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May 31, 2010 - Oscar Fernandez-Taranco (right), Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, addresses an emergency meeting of the Security Council regarding Israel's deadly interception of a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid convoy in which at least 10 aid workers were killed. UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz |
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Security Council condemns deadly raid on Gaza aid ships
The Security Council has condemned Monday's deadly Israeli military interception of a convoy of aid ships bound for Gaza, calling for a "prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation."
At least ten people were killed when Israeli forces took control of a six-ship flotilla on May 31 in international waters, according to press reports. The convoy was said to have been carrying educational, medical and construction materials, as well as hundreds of activists from different countries.
 In the run-up to the May 31 incident, which was also condemned by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other United Nations officials, Israel has stated it would not let the vessels reach Gaza. The UN urged last week "that all involved act with a sense of care and responsibility and work for a satisfactory resolution."
The 15-member body called on Israel to immediately release the ships and civilians sailing on them, allow the countries involved to retrieve their deceased and wounded, and ensure the delivery of the humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The Council stressed that "the situation in Gaza is not sustainable," again voicing its "grave concern" over the humanitarian situation in the area and emphasizing the need for the regular movement of goods and people.
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At International Criminal Court review conference, Ban declares end to 'era of impunity'
More than one decade after the International Criminal Court (ICC) was set up, a new "age of accountability" is replacing the "old era of impunity," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has underlined.
 Twelve years ago when world leaders gathering in Rome for its establishment, "few could have believed, then, that this court would spring so vigorously into life," Mr. Ban said at the first-ever review conference of the ICC held in Kampala, Uganda.
The gathering, the Secretary-General said, marks an occasion to bolster "our collective determination that crimes of humanity cannot go unpunished."
The new "age of accountability," he noted, dawned with the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals, gaining strength with tribunals for Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone, Cambodia and Lebanon.
Former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic and former Liberian leader Charles Taylor are among those who have already been called to justice. "Not long ago," the Secretary-General said, "this would have been unimaginable."
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IAEA chief welcomes outcome of nuclear treaty review conference
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has welcomed the unanimous adoption at the end of the latest review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of a document which, among other things, contains steps towards achieving a nuclear-free Middle East.
 The final document of the five-yearly gathering, issued on Friday, called on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the co-sponsors of a 1995 resolution proposing a Middle East free of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction to convene a conference to be attended by all States in the region.
Director General Yukiya Amano said he was "delighted" that the conference "gave full support to all the areas of work of the IAEA that are relevant to the three pillars of the NPT: preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, the promotion of safe and secure use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and nuclear disarmament."
He noted that the month-long gathering's success "is particularly important as it can enhance confidence in the nuclear non-proliferation regime, which in turn will provide the IAEA with a stronger basis for its work in all areas."
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Nothing stylish or beautiful about smoking, Secretary-General tells women
Describing tobacco as "ugly and deadly," United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging women around the world to refrain from the substance even as they were increasingly targeted by advertisers who used gimmicks to associate smoking with beauty and gender liberation.
 "Tobacco is not stylish or empowering," the Secretary-General stressed in his message to mark World No Tobacco Day, whose focus this year is tobacco and gender in a bid to discourage the trend in which more young women are being lured to start smoking.
According to a recent study by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), the number of girls and boys who smoked was about equal in half in the 151 countries where the survey was carried out. More girls used tobacco than boys in some of the countries, including Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Cook Islands, Croatia, Czech Republic, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria and Uruguay, the agency said.
Although fewer than one in 10 women smoke, that still adds up to 200 million women around the world, according to WHO, which also reports that more than 1.5 million women die of smoking-related causes across the world every year. That toll could rise to 2.5 million women by 2030, the Secretary-General warned.
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Week in Pictures
Meeting with Families of Fallen Brazilian Peacekeepers
May 27 - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (center) reviews an honor guard of Brazilian peacekeepers, as he arrives at the Forte do Leme in Rio de Janeiro to meet with families of Brazilian UN troops killed in Haiti's January 12 earthquake. The UN observed the eighth annual International Day of UN Peacekeepers on May 29. UN Photo/Evan Schneider
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Jane Goodall Delivers Lecture on "Nature's Wake-up Call" in Geneva
May 26 - Jane Goodall, UN Messenger of Peace and Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, delivers the fourth lecture in the Geneva Lecture Series, entitled "Nature's wake-up call: why we must heed the warning", at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. UN Photo/Jess Hoffman
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