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30 November 1998

This morning, the President of the fifty-third session delivered an address at the solemn meeting of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People to observe the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. It is available as a press release in English and Spanish.

The plenary considered this morning the Situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina introduced draft resolution on this item contained in document A/53/L.55. He also spoke later in the debate to introduce some oral revisions resulting from informal consultations that are ongoing. Eleven other speakers were inscribed in the list. As the second item of the morning, the Assembly is scheduled to take up the report of the Fifth Committee on the report of the Economic and Social Council. The last item of the morning was the report of the Fifth Committee regarding the scale of assessments for the apportionment of expenses of the United Nations -- this is with regard to the requests from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Congo and Iraq for exemption from application of Chapter 19 of the Charter. Also this morning, it was announced in the plenary that the Assembly will consider the reports of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee and the report on item 18 (Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples) on 3 December in the afternoon, the reports of the First Committee on Friday, 4 December in the afternoon, the reports of the Sixth Committee on Tuesday, 8 December in the afternoon, and the reports of the Third Committee on Wednesday, 9 December in the afternoon. Also on 4 December in the morning, the Assembly will consider item 160, dealing with the problem of computer conversion in the year 2000 (Global implications of the Year 2000 date conversion problem of computers).

This afternoon, the Assembly will take up consideration of the Question of Palestine. There is a report of the Secretary-General and the Report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, and four draft resolutions before the Assembly (on the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Division on Palestinian Rights in the Secretariat, Special information programme on Palestine in the DPI, and Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine (L. 48- L.51). So far, 26 speakers have inscribed to address the Assembly on this item, and its consideration will continue into tomorrow morning.

Also tomorrow, the Assembly will consider the Situation in the Middle East. There will be two reports of the Secretary-General before the Assembly, and two draft resolutions (on The Situation in the Middle East: Syrian Golan (L.53); and Jerusalem (L.52). So far, 25 delegations have inscribed to address the Assembly on this item.

Tomorrow morning, the General Committee will also meet to consider the inclusion of an additional item into the agenda for the session (Observer status for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in the General Assmebly, proposed by the Dminican Republic) and the allocation of the item entitled Armed aggression against the Democratic Republic of the Congo (167).

As for the work of the main committees, the Second Committee will hold informal consultations this afternoon, and it is scheduled to complete its work at the current session tomorrow afternoon. The Fifth Committee has a full agenda today, with morning, afternoon and evening meetings scheduled. This morning, it is considering the tenth progress report of the Secretary-General on the Integrated Management Information System; Procurement reform and outsourcing; ACABQ reports on human resources management, and the financing of the International Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Starting with late morning, the Fifth Committee will hold informal consultations on a series of items before it.