SECRETARY-GENERAL HAILS ANNIVERSARY OF COSTA RICA’S

ABOLITION OF ITS ARMED FORCES

Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s video message on the fifty-fifth anniversary of Costa Rica’s abolition of its armed forces, 1 December:

The Costa Ricans themselves have put it best.  Fifty-five years ago today, their country “declared peace to the world”.

SECRETARY-GENERAL REITERATES NEED FOR POLITICAL SOLUTION TO ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN

CONFLICT IN STATEMENT TO COMMITTEE

Each Side Wounds Itself by Harming the Other,

He Says in Message to Mark International Day of Solidarity

‘LET US LISTEN TO DISABLED PERSONS –- NOT JUST ON THIS DAY, BUT EVERY DAY’,

SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL IN MESSAGE ON INTERNATIONAL DAY

Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message on the International Day of Disabled Persons, observed 3 December:

SECRETARY-GENERAL, IN MESSAGE TO NOBEL PEACE LAUREATES, URGES THEM

TO MAKE THEIR VOICES HEARD IN REVIEW OF GLOBAL SECURITY

Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message to the Fourth World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, delivered by Shalini Dewan, Director, United Nations Information Centre, Rome, today, 28 November:

BEST WAY TO REMEMBER THOSE LOST IN WAR IS TO ‘REDEDICATE OURSELVES TO THE CAUSE

OF PEACE’, SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS WORLD VETERANS FEDERATION

Following is the message of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the twenty-fourth General Assembly of the World Veterans Federation, to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 1 December:

PEACE, END TO OCCUPATION, SECURITY FOR ISRAELIS ALL POSSIBLE, SECRETARY-GENERAL

SAYS ON INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINIANS

Following is the message of Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, 29 November:

‘INTOLERABLE AND UNACCEPTABLE’ PRACTICE OF SLAVERY HAS YET TO BE ERADICATED,

SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS IN INTERNATIONAL DAY MESSAGE

Following is the message of Secretary-GeneralKofi Annan on the occasion of the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, 2 December:

HUMANITARIAN PRINCIPLES OF CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS CONVENTION ‘TIMELESS’,

SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL, AS STATES PARTIES BEGIN GENEVA MEETING

Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message to the meeting of the States Parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, delivered by Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Director-General, United Nations Office in Geneva, in Geneva, 27 November:

SECRETARY-GENERAL UNDERSCORES IMPORTANCE OF CAREFUL MANAGEMENT IN MESSAGE

TO TOURISM FORUM FOR PEACE, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message to the World Tourism Forum for Peace and Sustainable Development, delivered by Carlos Lopes, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Brazil, today, 27 November:

SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR REVERSAL OF DECLINE IN RATIFICATIONS OF AMENDED

PROTOCOL ON USE OF MINES, BOOBY-TRAPS, OTHER DEVICES

Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message to the Fifth Annual Conference of the High Contracting Parties to Amended Protocol II to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons delivered in Geneva today, 26 November, by Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Director-General, United Nations Office in Geneva: