Kicking off the sixty-secondannual gathering of non-governmental organizations this morning, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon made a passionate call to States parties to the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to negotiate in good faith a convention to rid the world of its nuclear and conventional arsenal and to civil society to pressure leaders worldwide to stem the more than $1 trillion global weapons industry.

To truly achieve complete global disarmament, the process of ridding the world of nuclear weapons must be verifiable, transparent and anchored in international law and the rule of law, Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu, Vice-President of Programmes of the United States-based EastWest Institute, said as the sixty-second Annual DPI/NGO Conference continued in Mexico City on Wednesday afternoon.

Taking weapons out of the hands of those who used them would help save lives everywhere, but that alone would not stop the thriving global arms trade and make the planet safer, Alfredo Ferrariz Lubang, Regional Representative of the Bangkok-based Nonviolence International South East Asia, said as the sixty-second annual DPI/NGO Conference continued in Mexico City this morning.

Stressing that human security could only be achieved through human development, civil society representatives called on Governments worldwide to cut defence budgets in favour of poverty reduction and sustainable development strategies, as the sixty-second annual DPI/NGO Conference in Mexico City continued Thursday afternoon.

The following statement by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki‑moon was issued today:

In continuing efforts to promote and support innovations in public service delivery worldwide, the United Nations is calling for nominations for its 2010 Public Service Awards.

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at the Church of the Holy Family in New York, today, 14 September:

With the world and its peoples facing unprecedented challenges, outgoing General Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann today decried blatant inequality in the international system, and urged Member States to generate the political will to tackle poverty, provide safety nets for vulnerable countries and, even more importantly, to reinvent the United Nations and its major organs.

Noting with concern the threats to subregional stability, in particular posed by drug trafficking, organized crime and illicit arms, and reiterating the continuing need for support by the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) for the security of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the Security Council today extended the Mission’s mandate until 30 September 2010.

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