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Welcoming the improvement of relations between post-conflict Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and its neighbours, the United Nations Security Council today called on the DRC Government to turn its attention to promoting domestic human rights and accelerating the integration of irregular forces into military or civilian life.

The United Nations refugee agency said today it was continuing efforts to prepare Afghan refugees for the winter despite withdrawing international staff from southern and eastern border regions after the murder of one of its workers, but it did not see a speedy resumption of full operations without an improvement in security.

The International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq, a combination of two trust funds through which governments can contribute to the rebuilding of Iraq, was inaugurated today by the United Nations Development Group (UNDG) and the World Bank.

The transformation into an “information society” makes it imperative that countries work together to share the gains derived from information and communications technology (ICT) in order to help reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), according to United Nations officials speaking at the first-ever global summit on information.

Opening the first-ever global summit on information, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today appealed to world leaders to share the benefits of powerful information and communications technologies (ICT) with the poorest countries and to shape their use to fight worldwide problems such as illiteracy and poverty.

The United Nations system celebrated Human Rights Day around the world today, with Secretary-General Kofi Annan paying tribute to human rights defenders who “stand in the front lines of protection, casting the bright light of human rights into the darkest corners of tyranny and abuse.”

The global economy is showing increasing signs of a strengthening recovery this year, with growth expected to strengthen further in all major regions in 2004, according to a new United Nations report.

The United Nations General Assembly has postponed by a year any decision about an international convention on reproductive human cloning, while it has also adopted 41 resolutions and two decisions on subjects ranging from decolonization to outer space.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has asked the Security Council to extend the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Golan Heights, which has monitored the disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces in the area since 1974, for another six months.

The governing conference of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has approved a 2-year budget of $749 million, a cut of $51 million in real terms due to inflation and changes in currency exchange rates.