“The Asia-Pacific region is both a growth driver and anchor of stability for the global economy,” said Amr Nour, Director of the Regional Commissions New York Office, at a press conference to launch the 2011 report of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
In progress at UNHQ
Press Conference
Children in the Central African Republic were being abducted, recruited into armed groups and denied humanitarian assistance, according to a new report by Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, entitled An Uncertain Future? Children and Armed Conflict in the Central African Republic.
The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said today that he would seek arrest warrants in the next few weeks for three people as part of his investigation into crimes against humanity committed in Libya since 15 February. He did not disclose their names, but said that the three individuals were deemed “most responsible” for ongoing attacks against civilians, including murder and persecution, since political unrest began in the North African country two month ago.
At current fertility levels, the world’s population of nearly 7 billion was projected to reach 10.1 billion in the next 90 years, with most of that increase generated by high-fertility countries, Hania Zlotnik, Director of the Population Division in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said at Headquarters today.
The Security Council would take advantage of a slightly lighter workload during May to take a week-long mission to the African continent, Gérard Araud, Permanent Representative of France, and Council President for the month, told reporters today at Headquarters.
While immense progress had been made in the fight against malaria over the last five years, the goal of near-zero deaths from the highly preventable and treatable disease by 2015 still faced many hurdles, Ray Chambers, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Malaria, said today.
The United Nations would send humanitarian aid teams to the Libyan capital as early as next weekend as part of an agreement signed with Libyan authorities this week with the aim of ensuring safe passage to relief workers and much-needed civilian aid, particularly into areas heavily affected by fighting, the Organization’s senior humanitarian official said at Headquarters today.
An innovative global campaign aimed at preventing domestic violence and abuse was launched today at a Headquarters press conference sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations.
In the wake of the January 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti, the international scientific community had made considerable advances in understanding and mitigating earthquake risks and a major push was under way to integrate those technologies into Haiti’s reconstruction plans at all levels, said a senior scientist with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at a Headquarters press conference today.
Despite very difficult circumstances, including the loss of many personnel, United Nations peacekeeping had passed critical tests in tackling “make-or-break” situations in Côte d’Ivoire, Haiti and Sudan, Secretariat officials said at Headquarters today. “Of course we’re not perfect, but peacekeepers made quite a difference,” Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said at the regular quarterly media briefing.