Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the Human Rights Council in Geneva today, 25 January:

As pirates tightened their grip in the waters off the Somali coast and surrounding Indian Ocean, the Secretary-General’s top adviser on the legal issues related to that menace proposed a series of far-reaching measures to the Security Council today on how to lift the legal constraints to prosecute and imprison the pirates and criminalize their sea-borne raids in all States.

The ninth session of the United Nations Forum on Forests continued today with resounding calls for the empowerment of local communities — including indigenous and other vulnerable groups — to participate in forest governance.

The incoming Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission today pledged to strengthen that body’s role within the United Nations in order to resolve disputes and restore peace and hope to nations emerging from conflict.

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

On 27 January 2011, the United Nations Department of Public Information will honour women at the sixth annual observance of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust in a ceremony, to be held in the General Assembly Hall from 10 a.m. to noon.

While early indications of a week’s worth of balloting pointed to an overwhelming vote in favour of Southern Sudan’s secession, senior United Nations officials expressed deep concern in the Security Council today over renewed violence in North and South Darfur, and issued a stern warning that violence remained an “ever present threat” in the disputed, oil-rich border area of Abyei, absent a permanent settlement of its status.

The loss and degradation of the world’s forests continued at a high rate owing to neglect of the social and cultural factors of forestry, Lambert Okrah, focal point for non-governmental organizations, said today as the United Nations Forum on Forests held the multi-stakeholder dialogue segment of its ninth session.

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

Following is Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, observed 27 January: