Press Conference

The Russian Federation wanted Security Council action to end violence in Syria, but not if it would become an “auxiliary of regime-change policy”, Council President Vitaly Churkin said at Headquarters today.

From being increasingly vocal on human rights to taking decisions on tackling non-communicable diseases, the General Assembly had taken great strides in its current session during an “eventful and demanding” year for the United Nations, the Assembly President told journalists today at Headquarters. Speaking at a year-end press conference, Nasser Abdulaziz al-Nasser outlined some of the achievements made over the first three months of his tenure.

“The transition process in Yemen is moving forward with the participation of all sides,” the Special Adviser dealing with the situation in that troubled country said at Headquarters today, adding that the United Nations would continue to support the 10-day old unity Government as it implemented a landmark power-transfer accord that would “hopefully steer the country towards stability and reform”.

To remain relevant as the world’s only forum for cases beyond national jurisdiction and capabilities, the International Criminal Court must cement commitments to bolster its annual budget, improve its election process and eliminate some weaker practices, members of a coalition of 2,500 civil society organizations in 150 countries said today at a Headquarters press conference.

As he worked to prepare a transition plan for the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo told correspondents during a press briefing today that he had just called on the Security Council to devise a comprehensive strategy before his departure in June for implementing all outstanding arrest warrants related to the situation in Darfur.

Following is a transcript of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s press conference, held in New York on 14 December:

Although malaria mortality rates had fallen significantly, a projected funding shortfall threatened that progress, leading experts in the fight against the disease said at Headquarters today.

Tiina Intelmann, President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, introduced the institution’s newly elected Prosecutor, Fatou B. Bensouda, at a Headquarters press conference today. The Assembly elected Ms. Bensouda earlier today at the start of its tenth session, which is scheduled to run through 21 December, after a year-long nomination process.

Showing sad parallels with the climate crisis, the effects of the financial and economic crisis had been felt most seriously by those in no way responsible for it, Roberto Bissio, Coordinator of the non-governmental organization Social Watch, said at Headquarters today.

Recent events in Tunis, Cairo, Madrid, New York and hundreds of other cities and towns across the globe demonstrated that “the voice of ordinary people has been raised and their demands made clear”, Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said at Headquarters today.