Pressure mounted today for a way to be found to open a passage in the long-deadlocked Conference on Disarmament that would engage members in negotiations on such matters as a ban on fissile material for nuclear weapons, as the General Assembly held a follow-up to last year’s high-level meeting on revitalizing that body.

The Security Council held a discussion today with the military commanders of key United Nations peacekeeping operations in Africa and the Middle East, who highlighted their strategies for overcoming the challenges they faced in unpredictable settings impacted by everything from sporadic armed conflict and unfriendly local populations, to lingering political tensions, long–term humanitarian needs and inclement weather.

Following are Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at the General Assembly plenary meeting on the human right to water and sanitation, today, 27 July, in New York:

The head of United Nations peacekeeping operations reported to the Security Council today that the initial rollout of the newly authorized security force for Abyei was under way, with some 500 Ethiopian troops headed to the disputed area straddling Northern and Southern Sudan, the flashpoint for recent violence between the two sides.

The Palestinian people had completed their two-year state-building programme, fulfilling a substantial part of their “contract” with the United Nations, and it was now time for the international community to uphold its end of the deal so that they would see the Organization admit their viable and independent State during the General Assembly’s sixty-sixth session, Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer for Palestine, told the Palestinian Rights Committee today.

While some strides had been made to increase access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation — now regarded as a fundamental human right — efforts must be redoubled to provide access to safe water to the more than 1 billion people without it and basic sanitation services for the more than 2 billion still in need, urged experts and delegates in the General Assembly this afternoon.

Reaffirming the importance of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) in helping the Iraqi people and Government strengthen democratic institutions, advance inclusive political dialogue and national reconciliation and facilitate regional dialogue, the Security Council today decided to extend its mandate for 12 months, unanimously adopting resolution 2001 (2011).

Despite ongoing clashes and shifting front lines, the five-month-old war between Government and opposition forces in Libya had basically stalled behind the posturing of both sides, and a ceasefire tied to transitional arrangements was still the only sustainable political solution to the crisis, the Security Council heard today.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, delivered by Oscar-Fernandez Taranco, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, to the Sixth General Meeting between the United Nations System and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and its Associated Institutions, in Georgetown, Guyana, today, 28 July:

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, to be observed on 9 August: