While commending the institutional and governance improvements that had helped resolve both long-brewing and unexpected political crises in West Africa over the past year, the top United Nations envoy in the subregion today urged the Security Council to remain vigilant because elections scheduled between now and 2013 held the potential to ignite simmering tensions that could lead to renewed violence and instability.

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

The prospects for peace in the Middle East will be the subject of an international media seminar organized by the United Nations Department of Public Information on 12 and 13 July in Budapest, Hungary.

The Security Council today decided to close the six-year-old United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS) and called on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to complete the withdrawal of all its uniformed and civilian personnel, except those needed for its liquidation, by 31 August 2011.

With the changing political landscape in the Middle East, North Africa and beyond as a backdrop, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women had a vital role to play in redressing entrenched ills, including harmful traditional practices, sexual violence, persistent discrimination and a lack of access to education and employment, top United Nations human rights official Ivan Simonović said today as he opened the treaty body’s forty-ninth session.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, as delivered by Kiyo Akasaka, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, to the International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East, in Budapest today, 12 July:

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at the Security Council open debate on children and armed conflict, in New York, 12 July:

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Peter Wittig (Germany):

BUDAPEST, 12 July — Welcoming journalists and creators of fiction, theatre and music this morning to a seminar in Budapest, Hungary, on the media’s vital role in resolving the Middle East conflict, the United Nations communications Chief called on them to further utilize their talents to help counter narratives of “fear, hostility and violence” that reified the standstill in the peace process.

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the General Assembly’s informal interactive thematic debate on the responsibility to protect, 12 July, in New York: