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A United Nations independent expert today welcomed the Croatian Government’s efforts to uphold and protect the human rights of women by signing and ratifying relevant international human rights conventions, and through numerous other initiatives at the national level.

The degradation of natural resources negatively affects countries’ ability to repay their sovereign debts, a new United Nations report said today, stressing that sustainable resource management is needed to encourage medium- and long-term investments.

Global rice production for 2012 is expected to outpace consumption, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today, adding that improved weather patterns in Africa and Asia had contributed to the rebound in rice inventories.

The United Nations human rights chief today welcomed the renewed commitment by leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to universal human rights norms – but expressed concern that the regional body’s recently-adopted human rights declaration, the region’s first, retains language that is not consistent with international standards.

Fresh clashes in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) between fighters with the rebel 23 March Movement (M23) and the national army have forced thousands of displaced men, women and children to flee again, adding to what United Nations agencies say is an already dire humanitarian situation in which over 2.4 million people are internally displaced due to conflict.

The United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson, today stressed the need to address the causes of piracy with a “multi-dimensional approach” to ensure the safety of seafarers, fishermen and passengers and avoid damage to the fishing and tourism industries.

A United Nations relief official today called on Pakistan and its partners to increase investment in resilience measures that will allow the country to recover from natural disasters, such as floods and earthquakes, which have affected millions of people over the past years.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged Yemen to build on progress made over the last twelve months since the signing of a historic transition agreement which helped end violence in the country and set it on a path of democratic transition.

The principal judicial organ of the United Nations, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), today ruled that Colombia, and not Nicaragua, has sovereignty over seven disputed islands in the Caribbean Sea.

The top United Nations health official today emphasized the World Health Organization’s (WHO) independence in its work to set global standards and guidelines in the fight against obesity-related diseases, saying that recent media claims to the contrary are wrong.