Several websites belonging to the UN and its agencies have been attacked and defaced by hackers. CNET and Wired have the story.

Yesterday, the new U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, sat down with CSPAN's Washington Journal to discuss the U.S. relationship with the UN and the UN's role in Iraq. Watch the video.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has named leading women's rights advocate Noeleen Heyzer of Singapore, who is also the former Qatari ambassador to the United States, to head up the Bangkok-based UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Ms. Heyzer was the "the first executive director from the South to head the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), where she has worked to promote women's empowerment and gender equality."

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From the UN News Center:

The United Nations Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL) and the National Electoral Commission have finished training nearly 50 district officers, ahead of next month's presidential and parliamentary polls in the once war-torn West African nation.

The three-day training focused on polling and counting procedures for the 11 August elections, which are widely regarded as a watershed in democratic development for a country that is still recovering from an 11-year long civil war.

More.

From the UN News Center:

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today sent a letter to the Prime Minister of the Netherlands inviting the country's Government to consider hosting the Special Tribunal on the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

In a statement released by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban voiced hope that the Dutch Government "will give serious consideration to the request."

The Secretary-General's letter stressed the fact that the Netherlands already hosts several courts and tribunals, such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Read more.

From the UN News Center:

The head of the United Nations Independent International Investigation Commission (UNIIIC) probing the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri today reported progress in identifying persons suspected of involvement in the attack

"The consolidation of the Commission's findings across several areas of the Hariri case and in some other cases has helped identify a number of persons who may have been involved in some aspects of the crime," UNIIC Commissioner Serge Brammertz told an open meeting of the Security Council.

More.

During his White House meeting yesterday, Ban ki Moon asked president Bush to personally attend a high-level UN meeting on climate change, scheduled this September in New York.

From UN News:

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today invited United States President George W. Bush to attend a high-level United Nations debate on climate change to be held this fall.

"On climate change, which is a very important issue for all humankind, I appreciate President Bush's initiative, during the Heiligendamm G-8 Summit meeting," Mr. Ban told reporters after his meeting with the US leader in Washington, DC.

You can read President Bush's statement here.

From the AP:

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he will ask President Bush on Tuesday to have a top U.S. official attend a high-level U.N. meeting on climate change in September because "American participation is crucially important."

The secretary-general told a news conference Monday before he headed to Washington to meet Bush that he wants the September meeting to provide "strong political (momentum) and guidelines" for a major meeting in Bali, Indonesia in December on a new global climate pact.

More.

From the White House:

President Bush will meet with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the White House on July 17. The President looks forward to discussing with Secretary-General Ban the many important issues on which the United Nations is engaged, including human rights, international peace and security, humanitarian and development assistance, and U.N. reform. They will also discuss other topics of mutual concern, including international support for Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Darfur crisis in Sudan.

The global treaty to protect the rights of the estimated 650 million disabled people worldwide could take effect by early next year after Qatar became the 100th country to sign the pact.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will enter into force 30 days after the 20th country ratifies the treaty, but so far only Jamaica has taken the step of ratification.

The UN Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities estimates that the next 19 ratifications could be reached by as early as the end of this year.

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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour has called on nations to ensure that strategies to achieve anti-poverty goals be grounded in internationally recognized human rights.

She cited sobering statistics on child mortality, saying it remains "deeply troubling" in parts of Africa, while the number of people dying of HIV and AIDS worldwide increased to 2.9 million in 2006. In addition, sub-Saharan Africa is presently not on track to achieve any of the global anti-poverty targets, known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), she noted.

"The disturbing midpoint snapshot must serve as a call to action on behalf of us all...Despite progress in some areas and in some parts of the world, it appears that governments are not honouring the commitments they have made."

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Business leaders attending the second UN Global Compact Leaders Summit in Geneva adopted a declaration complying with labor, human rights, environmental and anti-corruption standards.

Some 4,000 organizations from 116 countries - among them trade unions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and some 3,100 businesses - have so far subscribed to the Global Compact, pledging to observe ten universal principles related to human rights, labour rights, the environment and the struggle against corruption.

The Declaration says, "Poverty, income inequality, protectionism and the absence of decent work opportunities pose serious threats to world peace and markets."

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Every year for the past fourteen years Taiwan has applied for membership to the United Nations. Each time the application is denied by China. But now, those seeking to block Taiwain's national aspirations will have rocker Ozzy Osbourne to contend with. The Taiwanese government has teamed with an Ozzy-backed band, ChthoniC, to promote Taiwan joining the 192 other countries in the United Nations General Assembly. In an 80 city, four country tour the Taiwanese goth band will literally sing the virtues of UN membership.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged action on climate change and other concerns in an address to the Global Compact Leaders Summit in Geneva.

"This Summit is an important opportunity to take our partnership forward - in learning as well as action," Ban said. "Over these two days, we must make an honest appraisal of what the Global Compact has achieved, renew our commitments, and chart a courageous course for the next three years."

The Secretary-General stressed the importance of joint actions to address climate change and announced the planned launch of a Business Leadership Platform on "Caring for Climate" - a joint project with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says that the world's goals for fighting poverty remain achievable in most countries, but only if urgent and concerted action is taken.

Addressing the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in Geneva, Mr. Ban said the mid-point progress report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - which was released today - contained encouraging messages.

"Countries in Africa and elsewhere are demonstrating that rapid and large-scale progress on the MDGs is possible," Mr. Ban said, referring to the set of eight development objectives which world leaders have agreed to work towards by the target date of 2015.

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According to a new report on the Millennium Development Goals, Asian countries have experienced a significant drop in extreme poverty.

Rapid economic growth has spurred progress in the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger in Asia, where the proportion of people living on a dollar a day has been cut by half, but inequality is also growing in parts of the region, says a United Nations report released today in Bangkok.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Report 2007 comes at the midpoint of a 15-year effort to reach those key development objectives that world leaders set at a 2000 UN summit.

More.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made a surprise visit to Afghanistan today to meet with top officials.

During a four-hour stay in Kabul, the Secretary General met with President Hamid Karzai, with the leader of the Wolesi Jirga (House of the People), Yunus Qanuni, with the military commander of the International Security Assistance Force, General Dan McNeal and with members of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

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Marking the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon roundly denounced torture and called on all countries to ratify the international treaty that bans it.

Ban said, "Let us speak with one voice against the perpetrators of torture, and for all who suffer at their hands...And let us build a better, more humane world for all people everywhere."

The Convention against Torture went into force twenty years ago, yet, as Ban said, "even after two decades, this instrument falls well short of universal ratification."

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The United Nations food relief agency has appealed to Kenyan authorities to allow assistance for more than 100,000 people to be trucked into Somalia, where deliveries are being hampered.

One hundred and forty WFP-contracted trucks carrying the food left the Kenyan port of Mombasa and were unexpectedly stopped at the Northeast Kenyan border crossing of El-Wak since they first started arriving there on 25 May.

WFP Somalia Country Director Peter Goossens said "The Kenyan overland route was chosen because of major problems with sea routes to Somalia plagued by pirate attacks."

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A new publication by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights aims to serve as a research tool for children's rights advocates.

"This major study documents how the Convention on the Rights of the Child came to represent a sea change in the way the international community was prepared to address the rights of children," said High Commissioner Louise Arbour.

The two-volume Legislative History on the Convention on the Rights of the Child lists among the many major advances ushered in by the Convention recognition, for the first time in a human rights treaty, of the differential and often discriminatory impact that national legislation, policies, attitudes and cultural traditions can have on girls.

The Legislative History on the Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first comprehensive record of the drafting of the Convention, according to a news release from Ms. Arbour's office.

For more information on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, click here and here.

Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro says that Africa remains off-track in meeting world goals for fighting poverty, and is urging international support for the continent.

Presenting an update on sub-Saharan Africa’s progress towards obtaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - a set of global anti-poverty and development targets to be achieved by 2015 - Ms. Migiro said the summit of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations, currently meeting in Heiligendamm, Germany, provides an opportunity for donor countries to lay out concrete timetables for how they will increase development assistance to African countries.

Migiro said that "challenges remain daunting, yet progress is emerging."

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In a 10-0 vote yesterday, the Security Council backed the creation of a tribunal to investigate and prosecute a series of political assassinations in Lebanon, including the February 2005 car bombing that killed Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. From the Washington Post:

The vote will lead to the creation of the first U.N.- backed criminal tribunal in the Middle East, raising expectations that Hariri's killers will be held accountable. But that has stoked fears among Lebanese authorities and some council members that supporters of Syria -- which has been linked to the assassination -- will plunge Lebanon's fledgling democracy into a bloody new round of internal strife

More.

The United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has announced its support for a $11.5 million development project in Cambodia to help the rural poor.

"The project will not only boost incomes, it will also lay foundations for sustainable social and economic development in the future," said Youqiong Wang, IFAD's country programme manager for Cambodia, noting that it is the agency's first to target the poor, ethnic population living in remote areas of the country.

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After watching the United Nations World Food Programme's (WFP) newest Ambassador actress Drew Barrymore discuss child hunger, musician Sheryl Crow decided to support the organization as well.

Crow, a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, said "I was so struck by this story that our relationship with the WFP was born...It is absolutely amazing, the number of kids that they feed."

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Fourteen countries have been elected to serve on the United Nations Human Rights Council after a vote by Member States at UN Headquarters in New York.

Angola, Bolivia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Qatar, Slovenia and South Africa were successful after the first round of voting, while Bosnia and Herzegovina and Italy were chosen following a second round.

Successful countries - which were elected according to a formula that allots seats among regional groups - needed to obtain an absolute majority of the General Assembly's membership of 192 States. The second round of balloting was restricted to those States which had scored the most votes in the first round without achieving a majority.

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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged policymakers and industry leaders to work to ensure that young people have better access to information and communications technology (ICT).

"In many instances, young people are the driving force behind innovation in the development and use of new technologies," Mr. Ban said in a message on World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, which is being observed under the theme Connect the Young.

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The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has announced the launch of "Food Force," the world's first humanitarian video game for children.

"Children have very few opportunities to understand the realities of a hungry world. By engaging children in a fun and creative way, 'Food Force' will help children become better global citizens - now and in the future," said John Powell, WFP Deputy Executive Director for Fundraising and Communications.

A screen shot of the game is below.

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Actress Drew Barrymore has been named as an Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), and will advocate for school feeding projects.

Ms. Barrymore, 32, becomes the latest Ambassador for the WFP, joining Kenyan world marathon record-holder Paul Tergat, himself a former recipient of school feeding programmes, among others. Last year WFP fed 19.4 million children across 71 countries through such projects.

Barrymore said, "I can't think of any issue that is more important than working to see that no schoolchild in this world goes hungry."

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The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) have launched a handbook for lawmakers to help them devise strategies to protect children from violence.

IPU President Pier Ferdinando Casini said, "With this handbook, we hope that parliaments will have some of the tools they need to create a more protective environment for children."

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The African Union (AU) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have renewed their partnership to fight hunger and enhance food security, education and emergency response.

Their cooperation agreement was signed by African Union Commissioner Rosebud Kurwijila and WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran.

"The African Union is an important ally in our fight to ensure food security in Africa," said Ms. Sheeran during a two-day visit to Ethiopia, her first overseas mission as chief of WFP. She voiced hope that the partnership would serve as "the wind beneath our wings" in aiming to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving global hunger by 2015.

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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for an end to the violence in Somalia, where hundreds of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands forced to flee their homes.

"The Secretary-General is gravely concerned about the continuing heavy fighting in Mogadishu, which has reportedly killed more than 250 people and forced more than 320,000 from their homes in the past six days alone," spokesman Michele Montas told reporters in New York.

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The United Nations has announced that Rwanda will participate in the "One UN" pilot program that aims to better coordinate development activities nationally.

The scheme will test how the greater UN family can ensure efficient and more effective development operations, while aiming to speed up activities to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight targets for tackling poverty, hunger and other social ills by 2015.

The reform projects - also set to be carried out in Albania, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Pakistan, Tanzania, Uruguay and Viet Nam - will consolidate the UN's presence by replacing current structures with one leader, one programme and one budget, thus allowing various UN agencies to play to their strengths while also building on the strengths of different members of the UN family.

Rwanda's Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, James Musoni, says that "Rwanda is proud to have been selected as a pilot country for the implementation of the One UN Reform at country level...The efficiency of the UN agencies is crucial to the success of Rwanda's development endeavors."

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Josette Sheeran, the new chief of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) officially took up her duties yesterday by calling for a renewed commitment to combating hunger.

Executive Director Josette Sheeran said "despite enormous efforts by WFP and its donors and partners, we are losing ground on hunger with 4 million more people malnourished each year than the year before. Together, we can turn that tide."

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Yesterday, thirteen years after some 800,000 Rwandans were murdered, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for "a global partnership against genocide."

The post of UN Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide -- currently held by Juan E. Méndez of Argentina -- will be upgraded to a full-time position, Mr. Ban said in a message marking the anniversary of the start of the genocide.

The UN Advisory Committee on Genocide Prevention will also be boosted, the Secretary-General said, adding that Africa has taken its own steps as well, such as the proposed Pact on Security, Stability and Development for the Great Lakes Region, which contains measures on genocide prevention and punishment.

Ban said "Preventing genocide is a collective and individual responsibility...Everyone has a role to play: governments, the media, civil society organizations, religious groups, and each and every one of us."

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Today, International Mine Action Day, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on Member States to continue efforts to eliminate landmines.

The International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action "is a reminder that millions of people in nearly 80 countries still live in fear of landmines and explosive remnants of war," Mr. Ban said.

But thanks to the work of Member States, the UN, non-Governmental organizations (NGOs) and countries affected by mines, "we have made real gains in our mine actions," he said.

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Shashi Tharoor, formerly the Under Secretary General for Communications and Public Information, resigned from the United Nations yesterday. Tharoor was a legend at the UN. And in his inimical style (Tharoor also happens to be an award winning novelist) he takes to the pages of the Times of India to reflect on 29 years at a changing United Nations.

I joined the UN in 1978 as an idealistic young man of 22, hoping to serve refugees and discover the world.

I did a bit of both. But how much the institution I joined has changed! If I had suggested to my seniors at that time that the UN would one day observe and even run elections in sovereign states, conduct intrusive inspections for weapons of mass destruction, impose comprehensive sanctions on the entire import-export trade of a member state, or set up international criminal tribunals and coerce governments into handing over their citizens to be tried by foreigners under international law, I am sure they would have told me that I did not understand what the UN was all about. Indeed, since those were the late 1970s, they might well have asked me, "Young man, what are you smoking?"

Tharoor will certainly be missed. Continue reading his essay.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee today approved the nomination of Zalmay Khalilzad to be U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon traveled to Iraq today to discuss ways to expand the UN's on-the-ground presence there. In Baghdad, a joint press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was interrupted when a rocket struck an adjacent building. No one was hurt, but the video is fairly compelling.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched an interactive website today on the right to food, providing information for policy-makers, legal practitioners, civil society members, UN staff, academics and the general public.

"Through the web site, users can increase their awareness of the human right to food, access resources for capacity-building at national and international levels, and find guidance, methods and instruments to assist in implementation of the right to food at the country level." More

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named four new top officials to his cabinet last week.

"Mr. Ban named a United States diplomat as chief political officer, a Chinese veteran of international organizations to head economic and social affairs, a Japanese international civil servant to manage public information and an Egyptian diplomat to oversee General Assembly management." More

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki met in Nairobi this week; their conversation focused on the conflict in Sudan and problems involving Somali refugees.

"Mr. Ban and Mr. Kibaki also discussed the partnership between the UN and Kenya, which is home to one of the Organization's larger duty stations, during their morning meeting, UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters in New York." More

To draw attention to the highly anticipated report of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, on-going in Paris, the French government announced that it will turn off the 336 projectors that illuminate the Eiffel Tower at night. The lights will be off for a full five minutes tomorrow evening in advance of the report's release on Friday.

For an excellent insiders' account of the Panel's race to finish the report by Friday's deadline, read this dispatch by AP science writer Seth Borenstein.

The United Nations marked the annual International Day of Commemoration yesterday, in remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, "The Holocaust was a unique and undeniable tragedy...The work of remembrance pays tribute to those who perished. But it also plays a vital role in our efforts to stem the tide of human cruelty. It keeps us vigilant for new outbreaks of anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance. And it is an essential response to those misguided individuals who claim that the Holocaust never happened, or has been exaggerated." More

Yesterday Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon kicked off his first overseas trip since becoming UN chief, meeting in Brussels with European Union (EU) leaders.

"The European Union and the United Nations have maintained a very strong partnership and I regard the European Union's contribution as vitally important for the work of the United Nations," said Ban. More

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday that he has called on U.S. President George W. Bush and Congressional leaders to drop their spending cap on UN peacekeeping, noting that the limited funding creates "very difficult constraints in smoothly carrying out peacekeeping operations."

"The US Government is the largest financial contributor to the regular budget, as well as the peacekeeping operations budget. The US Congress has imposed a cap of 25 percent in peacekeeping operations...I have raised this issue in my meetings with President Bush and all the Congressional leaders. I strongly appealed and requested that the US Congress lift this spending cap...They said they will discuss this matter." More

For a transcript of Ban's remarks to the press, click here.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that his first meeting with United States President George W. Bush since assuming office was "a very good, very useful meeting."

"The United Nations needs the strong and active participation and strong support of the United States, as the UN and the US have a shared objective of promoting human rights, democracy and freedom and peace and security, as well as mutual prosperity," said Ban. More

Click here to read remarks from both Ban and Bush.

In the Los Angeles Times today, Lee Feinstein gets to the heart of the conundrum facing Ban Ki-moon as he approaches the conflict in Darfur. Ban will be personally blamed should the blood-letting in Darfur continue at pace, yet the resources to stop the fighting are mainly in the hands of individual member states. True, Khartoum's intransigence remains the number-one obstacle to deploying peacekeepers to Darfur. But these peacekeepers exist mainly in theory at this point. The most Ban can do is cajole and coax key member states to pony up troops for potential deployment to Darfur. If member states refuse his entreaties, Ban and the United Nations will shoulder the blame for "failing to act" in Darfur. This may seem unfair, but it is the reality.

Of course, one potential way to avoid this dynamic would be for member states to establish a readily deployable stand-by contingent of peacekeepers. That idea has gained some traction with the creation of the Multi-National Stand-by High Readiness Brigade. Perhaps the time has come to revisit this idea.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will meet with U.S. President George Bush next Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

Michele Montas, spokesperson for Ban, said "I can confirm that the visit will take place next Tuesday, the 16th of January. In addition to meeting with the President, the Secretary-General will also meet with leaders of the US Congress." More

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke yesterday about the recent US military operations in Somalia, noting that diplomatic efforts should be redoubled "to have some political process for the realization of a peaceful resolution of this issue."

"While I fully understand the necessity behind this [U.S.] attack [on Somalia], we should be cautious enough [that this kind of situation will not] lead to unwanted directions." More

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the "Group of 77" yesterday that working closely with the caucus of developing nations will help him to build a stronger UN.

"I am confident that the new Chair of the G-77 will work with me - a new Secretary-General - to implement existing initiatives, and to push for further reform and strengthening of the UN system." More

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council yesterday that the UN faces "unprecedented demand for peacekeeping as well as a range of growing demands for preventive diplomacy, good offices, peace building and efforts in conflict management," and stressed the importance of "[finding] ways to strengthen our capacities." More

The UN refugee agency launched a $60 million appeal yesterday to aid hundreds of thousands of displaced Iraqis. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that one in eight Iraqis have already left their homes, and 50,000 are now leaving each month.

"The funds will cover UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) protection and assistance programmes for Iraqi refugees in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey, as well as non-Iraqi refugees and IDPs, in what the agency says is the largest long-term population movement in the Middle East since the displacement of Palestinians following the creation of Israel in 1948." More

On Friday, Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro became the second woman appointed to be the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General. Her appointment is being touted as an exciting step forward by the UN community and as a promise fulfilled by women's rights organizations.

Secretary-General Ban said, "Through her distinguished service in diverse areas, [Dr. Migiro] has displayed outstanding management skills with wide experience and expertise in socio-economic affairs and development issues."

Ted Turner, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the UN Foundation, noted that "the United Nations will be well served not only by having such a distinguished public servant as Dr. Migiro, but also by having the perspective of an African woman at the highest level of the organization."

Women's organizations that work with the United Nations also spoke favorably of Ban's decision to appoint Dr. Migiro. June Zeitlin, Executive Director of the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), says that "from a gender equality perspective, the new secretary general has challenged the status quo...[Ban] may be on his way to setting a record that begins to approach gender parity at the highest levels of the United Nations...such an achievement should be applauded."

Dr. Migiro said of her appointment, "Being an African, I have first hand experience to be able to understand the situation facing Africa and developing countries in general. I will be able to use this experience to contribute in effecting developmental changes at the global level."

To find out more about the newly appointed Deputy SG, click here.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the Iraqi government this weekend to give a stay of execution to those on death row, specifically two high-ranking co-defendants of Saddam Hussein.

"His Chef de Cabinet, Vijay Nambiar, in a letter to Iraq's UN ambassador, today reiterated the Secretary General's endorsement of the call made earlier this month by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, for restraint by the Government in carrying out death sentences imposed by the Iraqi High Tribunal." More

Related: Rome lit up the arches of the Colosseum to show Italy's support for a global ban on the death penalty. More

The Economist's new cover story calling for greater engagement with the United Nations is a must read. That the magazine's editors chose not to tag a question mark at the end of the cover headline, "A Chance for a Safer World," tells you precisely where the package is going. Two of the special report's articles can be accessed for free, but the rest of the content is behind a subscription wall.

Some highlights, courtesy of the Better World Campaign, are below the fold.

"And although the [US] is often the UN's harshest critic, it has come again to see the point of turning to the UN for help with problems - be they keeping the peace in Lebanon or saving lives in Darfur - it finds hard to solve alone."

--

"[L]ook closer at Sudan. In the south, UN forces have since 2005 been keeping the peace after the end of a separate and even bloodier civil war that had lasted for decades. In Sudan's stricken areas, and elsewhere in Africa, the UN's World Food Program feeds millions. Indeed, around the world as a whole, some 30 million people in 50 countries are reckoned to depend on UN relief agencies for their very survival."

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"In Congo one of the largest UN forces ever assembled has just overseen the transition to free elections in another vast country emerging from decades of war. But that is just one of 18 different missions, in which about 100,000 peacekeepers are deployed."

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"Today's disorder stems not so much from conflicts between the big powers as from other problems all say they want to solve: failed states, terrorism, proliferation and the chaotic Middle East. Their priorities and tactics differ, but that still leaves room to co-operate. For example, it has taken an age to sign up Russia and China for action against Iran's nuclear program. But now they have signed: the Security Council is imposing sanctions on Iran for enriching uranium."

--

"[T]he permanent five could make the world safer and more orderly by showing a greater willingness to work together using the existing structure...All the big powers ought to see the benefit of making better use of the potential for joint, lawful international action that the UN uniquely provides."

Statement from Ban Ki-moon:

"I have decided to appoint Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Republic of Tanzania, as Deputy Secretary-General. Minister Migiro served previously as Minister for Community Development, Gender and Children of the United Republic of Tanzania for five years. In her academic career, she rose to the rank of a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Dar-es-Salaam." More

Yesterday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon chaired the first meeting of the Darfur Task Force, a new UN-wide undertaking.

"The Task Force includes the heads of the UN departments of peacekeeping, political affairs, public information, legal affairs, and safety and security, as well as the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)." More

Michele Montas, the newly appointed spokesperson to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, said yesterday that the UN is "deeply concerned" by reports of sexual exploitation allegations concerning UN personnel in Juba.

"The UN standard on this issue is clear -- zero tolerance, meaning zero complacency and zero impunity." More

New SG Ban Ki-moon appointed John Holmes, a British diplomat, as the new UN humanitarian chief and Alicia Barcena Ibarra, a Mexican national and former Deputy Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), as undersecretary-general for management. More