GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT, IN REFUGEE DAY MESSAGE, SALUTES COURAGE

OF DISPLACED ‘AS THEY STRIVE TOWARDS BETTER LIVES’

Following is the message from Jan Kavan (Czech Republic), President of the General Assembly, on World Refugee Day, observed 20 June:

Committee on the Inalienable Rights

of the Palestinian People

272^nd Meeting (AM)

GENERAL ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE VOICES SUPPORT FOR CONVENTION

ON RIGHTS OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

A vast majority of speakers expressed support for drafting a convention on the rights of persons with disabilities during the session of the General Assembly committee established to consider such a convention, which opened on 16 June at United Nations Headquarters.

UNIDO NAMED FIFTH CORE AGENCY OF GLOBAL COMPACT

Number of Companies Participating Now

Exceeds 1,000 -- Many Are Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises

(Delayed in transmission.)

NEW YORK, 6 June (Office of the Global Compact) -- The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has been named the fifth United Nations core agency of the Global Compact, responsible for small- and medium-sized enterprises engaged in the initiative.

PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR LANDLOCKED COUNTRIES CONFERENCE TO MEET, 23-27 JUNE

The first session of the Intergovernmental Preparatory Committee for the Ministerial Conference of Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries and the Donor Community on Transit Transport will take place at Headquarters from 23 to 27 June.

DECLINE OF OPIUM CULTIVATION IN ‘GOLDEN TRIANGLE’

(Reissued as received.)

UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME LAUNCHES RADIO CAMPAIGN

‘LET’S TALK ABOUT DRUGS’

(Reissued as received.)

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MUST BE HARNESSED TO GLOBAL MISSION OF PEACE, DEVELOPMENT,

SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL IN MESSAGE TO NEW YORK CONFERENCE

Following is Secretary-GeneralKofi Annan’s message to “The Net World Order:  Bridging the Global Digital Divide” Conference, hosted by the Business Council for the United Nations, in New York, 18 June:

SECRETARY-GENERAL, IN MESSAGE TO ST. PETERSBURG FORUM, SAYS COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES STARTING TO HARVEST ‘FRUITS’ OF ECONOMIC REFORM

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS NEW UN SPECIAL ENVOY TO HORN

OF AFRICA AS HUMANITARIAN CRISIS DEEPENS

In response to the severe drought which has devastated large parts of both Ethiopia and Eritrea, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has announced the appointment of former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari as his Special Envoy for the Humanitarian Crisis in the Horn of Africa.