Meetings Coverage

Governments, civil society and people around the world must stand up not only for freedom of the press but also for the public’s right to know, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today at a commemoration in advance of World Press Freedom Day, to be observed on 3 May. “People have a right to information that affects their lives,” he told the event, organized annually by the Department of Public Information.

While indigenous peoples made undeniable contributions to humanity’s cultural diversity, representatives of aboriginal and native groups appealed today for help from the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, saying they still faced systemic discrimination and exclusion from political and economic power, forced ejection from their ancestral lands, and depredation from profit-hungry corporations bent on destroying their life-giving forests.

Given the enormous efforts undertaken by the international community since the tragic 12 January earthquake, Haiti could return to the path of stability in two years if it received assistance in weathering the critical risks of the next 18 months, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the country told the Security Council today.

The Department of Public Information would continue to work with the Government of Angola to soon make the planned United Nations Information Centre in Luanda for Portuguese-speaking African countries a reality, Kiyo Akasaka, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, said this afternoon as the Committee on Information concluded the general debate of its thirty-second session.

The “painful” history of State control over forests could be traced by following the heavily deforested footprints that colonizers had left on indigenous lands and territories, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues was told today during a half-day discussion on indigenous peoples and forests.

In a resumed organizational session today, the Economic and Social Council adopted three draft decisions and filled vacancies in 18 of its subsidiary bodies, with five requiring votes.

The Security Council today expressed its intention to take action on a comprehensive set of indicators for use at the global level in tracking implementation of its resolution 1325 (2000) on women and peace and security. The Council will mark the tenth anniversary of the text’s adoption in October.

Affirming that the failure to prosecute persons responsible for acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea off the coast of Somalia undermined international anti-piracy efforts, the Security Council called on all States this morning to criminalize piracy under their respective domestic laws.

Equality of languages on the United Nations website and the implications of freedom of information were dominant themes in the Committee on Information this afternoon, as it continued the general debate of its thirty-second session.

The expert members of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today turned their attention to the historical root of ongoing violations of indigenous peoples’ human rights, so-called “discovery doctrines”, which for centuries served as “legal” rationale for stealing land and dehumanizing aboriginal peoples, as well as justification for the establishment of boarding schools throughout North America to “civilize” Indian children.