Calling for the speedy establishment of a United Nations-backed mechanism to monitor and investigate laws discriminating on the basis of gender, the head of the global civil society organization Equality Now said at Headquarters today that ensuring equality before the law would go a long way towards ending the legal discrimination that still condemned so many women worldwide to poverty and continuous abuse.

United Nations officials announced today the planned launch of the seven-step “Women’s Empowerment Principles” at a conference with international business leaders, where organizers are expected to present the latest research on gender equality and business performance.

Ad Melkert, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, congratulated the more than 12 million Iraqis who turned out for the country's parliamentary elections -- a turnout of 62.3 per cent, higher than many had expected, marking the historic character of election day.

There was no doubt that policing was the same all over the world, requiring the treatment of everybody with respect, dignity and in accordance with their human rights during every contact, top police official Ann-Marie Orler said at Headquarters today.

The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) was ready to resume full responsibility for security in the earthquake-devastated country, as non-Mission troops began withdrawing, the top United Nations official there said at a Headquarters press conference today.

This morning, a memorial ceremony was held for the 101 United Nations staff members who lost their lives in the Haiti earthquake, and the Secretary-General spoke at that ceremony.

The aim of an independent review of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was to ensure the quality of its future reports, the co-chair of the scientific institute charged with that task said today.

With the approach of the 1,000 day mark since the start of the blockade against Gaza, an illegal economy was being imposed on the territory’s people, who now depended on goods imported through illegal tunnels, Filippo Grandi, the newly appointed Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said today.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has repeatedly called for a halt to Israel’s settlement construction, has condemned its announcement that it is building 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem.

Women grass-roots activists should be given more clout in forming policies at both the local and international levels, speakers said today at a Headquarters press conference on the role of women food producers and their coping strategies in times of severe food insecurity.