Europe

Youth at UN-backed conference to discuss harnessing technology to save environment

24 August 2007
More than 180 young people from 85 countries will meet in Germany next week in a United Nations-sponsored conference to discuss the ways in which technology can be used to promote environmental protection.

Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders to meet in September – UN

21 August 2007
Greek Cypriot leader H.E. Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader H.E. Mehmet Ali Talat will meet on 5 September at the official residence of the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the United Nations Protected Area in Nicosia, the island’s capital, it was announced today.

UN mission starts process for new local elections in Kosovo

16 August 2007
The United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) today kick started the process to conduct new local elections in the province, which the world body has run since western forces drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 amid ethnic fighting.

Ukraine agrees to enforce sentences imposed by UN war crimes tribunal

7 August 2007
Ukraine today became the 12th European country to agree to enforce a sentence imposed by the United Nations war crimes tribunal that was set up to deal with the worst crimes committed during the Balkan wars in the 1990s.
Ban Ki-moon

Ban Ki-moon endorses new initiative on determining Kosovo’s future status

1 August 2007
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed an agreement to have a troika comprised of the European Union, Russian Federation and United States lead further negotiations on the future status of Kosovo, the Serbian province administered by the United Nations since 1999.

Cyprus: UN mission welcomes European Commission’s support for de-mining projects

31 July 2007
The United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) today lauded the signing of a €4 million contract between the European Commission (EC) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to clear remaining mines inside the buffer zone patrolled by the world body.

With fires ravaging Mediterranean, UN agency urges preventive education programmes

30 July 2007
With record summer temperatures and hot dry winds turning parts of the Mediterranean into a tinder box, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has called for education programmes to reduce the risk of wildfires, up to 95 per cent of which are caused by people through arson and negligence.

Montenegro melts tanks into scrap in UN-backed demilitarization initiative

27 July 2007
Montenegro, the United Nations’ youngest member, has launched a new demilitarization initiative, ultimately aiming to slash nearly 12 thousand tons of heavy weaponry to 2,000 tonnes and cut the number of ammunition depots from 10 to three under a project co-sponsored by the world body.

Prosecutor for UN Yugoslav tribunal calls for apprehension of fugitives

25 July 2007
On the 12th anniversary of the first indictment against two Bosnian Serb leaders charged with genocide and crimes against humanity, the Prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) today reiterated her call for their apprehension.

Ban Ki-moon urges stronger Georgian-Abkhaz cooperation

23 July 2007
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for the Government and Abkhaz sides in Georgia to bolster cooperation on security, economic and humanitarian issues.