Inspired by the International Year of Reconciliation, 2009, a Madrid-based non-governmental organization announced today that its international school award competition for 2011 would aim to teach children around the world about the importance of peace and reconciliation in resolving conflicts. “We wanted to do something special about peace,” Joaquín Antuña, President of Peace and Cooperation, said at a Headquarters press conference.
In progress at UNHQ
Press Conference
Nearly half of the 145 journalists placed behind bars in 2010 found themselves in Chinese and Iranian prisons, making those two countries among the most dangerous for journalists working around the world, the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists said today at a United Nations Headquarters press conference.
Stressing that social security was a human right, a senior ILO official today spotlighted the issue of social protection and its importance in poverty eradication at a Headquarters press conference on a United Nations-backed programme aimed at promoting investment in and access to essential services and social transfers for poor and vulnerable communities.
The border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, which erupted in exchanges of fire earlier this month, must be resolved through bilateral negotiations, Thailand’s Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said at a Headquarters news conference today.
A blossoming partnership between the United Nations and a global youth sporting summit was set to boost activism and encourage dialogue among young people, the event’s founder said at a Headquarters press conference.
Disaster risk reduction was crucial to protect gains made in reaching the Millennium Development Goals, especially in poor countries where capacities were low and massive losses would only perpetuate a cycle of poverty and disempowerment, General Assembly President Joseph Deiss said today at a Headquarters press conference.
In a move hailed as an important first step towards the protection of children in Afghanistan, that country’s Government recently signed a landmark agreement to release children from the national security forces, Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, said today at a Headquarters press conference.
Leading environmental activists lauded today the Rwandan Government’s plan to restore all of the steadily recovering Central African nation’s lost forest lands and boost national development as a far-sighted move that should be replicated by other Governments.
The opening for signature of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing was an example of what the United Nations was capable of accomplishing when Member States worked together, even when holding different opinions, senior officials from Japan and Colombia said today.
While presiding over the Security Council in February, Brazil’s emphasis would be on the relationship between security and development, with the aim of evolving a more comprehensive approach to issues of peace and security, the country’s Permanent Representative said at a Headquarters press conference today as she outline the programme of work for the month.