Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at the opening of the 2011 session of the Special Committee on Decolonization, in New York, today, 24 February:

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, to his Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, today, 24 February, in New York:

In stark contrast to the recent dramatic political transformations in the Middle East, Israeli-Palestinian negotiations remained at a standstill, with each party sceptical of the other’s intentions, as well as the international community’s seriousness, United Nations envoy Robert Serry told the Security Council today as he called for “credible and effective international intervention” to get the process back on track.

Addressing the first meeting of the 2011 substantive session of the Special Committee on Decolonization, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called today for “concrete results” in the quest for self-determination by the world’s 16 remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to meetings organized by the Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs in Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Tokyo to launch a signature campaign for the start of negotiations for a convention banning nuclear weapons, on 15 February:

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at the launch of UN Women in New York, today, 24 February:

Education was the gateway to economic opportunity and the key means for unlocking women’s potential, the Commission on the Status of Women was told today as it continued its high-level review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome of the General Assembly’s twenty-third special session on gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century.

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

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti ( Brazil):

Guinea-Bissau had made progress towards emerging from the political turmoil of the past few years, including the approval of a road map for security-sector reform, but deep concerns remained, representatives of the Secretariat and the Peacebuilding Commission told the Security Council today. “There has been progress in the political and security environments, although the situation remains complex and tenuous,” said Joseph Mutaboba, Representative of the Secretary-General.