A session of 'imagination, creativity, solidarity:' historic climaxes to UN efforts witnessed, environment concerns at forefront.

• Position: 49th General Assembly

The forty-ninth General Assembly--in the words of its President, Amara Essy of Cote d'lvoire--was characterized by "imagination, creativity and a spirit of soidarity". The session, which opened on 20 September and was suspended on 23 December, witnessed a number of historic climaxes to long-time, arduous UN effort, including the end of apartheid and of the UN Trusteeship System and the entry into force of the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention, and focused especially on some important advances to protect and preserve the world's environment.

In a concluding statement, President Essy reminded the Assembly that its current session was being held on the eve of the UN's fiftieth anniversary in 1995, at a "time of change attended both by extraordinary opportunities for the building of a genuine international community and a number of threats which, should they not be countered in time, could introduce new rifts in the international community and lead to deadlock".

He said: "We are more than ever accountable for the success or failure of our Organization. We must do everything we can to push back the frontiers of hatred, intolerance, volence, exclusion and poverty"

Noting the "emergence of a genuine spirit of consensus", Mr. Essy reported the adoption without vote of more than three quarters of the 295 resolutions approved by the Assembly.

Historic actions were many: marking the end of apartheid and hearing the first UN address by former political prisoner, now South African President Nelson Mandela: welcoming the entry into force, after nearly three decades of negotiation, of the UN Covention on Law of the Sea; and admitting Palau as the UN's 185th member, signalling the end of the 48-year-old Trusteeship mandate.

And practical advances were made in many areas, particularly the environment. The Assembly welcomed three new global environmental pacts and designated the observance of international days for each: on climate change (preservation of the ozone layer, 16 September): biological diversity (29 December): and anti-desertification (17 June). Special attention was given to the impact of unauthorized fishing in zones of national jurisdiction on the world's marine resources, as well as that of fisheries bycatch and discards. Support for the new Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Programme was expressed.

International law was further strengthened through the Assembly's adoption of a 29-article Convention on the...