"Responding to an increasing number of violent attacks in many parts of the world over cartoon caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, the Secretary-General of the United Nations joined today with senior officials from the Islamic world and Europe in calling for calm and dialogue among communities of different faiths.
In a joint statement, Kofi Annan, along with the head of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the European Union's (EU) senior representative for foreign and security policy, said there should be a "spirit of friendship and mutual respect" not only between countries but also between believers of different religions." [More]
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Moondancer: "U.N. delegates drafting a treaty to protect the rights of the world's 600 million disabled have resolved many of their differences and are on track to complete the document in August, the diplomat leading the negotiations said on Friday. "It should be possible to conclude drafting at our next meeting in August," New Zealand Ambassador Don MacKay told a news conference after a three-week drafting session. "We have made real progress and there are relatively few unresolved issues," he said. "But it is more than just dotting the i's and crossing the t's." A U.N. committee that includes all 191 U.N. member-nations has been working since 2001 on a treaty to promote and protect the rights of the disabled."
Stygius: "Steve Clemons' long-anticipated project, an online watch page on UN Ambassador John Bolton, is now active. Bolton Watch is being hosted by TPMCafe, and Steve's first post is up: "As a friend of mine inside the State Department recently told me, I have a slew of friends inside the Department and in the nooks and crannies of Bolton's world who want Bolton Watch to play a constructive role in helping Condoleezza Rice to supervise him."
Coalition for Darfur: "Darfur: Sudan Reiterates Resistance to U.N. Force - From Reuters: "Sudan on Monday softened its resistance to admitting U.N. troops to its violent Darfur region, but demanded the world body consult the government before any deployment is agreed. Sudan initially refused the deployment of U.N. troops in Darfur to stop the rape, killing and looting described by Washington as genocide, and an African Union force was dispatched instead in 2004. But donors have slowed their funding for the almost 7,000-strong AU force, prompting U.N. chief Kofi Annan to say a U.N. takeover of the AU mission is inevitable."
"Reacting attacks sparked by a furor over controversial cartoons first published in a Danish newspaper, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that while he shares the distress of offended Muslims, they must not respond with violence.
"The Secretary-General is alarmed by the threats and violence, including the attacks on embassies that have occurred in Syria and Lebanon and other countries over the past few days," his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said in a statement issued in New York.
Noting that Mr. Annan shares the distress felt by many Muslims at the publication of caricatures considered insulting to their religion, "he wishes to emphasize that such resentment cannot justify violence, least of all when directed at people who have no responsibility for, or control over, the publications in question." [Link]
"Eastern European countries, which disproportionately produce greenhouse gas emissions, have taken a small but very significant step in tackling the problem thanks to a United Nations-backed project, a new report released today says.
With only 6 per cent of the world's population, the countries of Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) produce approximately 12 per cent of all greenhouse gases." [Read more]
"The International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors are debating when to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council amid threats by the Islamic state to start enriching uranium if its nuclear activities are reported to the council." [Read more]
Also see:
UN Watchdog Weighs Sending Iran to Security Council
Iran Nuclear Row 'Not a Crisis'
In Focus: IAEA and Iran
UPDATE: Bloggers comment here, here, and here, here.
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Huffington Post (Michelle Pilecki): "US Media Ignore UN Study on Iraq 'Peace-Building' Methods Backfiring - The United States is avoiding widely recognised peace-building processes that involve external military powers quickly creating a basic security environment and then allowing domestic peace- and nation-building efforts to succeed," says the Inter Press Service News Agency, reporting on a new book, Security Sector Reform and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding, published by the United Nations University Press: "Instead of stabilizing places like Iraq, international efforts to centralize power are creating a more fragile security environment than ever before," the press release quotes co-editor Albrecht Schnabel, senior research fellow at swisspeace Swiss Peace Foundation, and a lecturer at the Institute of Political Science, University of Bern. "[A]lmost three years after the toppling of Saddam Hussein, Iraq is characterized by chaos, violence and disintegration. The methods used to rebuild Iraq's security sector are simply making matters worse."
Free Thinking: "The late Sergio Vieira de Mello said that intolerance is dangerous because it usually hides behind dishonesty and a false pretext. According to him, the best way of securing the rule of law is through human rights."
Dan McDermott: "AP - Polio has been stamped out in Egypt and Niger, leaving just four nations in the world where the deadly disease is endemic, the U.N. health agency said Wednesday."
Global Voices: "South Asia, Bangladesh - Unheard Voices on a Unicef study that indicates there aren't enough toilets for children in schools."
Murky View: "The BBC has an excellent service called BBC Monitoring that gathers information in over 100 languages around the world and translates them into English. Unfortunately, it's not free, but they do include information from those sources in many articles. Yesterday I ran across this article on Iranian bloggers who are discussing the nuclear issue between Iran and the West. As the tension mounts and the issue is sent to the UN Security Council. It is interesting, and I believe incredibly important, to hear what Iranians have to say on the issue. They are, after all, the ones who would be suffering most if a military strike were to proceed against Iran."
"With the international spotlight shining on Tehran's atomic ambitions, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appealed for a long-term and visionary approach to the problem of nuclear arms proliferation.
"Today's headlines concern Iran - rightly so, for basic treaty obligations and commitments are at stake," he said in London on Tuesday evening, stressing that for signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the right to develop nuclear energy is conditional on the obligation not to build or acquire nuclear weapons, and to comply with standards set and monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).