The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today recommended 27 organizations for special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, 1 organization for general consultative status and deferred action on 37 others.

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

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

Strongly condemning continued fighting, human rights abuses and attacks on the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, the Security Council this afternoon extended the Mission’s mandate for six months, sharpening its focus on protection of civilians, without changing force structure or numbers of troops and police.

Syria’s descent into “deeper depths of despair” over the past four years had surpassed what even the most pessimistic observers thought possible, the top United Nations humanitarian official told the Security Council today, urging the 15-member body to set aside its political differences and prevent the abandonment of Syrians to further hopelessness.

On Iraq, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that more than 85,000 internally displaced persons have fled Ramadi District, bringing the total to 180,000 families displaced since 8 April.  The United Nations and its partners are providing shelter, water and sanitation, and food.

Condemning the barbaric destruction and looting of the cultural heritage of Iraq by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the General Assembly today deplored the rising incidence of intentional attacks against and threats to such heritage of countries affected by armed conflict.

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks upon receiving an honorary degree from the Catholic University of Leuven, in Leuven, Belgium today:

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s remarks at the Security Council open debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict:  protection of journalists in conflict situations, in New York today:

ASTANA, 27 May — The 2015 International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East concluded today, with two panel discussions that explored how social media both hindered and advanced audiences’ acceptance of Israeli-Palestinian narratives, as speakers throughout the day analysed the media’s role in promoting a facts-based discourse about the recent conflict in Gaza.