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Marking the 55th anniversary of the international Convention against Genocide, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on the international community to strengthen its ability to prevent that horror and to take decisive measures against serious human rights violations that may foreshadow it.

As part of his campaign of United Nations reform, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed a panel of independent experts to explore redesigning its system of internal justice, a UN spokesman announced today.

With funding running out for the African Union’s force in Sudan’s troubled western Darfur region, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Security Council members today reviewed their options, including having the UN eventually take over the peacekeeping function.

Speaking at a conference in Geneva following up on the $4.5 billion United Nations Humanitarian Appeal for 2006, the head of the world body’s refugee agency today said aid must be channelled based on the real situation of the people affected and not media coverage or political factors.

The 170 States which have signed the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination today elected nine members of their 18-member monitoring committee to replace those stepping down this month.

Responding to Iran’s decision to end its suspension of uranium enrichment activities, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged Tehran’s key nuclear official to find a negotiated settlement and later briefed key countries on his diplomatic efforts.

After a year of significant commitments, this year must be a year of visible results, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today, calling on the “Group of 77” developing countries and China to pay particular attention to forging an early agreement on the new Human Rights Council.

As winter tightens its grip on the earthquake-affected mountainous areas near Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, staff of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) are distributing warm clothing to vulnerable young survivors.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed Lieutenant General Jasbir Singh Lidder of India the new force commander of the peacekeeping UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).

Secretary-General Kofi Annan today named a former Belgian prosecutor as the new head of the United Nations investigation into last year’s assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.