The Human Rights Committee, the UN body in charge of monitoring compliance of States parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its two Optional Protocols with their obligations under these treaties, was very concerned to learn that, on Tuesday 22 July 2008, President…

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN Refugee Agency, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International…

The 2008 United Nations Programme of Fellowships on Disarmament starts today at the United Nations Office at Geneva with the participation of young diplomats from 25 Member States of the United Nations. The programme will last for a period of nine weeks. Diplomats from the following 25 Member…

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for and Representatives of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UN Refugee Agency, the…

Experts Discussed Biosafety and Biosecurity as well as Oversight, Education, Awareness-raising and Codes of Conduct The 2008 Meeting of Experts from States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) was held in Geneva from 18 to 22 August 2008 to discuss and promote common understanding…

The Conference on Disarmament today heard statements by Venezuela as the President of the Conference, France, Pakistan, New Zealand, Brazil, Sri Lanka and China on the stalemate in its work and its programme of work, and by Slovakia, the Russian Federation and Ireland on the conflict in…

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for and Representatives of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN Refugee Agency, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the…

On Wednesday, 13 August, the Conference on Disarmament’s seven Coordinators reported orally to the six 2008 Presidents (P6) of the Conference on the outcome of the latest round of thematic debates on the Conference’s agenda items. These Coordinators generally validated their earlier…

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Office at Geneva, chaired the briefing which also heard from spokespersons and representatives from the United Nations Refugee Agency, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the…

The Human Rights Council Advisory Committee this morning concluded its first session during which it adopted by consensus thirteen recommendations to the Human Rights Council. In his concluding remarks, the President of the Advisory Committee, Miguel Alfonso Martínez, thanked all his colleagues for…