Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, appealed to the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) to put social integration and cohesion at the heart of its work, as it opened its session today with a debate on social development.

Since the creation of the United Nations, 80 former colonies inhabited by some 750 million people had gained independence, yet, even with fewer than 2 million people living under colonial rule today, the decolonization process, plagued by lack of political will, remained incomplete, the Fourth Committee was told as it began its annual general debate on that issue.

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at the welcome reception for the Global Fund Third Replenishment Meeting and opening of the “Access to Life” exhibition, in New York, 4 October:

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s opening remarks at the Global Fund Third Replenishment Pledging Conference, in New York, today, 5 October:

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the Religions for Peace meeting on “Arms Down! Global Youth Campaign for Shared Security”, delivered by Sergio Duarte, United Nations High Representative for Disarmament, in New York today, 4 October:

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s closing remarks, delivered by Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), to the Global Fund Replenishment Conference, in New York, today, 5 October:

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the International Meeting of the High Representatives on Security Issues, delivered by Yury Fedotov, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in Sochi, Russian Federation, today, 5 October:

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for World Mental Health Day, to be observed on 10 October:

While the United Nations had seen breakthroughs in its efforts to serve the poor and empower women, the Organization must harness its convening power to achieve a binding climate agreement, ensure respect for basic rights of self-determination and, above all, reform its key structures to reflect current geopolitical realities, General Assembly delegates stressed today as they considered the Secretary-General’s report on the work of the Organization.

With global crises and the destructive effects of climate change continuing to threaten not only global socio-economic development, but also the world’s very existence, developed countries must assume their “historic responsibility” to help their developing counterpart bridge existing imbalances and gaps, many speakers said today, as the Second Committee continued its general debate.