Press Conference

In the decade since the Security Council adopted its landmark resolution 1325, calling for higher levels of women’s involvement in peacemaking and peacebuilding, “unprecedented” tools had been put in place to advance that cause, but commitments must be met and resources harnessed for women’s views to really be represented in decisions affecting their lives, United Nations and civil society experts stressed today during a Headquarters press conference marking the resolution’s tenth anniversary.

The process leading to elections in Myanmar, planned for 7 November, could not be called inclusive or independent, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the South-East Asian country said at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

"World’s Women 2010: Trends and Statistics", launched today on the occasion of World Statistics Day showed overall progress in areas such as school enrolment, health, and economic participation, but made clear that more needed to be done in such areas as closing the gender gap in public life and violence against women, a top United Nations official told correspondents today at Headquarters.

Announcing the launch of the Global Research Benchmarking System at a Headquarters press conference today, Jean-Marc Coicaud, Director of the United Nations University, said that university performance was comprised of complex and informative components and, as such, more than numbers defined their ranking.

When women had access to the same rights and opportunities as men, they were more resilient to conflict and disaster, which could lead to better reconstruction efforts in their societies, according to Richard Kollodge, the editor of a United Nations Population Fund report launched at Headquarters today.

Calling upon States to “reconnect with the values” of the Convention against Torture, Claudio Grossman, Chairperson of the Committee against Torture, emphasized at Headquarters today the imperative of fighting attempts to make torture acceptable, particularly during emergency situations.

Recognizing that the global economic crisis had made it difficult for some Member States to hand over their contributions on time, the United Nations senior management official told correspondents today that the total unpaid assessed contributions for all categories of United Nations funds amounted to $4.1 billion.

In a press conference at Headquarters today, Mazlan Othman, Director of the Office for Outer Space Affairs and Deputy Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna, gave an overview of work being done on the peaceful uses of outer space through the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization Committee).

Ms. Yanghee Lee, Chairperson for the Committee on the Rights of the Child, highlighted new developments regarding protection and promotion of child rights, including ongoing work towards elaboration of a “groundbreaking” third optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, during the first ever press conference held on the Convention, which took place at Headquarters today.

A panel of nine global economic and political leaders would aim to nail down innovative ways to help develop the world’s poorest countries in the run-up to the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in Turkey next year, key members of the group said today at a Headquarters press conference.