The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights today reiterated its belief that something similar to Justice Richard Goldstone’s Gaza Fact Finding Mission is also needed for Sri Lanka ‑‑ given the widespread concerns about the conduct of the recent war there. The Office said it is still deeply concerned that some 250,000 displaced people are living in what are basically internment camps.

For the first time since its inception, the United Nations Day Concert would have a theme -- “A Tribute to Peacekeeping” -- announced Eric Falt Director of the Outreach Division in the Department of Public Information at a press conference today at Headquarters. Honouring the world body’s peacekeeping operations, the concert would be, in his words, “a long overdue tribute on the occasion of the most symbolic day in the United Nations calendar”.

Proposals for addressing the urgent needs of those living in vulnerable housing settlements and who lacked the “means to go green” must be taken more seriously in global climate discussions, the top United Nations rights expert on adequate housing said today at a Headquarters press conference.

The World Survey on the Role of Women in Development points to long-standing inequalities in access to economic and financial resources, which had placed women at a disadvantage in relation to men in economic development, the Director of the Division for the Advancement of Women said at a Headquarters press conference this morning.

States should consider gender-sensitive reparation schemes for victims of terrorism, as women undergo specific forms of abuse by terrorist groups, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, said today at a Headquarters press conference.

In the Security Council this morning, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Alain Le Roy, was joined by the Under-Secretary-General for the Department of Field Support, Susana Malcorra, to brief members on practical ways to strengthen the capacity of the African Union to build and maintain peace, as well as to reinforce the relationship between the United Nations and the African Union.

“We are now at a […] critical juncture on the way towards achieving a legally binding agreement that would guide global action on climate change,” said Janos Pasztor, Director of the Secretary-General’s Climate Change Support Team, updating correspondents on the climate change negotiations, at Headquarters this afternoon.

Fragile optimism for slow, but steady, progress in Somalia demonstrated that a Security Council strategy for increasing security and stability in the region would continue to unfold over the coming months, B. Lynn Pascoe, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs told reporters today during a Headquarters press conference.

The Security Council began its work this morning with consultations to discuss the Secretary-General’s most recent report concerning Lebanon and the implementation of resolution 1559 (2004). The report, which is out as a document today, calls the June elections another milestone in Lebanon’s transition.

Speaking at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon, Walter Kälin, the Secretary-General’s representative on the human rights of internally displaced persons, hailed the recently adopted African Union Convention to protect displaced persons on the continent as the first binding treaty addressing the rights of “a huge number of people who need protection”.