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1 December 1998

This morning, following a debate, the General Committee decided to recommend to the plenary that item 167: Armed aggression against the Democratic Republic of the Congo be allocated to the plenary, and considered at a date to be decided. Thereafter, following a debate in which nine Member States took part, it also decided to recommend to the plenary that the proposal regarding the additional item entitled Observer status for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in the General Assembly, proposed by the Dominican Republic, be considered further with regard to legal and institutional aspects involved, and included in the provisional agenda for the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly.

This morning, the plenary continued its consideration of the Question of Palestine. Sixteen speakers still remained in the debate of this item this morning and, time permitting, the Assembly is also expected to take action on the four draft resolutions before it. Also, several speakers were inscribed to address the Assembly before and after the vote. This afternoon, the plenary is expected to begin consideration of the Situation in the Middle East, which will also continue tomorrow morning, as so far 28 speakers have inscribed to address the Assembly on this issue. There is also a corrigendum to one of the draft resolutions on this item before the Assembly, A/53/L/53, in English, Spanish and Russian only. Tomorrow afternoon, the Assembly will observe the fiftieth anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Draft resolution contained in document A/53/L.47 and sponsored by 77 Member States, will be introduced by the representative of Armenia. Thirteen other speakers have been inscribed so far. This Convention was adopted by the General Assembly on 9 December 1948 and opened for signature, ratification and succession. It entered into force on 12 January 1951 and there are currently 127 parties to the Convention.

Also tomorrow morning, the Open-Ended Working Group on the Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council and related matters will hold its first, organizational, meeting at the current session, to elect two Vice-Chairmen. The President has nominated the Permanent Repressentatives of Sri Lanka and Sweden to fill those position.

As for the main committees, the Second Committee will hold its closing meeting at the current session this afternoon, to take action on remaining draft resolutions before it. There are three drafts under item Macroeconomic policy questions (on trade and development; financing of development; and commodities); two on Sustainable development and international economic cooperation; a total of 10 on Environment and Sustainable Development; two on Operational activities for development; two on the Implementation of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty. The Committee is also scheduled to take action on its biennial programme of work (A/53/L.50). The Fifth Committee first took up this morning programme budget implications of two resolutions of the Third Committee (regarding the item Elimination of racism and racial discrimination and Human rights questions: implementation of human rights instruments -- Committee against Torture), and then continued its discussion of the Review of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations, with consideration of the procurement reform and the issue of administrative arrangements for the International Trade Centre. The last item in the formal meeting this morning is the ACABQ report on Human resources management. At the end of the morning, this afternoon and this evening, the Fifth Committee will hold informal consultations on a series of issues before it.