Press Conference

Recent releases of thousands of child soldiers showed that that attention to the plight of children in armed conflict had made an impact, but stronger action was needed to deal with persistent violators, sexual violence and reintegration, the top United Nations official on the issue said this afternoon.

With the prevalence of discrimination and violence against women rising around the world, all States must become parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and its Optional Protocol, to ensure the dignity and respect that women worldwide deserved, Zou Xiaoqiao, Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, stressed today.

Despite not having won election to the Security Council, Canada would continue to work towards a transparent Council that was accountable to Member States as well as responsive to contemporary realities and challenges, Lawrence Cannon, the country’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, said today.

Economic diversification would reduce African reliance on natural resource revenues and encourage sustainable growth in telecommunications, agriculture, tourism and other strategic sectors, according to a report released by the United Nations and partner organizations this afternoon.

Ion Botnaru, Director of the General Assembly and Economic and Social Council Affairs Division in the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management, briefed correspondents today on the rules of procedure for tomorrow’s election of five non-permanent members of the Security Council.

Following is a transcript of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s press conference held in New York today, 6 October:

Pledges from a meeting to replenish the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria would allow millions more lives to be saved in the next three years, but additional funds could do even more, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said this afternoon at a headquarters press conference.

The Security Council’s programme of work for October would include a mission to Uganda and Sudan, as well as two public debates — the first, at the ministerial level, on women and peace and security to mark the tenth anniversary of the first Council resolution on that subject, and the second on the Middle East — Ruhakana Rugunda (Uganda), Council President for the month, said today at Headquarters.

The financial commitments made by Governments, corporations and foundations to development, and the media coverage on such issues during last week’s Millennium Development Goals Summit had surpassed United Nations expectations, Robert C. Orr, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Planning, said this afternoon during a Headquarters press conference.

In a bid to avoid the extraction of oil from one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet — Yasuní National Park in Ecuador — and preserve the area’s unique ecology for all humanity, the Ecuadorean Government wanted to raise at least $100 million of a proposed multi-billion dollar trust fund by the end of 2011, Ecuador’s Vice-President, Lenín Moreno Garcés, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference today.