Concerned that cluster munition remnants killed or maimed civilians including women and children, obstructed economic and social development, impeded post-conflict rehabilitation, and delayed or prevented the return of refugees and internally displaced persons, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today approved a draft resolution urging all States outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to join as soon as possible.

The United Nations must perform due diligence when engaging with corporations and avoid those with dubious records, said the representative of Brazil, as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) took up global partnerships today.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, as delivered by Flavia Schlegel, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences, to the World Science Forum, in Budapest on 4 November:

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at the high-level event on climate change, in New York on 4 November:

The Secretary-General announced this morning the appointment of Martin Kobler of Germany as his Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) to succeed Bernardino León of Spain.  The leadership transition will take place in the coming days.

Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today reiterated a call for establishing a separate account for special political missions as their growing share in the regular budget, at above 20 per cent, distorted the United Nations’ finance and could usurp funding for development and other key areas.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Martin Kobler of Germany as his Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

At a press conference at Headquarters today, the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom, whose delegation holds the presidency of the Security Council for November, said that he hoped that his efforts would be noted for being transparent, interactive and action-oriented.

As peacekeeping operations moved away from traditional military frameworks and towards more multidimensional, dynamic models, consultations with troop- and police-contributing countries must remain at the heart of all aspects of United Nations mission planning, from the earliest stages to the exit strategies and beyond, speakers in the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) emphasized today as they continued their comprehensive review of peacekeeping.

Until donors ramped up contributions, humanitarian actors were no longer able to provide core assistance to the record number of displaced people worldwide, the head of the United Nations refugee agency told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today as it concluded discussions on racism and began consideration of humanitarian questions.