Europe

Kofi Annan

UN officials call for immediate release of Russian school hostages

1 September 2004
United Nations officials today strongly condemned the hostage-taking of hundreds of people, including many children, at a school in southern Russia, with Secretary-General Kofi Annan calling for their immediate release and an end to "this criminal act directed against the most vulnerable members of society."

Miloševic denies deliberately delaying genocide trial at UN tribunal

1 September 2004
The former Yugoslav President Slobodan Miloševic today denied deliberately altering his medicine intake to delay proceedings during his trial on charges of genocide and other war crimes at the United Nations-run International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Security Council urges States to help Russian authorities hunt hostage-takers

1 September 2004
Reacting to the unfolding hostage crisis in the Russian Federation, the United Nations Security Council convened an urgent meeting this evening to demand the unconditional release of the detained – who include numerous children – and to urge all governments to help bring to justice those involved in this and other recent terror attacks in the country.

Secretary-General condemns deadly terrorist bombing near Moscow subway station

31 August 2004
Expressing his dismay at "yet another terrorist attack in the Russian Federation," Secretary-General Kofi Annan denounced today's deadly bombing outside an underground railway station in Moscow.

UN team arrives in Cyprus to review mandate of long-running peace mission

30 August 2004
As the United Nations prepares to reappraise its activities in Cyprus, officials of the world body have arrived on the island to review the peacekeeping operation there, a UN spokesman reported today.
Louise Arbour

Judiciary must guard long-held principles in war on terrorism, UN says

27 August 2004
In the war against terrorism, the judiciary should not yield its long-accepted principles of safeguarding human rights to an executive using secrets to achieve unknown ends, the United Nations human rights chief said today.

Georgia: UNICEF rushes vaccines to children displaced from South Ossetia

25 August 2004
A week after fighting between government troops and separatist forces displaced thousands in the South Ossetia region of Georgia, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is rushing vaccines to immunize 1,600 evacuated youngsters against measles, mumps and rubella.
Kenenisa Bekele

UNICEF strikes gold with top racing Ethiopian Goodwill Ambassador

24 August 2004
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has struck gold with its Ethiopian Goodwill Ambassador for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in its battle to end stigma attaching to HIV/AIDS.
UNEP chief Klaus Toepfer

New oil operations in Barents Sea could compound pollution problems, UN warns

24 August 2004
Despite existing regulations and controls, the Arctic region's Barents Sea is being over-fished and endangered by massive nuclear waste storage, while expanded oil and gas operations could further pollute the area, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said today.

Kosovo's ethnic minorities need continuing protection, UN refugee agency warns

24 August 2004
Highlighting a surge in the number of murders of Kosovo Serbs over the past year, the United Nations refugee agency has issued three linked reports showing that inter-ethnic relations in the troubled province are so fragile that minority groups continue to need international protection from the threat of violence.