The United Nations Mission in Sudan reports that the intensive bombing by the Sudanese Armed Forces in the past week is continuing in the surroundings of Kadugli and Kauda, in Southern Kordofan. The Mission is extremely concerned about a bombing campaign which often appears to be indiscriminate, causing huge suffering to civilian populations and which endangers humanitarian assistance.

An estimated 30 per cent of those requiring humanitarian assistance in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was not being reached, said a top United Nations humanitarian official today at a New York Headquarters press conference, urging the international community to take steps towards improving access in that central African nation.

Reporting to the Human Rights Council, High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says the information received by the fact-finding mission on Syria reflects a dire human rights situation. The alleged breaches of basic rights on such a broad scale require a thorough investigation and full accountability.

As diverse demands for United Nations peacekeeping continued to grow, more than 14,000 United Nations police officers — a force that was increasingly specialized and increasingly female — were deployed around the world, said the United Nations top police officer at a Headquarters press conference today.

The Secretary-General told Uruguay’s Parliament yesterday that people in the Middle East and North Africa are raising their voices in a once-in-a-generation moment for freedom and democracy. He said he had again urged Syria’s President to protect his people, respect their rights, listen, and facilitate refugee returns.

It was critical for the outcome of the 2011 Conference of Parties to the Climate Change Convention to make operational the agreements reached last year in Cancun, but also to move forward on all aspects of the climate-change agenda, according to the Foreign Minister of South Africa, where the Conference will be held.

The Security Council heard briefings today, via videoconference, on the situation in Sudan, from the Head of the UN Mission there, Haile Menkerios, as well as from the African Union envoy and former South African President Thabo Mbeki. The Secretary-General welcomes today’s agreement on Abyei.

With an estimated 8 million premature deaths from non-communicable diseases occurring in developing countries each year, the upcoming high-level General Assembly meeting on the topic would bring an urgently needed focus to the problem, a panel of speakers participating in a preliminary media event on the issue said at Headquarters today.

The General Assembly expects to take up the agenda item “Appointment of the Secretary-General of the United Nations” this afternoon. The Assembly’s action comes after the Security Council’s adoption of resolution 1987 (2011) last Friday. The Secretary-General will attend the General Assembly meeting.

The world’s oceans were at high risk of entering a phase of “globally significant” extinction of marine species, an international panel of marine experts warned at Headquarters today.