Calling on Morocco and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (Polisario Front) to fully adhere to the military agreements reached with the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), the Security Council today extended that Mission’s mandate until 30 April 2012.

In a resumed organizational session today, the Economic and Social Council filled vacancies on 16 of its subsidiary bodies, electing most of the new members by acclamation and holding three secret ballots.

To best support United Nations initiatives in peace, development and human rights at a time of financial austerity, information services were developing a “new agility” through broad collaborations and the use of a variety of media, the Organization’s top communications official told the Committee on Information as it opened its annual session this morning.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the Roll Back Malaria Partnership Breakfast in New York on 25 April:

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message on the Remembrance Day for All Victims of Chemical Warfare, to be observed on 29 April:

Despite the promise of reform contained in a spate of recently announced legislative and legal changes, in fact the crackdown against anti-Government protesters by Syrian authorities had dramatically intensified, a top United Nations political official told the Security Council today.

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the twentieth International Conference on Health and Environment: Global Partners for Global Solutions, delivered by Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro, in New York, 26 April:

Following is a joint message by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay and UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Director-General Irina Bokova on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, to be observed on 3 May:

HELSINKI, 28 April — With the Palestinian Authority making steady progress towards completing its State-building programme by August, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for “serious and effective” international assistance to the Palestinian people, a speedy re-launch of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, and an end to internal Palestinian divisions, all of which would be vital in the months ahead.

Determining that the situation in Côte d’Ivoire continued to pose a threat to international peace and security in the region, the Security Council this morning renewed until 30 April 2012 its arms embargo and diamond trade ban on the West African nation, as well as targeted sanctions restricting the travel and finances of individuals threatening peace and national reconciliation there.