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28 OCTOBER 1999

There is no plenary meeting today. Yesterday afternoon, the General Assembly adopted a resolution on cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (A/54/L.9), welcoming the support provided to the United Nations by national parliaments through their world organization. It also expressed the wish that the cooperation between the two organizations would be further strengthened and enhanced in the third millennium.

As the Assembly was hearing statements on the item, Assembly President Theo-Ben Gurirab informed the members that he had received information from the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the United Nations that gunmen had stormed the Parliamentary Sessions Chamber of the Republic of Armenia and opened fire; and that Prime Minister Vazgen Sargissian, as well as the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Parliament and a Minister, were killed. He paid tribute to the memory of the late Prime Minister and other dignitaries who had met with tragic death. The Assembly then observed a minute of silence in tribute to the memory of Prime Minister Sargissian and his fellow victims. Copies of the President’s statement were made available after he spoke.

In connection with agenda item 20, entitled "Strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance of the United Nations, including special economic assistance", the President announced that the first meeting of the informal consultations, coordinated by Ambassador Jorgen Bojer of Denmark, would be held on Thursday, 4 November, at 3 p.m. Some 18 sub-items fall under this general heading.

At two meetings tomorrow, the Assembly will elect 18 members of the 54-member Economic and Social Council for a three-year term starting 1 January 2000, and will take action on eight reports of the Fifth Committee, including on the financing of peacekeeping missions in East Timor, Angola and along the Iraq-Kuwait border.

In the ECOSOC elections, for five African seats, there are an equal number of candidates: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Sudan. For three Asian seats, there are six candidates: Bahrain, Fiji, Japan, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka and Thailand, with Japan and Sri Lanka seeking re-election. For one Eastern European seat, there are three candidates: Croatia, Hungary and Lithuania. For four Latin American and Caribbean seats, there are six candidates: Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Suriname and Uruguay, with Cuba and Mexico seeking re-election. And for five Western European and other States seats, there are an equal number of candidates: Austria, France, Germany, Greece and Portugal, with France and Germany seeking re-election. A list of the candidates and other members of the Council is now available in room 378.

In Committee action, this morning the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) is continuing its thematic discussion on specific disarmament topics and hearing the introduction of draft resolutions. Twenty-eight texts have been introduced so far. The Committee will take action on a total of 48 draft resolutions and four draft decisions from 1 to 9 November, before concluding its work on the 12th.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial), this morning, is hearing the introduction of two draft resolutions on implementation of the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements A/C.2/54/L.12 and L.13) and a text on international migration and development (A/C.2/54/L.13), before concluding its discussion of governance and interdependence.

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) is continuing discussion, this morning, of agenda item 112, on promotion and protection of the rights of children. Among the documents before it are reports of the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict (A/54/430), the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (A/54/411) and of the Secretary-General on the status of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (A/54/265).

This afternoon, the Committee will, in addition to continuing that discussion, take action on eight draft resolutions: three on social issues -- implementation of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons: towards a society for all in the twenty-first century (A/C.3/54/L.9/Rev.1), cooperatives in social development (A/C.3/54/L.11) and follow-up to the International Year of the Family (A/C.3/54/L.12); one draft on international cooperation against the world drug problem (A/C.3/54/L.20); three texts on the advancement of women -- improvement of the situation of women in rural areas (A/C.3/54/L.15), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (A/C.3/54/L.16/Rev.1) and improvement of the status of women in the Secretariat (A/C.3/54/L.19); and one text on universal realization of the right of peoples to self-determination (A/C.3/54/L.25).

A reminder of the discussion, at 6:15 p.m. today in Conference Room 1, among youth delegates in the Third Committee and other young people involved with the United Nations, on "The United Nations’ future in the eyes of youth".

This morning, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) is considering the item on the United Nations common system. As it took up the proposed programme budget for 2000-2001 (A/54/6) yesterday afternoon, the Secretary-General addressed the Committee, as did the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) and the Chairman of the Committee on Programme Coordination (CPC).

The first speaker, the United States, described the proposed budget as still too input-oriented and called for a results-based budget. It also insisted that the budget should be brought down, after recosting, to the current budget level, or below $2,533 million. The United States also announced a payment of $47 million to its regular budget assessment. Guyana, speaking on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, called the Secretary-General’s proposal a zero growth budget. Finland spoke for the European Union and associated States; the Philippines for the Association of South-East Asian Nations; and nine other delegations took part in the discussion.

At two meetings today, the Sixth Committee (Legal) is continuing its extensive discussion of the report of the International Law Commission on the work of its fifty-first session (A/54/10).