United Nations

Santiago de Chile, January 28th 2013 – Mayors for Peace welcomes the renewed commitment of the 33 Heads of State of Latin America and the Caribbean to work towards a world free of nuclear weapons. The leaders reaffirmed the priority…

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Thursday launched an appeal for US$130.4 million in 2013, telling donors that the UN Human Rights Office could respond to more of the many requests for assistance she receives if…

The United Nations envoy tasked with mediating talks between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in the dispute over the latter’s name held talks today in New York with representatives from both sides. Matthew Nimetz told reporters after…

The United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has welcomed the recent law reforms in Mongolia that have removed all travel restrictions and other discriminatory provisions for people living with HIV. The reforms, which were passed in December and came…

Over 140 governments meeting at a United Nations forum in Geneva have agreed to a global, legally-binding treaty to address mercury, a notorious heavy metal with significant health and environmental effects. The Minamata Convention on Mercury – named after a…

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today issued a passionate call to countries to advance disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, as well as illegal arms, stressing that Member States should not delay on this issue. “Delay comes with a…

A record 111 countries voted Thursday for a moratorium on capital punishment at a keynote UN General Assembly human rights meeting. Although not legally binding, campaigners say the vote held every two years sends a strong signal to the slowly…

Homophobic persecution and discrimination is rife in large parts of the world, and the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are still not recognised or protected by international law. Nonetheless, progress towards equality is being made thanks to…

The collective efforts of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) organizations in Turkey paid off and the UN (United Nations) Human Rights Committee issued its concluding observation on Turkey, covering discrimination against LGBT people. The reports are a compliance review of…

The inability of nuclear weapons to guarantee a country’s security or independence was highlighted in the speech of Kazakhstan’s Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kairat Umarov, to the United Nations General Assembly. ICAN Video “The threat of proliferation of nuclear…