Public information

The Security Council today adopted an historic resolution on youth, peace and security, which for the first time in its history focuses entirely on the role of young men and women in peacebuilding and countering violent extremism.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Robert Lawrence Skinner of the United States as Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Washington, D.C.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, delivered by Lenni Montiel, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, to the second informal interactive consultation with stakeholders of the World Summit on the Information Society, in New York on 19 October:

NEW YORK, 16 October (Office of Information and Communication Technology) — The United Nations today announced that Cristian Felix has won the #VisualizeChange data challenge, which aims to engage the public in sharing ideas to reduce human loss and suffering from crisis by looking at data in new ways.  The competition is part of the activities linked to the upcoming World Humanitarian Summit and is hosted on the Unite Ideas platform.

As Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon travels to China to attend a commemorative event in Beijing marking the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War, the United Nations Department of Public Information has announced that the flagship United Nations handbook, Basic Facts about the United Nations, is being published today in Chinese for the first time in nearly 29 years.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the United Nations Academic Impact-ELS Many Languages One World Student Forum, delivered by Cristina Gallach, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, in New York today:

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s remarks at the Security Council open debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict:  protection of journalists in conflict situations, in New York today:

ASTANA, 27 May — The 2015 International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East concluded today, with two panel discussions that explored how social media both hindered and advanced audiences’ acceptance of Israeli-Palestinian narratives, as speakers throughout the day analysed the media’s role in promoting a facts-based discourse about the recent conflict in Gaza.

ASTANA, 26 May — The United Nations would spare no effort in supporting the quest for peace in the Middle East, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told participants in a two-day international media seminar today, stressing that a free, pluralistic media was essential in covering both the Israeli-Palestinian story and broader regional dynamics in a fast-paced digital world.