Press Conference

Hervé Ladsous, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, told correspondents today that even though the world’s attention was currently focused on Syria — and rightly so — many of his Department’s concerns today had to do with various situations in Africa, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali and Sudan and South Sudan.

Education, economic empowerment, and reproductive rights were three key building blocks for eliminating poverty and achieving women’s emancipation, the new head of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) told reporters in New York today.

The number of international migrants worldwide had reached 232 million in 2013, up from 175 million in 2000 and 154 million in 1990, United Nations officials said at a Headquarters press conference today, stressing the importance of accurate, timely and unbiased research for evidence-based policy making.

The time has come to reflect on achievements, gaps and new challenges as the world approaches the 2015 Millennium Development Goals deadline year, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said at Headquarters today.

Following a transcript of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s press conference, held in New York today, 9 September:

Despite very difficult and dangerous conditions, humanitarian aid organizations were committed to continuing their work in Syria, United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos said today.

The United Nations Global Compact could inspire a new level of business engagement with international issues and unlock the massive potential of collaboration among businesses, its Executive Director said at a Headquarters press conference today.

A group of eminent persons would be established this month to accelerate the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, a senior official of the instrument’s preparatory commission said at a Headquarters press conference today.

September would see the Security Council hold a high-level debate on small arms and their role in fostering conflict, Gary Quinlan, Permanent Representative of Australia, said at Headquarters today as he assumed that organ’s rotating presidency for the month.

Following is a transcript of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s press encounter, held in New York today, 3 September: