclass == "spoken": |
| 323 if not gadice or agendagidcurrent == gadice: |
| 324 WriteSpoken(gid, dtextmu, councilpresidentnation) |
| 325 elif dclass == "subheading": |
| 326 if agendagidcurrent and (not gadice or agendagidcurrent == gadice): |
| global WriteSpoken = <function WriteSpoken>, gid = u'pg007-bk07', dtextmu = u'<h3 class="speaker"> <span class="name">Ms. Jeur...ts in relation to these portions of the text.</p>', councilpresidentnation = None |
| /home/undemocracy/unparse-live/web2/unpvmeeting.py in WriteSpoken(gid=u'pg007-bk07', dtext=u'<h3 class="speaker"> <span class="name">Ms. Jeur...ts in relation to these portions of the text.</p>', councilpresidentnation=None) |
| 69 print '</cite>' |
| 70 |
| 71 print dtext[mspek.end(0):] |
| 72 |
| 73 print '</div>' |
| dtext = u'<h3 class="speaker"> <span class="name">Ms. Jeur...ts in relation to these portions of the text.</p>', mspek = <_sre.SRE_Match object>, mspek.end = <built-in method end of _sre.SRE_Match object> |
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