Against the still elusive implementation of the 1992 Earth Summit’s groundbreaking “Agenda 21”, delegations began a three-day session in New York today — the first in a series of preparatory meetings for the 20-year follow-on Conference in 2012 – hoping to rally renewed political will to meet the challenge of balancing economic growth and human progress with environmental sustainability.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for the International Peace Institute (IPI) Seminar on Peacemaking and Peacekeeping, delivered today by Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, in Vienna:

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro’s remarks to the international conference “Africa, an Opportunity for the World: Realities and Challenges”, in Yaoundé, today, 18 May:

Focusing their second day of talks on two themes identified by the General Assembly for discussion in 2012 — a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, and the institutional framework for sustainable development — participants at the first Preparatory Committee meeting for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development urged that new concepts not sideline already agreed sustainable development platforms.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for the official presentation of the Heidelberg Darfur Dialogue Outcome Document, delivered by Djibril Yipènè Bassolé, Joint African Union-United Nations Chief Mediator for Darfur, in Berlin, today, 19 May:

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the twenty-sixth Ministerial Session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), delivered by Bader Omar al Dafa, ESCWA Executive Secretary, in Beirut today, 19 May:

The Security Council had carried out an intense but useful mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 13 to 15 May, its leader said in a briefing to colleagues today. Gérard Araud of France said the mission had discussed with President Joseph Kabila, other Congolese leaders and members of civil society, means by which to achieve the common objective of restoring State sovereignty over the national territory and restoring stability.

The President of Djibouti told the Security Council today that persistent ills in the Horn of Africa, including food insecurity, conflict in Somalia and destabilizing actions by Eritrea, opened the prospects to wider crises there, and must be dealt with firmly. “The escalating tensions and conflicts, the breakdown of law and order so widespread in the Horn of Africa, could be but a prelude to a much worse situation, unless its many causes are sufficiently and seriously addressed,” he said.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, delivered by Laura Vaccari, Chief of the Decolonization Unit, Department of Political Affairs, to the Pacific Regional Seminar on Implementation of the Second Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism, in Nouméa, New Caledonia, 18-20 May:

The Chairmen of the three Main Committees of the 2010 Review Conference updated delegations today on progress made to advance the three pillars of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty — non-proliferation, disarmament and the right to peaceful use of nuclear technology — and to forge a consensus on the outcome document for the Conference, which will conclude on 28 May.