Background Release

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video message at the “Making Every Woman and Girl Count” event, in New York today:

NEW YORK, 29 July (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) — A multi-stakeholder workshop to be held at United Nations Headquarters on 1 and 2 August under the auspices of the General Assembly will consider how the impacts of bottom fishing on vulnerable marine ecosystems, such as seamounts, hydrothermal vents and cold water corals, and the long-term sustainability of deep-sea fish stocks are being addressed by States and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements (RFMO/As).

NEW YORK, 11 July (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) ― The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf will hold its forty-first session from 11 July to 26 August.

The United Nations Palestinian Rights Committee will convene the United Nations International Conference in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace at the United Nations Office at Geneva on 29 and 30 June.

The twenty-sixth Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea will be held at Headquarters from 20 to 24 June

The Special Committee on Decolonization will hold the 2016 Pacific Regional Seminar in Managua, Nicaragua from 31 May to 2 June with a view to accelerating action in implementation of the third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism (2011‑2020).

High-level officials from around the world have gathered in Antalya, Turkey, today to assess the progress of the world’s least developed countries and their path to sustainable development.  The event is set to discuss the lessons learnt over the past five years and assess ways forward, highlighting that global peace and prosperity hinges on progress in these countries where almost a billion people face significant development challenges.

NEW YORK, 20 May (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) — Improving international measures to address the decline in straddling and highly migratory fish stocks resulting from overfishing in the world’s oceans will be the focus of concern at a conference to be held at United Nations Headquarters in New York, from 23 to 27 May.

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will convene the United Nations Seminar on Assistance to the Palestinian People at the 7A Odenplan Conference Centre in Stockholm, Sweden, on 19 and 20 May under the theme “Agenda 2030:  Paving the way towards a peaceful, independent and sustainable State of Palestine”.

More than 1,000 indigenous participants from all regions of the world are expected to attend the fifteenth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 9 to 20 May.