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The panel of experts monitoring the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) today wrapped up its latest session after examining compliance reports by the Central African Republic and the United States and, for the first time, a United Nations peacekeeping operation – the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

Announcing plans for a meeting on Monday of potential troop contributors to a United Nations stabilization force in southern Lebanon, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today it was time for “concrete, practical steps” to end the hostilities in the region and protect civilians from further attack.

In the battle against the heroin trade from Afghanistan, which produces almost all the world’s supply, the United Nations drug agency is joining an international effort to train Afghan and Central Asian enforcement officers, as around one fifth of the total output of the illicit narcotic is smuggled through these neighbouring five republics to Russia and elsewhere in Europe.

The United Nations Compensation Commission, which settles the damage claims of those who suffered losses due to Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, today announced the disbursement of about $396.5 million, bringing the total paid out to date to nearly $21 billion.

Sri Lanka’s Government and separatist Tamil Tigers should resume peace talks and create the conditions necessary for more than 300,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return home because they have been enduring a conflict that has lasted over 20 years, the head of the United Nations refugee agency said while visiting the country.

The professional sumo wrestler known as Hakuho has become the first Mongolian to be designated an Artist for Peace by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in recognition of his work helping young people in East Asia.<

A high-level United Nations team has arrived in Nepal aiming to forge a “common understanding” about the scope and nature of a UN role in the peace process in the strife-torn Himalayan kingdom, with the head of the mission stressing it will take into account views from all sectors of society.

Just a few a days ahead of historic elections planned for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a major rebel coalition plaguing the eastern part of the country has agreed to put down its weapons in a breakthrough brokered by the United Nations.

The United Nations and the Iraqi Government announced today the formal launch of the International Compact with Iraq, a new partnership with the international community that aims to consolidate peace and pursue political, economic and social development over the next five years in the violence-torn country.

The senior United Nations envoy to Somalia today wrote to the chairman of the Executive Council of Islamic Courts in the troubled country to reiterate his call for the resumption of peace talks with the Transitional Federal Government, a UN spokesman said.