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A new law which complicates the process for labourers to acquire work permits in Kazakhstan risks reversing recent gains made by the Central Asian country in its fight against slavery, a United Nations human rights expert warned today.

The head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, today nominated Saudi Arabian researcher Hayat Sindi as a Goodwill Ambassador to support science education, especially among girls.

The United Nations must focus on achieving results rather than process, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird, told the UN General Assembly today, noting that security issues in Syria and Iran trumped the world body’s procedural considerations.

A new United Nations report released today calls on governments to address the needs of older persons, who are now the fastest growing population segment worldwide, stressing that they will require adequate policies, strategies and laws to ensure their well-being.

Noting the global nature of the economic crisis, Mauritius’ Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Arvin Boolell, called for a coordinated response from enhanced United Nations institutions, in his address to the UN General Assembly today.

Addressing the General Assembly at UN Headquarters in New York, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minster, G. L. Peiris, today deplored the selective intervention in the internal affairs of some countries, stressing from the Assembly’s podium that conflict resolution must be based on the United Nations principle of the sovereign equality of States.

In his remarks to the General Assembly today, Oman’s Foreign Minister, Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, called on the United Nations to switch from managing the Middle East conflict to actively seeking a solution, stressing from the podium of the General Assembly that despite many previous resolutions the issue still remains a threat to world peace.

Top United Nations officials have underscored the need to better plan the world’s urban areas, where half of the global population currently resides, to turn the ideal of sustainable and inclusive cities into reality.

Attempts to bring peace to Syria will need other countries to stop providing weapons to armed groups in the Middle Eastern country’s ongoing conflict, the Syrian Deputy Prime Minister, Walid Al-Moualem, told the United Nations General Assembly today.

Describing terrorism as one of the most “potent threats” to international peace, India’s Minister of External Affairs, S. M. Krishna, used his address before the United Nations General Assembly today to call for universal rejection of acts of terror and piracy.