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August 6
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon participates in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony in Japan, becoming the first UN Secretary-General to do so.
August 9
August 12
International Youth Day
August 19
World Humanitarian Day
September 20-22
UN MDG Summit, a high-level meeting on the Millennium Development Goals, takes place in New York | |
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Secretary-General's Reports
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File Photo: Lynn Pascoe, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, briefs correspondents after a meeting of the Security Council. Mr. Pascoe was in Washington on July 26 to speak at a Brookings Institution event. |
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In Washington, UN official stresses value of preventive diplomacy in conflict solving
Preventive diplomacy and mediation are an effective means of resolving crises across the world, the top United Nations political official said during a visit to Washington, adding that the organization is increasingly resorting to the use of diplomacy to defuse tensions before they escalate into conflict.
 "Member states are seeking better tailored approaches all along the conflict cycle, and in doing so they are having a fresh look at an old art - diplomacy and mediation - that had somehow become less fashionable than other UN instruments," B. Lynn Pascoe, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, said in a speech at the Brookings Institution on July 26, a non-profit public policy organization based in Washington.
"Ideally we want to prevent violence from erupting in the first place. But even if that fails, robust diplomacy and mediation is still required to end the fighting through negotiations and then to help countries navigate the difficult politics of reconciliation and rebuilding," Mr. Pascoe said. "Too many nations fail in this last stage, and slide right back into conflict," he added.
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Security Council voices support for Afghan-led transition to stability
The Security Council welcomed the commitments made last week by the Afghan government towards greater security, improved governance and tackling corruption, and called on the international community to support the country's efforts.
 "The members of the Council looked forward to the timely implementation of these commitments," Ambassador Joy Ogwu of Nigeria, which holds the rotating Council presidency for this month.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon briefed the Council on his visit to Afghanistan earlier last week and his participation in the Kabul Conference held on July 20.
Top officials from more than 60 countries, as well as international and regional organizations and financial institutions, attended the meeting, the first international gathering on Afghanistan to be held inside the country.
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Cambodia: Khmer Rouge official found guilty of atrocities by UN-backed court
Three decades after nearly 2 million people perished under Khmer Rouge rule in Cambodia, a United Nations-backed tribunal issued its first verdict on July 26, finding the former head of a notorious detention camp guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
 Kaing Guek Eav, whose alias is Duch, was sentenced to 35 years in prison by the trial chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).
The first person to stand trial before the court, he headed the S-21 camp, also known as Tuol Sleng, where numerous Cambodians were unlawfully detained, subjected to inhumane conditions and forced labor, tortured and executed in the late 1970s.
"He worked tirelessly to ensure that S-21 ran as efficiently as possible and did so out of unquestioning loyalty to his superiors," according to a news release issued by the ECCC today.
The trial chamber found that Mr. Kaing not only implemented, but also actively contributed to the development of the policies of the Communist Party of Kampuchea at S-21.
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More Haitian children to be vaccinated in UN backed campaign
The United Nations and its partners are aiming to reach an additional 500,000 Haitian children during a second round of emergency immunizations in the Caribbean nation that was struck by a devastating earthquake just over six months ago.
 The second round of immunizations will consist of diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), measles, rubella and polio, Marco Jimenez of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) told reporters in Geneva.
More than 275,000 children have been immunized so far against major vaccine preventable diseases, according to UNICEF, which noted that there are few places in the world today where children are as vulnerable as they are in Haiti.
The country is reeling from the January 12 quake which killed more than 200,000 people and caused severe destruction and damage in large swathes of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and other areas.
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Week in Pictures
UNRWA Children Attempt Guinness Record at Summer Games
July 22, 2010 - In an event dubbed the Great Global Gaza Bounce, more than 7,200 children of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Summer Games gather in Gaza City in a bid to set the Guinness World Record for the largest simultaneous basketball bounce. With 7,203 balls dribbled, the UNRWA campers' record is more than double the one set in the U.S. state of Indiana in 2007. UNRWA's Summer Games, now in their fourth year, engage more than a quarter of a million refugee children across Gaza in such activities as sports, arts and crafts, theatre and drama. As the largest recreation program for Gaza's children, it is providing 1,200 summer camps for the duration of the Games, which run from June 12 through August 5 this year. UN Photo/Shareef Sarhan
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July 19, 2010 - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) and Staffan de Mistura, his Special Representative for Afghanistan, are greeted by children as they make their way to the Afghan Foreign Ministry in capital Kabul, where they attended the Kabul International Conference on Afghanistan. UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein
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Did You Know...
The United Nations vaccinates 40 percent of the world's children, saving 2 million lives a year.
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About the United Nations in Washington
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