In an organizational meeting this morning, the Disarmament Commission elected the Chair for its 2014 substantive session and reviewed the proposals contained in a resolution of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), including that it hold that session from 7 to 25 April.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, following consultations with the Advisory Commission of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), announced today the appointment of Pierre Krähenbühl of Switzerland as the Agency’s new Commissioner-General. He will replace Filippo Grandi.

A sustained international focus was needed to eradicate the multitude of threats that had blighted Central Africa for years — from the security crisis in the Central African Republic, to piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, to the unrelenting terrorist threat posed by the Lord’s Resistance Army — the senior United Nations official in the region told the Security Council today.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, delivered by the United Nations Legal Counsel, Under-Secretary-General Miguel de Serpa Soares, to the opening of the twelfth session of the Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court, in The Hague, 20 November:

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, delivered by Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, United Nations High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations, to the Religions for Peace World Assembly, held in Vienna from 20 to 22 November:

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki‑moon’s remarks, as delivered, at a ministerial meeting on climate finance, in Warsaw, on 20 November:

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki‑moon’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the nineteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Momentum for Change event, in Warsaw, on 20 November:

Despite setbacks and challenges ahead, Afghanistan was a country that had risen from the ashes of war to become a nation based on a democratic constitution and the will of the people, delegates heard today as the General Assembly unanimously adopted a draft resolution on the situation in that country.

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at the Cities and Subnational Dialogue, as prepared for delivery, in Warsaw, 21 November:

The highlight of its summer session had been the adoption of the Rules on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration, stated Michael Schöll, Chair of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, as the Sixth Committee took up the Commission’s report.