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The United Nations human rights office in Colombia has called on the authorities to take urgent measures to stop a wave of apparent extrajudicial executions after 25 bodies were found in the north of the country.

Corruption, bribery, money-laundering and the transfer of illegally-derived funds all obstruct progress towards reaching the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight anti-poverty targets with a 2015 deadline, especially in Africa, a senior Libyan official told the General Assembly today.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has strongly condemned today’s terrorist attack in the Lebanese city of Tripoli, and urged the people of the Middle East nation to forge ahead with national reconciliation efforts in spite of the violence.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for a change of pace and direction in Afghanistan, where the worsening security situation is hampering the efforts of the Government, the United Nations and international partners to rebuild the strife-torn nation.

Rampant piracy off the Somali coast, demonstrated by the latest hijacking of a Ukrainian ship carrying heavy weapons, can be likened to so-called ‘blood diamonds,’ the illicit trafficking in gems used to finance civil wars in West Africa in recent years, the top United Nations envoy for the strife-torn Horn of Africa country said today.

Myanmar could become the rice bowl of its region and provide energy to other countries if “immoral” sanctions against it were lifted, the country’s Foreign Minister told the General Assembly today.

Ecuador spoke out against the European Union’s policy on migration during the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate today, stressing the need to protect the right of people to move freely.

A major boost in efforts to reduce the fall-out from natural disasters is vital as climate change ushers in harsher weather extremes, from fiercer droughts to more devastating flooding and landslides, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned today.

The principles and the work of the United Nations are needed more than ever as the world confronts an array of major challenges and crises, several countries told the final day of the General Assembly’s annual General Debate today, urging stronger global leadership from individual States and continued UN reform.

The lack of a permanent African member on the Security Council, even though the continent represents a large amount of the 15-member panel’s work, “remains a travesty of justice,” South Africa’s Foreign Minister told the General Assembly today.