Calling for more attention to health as an important policy issue on the international agenda, especially in meeting the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, the General Assembly today recognized that challenges in global health demanded persistent attention, urged States to consider health in the formulation of foreign policy and requested the Secretary-General and World Director-General to submit a report to the next session on “improving the effectiveness of governance for global health”.

Although the International Criminal Court had issued warrants and other decisions on serious crimes committed in Sudan’s Darfur region, it was now up to that country’s Government and, ultimately, the Security Council to ensure the implementation of those decisions, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the Court’s Chief Prosecutor, told Council members today.

The following statement by the Chairman of the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict was issued in New York, 9 December:

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at a Human Rights Day event entitled “Speak Up, Stop Discrimination”, organized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and held in the Ford Foundation Auditorium in New York, 9 December:

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks on the International Year for People of African Descent, launched at United Nations Headquarters on 10 December:

Acting on the recommendation of its Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization), the General Assembly this morning adopted 27 resolutions and 1 decision, nine among them concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict, by which it deemed “extremely detrimental” Israeli settlement policies and activities on efforts to resume and advance the peace process and on its credibility.

It was critical to engage all Member States in implementing measures intended to encourage Iran’s compliance with resolutions relating to its nuclear programme, Tsuneo Nishida ( Japan), Chair of the Committee monitoring those sanctions, said today in his final briefing to the Security Council.

The General Assembly today noted with satisfaction the establishment of a new strategic relationship between the Russian Federation and the United States and the desire of the two countries to bring their respective nuclear postures into alignment with that new relationship, as well as their endeavour to reduce further the role and importance of nuclear weapons, according to one of 58 resolutions and decisions it adopted on the recommendation of its First Committee.

Noting with satisfaction the establishment of a new strategic relationship between the Russian Federation and the United States and the desire of the two to bring their nuclear postures into alignment with that new relationship, and their endeavour to reduce further the role and importance of nuclear weapons, the First Committee today approved a draft resolution welcoming the signing of the new START Treaty.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Yukio Takasu of Japan as Special Adviser on Human Security. Mr. Takasu has played a pivotal role in advancing a greater understanding on the notion of human security, both within the United Nations and outside, for more than 10 years. In 2006, Mr. Takasu initiated the formation of the Friends of Human Security, an informal network to follow up the 2005 United Nations Summit Outcome document.