Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for the World Taekwondo Championships, held in Chelyabinsk, Russian Federation, 12 to 18 May:

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew on Wednesday, 6 May, from New York to Gdansk, Poland, to attend the commemorations for the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew on Friday, 8 May, from Gdansk, Poland, to Kyiv, Ukraine, to attend the commemorations for the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew on Friday, 8 May, from Kyiv, Ukraine, to Moscow, Russian Federation, to attend the celebration of “Victory Day”, marking the end of the Second World War.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, as delivered by Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, to the fifth Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism, in Jerusalem today:

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

Calling the situation in the Mediterranean a “security crisis” for hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for International Migration briefed the Security Council on recent developments.  He said an effective strategy to address the crisis, including in the context of a Council resolution, would begin with the immediate need to save lives.

The new Permanent Observer for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to the United Nations, Ashraf El Nour, today presented his letter of appointment to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The new Permanent Representative of New Zealand to the United Nations, Gerard van Bohemen, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today.

The new Permanent Representative of Côte d'Ivoire to the United Nations, Claude Stanislas Bouah-Kamon, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today.