The Security Council held an open debate on intercultural dialogue for peace and security today, where the Secretary-General said the discussion was especially relevant on the eve of the third Global Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations, beginning on Friday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He later left New York to take part in that event.

The World Cup would change the image of the African continent for the better, Wilfried Lemke, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace, said today at a Headquarters press conference where several United Nations agencies highlighted their planned activities for the event.

The Secretary-General landed in Rio de Janeiro early today, ahead of the Alliance of Civilizations, which opens tomorrow. He was expected to see up close Brazil’s progress in eradicating extreme poverty, and to meet later with the families of Brazilian peacekeepers killed in the Haiti earthquake, for whom he was expected to unveil a commemorative plaque.

The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers is being celebrated at Headquarters today, and to talk about it, the guests at the noon briefing are Alain Le Roy, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, and Susana Malcorra, the Under-Secretary-General for Field Support. Earlier today a wreath-laying ceremony was held to honour fallen peacekeepers, at which the Deputy Secretary-General delivered remarks.

The outstanding resilience of blue helmets in Haiti provided a powerful symbol for the marking of the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers this year, United Nations Secretariat officials said this afternoon. “Haiti tested us to the limit and we showed we have learned from experience and were able to deliver,” Susana Malcorra, Under-Secretary-General for Field Support told correspondents at Headquarters. “It was the best way to pay tribute to the ones we lost,” she added.

The Secretary-General is on his way back to New York. Prior to his departure from Kampala a short while ago, he was on the telephone discussing the flotilla incident and the way forward with several leaders. Once in New York he will be discussing the future course of action, including an investigation, with Arab, Turkish and Israeli officials, as well as with members of the Security Council and other world leaders.

In Geneva, the Human Rights Council today decided to send an independent international fact-finding mission to investigate violations of international law resulting from the Israeli attack on a humanitarian aid flotilla bound for Gaza.

Children and armed conflict, justice and the rule of law, and the situation in Sudan were among the major areas to be considered by the Security Council during Mexico’s presidency in June, Claude Heller, that country’s Permanent Representative, said at a Headquarters press conference today.

Building bridges across cultures was important because it had an impact on politics and helped create the necessary conditions for long-term peacebuilding and peaceful societies, Marc Scheuer, Director of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Forum, said at a Headquarters press conference today.

The Secretary-General was deeply shocked to learn of the death in Kinshasa of Floribert Chebeya, President of La Voix des Sans Voix (The Voice of the Voiceless). Mr. Chebeya was a well-known and widely respected human rights defender in the Democratic Republic of Congo.