The key goal of the upcoming Review Conference of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court was “to complete negotiations on defining individual responsibility for the crime of aggression”, William Pace, Convenor of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, said today at a Headquarters press conference ahead of the Review slated for 31 May to 11 June in Kampala, Uganda.
In progress at UNHQ
Press Conference
Briefing correspondents today on the upcoming 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the President-elect of the Conference said that, while he was aware of the “landmines” that would make his task during the Conference much more challenging, he and his Government had invested much time, effort, energy and resources in order to contribute to the “global undertaking for a peaceful world”.
A global effort to scale up investment in clean, efficient energy and bring affordable energy services to the 1.6 billion people worldwide currently lacking them would go a long way towards stopping climate change and achieving the Millennium Development Goals, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.
Very good progress had been made so far in the United Nations-mediated negotiations on the long-running Cyprus dispute, including a broad measure of agreement on the three “chapters” of governance and power-sharing, the economy, and European Union matters, Alexander Downer, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Cyprus, said at a Headquarters press conference today.
Indigenous students taken years ago from their families and forced into residential schools by the Canadian Government as a way to assimilate into mainstream culture were now ‑‑ decadeslater ‑‑ receiving compensation for their trauma as part of a broad desire to leave a discriminatory past behind and build a stronger future, Murray Sinclair, Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, said today at a Headquarters press briefing.
A new study by the World Bank had confirmed that indigenous people, making up 5 per cent of the world’s population, were still among the poorest of the poor, although findings indicated that indigenous peoples in Asia were closing the gap faster than indigenous peoples in other parts of the world.
The Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Operations in Gaza today described the humanitarian plight of the people there as bewilderingly difficult and a struggle to survive on a daily basis, as the third year of the blockade approached and 18 months after the last round of conflict that had wreaked tremendous devastation.
After two-and-a-half years, the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala had achieved some successes in the fight, its Commissioner, Carlos Castresana Fernández, told correspondents today at Headquarters.
The Government of New Zealand was now in support of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Pita Sharples, Minister of Māori Affairs of New Zealand, told correspondents today at a Headquarters press conference on the opening day of the ninth session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
Georgia stood ready to talk with the Russian Federation “anytime, anywhere” without any conditions but one: that Russia respect international law and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbours, Georgia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Grigol Vashadze, told correspondents today at Headquarters.