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The United Nations leads international efforts in clearing landmines in more than 30 countries.
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August 6, 2010 - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) and Yukiya Amano, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), lay wreaths for the victims of the 1945 nuclear attack on Hiroshima at the annual Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony in Japan. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe |
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Achieving nuclear-weapon-free world is possible, Ban tells Hiroshima ceremony
Standing shoulder to shoulder with survivors of the bombing of Hiroshima, a deeply moved United Nations Secretary-General on Friday paid respect to all those who perished there 65 years ago and stressed that the time has come to realize the dream of a world free of nuclear weapons.
 "Together, we are on a journey from ground zero to global zero -- a world free of weapons of mass destruction," Ban Ki-moon said in remarks to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony held in Japan.
Mr. Ban, the first UN Secretary-General to take part in the ceremony, was one year old when the atomic bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, resulting in the deaths of more than 200,000 people.
More than 400,000 more people have died - and are continuing to die - since the end of the Second World War from the impacts of those bombs.
Mr. Ban has made nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation a top priority, and put forward a five-point plan in 2008 that includes recommendations on increasing security, verification, establishing a legal framework for nuclear disarmament, transparency and conventional weapons.
He will convene a Conference on Disarmament in New York in September, where he will push for negotiations towards nuclear disarmament.
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UN chief announces Israeli, Turkish members of inquiry panel into flotilla incident
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced the Israeli and Turkish members of the panel of inquiry on the May 31 incident involving a flotilla headed for Gaza after departing Turkey.
 Israel's Panel member Joseph Ciechanover and Turkey's Panel member Özdem Sanberk both "have distinguished records of public service," Mr. Ban said in a statement.
The Secretary-General said that he looks forward to meeting the men on August 10 in New York, when they will join the panel's other members: Geoffrey Palmer, Chair of the Panel and former Prime Minister of New Zealand, and Alvaro Uribe, Vice-Chair of the Panel and outgoing President of Colombia.
"As I said when announcing the panel, I hope the panel will fulfill its mandate based on the presidential statement of the Security Council and with the fullest cooperation of the relevant national authorities of the two countries," Mr. Ban said.
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Afghan civilian death toll jumps 31 percent due to insurgent attacks
A rise in insurgent attacks has led to a 31 percent increase in the number of civilians killed in Afghanistan in the first six months of 2010 compared with the same period in 2009, the United Nations said in a new report released on August 10.
 The total number of civilian casualties in the first six months of this year, according to the human rights section of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), is 3,268 - including 1,271 deaths and 1,997 injuries.
"The human cost of this conflict is unfortunately rising," Staffan de Mistura, the Secretary-General's Special Representative and head of UNAMA, said during a news conference in Kabul to present the 2010 Mid-Year Report on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict.
Of the total number of casualties, 2,477 were attributed to anti-government elements (AGEs), representing 76 percent of all casualties, up 53 percent from 2009, while 386 were attributed to pro-government forces (PGF) activities, representing 12 percent of all casualties, down from 30 percent in 2009.
The number of children killed or injured has risen 55 percent, along with 6 percent more women, over the same period last year, the report found.
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UN deliberating possible 'light presence' in Somali capital
With the African Union's peacekeeping mission in Somalia nearing its full capacity, the United Nation is now "seriously considering" the second of its three-part strategy in which the world body would have a light presence in the capital, Mogadishu, and other parts of the war-ravaged country, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.  AMISOM, the mission, is close to reaching the target of 8,000 authorized personnel, as mandated by the Security Council, which is part of the first phase envisioned by Mr. Ban.
That stage also includes helping build the capacity of the Transitional Federal Government and training Somali troops and police. Before Augustine Mahiga, who recently took up the post of the Secretary-General's Special Representative, departed for Nairobi, Mr. Ban said the two men held discussions on the second phase, in which some UN personnel would be relocated to Mogadishu and other areas in Somalia. |
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Week in Pictures
UN Headquarters Celebrates International Day of World's Indigenous Peoples 
August 9, 2010 - A close-up of a participant at the UN headquarters event in observance of the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. Organized by the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the event this year celebrates indigenous filmmaking. UN Photo/Evan Schneider
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Hiroshima Citzens Mourn Atomic Bomb Victims at Annual Peace Ceremony
August 6, 2010 - Participants of the annual Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony, in Hiroshima, Japan, mourn and pray in memory of victims of the 1945 atomic bomb. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also attended the ceremony, the first UN Secretary-General to do so. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
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