Press Release

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message calling for observance of the Olympic Truce on 12 February, 2010:

Under the theme “The urgency of addressing the permanent status issues -- borders, Jerusalem, settlements, refugees, water”, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean will convene the International Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace at the Dolmen Hotel in Qawra, Malta, on 12 and 13 February.

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency has announced that Geoffrey Shaw (Australia) has been appointed Representative of the Director General to the United Nations and Director of the IAEA Office at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The following Security Council statement on the Secretary-General’s briefing on the London Conference on Afghanistan was read out today by Council President Gérard Araud (France):

Following the success of the 2009 inaugural Global Model United Nations Conference held in Geneva, Switzerland, the United Nations Department of Public Information will be organizing the second annual event in Kuala Lumpur on 28‑30 July, in partnership with the Government of Malaysia, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video message to the Global Zero World Summit in Paris, 2 February:

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is pleased to announce the appointment of Khawla Mattar as Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Cairo, Egypt. She assumed her new duties on 1 February 2010.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Margot Wallström of Sweden as his Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict. Ms. Wallström has been a long-time advocate of the rights and needs of women throughout her political career -- first as Swedish Minister and later as Environment Commissioner and Vice-President of the European Commission.