Americas

Secretary-General mourns deaths of senior Guatemalan officials

30 June 2008
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today voiced sadness over the deaths of two senior Guatemalan officials.
Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions

UN rights expert calls on United States to ensure death penalty is applied fairly

30 June 2008
The United States should take immediate steps to ensure that the death penalty is applied fairly and justly in states where it is practised, a United Nations human rights expert said today, voicing particular concern that officials in the state of Alabama “seem strikingly indifferent to the risk of executing innocent people.”

Ecuador opens new refugee office along border with Colombia with UN help

24 June 2008
The Government of Ecuador today opened its first refugee office along the border with Colombia with the support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Coca farmer tending his field in Convención-Lares, Peru

Coca cultivation in Andean countries on the rise, UN survey shows

18 June 2008
The head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is urging comprehensive, large-scale and ecologically-friendly agriculture and forestry schemes in coca growing areas, after a new survey shows a “marked increase” in cultivation in the Andean region.

Rural Guatemalans win financial support from UN agency

17 June 2008
The United Nations agency tasked with reducing rural poverty is lending $17 million to Guatemala to help authorities boost development in the Central American country’s central and eastern regions.
UNESCO Director-General, Koïchiro Matsuura

UNESCO chief welcomes literacy work of US First Lady Laura Bush

12 June 2008
The head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has welcomed the announcement by United States First Lady Laura Bush that she will host a second international literacy meeting in New York in her capacity as Honorary Ambassador for the UN Literacy Decade.
Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

UN human rights chief welcomes United States court ruling on Guantánamo Bay

12 June 2008
The United Nations human rights chief has welcomed today’s decision by the United States Supreme Court that the country’s constitution extends to foreigners being held in Guantánamo Bay and that they have the right to challenge their detention in the civilian court system.

UN workshop on tracing small arms opens in Brazil

11 June 2008
The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs opened a workshop today in Rio de Janeiro to help governments trace illicit small arms and light weapons.
José Luis Machinea, ECLAC Executive Secretary

Latin American, Caribbean nations must tackle effect of food crisis on poor – UN

11 June 2008
Mitigating the impact of rising food and fuel prices on low-income groups must be a priority for countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, a senior United Nations official has stressed at the start of a regional meeting taking place in Santo Domingo.

General Assembly President holds talks with senior Argentine official

11 June 2008
General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim and Argentina’s External Relations Minister Jorge Enrique Taiana have held talks today on issues ranging from the global food crisis to Security Council reform to key regional challenges.