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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed today the decision by the United States Government to release 6,000 inmates from federal penitentiaries in an effort to ease overcrowding in prisons and provide a degree of redress for persons who received disproportionately long sentences for non-violent drug-related offences.

A United Nations expert on torture today urged the Government of Ghana to step up its effort to implement recommendations issued after a mission to the country in November 2013, when deep concerns about the situation of overcrowding in prisons and other rights violations were voiced.

The United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, has welcomed the latest statements by the Houthis reaffirming their acceptance of a UN Security Council resolution aimed at ending the country’s months-long conflict, the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

Marking International Walk to School Day, Jean Todt, the United Nations Special Envoy for Road Safety, has is calling for urgent action to halt road deaths and traffic accidents, which, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), kill some 500 children a day.

The genome sequences of thousands of rice varieties have been placed with a United Nations-backed treaty on plant genetics by the world’s leading rice research institute to help boost plans to set up a global data exchange for crop genetic resources, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned today the killing of a ‘blue helmet’ from the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), which occurred yesterday in the capital, Bangui.

The top United Nations official in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) told the UN Security Council today that he cannot say with certainty whether the progress attained in the country is sustainable, or whether violence will erupt again and reverse what has been achieved so far.

The United Nations today launched the Revised Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, dubbed the ‘Nelson Mandela Rules,’ which Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed as “a great step forward” but also drew attention to three areas that could be strengthened from a human rights perspective.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the election of Lee Hoesung of the Republic of Korea as Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Mr. Hoesung will guide the Panel’s work of assessing the science related to climate change.

The United Nations' most senior refugee official is appealing to the international community to refocus its attention on Afghanistan, warning that it would be dangerous to ignore the country, and praised Iran and Pakistan for hosting so many Afghan refugees.