MOMENTUM BUILDS FOR ANTI-CORRUPTION CONVENTION AT MERIDA SIGNING CONFERENCE

(Reissued as received.)

MERIDA (Mexico), 11 December -- A first-day tally of 45 signatures by national representatives is bolstering confidence at a United Nations conference in Merida, Mexico, that sufficient ratifications for entry into force will follow soon.

GLOBAL FORUM ADOPTS DECLARATION, ACTION PROGRAMME

ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND INFORMATION SOCIETY

Documents to Be Submitted to World Summit on Information Society

(Received from a UN Information Officer.)

First Meeting of States Parties

to Convention on Migrant Workers

1^st Meeting (AM)

STATES PARTIES TO CONVENTION PROTECTING MIGRANT WORKERS

HOLD FIRST MEETING AT HEADQUARTERS

Elect 10-Member Main Committee

Fifty-eighth General Assembly

Second Committee

37^th Meeting (PM)

SECOND COMMITTEE URGES CREATION OF GENDER-SENSITIVE LEGAL

ENVIRONMENT AS IT APPROVES TEXT ON WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT

Fifty-eighth General Assembly

Fifth Committee

27^th Meeting (AM)

PAY AND BENEFITS SYSTEM, CONTRACTS, HAZARD PAY AMONG ISSUES

ADDRESSED IN TEXT APPROVED BY BUDGET COMMITTEE

‘GROUP OF 77’ OPENS ITS DOORS TO SOUTH-SOUTH-NORTH COOPERATION

Aims to Launch Partnerships, Concrete Initiatives at Marrakesh Conference

UN HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS OFFICE FORMALIZES AGREEMENT WITH SWISS

DEVELOPMENT AGENCY ON FIELD SUPPORT FOR ETHIOPIA

WEATHER-RELATED NATURAL DISASTERS IN 2003 COST WORLD BILLIONS; UNEP BACKS

EMISSIONS TRADING AS KEY WEAPON AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE

(Reissued as received.)

MILAN/NAIROBI, 10 December (UNEP) -- Natural disasters, the lion's share of which were weather-related catastrophes, cost the world over $60 billion in 2003, up from around $55 billion the year before.

SECRETARY-GENERAL VERY CONCERNED ABOUT DISTURBANCES IN LIBERIA

FOLLOWING LAUNCH OF DISARMAMENT, DEMOBILIZATION PROGRAMME

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

REAL PROGRESS DEALING WITH CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE URGENTLY NEEDED,

SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL IN MESSAGE TO MEETING OF STATES PARTIES

Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan's message to the ninth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, delivered by J. A. Ocampo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, in Milan, 10 December: