Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video message on the sixty-fifth anniversary of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in Paris, 14 December:

Decolonization was a remarkable but incomplete chapter in the history of the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said today as he marked the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples by calling on the international community to remain committed to making good on its promise to end colonialism, once and for all.

Israeli and Palestinian leaders should focus with urgency in the coming year on the essential elements of a “negotiated two-State endgame, for the benefit of both peoples”, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council this morning. “The parties have set for themselves important timelines that have received strong international endorsement and 2011 is the year in which these are to be met,” Robert Serry told the Council.

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

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the Security Council High-Level Event on Iraq, today, 15 December, in New York:

Concluding its 2010 substantive session, the Economic and Social Council today elected members to some of its subsidiary bodies, adopted one draft resolution and postponed consideration of several other items until next year’s session.

As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today took up the proposed financing for 29 special political missions for 2011, some delegates warned of the problems posed by the expanding and fluctuating financial demands those missions were placing on the Organization’s budget resources, an impact even seen in the outline presented today by Secretariat officials for the 2012-2013 budget cycle.

The surge in demand for humanitarian assistance in often high-risk environments — geared to support the growing numbers affected by the increase in frequency, scale and scope of emergencies — required effective, sustained and well-financed intervention by the international community, said delegates today during the General Assembly’s annual wide-ranging debate on strengthening the United Nations coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance.

Welcoming Burundi’s progress towards peace, stability and development and emphasizing the need for the United Nations system and the international community to maintain their support for peace consolidation and long-term development in the country, the Security Council today requested the Secretary-General to establish the United Nations Office in Burundi, as a significantly scaled-down United Nations presence, for an initial period of 12 months, beginning on 1 January 2011.

The new Permanent Representative of Estonia to the United Nations, Margus Kolga, presented his credentials today to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.