January 27, 20 11 - UN Washington Deputy Director Marie Okabe speaks with United States Holocaust Memorial Museum officials at the museum's annual commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Thursday. Guests were invited to light a candle with Holocaust survivors in memory of the victims of the Holocaust and participate in a moment of silence. USHMM Photo

The General Assembly in 2005 designated January 27, the date of the 1945 liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest and most notorious of all of the camps, as the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, and this year's theme pays special tribute to the suffering of women.

"Mothers and daughters, grandmothers, sisters and aunts, they saw their lives irrevocably changed, their families separated and their traditions shattered," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a message. "Yet, despite appalling acts of discrimination, deprivation and cruelty, they consistently found ways to fight back against their persecutors.
 

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Ambassador Roger Meece, UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, spoke at a Woodrow Wilson Center event titled, Elections and Peace Consolidation: Prospects and Challenges in the DRC on Thursday, January 27 in Washington.
 

International Atomic Energy Agency's Andrew Semmel discussed proposals for a nuclear-weapons-free-zone in the Middle East at a Hudson Institute event titled, A Middle East WMD Conference: Best Way Forward on January 24 in Washington.

January 25, 2011 - Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of newly-created UN Women, holds up a sign for the organization during a press conference on UN Women priorities for 2011 at UN headquarters in New York. UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras

"Women's strength, women's industry, women's wisdom are humankind's greatest untapped resource," the Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, a former president of Chile, told the first regular session of the agency's executive board. "The challenge then for UN Women is to show our diverse constituencies how this resource can be effectively tapped in ways that benefit us all."

UN Women - known formally as the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women - is set to receive a large boost in funding and be formally launched on February 24 during the 55th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the global policy-making body dedicated exclusively to gender equality and the advancement of women. Read more
 

January 26, 2011 - The crowd leaves following the parliamentary inauguration in Afghanistan. Parliamentarians were sworn in to the Lower House of Parliament (Wolesi Jirga). UN Photo/UNAMA/Eric Kanalstein

Mr. Ban commended Afghan political leaders, and all who participated in the electoral process - voters, the electoral institutions, and both winning and losing candidates - for their contribution to Afghanistan's democratic development.

"The inauguration marks the end of the electoral process and the beginning of a period in which Afghan governing institutions must work together to solve the pressing problems that the country faces, putting aside the differences as any robust and vibrant democracy demands," a statement issued by the Secretary-General's spokesperson stated.

The 249 members of the Wolesi Jirga were sworn in by President Hamid Karzai. The country's second Parliament to be inaugurated since the ousting of the Taliban regime in 2001 includes 69 women.
 

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"The world's multilateral disarmament machinery should deliver more and more quickly," Mr. Ban said in his address to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on January 26. "I call on you to become a first harbinger of hope for 2011 in the field of disarmament."

"The next few years will be critical," he continued, stressing the need to build on the hard-won momentum of recent years. "We can push forward on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, or risk sliding back."

The Conference on Disarmament, Mr. Ban noted, is the "undisputed home of international arms control efforts," and has had a unique role since its inception, including by producing landmark treaties to promote international security while demonstrating that multilateral collaboration can serve the global and national interest alike.
 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the main United Nations body tasked with addressing human rights challenges worldwide to be impartial, objective and constructive as it carries out its vital work.

"Facing human rights problems is the first step, acting to fix them moves us forward on the path of progress. As we walk this road we must shine light on abuses everywhere," Mr. Ban said in remarks to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

He noted that the Council's system of special procedures - experts who travel the world, record what they see, and report to the 47-member body - makes this possible. The Council also convenes special sessions, carries out fact-finding missions and responds to breaking developments.

"But more must be done to fully rise above national and regional interests. If this Council is to deliver on the promise of its founding, you must go beyond narrow considerations," said Mr. Ban, stressing that for the Council to fulfill its mandate, it must be seen as impartial and fair.
 

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