Just back from Kyrgyzstan on a fact-finding mission as the Secretary-General's special envoy, Jan Kubis, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, briefed correspondents at Headquarters today on the situation in that country, where deadly public demonstrations over the President’s alleged pervasive corruption and nepotism had led to the resignation of the Government and eventual departure of the leader himself.

Georgia stood ready to talk with the Russian Federation “anytime, anywhere” without any conditions but one: that Russia respect international law and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbours, Georgia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Grigol Vashadze, told correspondents today at Headquarters.

The Government of Brazil would use confiscated proceeds from money-laundering and other crimes to fund implementation of the main United Nations treaties on transnational organized crime and corruption, the country’s National Secretary for Justice said in Salvador, Brazil, today.

Staffan de Mistura, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, met today with Fazel Ahmad Manawi, the new Chairperson of the Independent Election Commission. De Mistura said that these elections must be an improvement over last year’s. He also said that with the appointment of Manawi and the endorsement of the Implementation Guidelines, he had recommended to the international community that they release funds, as soon as feasible, to allow electoral operations to begin.

The Government of New Zealand was now in support of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Pita Sharples, Minister of Māori Affairs of New Zealand, told correspondents today at a Headquarters press conference on the opening day of the ninth session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

After two-and-a-half years, the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala had achieved some successes in the fight, its Commissioner, Carlos Castresana Fernández, told correspondents today at Headquarters.

The Secretary-General has transmitted to the General Assembly his nominations for the posts of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). In both cases, he has re-nominated the incumbents for further terms -- António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres of Portugal as UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and Achim Steiner of Germany as Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, effective 15 June.

In recent days, the Spokesperson has received several questions about the process by which the Afghanistan Board of Inquiry did its work. In response, he said, there is a standard operating procedure for such boards, and that procedure was followed with this Board.

The Board of Inquiry report on the 28 October 2009 attack on the United Nations guest house in Kabul has been finalized. The relevant findings of the report are being presented to the Afghan authorities, both in New York and in Afghanistan, and other relevant stakeholders will likewise be informed.

The Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Operations in Gaza today described the humanitarian plight of the people there as bewilderingly difficult and a struggle to survive on a daily basis, as the third year of the blockade approached and 18 months after the last round of conflict that had wreaked tremendous devastation.