The 19 draft articles on diplomatic protection should be elaborated into a convention recommended by the International Law Commission, the representative of Chile told the Sixth Committee (Legal) today, as the Committee took up and completed its current consideration of the item, in a debate comparable to its discussion yesterday on State responsibility for internationally wrongful acts.

The following statement was issued today by Security Council President Ruhakana Rugunda ( Uganda):

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today set in motion the Organization’s strategic plan and budget process for the next biennium with the adoption by consensus of a resolution that backed the priorities laid out by the Committee for Programme and Coordination for 2012-2013.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Martin Mogwanja, a Kenyan national, as Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund.

Every year since 2008, as United Nations Day approaches, a curious phenomenon has taken place. United Nations officials have been spotted going over their notes, practising their speaking voices and reading the New York City subway map, all in preparation for a very special mission — a speaking engagement at a New York City high school!

In the prevailing complex economic and financial climate, the work of the Economic and Social Council took on particular relevance, with its specialized discussion forums — the Annual Ministerial Review, the Development Cooperation Forum and the high-level meeting with the Bretton Woods institutions among them — uniquely tailored to address social ills endemic to a world emerging from sharp downturn, the General Assembly heard today as it took up the Council’s 2010 annual report.

The United Nations today released "The World's Women 2010: Trends and Statistics", a one-of-a-kind compilation of the latest data documenting progress for women worldwide in eight key areas: population and families, health, education, work, power and decision-making, violence against women, environment and poverty.

While extending its network beyond traditional means of communication to reach new geographic and demographics audiences, the Department of Public Information (DPI) should also strengthen existing channels such as radio and the United Nations Information Centres, and continue striving to achieve language parity, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today.

Although once well regarded as a powerful tool for strengthening cooperation and accelerating growth, globalization had resulted in disastrous consequences for developing countries, speakers stressed today as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) took up its agenda item on globalization and interdependence.

Strategically or commercially motivated arms supplies to tense or conflict-ridden regions disrupted delicate balance, enhanced the quest for more balanced conventional capabilities, or, in case of an unmanageable differential, the compulsion for acquiring nuclear weapon and missile capabilities, delegates heard today in the First Committee, along with the introduction of five draft texts.