Press Release

On 4 May 2012, the Security Council Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee decided to remove the name of the one individual below from the Al-Qaida Sanctions List after concluding its consideration of a de-listing request submitted through the Ombudsperson established pursuant to Security Council resolution 1904 (2009), and after considering the Comprehensive Report of the Ombudsperson on this de-listing request.

The United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) and the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., are launching a global contest for university students, inviting them to imagine a speech that would be made by the Secretary-General at the opening of the next session of the General Assembly, reflecting particularly on the questions of global interdependence and individual human rights.

An exhibition entitled “Indigenous Peoples and Food Sovereignty” will open with a cultural event and reception on Tuesday, 8 May, at 6:15 p.m. in the Main Gallery of the Visitors Lobby, marking the eleventh session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, at Headquarters, from 7 to 18 May.

Representatives from Governments negotiating the Rio+20 outcome document agreed to add another five days to their deliberations in order to bridge differences that have hampered progress to date. The move came as the latest round of negotiations concluded with some progress made, but much work left outstanding.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro’s remarks to the opening of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues:

Following are UN Secretary-General’s remarks to the Security Council open debate on threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts, in New York, 4 May:

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Jens Anders Toyberg-Frandzen of Denmark as his Executive Representative and Head of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL). Mr. Toyberg-Frandzen will replace Michael von der Schulenburg.

NEW YORK, 4 May (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) ― A Working Group established by the United Nations General Assembly will meet from 7 to 11 May in New York to discuss the legal framework for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction.

A high-level event convened by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to mark the fifth anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will be part of a two-week meeting beginning at United Nations Headquarters in New York on Monday.