Press Conference

It was the Security Council’s responsibility to devise a new strategy to arrest Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir and his aides who had been indicted for serious crimes in Darfur, the International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor said this afternoon at a Headquarters press conference.

Transparency and intergovernmental coordination for recovery from the economic crisis were the priority of the Mexican presidency of the G-20, the Group of the world’s 20 largest economies, in preparations for the upcoming summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, a representative of the presidency said this morning.

As a deeper understanding of sustainability issues gained momentum around the world, companies of all sectors were stepping up efforts to build environmental and social considerations into management strategies and policies, although much remained to be done to fully realize corporate sustainability and translate commitments into tangible action, correspondents were told at a Headquarters press conference today.

As the Security Council navigated “a very packed schedule” in June, it was critical for the body to maintain “unswerving support” to international mediation efforts in Syria in the face of terrible recent events, the representative of China, which hold’s the Council presidency for the month, said this afternoon.

With the start of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Brazil looming, countries were still far from agreeing on a summit declaration or plan of action, a civil society activist said today at a Headquarters press conference.

A broad commitment to the “rebirth of Somalia” had been evident in Istanbul, where business leaders, civil society representatives, traditional elders and international partners had been meeting since yesterday to discuss the end of that country’s transition process, said a top official from the Somali Permanent Mission to the United Nations at a Headquarters press conference today.

Nations meeting in Rio this month must come together on ambitious sustainable development goals backed by specific implementation agreements to ensure the survival of oceans, the decent subsistence of farmers whose fields were drying up and other urgent priorities, representatives of non-governmental organizations said this morning.

Cohesive global action was needed to support the world’s refugees and internally displaced people, whose numbers were rising dramatically due to an emerging “multiplication of factors”, said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees today, as he launched the agency’s 2012 report.

Marking the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, the Organization’s top peacekeeping officials today paid tribute to the 112 blue helmets that had lost their lives in 2011 — as well as the 37 killed in the line of duty since the beginning of 2012 — and praised “blue helmets and blue berets” for effectively carrying out their duties in challenging security environments.

The concept of South-South cooperation was alive and well and moving into a more dynamic phase as Member States debated their ideas regarding which direction to take the concept going forward, the President of the United Nations High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation, John Ashe, said today at a Headquarters press conference in the lead-up to the launch of a South-South cooperation exchange mechanism by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).