Peace-keeping, decolonization, information matters reviewed.

• Position: General Assembly response to reports from its Fourth Committee - Special Political and Decolonization

Peace-keeping

The General Assembly on 6 December, in stressing the need for the UN to "continue to improve its capabilities in the field of peace-keeping and to enhance the effective and efficient deployment of its peace-keeping missions", urged Member States, the UN Secretariat and relevant organs to take all necessary steps to: improve the peace-keepers' safety and security, complete a code of conduct for them, strengthen peace-keeping training programmes, and seek further progress on stand-by arrangements, including the development of a rapidly deployable Headquarters team of personnel skilled in essential military and civilian functions.

Acting on the recommendation of its Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization), the Assembly, by resolution 50/30, also stated that additional costs resulting from any of those proposals should be accommodated within the appropriation levels approved by the Assembly.

Information

By its two resolutions on "information in the service of humanity", the Assembly called upon (50/31 A) all countries and the UN system as a whole to "cooperate and interact with a view to reducing existing disparities in information flows at all levels", and ensure for journalists the "free and effective performance of their professional tasks and condemn resolutely all attacks against them".

Also, while urging "all efforts to ensure timely production and dissemination" of the UN Department of Public Information's major publications--in particular the UN Chronicle, the Yearbook of the United Nations and Africa Recovery--the Assembly asked (50/31 B) the Secretary-General to "increase his efforts for the early resumption of the publication Development Forum, or an alternative systemwide publication".

Decolonization

In an omnibus resolution (50/38 A and B) on 12 Non-Self-Governing Territories--American Samoa, Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Guam, Montserrat, Pitcairn, St. Helena, Tokelau, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands--the Assembly, among other things, asked the administering Powers to take "all necessary measures to protect and...