The Meeting of States Parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights today elected Walter Kälin (Switzerland) and Marat Sarsembayev (Kazakhstan) to the Human Rights Committee, replacing members who had resigned before completing their four-year terms of office.

The Secretary-General has designated David Scheffer of the United States as the Special Expert to advise on the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials, for an initial period of six months, replacing Clint Williamson, whose term of office expired on 30 September 2011. The Secretary-General is grateful to Mr. Williamson for his service as Special Expert.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the seminar marking the seventieth anniversary of the “Declaration by United Nations” organized by the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies, delivered by Margaret Anstee, former United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Angola, in London on 18 January:

The Secretary-General has appointed John Hocking of Australia as the Registrar of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals.

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the Security Council meeting on the rule of law and transitional justice in conflict and post-conflict settings, in New York on 19 January:

The United Nations Disarmament Commission, in an organizational meeting today, elected Enrique Roman-Morey of Peru as Chairman of its upcoming three-week substantive session — slated to run from 2 to 20 April — as consensus on its provisional agenda remained elusive.

With the political situation throughout North Africa and the Middle East in flux after months of anti-Government protests, the dismal reality of climate change playing out across South-east Asia and the Horn of Africa, and the world’s major economic engines still mired in recession, the General Assembly opened its sixty-sixth session with a busy agenda reflecting many of the year’s most vital international issues.

The Security Council this morning decided that an election to fill the vacancy on the International Court of Justice, created by the recent resignation of Judge Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh, will take place on 27 April 2012. Resolution 2034 (2012), adopted unanimously, notes with regret that the resignation of Judge Al-Khasawneh took effect on 31 December 2011.

Emphasizing the importance of the rule of law as one of the key elements of conflict prevention, peacekeeping, conflict resolution and peacebuilding, the Security Council today pledged its commitment to upholding international law, and reaffirmed its strong opposition to exempting from punishment those responsible for committing serious violations of humanitarian and human rights norms.

Three exhibitions on the Holocaust will open to the public in the Main Gallery of the Visitors Lobby, as part of a week-long series of Holocaust remembrance activities at the United Nations. The International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust is 27 January and the theme of this year’s observance is “Children and the Holocaust”.