Ban Ki-moon proposes restructuring to enhance UN’s peace, disarmament work
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today presented proposals to Member States aimed at improving the Organization’s peacekeeping and disarmament work.
States agree Ban Ki-moon’s UN reform plans need support – Arab League official
United Nations Member States agree that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deserves their backing for his plans to restructure the Organization’s peacekeeping and disarmament operations so that he can focus on tackling pressing international crises and global challenges, an official from the League of Arab States said today.
Condemning rising violence in Iraq, UN envoy urges fresh thinking
Reacting against rising bloodshed in Iraq, the senior United Nations envoy there today called on the country's people to display the far-sighted leadership needed to find a way out of the current crisis.
Afghanistan: UN voices concern at possible impunity for human rights abusers
The top United Nations human rights official voiced concern today that the national stability plan passed by Afghanistan’s lower house of Parliament this week could lead to past serious human rights violations going unpunished, undermining efforts to secure long-term peace in the war-torn country.
Kosovo to have right to govern itself, join international bodies under UN plan
The Albanian-majority Serbian province of Kosovo will have the right to govern itself and conclude international agreements, including membership in international bodies, with an international civilian and military presence supervising the new arrangements and helping to ensure peace and stability, under United Nations plans released today.
Lebanon: new commander of UN peacekeepers takes over
Italian Major General Claudio Graziano today took over command of the enhanced 12,000-member-strong United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon overseeing the cessation of hostilities agreement that ended last summer’s 34-day war between Israel and Hizbollah.
Insecurity in Chad plays havoc with efforts to aid hundreds of thousands – UN
Rampant insecurity continues to wreak havoc on humanitarian activities across eastern Chad, disrupting access to hundreds of thousands of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) and putting further strain on field teams already reduced in strength due to security considerations, the United Nations refugee agency warned today.
UN tourism agency sets up Internet platform for socially conscious travellers
Socially conscious travellers will now be able to use a secure Internet network to exchange information on ethical tourism that seeks to promote sustainable development and help poor communities around the world under a new project of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
Evidence is now ‘unequivocal’ that humans are causing global warming – UN report
Changes in the atmosphere, the oceans and glaciers and ice caps now show unequivocally that the world is warming due to human activities, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in new report released today in Paris.
UN refugee agency welcomes Australian visa for long-term Iraqi refugee
The United Nations refugee agency has welcomed Australia’s decision to grant a permanent visa this week to an Iraqi refugee whom it had detained on the Pacific island nation of Nauru for five years.