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With Latin America and the Caribbean registering the world’s highest rate of forest loss over the past 15 years, regional experts at a week-long United Nations-sponsored meeting have launched a new public-private initiative to collect case studies of best management to prevent further degradation.

The United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) today issued an arrest warrant against Branko Djeric, a former Prime Minister of Republika Srpska, the Bosnian Serb-dominated entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to face charges of contempt of court.

Fresh from her most recent victory at the French Open, Belgian tennis star Justine Hénin-Hardenne was today enlisted to promote the fight against doping in sports by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which appointed her one of its Champions for Sport.

Warning that the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are continuing to “recruit and use child soldiers” in Sri Lanka and highlighting allegations of “grave violations” against children by all parties in the conflict, the United Nations Special Representative for Children affected by armed conflict said today she was appointing a Special Adviser to undertake a fact-finding mission to the island.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan leaves this week for a five-nation trip to Africa, and then an official visit to Germany, during which he will attend the African Union (AU) Summit in Banjul, the Gambia, his spokesman announced today.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Envoy for Timor-Leste today conferred with a leading member of the governing party on the first full day of his mission to assess the need for an increased United Nations presence after violence tore through the small South-East Asian nation.

Two Nepalese peacekeepers serving with the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) were released today following nearly a month in captivity but five of their fellow blue helmets are still being held.

Millions of displaced persons in Colombia do not enjoy the full rights to which they are entitled under the country’s “commendable” laws and policies, a top United Nations expert on the issue said after a mission there that ends today.

Despite recent rains in the drought-ravaged Horn of Africa, the “crisis is not over” in the region and millions still need international assistance, the top United Nations relief official responsible for Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Djibouti said today, calling also for the authorities in these countries to do more to deal with future droughts.

The top United Nations envoy in Burundi said today he remained confident that a final ceasefire would be signed between the Government and the last hold-out rebel faction despite reported rebel “second thoughts” in the small Central African country that has been torn by decades of ethnic and factional fighting.