Note to Correspondents

Signalling its recognition of the progress made in the Central African Republic’s peace process in recent years, the international community has stepped up its support for the country’s peacebuilding and development agenda. Additional support by international partners, in line with the Government’s efforts, is now critical in avoiding a resumption of conflict.

On Friday, 17 September, the United Nations Department of Public Information will organize the thirteenth student observance of the International Day of Peace under the theme “Youth, Peace and Development”, which combines the issues of peace, the Millennium Development Goals and the General Assembly’s proclamation of the International Year of Youth.

The Democracy Photo Challenge, a worldwide competition that engages people around the world in a global dialogue on democracy, will launch the 12 winning photos in an exhibition in the South Gallery of the Visitors’ Lobby on 15 September, the International Day of Democracy.

For the thirtieth consecutive year, the United Nations Reham al-Farra Memorial Journalists’ Fellowship Programme starts today at United Nations Headquarters.

Twenty-nine August 2010 will mark the first observance of the International Day against Nuclear Tests. The Day is meant to galvanize the efforts of the United Nations, Member States, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, youth networks and media in informing, educating and advocating the necessity of banning nuclear tests to achieve a safer world.

The second World Humanitarian Day and the seventh anniversary of the attack against the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad will be observed on Thursday, 19 August, at 10:30 a.m., in the General Assembly Building public lobby.

An exhibition of youth photographs entitled, “Visual Voices: Youth Perspectives on Global Issues” will open in the South Gallery of the Visitors’ Lobby at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, 12 August to mark the International Year of Youth.

The seventh annual Youth Assembly at the United Nations will take place at United Nations Headquarters from 4 to 6 August 2010 in Conference Room 1. The Youth Assembly has been held at the United Nations for the past six years with the sponsorship of various permanent missions to the United Nations. The primary sponsor this year is the Permanent Mission of Finland.

An exhibition of the best press photographs of 2009 will open in the Main Gallery of the Visitors Lobby at 6 p.m. Thursday, 5 August. This travelling exhibition of winning images selected at the fifty-third annual World Press Photo Contest in Amsterdam will remain on display through 2 September.

As natural disasters, accidents and war generate a never-ending stream of crisis, public attention shifts from one to the next. Meanwhile hunger, a quiet crisis, is rarely in the news. Yet current calculations show that close to 1 billion people worldwide continue to go to bed hungry each night. If the world continues at the current pace of hunger reduction, the Millennium Development Goal of halving the percentage of hungry people by 2015 will not be met.