The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs will kick off a three-part series of special events on climate change, beginning tomorrow, 13 October, with a focus on the state of the climate change negotiations, followed in the two succeeding weeks by events on the impacts and threats of climate change, and the opportunities for “green” growth.

At a General Assembly session commemorating today the fifteenth anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development, United Nations Secretary‑General Ban Ki-Moon lauded that landmark meeting for sparking a shift in the international mindset on population issues and prodding Governments everywhere to recognize each individual’s right to reproductive health.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Hany Abdel-Aziz of Egypt as his Special Representative for Western Sahara and the Head of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

Stressing its continuing commitment to peace throughout Sudan, including the still-violent Western Darfur region, the Security Council this morning extended the mandate of the Panel of Experts that helps monitor the arms embargo and sanctions on those who impede peace in the country, for the year ending 15 October 2010.

The Security Council this morning extended the mandate of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti through 15 October 2010 and adjusted its force configuration to better meet current requirements on the ground.

This is the text of a message from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon read in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, today by his Special Representative, Hédi Annabi, in honour of the victims of the crash of flight UNO-146:

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.