The relationship between the EU Commission and UN is a long-standing one

Source: United Nations Press Release (edited)*

The European Commission and the United Nations each have diverse and enormous constituencies. Moreover, our portfolios continue to expand and people are looking to us with growing expectations.

The relationship between the EC and UN is a long-standing one. Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of visiting Bonn, Strasbourg and Brussels, where I met with a number of European parliamentarians and officials. We had very positive discussions about the Millennium Development Goals and other matters. While there I also launched an important report documenting the very constructive operational cooperation between our institutions in the crucial areas of development and humanitarian assistance. Those efforts in the field -– encompassing literacy, immunization, mine clearance, tsunami assistance and much more –- are making a positive difference in the lives of millions of men, women and children throughout the world.

Explosion during UN Secretary-General’s visit to Iraq

Source: The Guardian

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon was left shaken but unhurt on his first visit to Baghdad today after a rocket landed yards from where he and Iraq’s prime minister were holding a press conference.Mr Ban, who flew into Baghdad this morning, ducked behind the podium when the impact shook the building as he addressed reporters alongside Nuri al-Maliki in the prime minister’s office, inside Baghdad’s fortified green zone.

The close partnership between the UN and the EU

Source: United Nations Press Release

Following is the text of remarks as delivered today by UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro to the press at the launch of the United Nations report: The Partnership between the UN and the EU, in Brussels:

I am very happy that one of my first official visits abroad in my new role as Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations is to the European Union. The EU is one of the great supporters of multilateralism, and is a good, close partner of the United Nations. Our organizations are united by common values.

Women Harbinger of United Nations Peacekeeping Success

Source: UN Dispatch

UN Assistant Secretary-General of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Jane Holl Lute, spoke candidly about women, peacekeeping, and the role of women in post-conflict areas yesterday at a lunch celebrating International Women’s Day. The event was hosted by the UN Foundation, the UN Information Center, and the Women’s Foreign Policy Group.

Concrete action is needed at the United Nations to achieve gender equality

by Andreas von Warburg

The United Nations must give systematic and sustained priority to women’s empowerment in order to achieve real equality, according to the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Ambassador Haya Rashed Al Khalifa.

“During the last six decades, the UN has played an important role in achieving progress in the field of gender equality, in particular, by establishing an internationally agreed policy framework which guides the efforts of governments and other actors,” Al Khalifa said during a thematic debate in the General Assembly today. “This work culminated in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, at the Fourth World Conference in 1995, and is also reflected in the increased adherence to international human rights set out in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).”

Al Gore’s Oscar-winning documentary influences the United Nations

by Andreas von Warburg

“An Inconvenient Truth,” the Oscar-winning documentary on global warming starring former US vice-president Al Gore, is positively influencing the new leadership at the United Nations. Global warming, according to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, poses the same dangers as war and awareness is finally growing.