62ND UNGA ADOPTS THE REPORT OF THE GENERAL

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000782 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL UNGA PHUM CH TW SUBJECT: 62ND UNGA ADOPTS THE REPORT OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE REF: A. SECSTATE 131494 ¶B. USUNNY 00773 ¶C. SECSTATE 128329 1.(U) The UN General Committee (GC) met September 19 to inscribe items on the agenda of the 62nd UNGA, which opened September 18, and to allocate them to the Main Committees or Plenary. The UNGA plenary will meet September 21 to consider the General Committee's Report. With the exception of two items, the process of inscription and allocation was non-controversial. As anticipated (ref A),the most heated discussion focused on whether to inscribe an item pertaining to UN membership for Taiwan(ref B). Following a vote to limit debate to four speakers (24(U.S.)-3-0),the General Committee decided not to inscribe that item, but Taiwan supporters are likely to reopen the issue in the Plenary. ¶2. (U) Human Rights Council: The General Committee of the General Assembly decided by consensus to defer a decision on whether to allocate consideration of the Report of the Human Rights Council to the plenary or the Third Committee. USUN spoke in favor of allocation to the Third Committee (ref C), and Egypt, speaking on behalf of Africa, made a strong statement along the same lines. Six other African states concurred in statements of their own: Mauritius, Botswana, DRC, Sudan, Gambia, and Senegal. Russia also supported this view. Iceland, Finland, Cyprus, the UK, France, and Uruguay, however, spoke in favor of deferring the decision to allow for further discussion. The GA President will now consult with delegations to try to reach an agreement on the allocation. No date was set for further consideration of the matter. Last year, the allocation was deferred for a month, until late October, but the report was ultimately allocated to the Third Committee. KHALILZAD