While illicit drug consumption had stabilized among developed and middle-income countries, it had risen among developing countries — especially in West Asia and West Africa — where trafficking routes were generating local demand, and an integrated, balanced response was the only way to address such threats, Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), told journalists at a Headquarters press conference today.
In progress at UNHQ
Press Conference
The success of a new United Nations strategy against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) would depend on the willingness of all the actors to support and implement the proposed actions, correspondents were told today at a Headquarters press conference on the potential impact of the initiative.
Louise Mushikiwabo, Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, today strongly denied allegations that her Government was supporting mutineers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, declaring there was nothing to gain by such an action on Kigali’s part.
Eight “Centres of Excellence” were being created around the world to help countries mitigate the risks related to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) material, notably by promoting coherent national and regional policies that allowed them to better share information and best practices, four technical experts said today at a Headquarters press briefing.
Peacekeeping missions had broad mandates ranging from fighting cholera to mitigating conflict, United Nations peacekeeping force commanders said today at a Headquarters press conference, held to coincide with a briefing they gave to the Security Council on the operational challenges they were facing.
Two gorgeous little girls of an Afghan family that had returned from foreign exile would have had a shining future if they were born in the developed world, an Afghan-born novelist and goodwill envoy for the United Nations refugees agency said today at a Headquarters’ press conference.
The cost of the economic impact of violence on the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the last years was $9 trillion dollars, Michael Shank, Vice-President of the Institute for Economics and Peace, told correspondents today at Headquarters.
Africa can emerge as a global growth pole as it had become more attractive to foreign investors because of reforms and the resolution of conflicts, Rob Vos, Director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, today told correspondents at a Headquarters briefing.
The annual report of the Secretary-General that provides an overview of the grave violations committed against children in conflict zones this year presented a “mixed picture”, correspondents were told at Headquarters today.
The Euro debt crisis remained the biggest threat to the world economy, according to a United Nations report launched today at a Headquarters press conference by United Nations Assistant-Secretary-General of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Jomo Kwame Sundaram, and Rob Vos, lead author of the text and Director of the Department’s Development Policy and Analysis Division.