Back to Home Page

Back to General Assembly

10 December 1998

Today, of course, the plenary is observing the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This morning, the observance was opened in the General Assembly Hall with the statements by the President of the fifty-third session, the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Assembly proceeded to adopt by consensus draft resolution A/53/L.67, entitled Fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Secretary-General then awarded the 1998 United Nations Human Rights Prizes to six recipients who have made outstanding contributions to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. The recipients are: Sunila Abeyesekera of Sri Lanka, Angeline Acheng Atyam of Uganda, Jimmy Carter of the United States of America, Jose Gregori of Brazil, Anna Sabatova of the Czech Republic and Human Rights Defenders of the World. As you know, yesterday afternoon the plenary adopted by consensus the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which, in the words of the President of the General Assembly during this morning's meeting, is deemed to become a historic testimony of the partnership between the United Nations and human rights defenders for past and future generations. The commemorative plaque of the Human Rights Prize will be displayed at an appropriate place at UN Headquarters in due course. Following this part of the observance, the meeting was moved to conference room 4. So far, 121 Member States and seven observers have inscribed in the list of speakers, which will close at 12:30 pm today. The plenary will also meet this afternoon and this evening to hear the inscribed speakers, and there is a five-minute limit on the length of statements. I should also mention that the proceedings in the plenary today are webcast live on the UN web site. The address is: <www.un.org/rights/50/anniversary.htm>.

No plenary meetings are scheduled for tomorrow.

The Fifth Committee is meeting this morning with several items on its agenda. It is scheduled to begin the general discussion on several issues, including IMIS independent expert study; relationship between the treatment of perennial activities in the programme budget and the use of the contingency fund; revised estimates resulting from resolutions and decisions of ECOSOC at its substantive session of 1998; consolidation of technical secretariat servicing of intergovernmental bodies; programme budget implications of draft resolution A/53/L.66, regarding the situation in Afghanistan; and financing of the Angola Verification Mission and the Observer Mission in Angola. Late this morning, this afternoon and evening, the Fifth Committee will resume informal consultations.