Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, delivered by Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, to the Meeting of the States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention, in Geneva, 6 December:

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the opening of the European Development Days, delivered by Rebeca Grynspan, Associate Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in Brussels, 6 December:

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the Ninth Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, in New York today, 6 December:

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today considered a Secretariat proposal to give the newly-minted UN Women the financial backing it needs to carry out the Organization’s efforts to eliminate discrimination against women and girls around the world.

As part of its efforts to call to account those bearing the greatest responsibility for recent atrocities, the Security Council today heard reports by the heads of the international tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia as it considered obstacles to the completion of their work, the consequences for the fortification of international criminal law and the Tribunals’ legal legacy.

More than 300 students from the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, France and Mexico concluded their annual Student Conference on Human Rights, held at United Nations Headquarters from 1 to 3 December, under the theme "Discrimination and the Rights of the Child".

Among the 17 resolutions and two decisions adopted this afternoon on the recommendation of the Sixth Committee (Legal) by new language within a text on measures to eliminate international terrorism, the General Assembly expressed concern at the increase in kidnapping and hostage-taking for ransom and/or political concessions.

Describing the opposition candidate’s victory in the 28 November Côte d’Ivoire presidential run-off election as “irrefutable”, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the West African country told the Security Council today that it was crucial to safeguard the poll results.

On 6 December 2010, the Security Council Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee approved the addition of the entry specified below to its Consolidated List of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 1904 (2009) adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.

Stressing the international community’s responsibility to address the needs of Palestinian refugees and expressing alarm over the chronic funding shortfall of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) set up to support them, 20 donors this morning pledged approximately $214 million to UNRWA for 2011, and several more indicated their contributions would be forthcoming.