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Sudanese Government forces, allied Janjaweed militias and rebel groups are guilty of serious human rights abuses and violations of international law in Darfur, where murders, rapes, acts of torture and arbitrary arrest occur with chilling frequency, the head of the United Nations High-Level Mission said today as she presented her report to the Human Rights Council.

Welcoming reports that negotiations for a Palestinian national unity government have been completed, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today he hoped the new administration would respect existing agreements and reflect widely held principles on the conflict in the Middle East.

Security in West Africa is improving, especially in Sierra Leone and Liberia, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in his latest regional report to the Security Council, but he adds that despite progress the situation remains fragile and reforms are urgently needed, particularly in the security sector.

Hundreds of millions of people around the world won the right to vote or were vaccinated, offered refugee protection or given emergency food relief during 2005 because of the work of the United Nations and the European Union (EU), according to the first detailed report on the partnership between the two organizations.

The appeals chamber of the United Nations war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia today dismissed the appeal of a Croatian journalist found guilty of contempt for publishing closed session transcripts and part of a witness statement.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today received his Special Envoy’s plan for the future status of Kosovo – the ethnic Albanian majority Serbian province that the United Nations has run since Western forces drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 amid ethnic fighting – after efforts to reach a compromise with the two sides ended in deadlock.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today said he had told Sudan’s President that his reply to UN calls for speedy deployment of a United Nations-African Union (AU) hybrid force for Darfur was “not satisfactory,” while dissatisfaction is growing among Member States and intensive diplomacy continues in a bid to end the conflict in the strife-torn region.

No country is immune from human rights problems and therefore they can all benefit from cooperating frankly with international rights mechanisms, the top United Nations official for the subject said today.

The United Nations General Assembly today endorsed the major reform proposals put forward by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon upon taking office earlier this year, including the designation of a High Representative for Disarmament Affairs and the restructuring of peacekeeping functions to provide better planning, faster deployment and a more responsive process.

The senior United Nations envoy to Iraq today pledged the world body’s continued support for the war-torn country, especially through dialogue with its neighbours, while warning of the danger that would be posed by any additional conflicts in the already volatile region.