In progress at UNHQ

Press Conference


The rule of law will take centre stage at United Nations Headquarters next week, as Heads of State and Government gather for the first-ever high-level General Assembly meeting on that topic, and for the 2012 Treaty Event to be held under the same theme, experts involved in those initiatives said at a press conference today.

Amid warnings by a new United Nations report that significant development gains worldwide risked backsliding due to the slowdown in providing aid, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called today for a stronger global partnership to advance progress towards poverty eradication, sustainable growth and other development targets that world leaders had pledged to achieve by 2015.

Human security and human development must be at the “centre of the equation” if Afghanistan was to find peace and prosperity, Michael Keating, Deputy Special Representative for that country, said at a Headquarters press conference today.
The General Assembly’s journey over the past 12 months had been momentous, historic and challenging, as Member States stepped up to address conflicts, significant political developments and other pressing global issues of the day, General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser ( Qatar) said today, just days before handing over to his successor on Tuesday.
Anybody in the room on 13 December 2006 when the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was adopted had felt the tremendous spirit behind the movement and understood that a “key tool to transform our societies” had joined the ranks of international human rights instruments, correspondents were told today as the Fifth Session of the Conference of States Parties to the treaty convened at Headquarters.
Forging greater ties between the United Nations and the League of Arab States to address Middle East turmoil and working closely with their new Joint Special Representative on the crisis in Syria would be among the top priorities of the Security Council in September, the Permanent Representative of Germany, whose delegation holds the Council’s rotating presidency for this month, said today.