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With the kick-off of the United Nations post-2015 sustainable development agenda fast approaching, ministers and senior Government officials from across the globe have gathered in Cotonou, Benin, today to discuss how to strengthen the world’s 48 least developed countries to produce more goods and trade in international markets more efficiently.

Voicing grave concern over the reported access to and seizure of oilfields and pipelines in Syria and Iraq by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Jabhat Al-Nusra, the Security Council today underscored that there should be no trade in oil with these terrorist groups.

With preparations underway for the United Nations to take over from an African Union-led peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (CAR), the Security Council today requested Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to review what was done and how it could be done better in future transitions.

On the heels of a ten-day visit to Myanmar, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the country has urged authorities to avoid any backtracking that could threaten the achievements of the past few years.

The shooting down of a Malaysian Airlines plane over eastern Ukraine may amount to a war crime, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights today said today, releasing a new report that details a total breakdown of law and order and a reign of fear and terror inflicted by armed groups in the area.

The Security Council today commended the parties to the inter-Malian dialogue on the recent adoption of a roadmap and called on them to fully comply with their commitments, including by engaging in comprehensive peace talks.

With 1.4 million deaths every year attributed to acute and chronic liver disease, the United Nations health agency is marking World Hepatitis Day by calling on countries to intensify efforts to prevent, diagnose and treat one of the world’s most serious diseases.

Urging Israelis and Palestinians to stop the fighting now, “in the name of humanity”, United Nations Secretary-General has again joined the Security Council in calling on the parties to agree on an “immediate and unconditional” ceasefire, allowing for the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip.

Welcoming the broadly observed 12-hour humanitarian pause in the Gaza conflict, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon renewed his appeal to all parties to declare a week-long ceasefire as a prelude to restarting political negotiations.

The United Nations mission in Afghanistan strongly condemned the killing on Friday of civilians in the western province of Ghor, and called for a prompt investigation into the crime.