News

Latest from the UN News Centre

Assembly President calls on Israel, Palestinians to implement resolution on Gaza conflict

6 November  2009 - General Assembly President Ali Treki today urged Israel and the Palestinians to heed the body’s call to conduct credible investigations into charges that both sides were guilty of serious human rights violations during the conflict in the Gaza Strip at the start of the year.

General Assembly backs findings of UN report into Gaza conflict

5 November  2009 - The General Assembly today endorsed the report of the United Nations investigation which found that both Israeli forces and Palestinian militants were guilty of serious human rights violations during the conflict in the Gaza Strip at the start of the year.

General Assembly begins debate on UN rights probe into Gaza conflict

4 November  2009 - The General Assembly today began its debate on the report of the United Nations probe which found that both Israeli forces and Palestinian militants were guilty of serious human rights violations during the Gaza conflict earlier this year.

General Assembly to consider UN probe into Gaza conflict next week

30 October  2009 - The General Assembly will meet on 4 November to consider the report of the United Nations fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict, which found evidence that both Israel and the Palestinians committed serious war crimes during the hostilities earlier this year.

UN Secretariat seeks more than $5 billion to cover work for next two years

29 October  2009 - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today proposed a budget of just over $5 billion to cover the work of the United Nations Secretariat for the next two years, telling a General Assembly committee that only a slight increase over the budget is needed despite increased demands for the UN’s services.

General Assembly again calls for lifting of United States embargo against Cuba

29 October  2009 - The General Assembly has voted for the 18th consecutive year to condemn the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba for the past half century and called for it to be lifted.

General Assembly elects 22 new members of UN Economic and Social Council

26 October  2009 - The General Assembly today elected 22 countries to serve on the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the principal organs of the United Nations and the body responsible for coordinating the economic, social and related work of various UN specialized agencies, regional commissions and functional commissions.

Iran: Ban troubled by reports of violent extinction of election protests in latest report

15 October  2009 - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was “deeply troubled” by reports of excessive force, arbitrary arrests and possible torture in the suppression of protests over the disputed Iranian presidential elections, in a report to the General Assembly on the country’s human rights situation that was released today.

Five countries set to run unopposed for non-permanent Security Council seats

14 October  2009 - The General Assembly is expected to elect Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Gabon, Lebanon and Nigeria as non-permanent members of the Security Council for two-year terms starting on 1 January next year.

New UN treaty signatures and ratifications reach four-year high

29 September  2009 - Sixty-four countries took 103 treaty actions at this year’s General Assembly General Debate – the highest participation in four years – in what has become an annual United Nations event to muster support for a whole raft of conventions ranging from protecting human rights to fighting terrorism to fighting climate change.

News