Revitalizing the Assembly's work.Among the nearly 300 resolutions adopted by the fifty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly, one resolution that stands out concerns the Assembly's own effectiveness. The text seeks to open more channels of communication and cooperation between the Assembly, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The 191 Member States of the Organization, in the resolution "Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly", unanimously reaffirmed the Assembly's central position". Over the course of the next two years, consultations are expected to sharpen the focus of Assembly decisions, pare down Verb 1. pare down - decrease gradually or bit by bit pare minify, decrease, lessen - make smaller; "He decreased his staff" its workload and deepen its cooperation with both Councils. The text reads in part: "The Presidents of the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council should meet together periodically with a view to ensuring increased cooperation, coordination and complementarity com·ple·men·tar·i·ty n. 1. The correspondence or similarity between nucleotides or strands of nucleotides of DNA and RNA molecules that allows precise pairing. 2. ... in accordance with ... the [UN] Charter." Assembly President Julian Robert Hunte of Saint Lucia Saint Lucia (sānt l  `shə, –sēə), island nation (2005 est. pop. 166,000), 238 sq mi (616 sq km), West Indies, one of the Windward Islands. The capital is Castries. noted that this action was a "means to effectively meet contemporary global challenges". The Assembly, in its plenary meetings which are not part of the six Main Committees, adopted 55 resolutions. Among them was the United Nations Convention against Corruption The United Nations Convention against Corruption was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 31 October 2003 (Resolution 58/4). To combat corruption it includes measures on:
Laundering allows criminals to transform illegally obtained gain into seemingly legitimate funds. , protecting whistle-blowers, freezing of assets and cooperation between States. Addressing the Assembly, Secretary-General Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (born April 8, 1938) is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1 1997 to January 1 2007, serving two five-year terms. He was the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001. said that the treaty "makes a major breakthrough by requiring Member States to return assets obtained through corruption to the country from which they were stolen". Another resolution, Promotion of religious and cultural understanding, harmony and cooperation, was adopted without a vote. Through this text, the Assembly welcomed the efforts of States, relevant entities of the United Nations system and other intergovernmental organizations, civil society, including religion-based and other non-governmental organizations, and the media in developing a culture of peace. The Assembly encouraged them to promote inter-religious and intercultural interaction through congresses, conferences, seminars, workshops and research. Other resolutions adopted outside the Assembly's Main Committees included Assistance in Mine Action, to "foster establishment and development of mine-action capacities in affected countries"; Towards global partnerships between the United Nations and all relevant partners, in particular the private sector, "to meet the challenges of globalization globalization Process by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, is becoming standardized around the world. Factors that have contributed to globalization include increasingly sophisticated communications and transportation "; and Safety and security of humanitarian personnel and protection of United Nations personnel, by which the Assembly "strongly condemned any act or failure to act that obstructed or prevented UN and other humanitarian personnel from discharging their humanitarian functions" and expressed "deep concern that threats against the safety and security of United Nations and other humanitarian workers have escalated at an unprecedented rate over the past decade". Acting on recommendations of the First (Disarmament and International Security) Committee, chaired by Jarmo Sareva of Finland, the Assembly adopted the resolution Improving the effectiveness of the methods of work of the First Committee. It requested the Secretary-General to compile and organize States views on making the Committee more effective, in light of threats to world peace post-September 11. The Assembly voted on 29 of the 52 resolutions recommended by the First Committee, adopting the remaining without a vote. The word "nuclear", covering aspects such as proliferation and reduction of non-strategic nuclear weapons, elimination of nuclear weapons, nuclear-weapon-free zones and ending of the nuclear arms race The nuclear arms race was a competition for supremacy in nuclear weapons between the United States and Soviet Union and their respective allies during the Cold War. During the Cold War, in addition to the American and Soviet nuclear stockpiles, other countries also developed , figured in 14 resolutions. The Second (Economic and Financial) Committee, chaired by Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury assumed the responsibility of Adviser for the Foreign Ministry [1] to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh on 18 January 2007. Besides, he was also given the portfolios of the Ministries of Expatriates' Welfare and Chittagong Hill Tracts. of Bangladesh, recommended to the Assembly 37 resolutions, and all but two were adopted without a vote. Much of the debate revolved around meeting the Millennium Development Goals “MDG” redirects here. For other uses, see MDG (disambiguation). The Millennium Development Goals are eight goals that 192 United Nations member states have agreed to try to achieve by the year 2015. (MDGs), including halving by 2015 the number of people without access to safe drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. ; eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education; and developing a non-discriminatory trading and financial system. The Third (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) Committee, chaired by Martin Belinga-Eboutou of Cameroon, unanimously recommended a landmark instrument--the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime--which was adopted by the Assembly. The treaty had been designed as the international community's response to the increasing globalization of organized crime, and obliges States parties to incorporate the treaty provisions into their domestic laws. The Committee recommended 70 resolutions to the Assembly; all were adopted, 24 by a vote. Many concerned human rights in specific countries, self-determination issues, globalization and the benefits of development. Non-Self-Governing Territories, the special political question of Western Sahara Western Sahara, territory (2005 est. pop. 273,000), 102,703 sq mi (266,000 sq km), NW Africa, occupied by Morocco. It borders on the Atlantic Ocean in the west, on Morocco in the north, on Algeria in the northeast, and on Mauritania in the east and south. and peacekeeping operations in post-conflict societies were some of the areas dealt with by the Fourth (Special Political and Decolonization decolonization Process by which colonies become independent of the colonizing country. Decolonization was gradual and peaceful for some British colonies largely settled by expatriates but violent for others, where native rebellions were energized by nationalism. ) Committee; chaired by Enrique Loedel of Uruguay. It recommended 22 resolutions to the Assembly, 10 relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc the Israeli and Palestinians conflict. The Fifth (Administrative and Budgetary) Committee, chaired by Hynek Kmonicek of the Czech Republic Czech Republic, Czech Česká Republika (2005 est. pop. 10,241,000), republic, 29,677 sq mi (78,864 sq km), central Europe. It is bordered by Slovakia on the east, Austria on the south, Germany on the west, and Poland on the north. , recommended 32 resolutions, all adopted without a vote. It approved a total of $3.16 billion for the 2004-2005 UN budget and requested the Secretary-General to prepare, on a trial basis, a strategic framework to replace the current four-year medium-term plan with a plan outline reflecting the longer-term objectives of the Organization, as well as with a biennial programme plan. The Sixth (Legal) Committee, chaired by Lauro L. Baja, Jr. of the Philippines, recommended 15 resolutions. It decided that the debate and voting on one text relating to the contentious topic of cloning should be postponed for a year, and another, on the draft comprehensive convention on international terrorism Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism is a convention which the United Nations is deliberating as of October 2006. , was still being negotiated. Also included in this Assembly session coverage is a report on the informal diplomacy behind the resolution titled "Support by the United Nations system of the efforts of Governments to promote and consolidate new or restored democracies" (see page 33). The resolution, which was adopted by consensus with wide cooperation from Member States, had its beginnings in September 2003 in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia, where the Fifth International Conference of New or Restored Democracies was held. The meeting focused on how international cooperation and UN assistance could help States on their path towards democratic governance. RELATED ARTICLE: A Global Approach to Peace The twentieth century was perhaps the most destructive period in the annals of mankind, dominated by two world wars, numerous conflicts and an ominous presence of international terrorism, threatening the safety and security of all. Highlighting the need to foster a culture of peace in a world where war and conflict have continued to run rampant, the General Assembly unanimously adopted the resolution International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World, 2001-2010. Under this text, the Assembly called on Member States to continue to place their weight around activities that promote peace and non-violence, and to observe 21 September as the International Day of Peace. In introducing the resolution, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN, said the world was rediscovering and realizing the values of peace, solidarity and understanding. He told the UN Chronicle that the goal was to "create a global society, where harmony would overcome hatred, and stability would remove suspicion". Likewise, "if we are able to infuse in·fuse v. 1. To steep or soak without boiling in order to extract soluble elements or active principles. 2. To introduce a solution into the body through a vein for therapeutic purposes. a spirit of peace in the minds of children to start with, then we could avert these acts of non-violence". In order to do so, certain areas were recognized as the focus. The "culture of peace", according to Ambassador Chowdhury, which constituted a set of values and ideas based on "sustainable economic and social development, democratic participation, tolerance, solidarity, human rights and free flow of knowledge that transcend boundaries", should be promoted by all Member States, civil society groups and individuals. In such an endeavour, "these thoughts and ideas would drain the marshes that provide irrational thoughts like terrorism from its roots". --Namrita Talwar A talwar, talwaar, or tulwar (Devanagari: तलवार) is a type of sword prevalent in medieval India dating back to at least the 13th century. It bears a resemblance to the Persian shamshir and the Turkish kilic. The General Assembly section was coordinated and written by Vikram Sura Sura (s rä`), river, c.540 mi (870 km) long, rising E of Penza, S central European Russia. It flows generally north to empty into the Volga River. .
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