The international community must act now to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) or risk having the world becomes a more dangerous place, Jeffrey Sachs, Director of The Earth Institute and Professor of Health Policy and Management, Columbia University, told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) during a panel discussion on “Achieving the MDGs by 2015: Preparing for the 2010 MDG Summit.”

Member States praised the work of the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC) this morning, as they took up issues related to programme planning in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).

This is the text of a message from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to a memorial ceremony in Islamabad, Pakistan, today in honour of the United Nations staff killed and injured in the bombing of the World Food Programme office in Islamabad:

While the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) had broken new ground in many areas ‑‑ including clarifying the concept of sexual and reproductive health and setting a quantitative goal for universal delivery of such services ‑‑ substantial progress must be made to stop women from dying of preventable pregnancy-related causes, delegates in the General Assembly stressed today, as they concluded their two-day commemoration of the Conference.

Emphasizing that the future of the United Nations depended on a joint vision and shared responsibilities, the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Kiyo Akasaka, told the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today that the Department of Public Information “stands ready” to contribute to the achievement of the Organization’s goals by building understanding and support for the Organization among the peoples of the world.

Countries must step up efforts to address essential, but unresolved issues in advance of the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Robert Orr, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Strategic Planning, today told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) during a panel discussion on “Climate Change Negotiations: Road to Copenhagen”.

The Department of Public Information is pleased to announce the launch of new websites for United Nations meetings coverage summaries and press releases, in English (www.un.org/en/unpress) and French (www.un.org/fr/unpress).

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks as prepared for delivery at the exhibition on gender-based violence, “Congo Women Portraits of War”, and BBC documentary series Women on the Frontline, in New York yesterday, 12 October:

Efforts to stem the spread of violence and armed conflict had found intergovernmental allies from areas as diverse as agricultural development to global financing, greatly boosting the chances of eventually achieving disarmament goals, the United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Sergio Duarte, told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today.

As the Sixth Committee (Legal) this morning addressed the issue of criminal accountability of United Nations officials and experts on missions, the debate centred on impunity, language regarding scope of accountability and the need for an international convention.