The Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, briefing the Security Council today on the evolving and unprecedented threats for children, particularly in Syria, Mali and Central African Republic, said that she would be visiting Syria and that region soon to assess first-hand the situation.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights welcomed the Turkish Government’s decision to hold further action on Istanbul’s Gezi Park development and to submit the issue to a local referendum. She also urged all parties involved to act in a manner that would build on that decision while defusing the still highly combustible atmosphere.

The Secretary-General spoke with the President of Somalia about today's attack against the United Nations in the capital, Mogadishu. Deeply concerned and outraged, he urged the President to ensure United Nations staff are protected, and to coordinate closely with the African Union Mission in Somalia.

Armed groups recruiting child soldiers in Mali have capitalized on the desperation of impoverished families by offering large sums of money and free education, the author of a civil society report on the situation of children in the conflict-torn African nation said today at Headquarters.

Jan Kubis, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, briefed the Security Council this morning and said that there is a clear need to provide sustained and predictable international support in ways that reinforce Afghanistan’s leadership. He said this summer unfortunately promises to be a “hot” one for Afghanistan.

A new session of the tripartite talks on Syria involving the Russian Federation, the United States and the United Nations will take place next week in Geneva on 25 June. The United Nations delegation will be headed by the Joint Special Representative for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi.

Making a rare appearance at a Headquarters news conference today, a senior diplomat of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea called for the dismantling of the United States-led command in its southern neighbouring State.

Bolder action was needed on the part of the international community — and the Security Council in particular — to end political and ethnic violence that had been on the rise in Sudan since the South declared independence nearly two years ago, said representatives of several non-governmental organizations as they introduced their reports on the matter at a Headquarters press conference today.

The Secretary-General spoke this morning at a Security Council open debate on women and peace and security, saying that the UN system is committed to “Delivering as One” to end the culture of impunity that prevails regarding sexual violence.

With World Health Organization statistics showing that more than one in three women would encounter physical or sexual violence during their lives, the international community must make the fight against sexual violence a priority, France’s Minister for Women’s Rights and Government Spokesperson said at Headquarters today.