rights

Women living in rural areas in many parts of the world face severe deprivations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today in a message on the International Day of Rural Women calling for greater support of their rights.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has hailed the first-ever law recognizing children's rights launched today in Southern Sudan, extolling the Government for its efforts to create a society in which children can grow and develop to their full potential.

A landmark treaty adopted 20 years ago has transformed the way the world views children but greater efforts are needed to ensure that their rights are protected and advanced, the United Nations human rights chief said today.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today paid tribute to the late Lucille Mathurin Mair, a distinguished Jamaican diplomat and leading women’s rights advocate, who was also the first woman to be appointed as an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations.

The Holocaust provides important lessons for the present, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, stressing the necessity to bolster the forces of harmony and dialogue.

Stressing that homophobia has no place in the response to the AIDS epidemic, the United Nations today deplored the jailing of nine gay men who were members of a group working to provide condoms and HIV treatment in Senegal, and said it is working with a coalition of partners to ensure their release.