At the Human Rights Councils special session on Sri Lanka last week, High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said that investigating abuses allegedly committed against civilians by both the Government and LTTE will help the country transition into a new future. "There are strong reasons to believe that both sides have grossly disregarded the fundamental principle of the inviolability of civilians," Pillay had stated.
United Nations chief Ban Ki-Moon on Monday said the presence of one billion hungry people in the world was unacceptable and noted that farmers are the 'heart and soul' of food security and poverty reduction.Speaking at the World Food Summit that kicked off today at Rome, Ban said, "They (farmers) need seeds and extension services. They need secure water supplies, they need better market access and fairer trade. We must resist protectionism."
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor recently made his first foray to the United Nations -- where he had served for more than two decades as Under Secretary General of Communications -- over two-and-a-half years after his unsuccessful bid for the position of UN Secretary General.
Concerned over the political turmoil in Pakistan, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on the country's leaders to engage in "honest dialogue" to resolve their differences.
During talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Principal Secretary T K A Nair, Ban inquired about India's views on climate change both in terms of the developments at the national level and the climate summit to be held at the headquarters, next week, Indian authorities said on Thursday.
"I made clear to President (Mahinda) Rajapaksa that I intend to move forward on a Group of Experts which will advise me on setting the broad parameters and standards on the way ahead on establishing accountability concerning Sri Lanka," Ban told media-persons I New York, referring to a conversation he had with Sri Lankan President on Thursday.
Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has been selected as a member of the United Nations' high-level panel on global sustainability.
Against the backdrop of Pakistan's opposition to American drone strikes, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said the pilotless aircraft should be used only for gathering intelligence.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban ki Moon on Tuesday said he had impressed upon top Pakistani leadership, including President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani that they should fully cooperate with India and thoroughly investigate the Mumbai terrorist attacks. Addressing a press conference on returning from his visit to India and Pakistan, he said the Pakistani leaders had 'committed to me that they will fully cooperate' with India in the investigation
The Mumbai attacks came up for discussion when UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday, with the Indian side apprising him about Pakistani linkages to the terror strikes and urging him to press Islamabad to cooperate.
Making an aggressive move on its foreign policy front, the new United States administration has reached out to key world leaders, with President Barack Obama himself calling heads of the states of Canada, Saudi Arabia and Britain, besides United Nations chief Ban Ki-Moon.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reached out to as many as 21 foreign leaders including Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon joined other senior United Nations officials in urging countries to refocus attention on human rights in the fight against terrorism, as experts began considering innovative ways to combat the global scourge.
In a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the President of the UN Security Council Ruhakana Rugunda, Israel accused an Indian contingent of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) of having done nothing to prevent the demonstrators from crossing the border and even cooperating with the group, The Jerusalem Post reported.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said getting a binding agreement sealed on climate change was among his top priorities for the year after the Copenhagen conference that marked "an important step forward".
The US asked the Sri Lankan government to "take advantage" of the opportunity and accept an offer of a UN team that is probing alleged human rights abuses in the final months of the war with the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam. The UN on Tuesday announced that Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon had set up a three-member panel to look into alleged human rights violations during the final stages of the war against the LTTE in Sri Lanka.
Accusing the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon of "failing" to release the Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners in Myanmar, a rights group has dubbed his recent trip a "complete failure."
In a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and all member nations, Pakistan's Ambassador to the world body Abdullah Hussain Haroon has said, building up circumstantial evidence has resulted in some of the costliest mistakes by mankind, the latest example being the US intervention in Iraq.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on Saturday witnessed the conditions of tens of thousands of displaced Tamil civilians in northern Sri Lanka as he appealed to a triumphant government to 'heal the wounds' left by three decades of ethnic conflict. The Secretary General visited the camps in Vavuniya district today, where more than 300,000 people are staying, after escaping from the battle lines between government forces and Tamil Tigers.
Terming India a "leading voice" in the developing world, the UN today said both India and Pakistan should continue their composite dialogue process to maintain peace in the subcontinent but ruled out withdrawal of its observer mission in both countries.
United Nations chief Ban Ki Moon on Friday came out strongly in support of the Nobel Peace Prize for United States President Barack Obama and termed the Norwegian Committee's decision 'a very wise' one. "The Nobel Peace Committee has made their decision, and this should be respected, and I wholeheartedly support it," he told journalists. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, "He has done nothing for peace in Afghanistan. We condemn the award."
Welcoming the $1.1 trillion package committed by the world leaders at the G-20 Summit in London, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has said the developing and poor countries must get the "crucial" funds to avert a human development crisis.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed concern over the escalating violence between government forces and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels in northern Sri Lanka and reminded the two parties of their obligation to ensure the safety of civilians.Ban's statement comes in the wake of Sri Lankan government's request that United Nations relief workers relocate from conflict affected areas.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has said that the country has taken a 'principled' stand on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and there is no scope for change in its position unless a number of other developments take place to address the concerns.This comes after a high-level conference on disarmament in the United Nations on Thursday, addressed by UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon, asked India and eight other countries to ratify the agreement.
The Federation of Indian American Christian Organisations of North America on Friday staged a protest outside the United Nations headquarters and urged Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to look into the 'naked violation' of human rights of Christians in Orissa.Holding placards with slogans that read 'Ban VHP,' 'Stop Burning Christians alive in Orissa,' and 'Deploy Army to Orissa to Christians,' the FIACONA activists staged a three-hour protest outside the UN.
US President Barack Obama will meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon next week in Washington to discuss a host of issues, including the global economic crisis, Sudan conflict and situation in Afghanistan and West Asia
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has promised the United Nations that his forces would protect Tamil civilians as it pushes ahead with its offensive to defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Rajapaksa gave this assurance over telephone to UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon, as his forces overran the last base of the sea Tigers near Mulaittivu, cutting off all their escape routes.
Talking about helping countries meet the Millennium Development Goals, he said, "This is not charity. It is solidarity." In an interconnected world, it is also an expression of enlightened self-interest since we are all in this together.
India is expected to share details of the Mumbai terror attacks with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Thursday when he meets External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and urge him to press Pakistan to cooperate.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has agreed to Pakistan's request to constitute an independent commission to inquire into the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on Sunday vowed to work towards a world free of weapons of mass destruction noting that there is a 'new window of opportunity for disarmament and non-proliferation.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday met UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during which he referred to raising of the Kashmir issue by his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif while implying that the global body was not the right forum to discuss it.
"India will continue to play a constructive and positive role, along with like-minded countries, to this end," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said while briefing on the talks Gambari had with Dr Singh, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon during his two-day visit to New Delhi since Monday.
There are now one billion hungry people on the globe, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said recently.
Iran has complained to the United Nations about the remarks of Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, who had said that the United States would totally obliterate the Islamic Republic, if it were to launch a nuclear attack on Israel. In a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Iranian Deputy Ambassador to the UN Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi described the statement as "provocative, unwarranted & irresponsible". "Iran would not hesitate to act in self-defense," he warned.
The theme for this year parliamentary hearing is to chart out methods of dealing with the global economic crisis.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Ajay Chhibber of India as United Nations Development Programme's assistant secretary-general, assistant administrator and director of its Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific.Chhibber replaced Hafiz Pasha, who finished his assignment in December last year.
With countries like the US restricting hiring of foreign workers on H-1B work visas, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday opposed imposition of restrictions on international migration.
Three years back they were rivals for the same job. Today, they were shaking hands in a meeting which, at least on surface, looked quite warm. United Nations Secretary-General Ban ki Moon shook hands with Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor in UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has sent his Chief of Staff Vijay Nambiar, a veteran Indian diplomat, to Colombo to speak with the government there about the humanitarian situation in war zones of Sri Lanka's north and to express the world body's concern over the matter.
The rich world continues to give lectures on energy conservation. But what is it doing itself?
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