As a powerful global information resource, the Internet must be accessible to everyone and measures to ensure this must be taken, a United Nations independent expert said today.

The top lawyer of the United Nations today exhorted new law graduates of New York University (NYU) to help usher in a new era of accountability across the world and never to allow cynicism to erode their commitment to the cause of justice.

Amid ongoing violence in parts of Syria, the presence of UN military observers on the ground has had an overall calming effect in their areas of deployment in the Middle Eastern country, the head of the UN observer force said today.

As part of the United Nations’ ongoing efforts to ensure the full restoration of constitutional rule in Mali and Guinea-Bissau, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for West Africa, Said Djinnit, will participate in an upcoming regional meeting on the political crises in the two countries.

The head of the United Nations agency tasked with defending press freedom today denounced the murders of two Pakistani journalists and expressed alarm over the continued deteriorating security of journalists in the country.

Latvian authorities must ensure that vulnerable groups are not disproportionately affected by austerity measures and other economic policies, a United Nations independent expert said today.

The United Nations food agency and Libya today signed an agreement to collaborate in a joint programme that seeks to increase food production while protecting the country’s natural resources.

As a powerful global information resource, the Internet must be accessible to everyone and measures to ensure this must be taken, a United Nations independent expert said today.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today asked young people from all over the world to "make some noise" to help accelerate progress on the negotiations of the United Nations Sustainable Development Conference (Rio+20) which will take place in Brazil next month.

The United Nations entity mandated to promote gender equality today announced the members that will be part of a group that will facilitate dialogue between civil society and the agency.

In a new resolution, the Security Council today extended by six months the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping force for Abyei, an area contested by South Sudan and Sudan, and demanded that the two countries finalize the establishment of an administration for the area in line with an agreement signed last year.

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) today welcomed Saudi Arabia’s contribution of $66 million to implement its technical assistance projects in the country, which aim to benefit small-scale agricultural producers and fishermen.

United Nations senior officials today stressed the importance of establishing a new paradigm for growth that ensures social inclusiveness, job opportunities for all, and more accountability from the financial sector to tackle the ongoing global economic crisis.

The President of the General Assembly, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, today hailed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted five years ago, as a landmark document that has inspired positive changes in the protection of the rights of indigenous communities.

A UN envoy today hailed a recent workshop related to a long-standing border controversy between Guyana and Venezuela as a demonstration of both countries’ on-going commitment to a peaceful resolution of the matter.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today emphasized the need to optimize the use of information and communications technology (ICT) to support sustainable development.

The members of the United Nations Security Council will leave New York on Friday for an official mission to West Africa.

Marking International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia, senior United Nations officials today drew attention to laws around the world which discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, and called for equality and the repeal of such laws.

Convicted former Liberian President Charles Taylor told the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) today that he was saddened by the atrocities and crimes committed in Sierra Leone, but denied that he aided the rebels who committed the abuses.

The trial of Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military chief facing charges of genocide and other war crimes, got under way today in the United Nations tribunal set up in the wake of the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s.