The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in a new report issued today, argued that attacks on education should be a trigger for Security Council intervention through its monitoring and reporting mechanism on children in armed conflict, on par with action now being taken to combat child soldiering.
In progress at UNHQ
Press Conference
Looking to re-energize the global push to prevent or mitigate the impacts of climate change, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today launched a new high-level advisory panel -- to be co-chaired by the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and Ethiopia -- intended to identify effective mechanisms for raising up to $100 billion a year by 2020 to help poor nations cut emissions and foster green growth.
Following its North American launch yesterday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), organizers of the International Year of Biodiversity said today that they must compete with hot-button topics such as climate change in order to rouse world attention to disappearing biodiversity, with losses estimated at a cost of €1.5 to €3 trillion annually.
Nearly one month after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake rattled Haiti and levelled most of its densely-packed capital, Port-au-Prince, the United Nations ‑‑ with much of the world body’s staff working out of tents and a few sleeping in their cars ‑‑ finally had a clear picture of the breadth of the devastation, and was racing to ramp up the massive recovery and reconstruction effort ahead of the coming rainy season, senior peacekeeping officials said today.
The recent appointment of a Special Representative for Sexual Violence in Conflict was a clear indication of the international community’s commitment to ending a crime that devastates millions of women and children, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said today.
The situation around Port-au-Prince remained calm despite continuing precarious conditions, and assistance was needed to prepare for the approaching hurricane season, Kim Bolduc, the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative for the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) said today.
Strong action against diabetes, cancers, heart disease and chronic lung ailments must be integrated into the global development agenda, panellists at a Headquarters press conference on non-communicable diseases said this afternoon.
The 2010 Global Model United Nations Conference, to be held in Malaysia this July, would reinforce the Organization’s efforts to build bridges between cultures, officials of the world body, the Permanent Mission of Malaysia and the Commonwealth Secretariat announced today.
With the massive international relief effort continuing to gain traction in Haiti, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was rolling out its “cash-for-work” initiative, aimed at providing temporary work and offering Haitians a chance to play a vital role in rebuilding their earthquake-devastated country, a senior agency official said today.
Amid a climate of economic and financial insecurity, environmental peril and persistent social exclusion, the United Nations Commission for Social Development would endeavour during its current session to adopt resolutions that would help chart the future of social development policies within the framework of greater participation and accountability, that body’s Chairman said today.