The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today heard Secretariat officials unveil a set of recommendations that would move the United Nations a step closer to unifying the conditions of service for thousands of staff members around the world and carry an initial price tag of tens of millions of dollars.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video message to the Security Council’s open debate on women, peace and security, in New York, today, 26 October:

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video message for the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, in Incheon, Republic of Korea, 26 October:

Examining the issues involved in objections to treaties as related to State succession would be a useful contribution to the future settlement of State succession issues, Slovenia’s representative said today as the Sixth Committee (Legal) continued its annual consideration of the report of the International Law Commission with a focus on draft guidelines on objections to treaties and other matters, including the Commission’s work methods.

Two cornerstones of United Nations action against terrorism have no proper legal basis in the organization’s Charter today, since international terrorism was not “a permanent threat to peace” and did not justify the Security Council’s supranational powers over individuals or Member States, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today.

Halting the production of bomb-making material, holding to non-proliferation promises and forging a united effort to eliminate nuclear weapons were among the core challenges put to nuclear-weapon States today in the provisions of 12 draft resolutions and one decision approved by the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), as it began taking action on the 60 texts before it.

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, 27 October:

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video message to the high-level segment of the Tenth Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, in Nagoya, Japan, today, 27 October:

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to “The West and the Rest” Symposium, organized by the Centro Primo Levi, delivered by Kiyo Akasaka, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information:

A shortage of critical equipment required to carry out United Nations mandates in many peacekeeping missions had created a “yawning gap” between expectations and performance in the flagship mission that delegates maintained was already overburdened, underfunded, and overstretched, the Fourth Committee heard today, as it concluded its annual debate on peacekeeping.