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Government, employer and worker delegates announced the start of a “Decade of promoting decent work in the Americas” while addressing a deficit of 126 million jobs in Latin countries as a quadrennial regional meeting of the United Nations labour agency drew to a close in Brasilia today.

The independent United Nations envoy on hunger today called on countries to honour their obligations under a global treaty and work alongside the authorities in Sudan to help feed the millions of Sudanese in need, after the UN World Food Programme (WFP) was forced to cut its rations following a huge shortfall in funds.

More than 200,000 very poor livestock farmers will benefit from a $20 million loan from the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to boost animal production and improve community infrastructure and veterinary services.

The United Nations General Assembly today elected 47 members of the recently established UN Human Rights Council – a move immediately welcomed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan as an opportunity for a fresh start as the new body replaces the much criticized and now defunct Human Rights Commission.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on the world community to follow up on last week’s peace accord between the Sudanese Government and the main rebel group in Darfur by establishing a muscular UN peacekeeping force and providing immediate aid to prevent hundreds of thousands more people dying.

Nearly 250 Palestinians stranded at the Iraq-Jordan border for the past two months were allowed into Syria today, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) reported.

Given the global threat posed by HIV/AIDS, malaria and emergent epidemics such as avian flu, holistic health systems must be built around the world, especially in developing countries, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today.

A UN spokesman announced today that the Foreign Ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan will participate in tomorrow’s high-level meeting of the of the Middle East diplomatic Quartet, the partnership of the United Nations, European Union (EU), Russia and the United States that is seeking a two-State solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Security Council committee monitoring the implementation by States of counter-terrorism measures contained in a Security Council resolution is bolstering its efforts to help countries put those requirements into practice, the Chairman of the body said today.

Reflecting persistent divisions among Member States on a package of reform proposals put forward by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the United Nations General Assembly held a recorded vote today to adopt a resolution welcoming Annan’s commitment to a stronger UN while at the same time reaffirming the Assembly’s “oversight role” in administrative and budgetary matters and requesting a series of follow-up reports to spell out the details of the proposed reform measures.