Press Conference

The Security Council’s work for August would include two open debates, respectively, on the cooperation between the United Nations and regional and subregional organizations, and on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, Permanent Representative of Argentina, María Cristina Perceval, said today at Headquarters as she assumed the 15-nation body’s presidency.

Faced with growing humanitarian and peacekeeping demands in increasingly dangerous situations, the United Nations should accelerate efforts to conclude a set of standards on the use of private military and security companies, known as PMSCs, said experts at a Headquarters press conference today.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference that she had been “overwhelmed” by what she had seen during her recent visit to Syria and neighbouring countries Jordan, Iraq, Turkey and Lebanon from 28 June to 18 July.

The international community must to do everything possible to improve the living standards and employment of the world’s more than 1 billion people living with disabilities, correspondents heard today at a Headquarters press conference.

The Secretary-General, the United Nations and its Member States must do more to persuade the Government of Myanmar to stem the tide of violence against Muslims in that country, representatives of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said at a Headquarters press conference today.

The World Food Programme (WFP) needed $27 million every week to feed 7 million Syrians who were going hungry because of the civil war, according to the head of the Agency’s operations in the area.

Following is a transcript of UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s press conference held in New York, 3 July:

The Security Council’s work for July included a ministerial-level debate on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Great Lakes region, Acting Permanent Representative of the United States, Rosemary A. DiCarlo, said today at Headquarters as she assumed the 15-nation body’s presidency.

This week’s Security Council debate on sexual violence in conflict confirmed the importance of that issue and reaffirmed the decision to put it “front and centre” of the United Kingdom’s presidency, that country’s Permanent Representative said at Headquarters today.

Despite the fragile situation in southern Lebanon, both sides were respecting resolution 1701 (2006) — which calls for a full cessation of hostilities between Hizbullah and Israel — the Commander of United Nations troops in the area said at a Headquarters press conference today.