Citing an unprecedented number of journalists imprisoned or killed around the world in 2012 — 232 and 70, respectively — experts at a Headquarters press conference today stressed that the United Nations must make press freedom and the fight against impunity a priority in its post-2015 development agenda.
In progress at UNHQ
Press Conference
Integrating the three pillars of sustainable development into United Nations development efforts would underpin the work of the Economic and Social Council in 2013, the organ’s newly elected President said at Headquarters today.
On Thursday, 14 February, the Deputy Secretary-General will participate in an event calling for firm global action to end all forms of violence against women and girls. The event is sponsored by UN Women and the Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, and takes place at 12:30 p.m. at the north end of the UN Secretariat lobby.
The global community should recognize the vital importance of water cooperation to peace, security and the achievement of Millennium Development Goals, experts said today at a Headquarters press conference upon the United Nations launch of the International Year of Water Cooperation.
Briefing reporters at Headquarters today, the United Nations political chief cited movement on the Government’s road map to heal divisions in Mali, and the recent tentative offer by the Syrian opposition to open negotiations with the Assad Government as signs of positive developments in two of the world’s major crisis flashpoints.
In a Headquarters briefing today that focused on the role in 2013 of United Nations peacekeeping in Mali, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Head of the Department said there was a shared desire in the international community to do what needed to be done in Mali to end the conflict and resolve the issues that provoked it, and that a United Nations peacekeeping operation was “the way to go”.
The main thematic focus for the Republic of Korea’s month-long Presidency of the Security Council would be civilian protection, Ambassador Kim Sook said today, briefing reporters at Headquarters on the 15-nation body’s February work programme, which also featured meetings on United Nations peacekeeping operations in South Sudan and Kosovo.
The Security Council had undertaken a significant amount of work over the past month, including several well-attended debates, Mohammad Masood Khan (Pakistan), that body’s outgoing President, said today at a Headquarters press conference.
Outgoing United Nations Police Adviser Ann-Marie Orler called today for a change in the Organization’s policing mindset so as to develop a greater focus on quality over quantity.
As the humanitarian situation in Syria continued to worsen, greater efforts would be needed to overcome such challenges as impediments to humanitarian access and the massive funding shortfall, a top United Nations humanitarian official said at a Headquarters press conference today.