Only the nations of the world could decide the fate of thousands of landmines, weapons and ammunition stockpiles scattered across Libya, said Max Dyck, Programme Manager of the Joint Mine Action Coordination Team in Libya, at a Headquarters press conference today. He was joined by Justin Brady, Acting Director, United Nations Mine Action Service.
In progress at UNHQ
Press Conference
Faiza Patel, Chair of the Human Rights Council’s Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination, told correspondents today about the Working Group’s visits to Equatorial Guinea, South Africa and Iraq.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees today concluded a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at strengthening further their already existing joint cooperation in combating human trafficking, migrant smuggling and criminal abuse of refugees in key areas of their work in Latin America, the Gulf of Aden, Afghanistan and bordering countries, and North Africa.
As the world population officially reached 7 billion today, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for global solidarity to address pressing problems of climate change, economic crisis and inequality in order to make the world a better place for current and future generations. He pledged to work towards those aims this week during the Group of Twenty (G-20) Summit in Cannes.
As the United Nations launched the International Year of Cooperatives (2012) today, panellists at a Headquarters press conference laid out the benefits that financial institutions and other businesses using the cooperative business model could bring to a troubled global economy.
Cutting social protection programmes as part of fiscal austerity measures could weaken recovery from the global economic crisis, as they were integral to stabilizing labour markets, maintaining human rights and stimulating aggregate demand, Michelle Bachelet, Chairperson of the Social Protection Floor Advisory Group and Executive Director of UN Women said today at a Headquarters press briefing.
Cultures around the world - while vibrant and diverse - were in fact the legacy of a common humanity, said officials of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Permanent Mission of Mongolia to the United Nations at a headquarters press conference today.
Five days before the world’s population would top the 7-billion mark, The State of the World Population 2011 was launched today at United Nations Headquarters, with two of its authors calling for planning and investment in development strategies that were sustainable and which would provide opportunities for all in a world that was rapidly becoming more complex, mobile and urban.
The United Nations top humanitarian official this afternoon urged the international community to bolster relief aid to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, where an estimated 6 million people now relied on food donations for survival.
As the role of secondary education in reducing poverty, spurring economic growth, increasing wages and fostering healthy behaviour gained traction, secondary-school enrolment was rising from Algeria to Zambia, according to a publication released at Headquarters today by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).