The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

Experts of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women today recognized the legislative and policy efforts of Guinea-Bissau, a least developed sub-Saharan African nation, to erase gender discrimination and improve the lot of women, but expressed concern over the country’s slow pace in removing discriminatory laws from its books, and the traditional bias that held sway in many areas.

Parties to armed conflict engaging in patterns of “killing and maiming of children and/or rape and other sexual violence against children” must also be listed in the Secretary-General’s reports on children in armed conflict, according to resolution 1882 (2009), adopted unanimously by the Security Council today.

With “a new sense of optimism and energy spreading” among the Iraqi people, as the overall level of violence in their country began to decrease and as “promising moves” towards political reconciliation got under way, the newly appointed United Nations envoy told the Security Council today that the world body’s peacekeeping Mission in Iraq should begin expanding its focus to economic recovery, social development and political stabilization.

The new Permanent Representative of Albania to the United Nations, Ferit Hoxha, today presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The new Permanent Representative of Thailand to the United Nations, Norachit Sinhaseni, today presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the Pacific Leaders Forum in Cairns, Australia, delivered by Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, today, 5 August:

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video message to the First Global Model United Nations Conference in Geneva, 5-7 August 2009 (videotaping on 30 July):

A new $2.8 million project that will bring cutting-edge technology to small island States has been signed into action by the Government of Spain and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.