Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the briefing on the High-Level Panel Report on Humanitarian Financing, in New York today:
While “enormous” gains had been made since the World Summit for Social Development had resulted in the Copenhagen Declaration in 1995, progress remained uneven — both within and among countries — with millions of people still excluded from access to the very rights, services and income-generating activities that underpinned a sustainable future for all, delegates said today as the Commission for Social Development opened the substantive segment of its fifty-fourth session.
Fuelled by the voices, concerns and demands of young people, the largest-ever Economic and Social Council Youth Forum concluded its two-day session today, hearing from speakers who delved into critical issues, such as entrepreneurship, the quality of education, access to health services, gender equality and the right to contribute to development.
Continuing its regular session for 2016, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today recommended 10 organizations for special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council and deferred action on the status of 24 others.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Major General Jai Shanker Menon of India as the Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Rafael Darío Ramírez Carreño (Venezuela):
The United Nations has released $8 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for severely underfunded aid operations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The funds will help to provide life-saving assistance for more than 2.2 million of the most vulnerable people at risk of malnutrition.
The Economic and Social Council filled outstanding vacancies on five of its subsidiary bodies today, electing all new members by acclamation.
Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for World Cancer Day, observed on 4 February:
World Cancer Day, always an opportunity to rally the world, has special impetus this year thanks to the recent adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which aims to usher in a life of dignity for all people.
Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video message to the Second International Meeting of Global Action against Mass Atrocity Crimes, in Manila today:
