Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the annual meeting of the International Development Finance Club, in Washington, D.C., on 13 October:

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Agshin Mehdiyev (Azerbaijan):

Colonialism had no place in the modern world, speaker after speaker declared today in the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization), echoing the words of the Secretary-General and the foundational resolution of the General Assembly on the subject from more than five decades ago.

The ideal of a world where accountability was the expectation, and not the exception, had become a reality, despite challenges of arresting fugitives and staff retention, the General Assembly heard today as the Presidents of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals and the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and for Former Yugoslavia presented their annual reports.

The United Nations Academic Impact and ELS Educational Services are organizing an international essay-writing contest for college and university students on the role of multilingualism in a globalized world. A requirement for all participants is that their essay be in an official United Nations language which is not their mother tongue or medium of educational instruction.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the event commemorating Mwalimu Nyerere Day, hosted by the Permanent Mission of the United Republic of Tanzania to the United Nations, in New York on 14 October:

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

Reiterating its conviction of the need for the eradication of colonialism, the Fourth Committee today concluded its annual consideration of the question of decolonization, and forwarded 11 draft resolutions to the General Assembly, six of them approved without a vote.

The need for amended national criminal codes to address domestic violence and the related crime of “femicide”, as well as calls for more women to participate in the political life, dominated discussion in the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as it continued its general discussion on the advancement of women.