The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Rafael Darío Ramírez Carreño (Venezuela):

The Security Council would hold two open debates this month, one on the United Nations Charter and the other on post-conflict peacebuilding and review of the peacebuilding architecture, the 15-member body’s President for February said today at a Headquarters press conference.

Continuing into the second week of its regular session for 2016, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today recommended that the Economic and Social Council grant special consultative status to 27 organizations — including recommending that one group’s status be reinstated — while deferring action on 40 others.

With their advancement hampered by gender, ethnicity, social status or religion, and decisions affecting their lives too often in the hands of others, young people must be recognized as critical agents of change in order to transform inherited challenges into opportunities for a more prosperous, equal and sustainable world, Government and youth representatives stressed today, as the Economic and Social Council opened its fifth annual Youth Forum with the launch of the first global initiative on decent jobs for young people.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for World Radio Day, observed on 13 February:

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

A total of 849 Iraqis were killed and another 1,450 wounded in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in January, according to figures released today by the United Nations in Baghdad.  The figures showed that Baghdad Governorate was the worst affected, with 1,084 civilian casualties, including about 300 killed.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s address, as prepared for delivery, to the National Defence College of Oman, “The United Nations and Conflict Prevention in a Changing World”, in Muscat, Oman, today:

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the Ethiopia humanitarian donors round table, in Addis Ababa, today:

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at the twenty-sixth African Union (AU) Summit, held under the theme “2016: African Year of Human Rights”, in Addis Ababa today: