With 24 out of the 300 United Nations military observers authorized by the Security Council for Syria already on the ground and the rest planned to arrive by the end of May, it was now up to all parties in the conflict-wracked Middle East country to stop the violence, which continued to take an unacceptable toll, the Organization’s peacekeeping head told correspondents this morning.
In progress at UNHQ
Press Conference
A fisherman’s tale about Italian immigrants who decades ago harvested beaches “paved with fish” along the now fish-depleted United States north-east coast underlined a stark warning sounded at a Headquarters press conference today by an expert panel on the sustainable management of oceans and fisheries.
High-level officials today launched at United Nations Headquarters a multimedia campaign to highlight the important role of volunteering towards achieving sustainable development.
Every minute one child dies from malaria and every year 216 million people are newly affected with the preventable disease, and an increase in collaboration and partnerships, as well as additional funding, was needed to boost efforts to fight the disease, correspondents were told at a Headquarters press conference today.
The Government of Syria was firmly committed to the success of the United Nations-supported plan to end the crisis in the country and would meet the deadline for pulling back heavy weaponry, but some countries were subverting the plan through their interventionist intentions and continued support for the armed opposition, the country’s Permanent Representative said today.
Africa and Asia would lead urban population growth over the next four decades as the number of people on those continents soared to 4.5 billion by 2050, according to a United Nations report released at Headquarters today.
The Prime Minister of the Central African Republic made an impassioned plea today for the international community to help his Government successfully launch and maintain a new institutional framework for the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former combatants, saying it was crucial to the country’s efforts to reform the security sector and jump-start development.
Today’s suicide bombing in Mogadishu, which killed six people, injured scores of others and seemed to be an attempt on the life of Somalia’s Prime Minister, showed that the Horn of Africa country still faced serious threats despite recent progress, the Chargé d’affaires at its Permanent Mission to the United Nations said this afternoon.
Mine action entailed improving the livelihoods of the affected people, not just removing landmines, United Nations experts said at Headquarters today as they marked the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.
Declaring that “failure is not an option,” Omar Jamal, Chargé d’affaires of the Permanent Mission of Somalia to the United Nations, today reaffirmed the commitment of Somali transitional authorities to the full implementation by 20 August of a time-bound road map that would set the country on the path towards political stability.