Though entitled to do so, neither the Government of Iran nor the national Red Crescent Society had requested external assistance from the United Nations or any other source following yesterday’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake in the moderately populated Sistan va Baluchestan region, the United Nations Resident Coordinator said today.
In progress at UNHQ
Press Conference
The past weeks have been a busy and exciting time featuring a number of historic events, General Assembly President Vuk Jeremić (Serbia) said today as he reviewed recent meetings and forecast the schedule for the coming months.
There was an urgent need to re-balance not only the global economy, but also global governance, two participants in a Headquarters press conference said today, underlining the clear necessity to create institutions reflecting the new balance of economic power in today’s world.
The 2012 figures on use of the death penalty confirmed the overall global trend towards abolition, a senior Amnesty International official said at a Headquarters press conference today.
The President of the association “Mothers of Srebrenica” said today that, while being removed from the General Assembly this morning, she had felt as powerless as she had when collecting the bones of her murdered son in Bosnia and Herzegovina some 18 years ago.
The political and security situation in the Central African Republic remained “highly, highly volatile” following the 24 March coup that ousted President François Bozizé, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General said at a Headquarters press conference today.
While emphasizing that the battle to rid the world of landmines “has largely been won”, increased global support was needed to sustain the United Nations wide-ranging assistance programmes, officials from the Organization said today during a press conference held in connection with the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.
Maintaining peace and security, preventing conflict and ending sexual violence against women in Africa would be among the Security Council’s top priorities in April, the country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations said at Headquarters today.
The landmark Arms Trade Treaty would save lives and reduce human suffering if it was properly implemented, the man who led negotiations told reporters at Headquarters today.
The Russian Federation’s March presidency of the Security Council had seen the 15-member organ take up a “very rich” programme of work, Permanent Representative Vitaly I. Churkin said today, highlighting the adoption of six resolutions, the issuance of eight press statements and discussions on diverse security situations around the world, from Mali and South Sudan to the Middle East and Kosovo.