Press Conference

Announcing two new arrest warrants for serious crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said this afternoon that action on the warrants was critical to help end massacres of civilians in the eastern Kivu provinces of the vast country.

A new milestone for the rights of indigenous peoples — their first ever World Conference, slated for 2014 — was on the horizon, said leaders and activists at a Headquarters press conference today, noting that the meeting would offer a unique opportunity to create a framework for addressing the most pressing challenges facing indigenous peoples today.

The Asia-Pacific region will continue to be the fastest growing region in the world this year despite a drop in the growth rate from 7 per cent in 2011 to 6.5 per cent this year, correspondents heard at a Headquarters press conference to launch the 2012 Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific produced by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for that region (ESCAP).

To address the problem of violence against indigenous women and girls, Governments and United Nations agencies should compile disaggregated data on the scourge, which was institutional and structural in nature, but which also occurred at home and in the communities, correspondents heard at a Headquarters press conference.

The enduring impact of historical wrongs must be a priority for States as they reviewed their relationships with indigenous groups, emphasized leaders and activists at a Headquarters press conference marking the opening today of the eleventh annual United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

With roughly seven weeks left before the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), civil society activists expressed both frustration and expectations today at a Headquarters press conference, urging Member States to accelerate and energize negotiations.

Ahead of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development planned for June, representatives of international non-governmental organizations exchanged a variety of views on the idea of a “green economy” this morning at a Headquarters press conference.

Laying out the programme of work of the Security Council in May, under the first presidency of Azerbaijan, the country’s Permanent Representative this afternoon vowed to work to maintain unity among members for addressing the conflict in Syria and the many other complex situations the body was seized with.

Three quarters of the 1.1 million pre-term babies who died each year around the world could be saved with a few simple and inexpensive interventions, said experts today as they launched a new report on premature births during a Headquarters press conference.

With 24 out of the 300 United Nations military observers authorized by the Security Council for Syria already on the ground and the rest planned to arrive by the end of May, it was now up to all parties in the conflict-wracked Middle East country to stop the violence, which continued to take an unacceptable toll, the Organization’s peacekeeping head told correspondents this morning.