- Yesterday, ECOSOC elected Egypt, Guatemala, Republic of Korea, Rwanda, Spain, Ukraine, and Zambia as its seven members of the Peacebuilding Commission’s Organizational Committee. The General Assembly election of 5 members has still not been re-scheduled.
- Among other interesting UN-related tidbits in the Wikileaks cables was a 2009 directive from Secretary of State Hilary Clinton “to find out what governments were saying about the next secretary-general race” and learn the “Views of member states … to include preferred candidates and candidates lacking UN member support.”
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Nine members of the Committee on the Rights of the Child are leaving office next February and their successors will be elected by states party to the Convention on 21 December – if enough of them show up. The UN Journal inches close to snarkiness (for the Journal, that is) in noting that “In the recent past, meetings of States Parties have been substantially delayed or cancelled due to a lack of a quorum.” Two-thirds of all States Parties – that is, every country except the U.S. and Somalia – will need to show up to ensure a quorum.
