Nearly six months after Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war came to an end, the Government planned to close all camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) by the end of January 2010, with some 1,000 to 3,000 people returning home daily, John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said today at a Headquarters press briefing.
In progress at UNHQ
Press Conference
One out of four people in the world lived in the dark, without access to electricity or fuel, and 2 million died every year from diseases associated with exposure to indoor pollution owing to reliance on solid fuels, Olav Kjorven, Assistant Administrator and Director of Development Policy at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said at Headquarters today.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of the launch of the Africa Commission’s report -- Realizing the Potential of Africa’s Youth -- at Headquarters at 1.15 p.m. today, Ulla Tornaes, Minister for Development Cooperation of Denmark, stressed the relevance of that survey’s recommendations for the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, particularly as the General Assembly geared up for its high-level review of the status of the Goals’ implementation next September.
The upcoming conference in Copenhagen on climate change should not only be attended by the most interested and concerned Heads of State, but there should also be good results, the President of the General Assembly said this evening at a Headquarters press conference after an informal Assembly meeting on the matter.
With 17 days left before the opening of the Copenhagen Climate Conference, Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said today that there was no doubt in his mind that the event would be a success.
The United Nations Population Fund launched today at Headquarters its annual report on global population trends, which this year focuses on ways to curb the long-term harmful consequences of the planet’s changing climate by reaching out and empowering poor women, some of the world’s most vulnerable people.
The last two years had been remarkable for the United Nations Mine Action Service given its destruction of more than 41 million stockpiled anti-personnel mines and the termination of their production, transfer and sale in many parts of the world, Dmitry Titov, Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations said at a Headquarters press conference today.
The short lead time for Iraqi elections in January meant preparations would be “stretched” but still doable, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Ad Melkert, said today at a Headquarters press conference.
“One of the things we’ve noted as we travel around the world is the importance of regional cooperation to deal with terrorism,” said Mike Smith, Executive Director, Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, because “most terrorists operate across borders”.
While progress in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had been slow, the country was moving in the right direction and needed sustained efforts from its leadership, as well as the continuing support of the international community, said Ross Mountain, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Humanitarian Coordinator for the country.