The last two years had been remarkable for the United Nations Mine Action Service given its destruction of more than 41 million stockpiled anti-personnel mines and the termination of their production, transfer and sale in many parts of the world, Dmitry Titov, Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations said at a Headquarters press conference today.
In progress at UNHQ
Press Conference
The short lead time for Iraqi elections in January meant preparations would be “stretched” but still doable, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Ad Melkert, said today at a Headquarters press conference.
“One of the things we’ve noted as we travel around the world is the importance of regional cooperation to deal with terrorism,” said Mike Smith, Executive Director, Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, because “most terrorists operate across borders”.
While progress in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had been slow, the country was moving in the right direction and needed sustained efforts from its leadership, as well as the continuing support of the international community, said Ross Mountain, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Humanitarian Coordinator for the country.
Without adequate security or resources for education, young women and men in refugee camps would turn to prostitution or violence, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Chad said at a Headquarters press conference today.
The Secretary-General was confident that Governments would reach agreement in Copenhagen on the fundamental issues that would form the substance of a legally binding international agreement, Janos Pasztor, Director of the Secretary-General’s Climate Change Support Team, said at Headquarters today.
Calling for more attention to be paid to water management, two experts warned this afternoon that the main effects of climate change would revolve around water use.
In the final analysis, said General Assembly President Ali Abdussalam Treki of yesterday’s 114 votes in favour of the resolution on follow-up to the report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict -- there was great support for the text.
This month’s President of the Security Council, Thomas Mayr-Harting from Austria, today briefed correspondents on November’s programme of work, which will include a debate on protection of civilians in armed conflict chaired by Austria’s Minister for Foreign Affairs.
“2010 is going to be a historical year for the biodiversity family,” Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Ahmed Djoghlaf, said, as he launched the logos for the International Year on Biodiversity and the tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties, to be held in Nagoya, Japan, next October.