Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video message to the Global Fund for Women on the occasion of their twenty-fifth anniversary, in San Francisco, United States, on 30 October:

Following is UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s statement to the Security Council meeting on Somalia in New York on 30 October:

The General Assembly today elected 18 members of the Economic and Social Council to serve three-year terms beginning 1 January 2014.

The promise of a new Somalia emerging from decades of violence and instability remained fragile, the Security Council heard today, amid calls for stepped-up measures by the United Nations to bolster the Government’s capacity to protect international operations over the long term.

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

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Fatiha Serour (Algeria) as his Deputy Special Representative for Somalia. The Secretary-General extends his sincere thanks to Peter de Clercq of the Netherlands, who served as Deputy Special Representative since the establishment of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), and was recently appointed Deputy Special Representative for the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).

The United Nations Academic Impact, in partnership with the United States-based Council on Foreign Relations, will launch a new quarterly “talk” on global issues, the first of which will take place on 1 November.

Following are Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, to the high-level dialogue on measuring inequalities in the post‑2015 development agenda: A new global tool for WASH and beyond, in New York on 30 October:

Light weapons were “only light in name” and contributed to problems ranging from exploitation of natural resources, to child soldiers, piracy, terrorism and trans-border organized crime, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today in nearly 70 interventions, as thematic debates concluded on conventional weapons, other disarmament measures, and regional disarmament and security.

Israel’s practices were not random but systematic, in line with a deliberate policy to force the displacement of Palestinians from their towns and villages and take control of their land, the Observer of the State of Palestine said today to the Second Committee (Economic and Financial).