United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Peter Thomson of Fiji as his Special Envoy for the Ocean, aiming at galvanizing concerted efforts to follow up on the outcomes of the United Nations Ocean Conference in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, maintaining the momentum for action to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.

NEW YORK, 11 September (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) — The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf held its forty-fourth session at United Nations Headquarters from 24 July to 8 September 2017.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The Security Council, acting unanimously this evening, decided to impose a raft of new sanctions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea — including a ban on the sale of natural gas liquids to the North-East Asian nation, and on its textile exports — while also prohibiting Member States from providing work authorizations to its nationals.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Tekeda Alemu (Ethiopia):

The outgoing President of the General Assembly today stressed he was fully convinced that the only way to safeguard the future of the planet was through the faithful implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as he formally handed over the gavel to the President-elect of the seventy-second session.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the closing of the seventy-first session of the General Assembly, in New York today:

The number of migrant deaths and disappearances over the past three years is likely to be much higher than the 23,000 that the International Organization for Migration has reported globally since 2014, since many deaths are not recorded, according to a report released by the agency today.

Concluding the work of its seventy-first session, the General Assembly adopted six resolutions this morning, including one relating to global economic governance.

The new mission that would oversee the next phase of the 2016 peace agreement between the Government of Colombia and the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP) is on track to begin its activities as scheduled on 26 September, the Head of the United Nations Mission in that country told the Security Council today.