Message On World Press Freedom Day, 3 May 2010

Vienna, 3 May (UN Information Service) - Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But around the world, there are governments and those wielding power who find many ways to obstruct it.

They impose high taxes on newsprint, making newspapers so expensive that people can't afford to buy them. Independent radio and TV stations are forced off the air if they criticize Government policy. The censors are also active in cyberspace, restricting the use of the Internet and new media.

Some journalists risk intimidation, detention and even their lives, simply for exercising their right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas, through any media, and regardless of frontiers.

3 May 2010 – The world is looking to the more than 100 nations gathered today at United Nations Headquarters for a major nuclear non-proliferation conference to build a safer world, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to say at the start of the event.

Since taking office in 2007, disarmament has been one of the top priorities of the Secretary-General, who last month visited Semipalatinsk, or the “ground zero” former nuclear test site in Kazakhstan, which was shut down in 1991 as a step towards abolition of nuclear weapons.

“To realize a world free of nuclear weapons is a top priority of the United Nations and the most ardent aspiration of human beings,” he said while visiting the site, which endured over 400 atomic blasts.

21 April 2010 – With the implosion of financial markets on Wall Street and the explosion of a volcano in Iceland highlighting in just two ways how the world is ever more interconnected, enhancing dialogue and understanding among peoples and faiths is more vital than ever, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

“It is the case whether the subject is melting icecaps in one part of the world or rising unemployment in another,” he told a ceremony at United Nations Headquarters in New York marking 2010 as the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures in accordance with a General Assembly resolution passed in 2007.

LJUBLJANA / GENEVA – The first mission to Slovenia by UN independent expert on human rights, water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, has been postponed due to extended airspace restrictions imposed by European air traffic bodies.

Widespread flying restrictions affecting most of northern Europe have been adopted because of the after-effects of the eruption of an Icelandic volcano, which have made flying too hazardous, according to air traffic authorities.

The UN Human Rights Council envoy was due to visit Slovenia from 19-23 April 2010. A new Media Advisory will be release in the coming weeks, as soon as the mission is rescheduled.

Source: UN Information Service Vienna

Ljubljana / Geneva, 16 April (UN Information Service Vienna) – The UN independent expert on human rights, water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, will visit Slovenia from 19-23 April 2010 to collect first hand information and hold a dialogue with the Government of Slovenia about the steps taken to ensure that the rights to safe drinking water and sanitation are guaranteed in its territory.