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:
The General Assembly today elected 18 members of the Economic and Social Council to serve three-year terms beginning 1 January 2015. Those elected today were Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, India, Japan, Mauritania, Pakistan, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
The Security Council today urged States, other parties to conflicts and the United Nations system to step up measures to protect and empower displaced women and girls and those facing threats of violent extremism, ahead of a day-long debate on women, peace and security.
“While the world has sufficient capacity and resources to ensure adequate food and good nutrition for the global population, over 800 million people are still suffering from chronic hunger”, Viet Nam’s representative told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today as it met to discuss agriculture development, food security and nutrition.
Civil society spaces were shrinking around the world as ordinary people’s lives were being changed without their input and against their will, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today as it continued its consideration of human rights, with presentations by six experts who had investigated problems in specific countries, and two reporting on global issues.
The General Assembly today adopted a resolution which for the twenty-third year in a row called for an end to the United States economic, commercial and financial embargo on Cuba.
At the invitation of German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a meeting of the International Support Group for Lebanon was held in the presence of Prime Minister Tammam Salam preceding the ministerial “Conference on the Syrian refugee situation — supporting stability in the region”, on 28 October in Berlin. Participants recalled their previous statements, including that issued after the last meeting of the Group which was convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 26 September in New York.
The growing prospect of cyber warfare needed to be addressed urgently before such weapons broke down the entire edifice of international security, heard the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) as it considered other disarmament measures, before concluding its thematic debate.
Having arrived in Israel from Egypt on Sunday, 12 October, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon travelled by car from Jerusalem to Ramallah on Monday morning, 13 October.
