Experts Discussed Biosafety and Biosecurity as well as Oversight, Education, Awareness-raising and Codes of Conduct The 2008 Meeting of Experts from States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) was held in Geneva from 18 to 22 August 2008 to discuss and promote common understanding…

The Conference on Disarmament today heard statements by Venezuela as the President of the Conference, France, Pakistan, New Zealand, Brazil, Sri Lanka and China on the stalemate in its work and its programme of work, and by Slovakia, the Russian Federation and Ireland on the conflict in…

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for and Representatives of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN Refugee Agency, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the…

On Wednesday, 13 August, the Conference on Disarmament’s seven Coordinators reported orally to the six 2008 Presidents (P6) of the Conference on the outcome of the latest round of thematic debates on the Conference’s agenda items. These Coordinators generally validated their earlier…

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this morning discussed issues under its early warning and urgent action procedures, as well as the implementation of article 15 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, on the elimination of all forms of…

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Office at Geneva, chaired the briefing which also heard from spokespersons and representatives from the United Nations Refugee Agency, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the…

Committee Adopts Report to Human Rights Council and Concludes First Session The Human Rights Council Advisory Committee this morning adopted five recommendations to be submitted to the Human Rights Council on official summary records; on publication of studies completed by the Sub-Commission on…

The Human Rights Council Advisory Committee this morning concluded its first session during which it adopted by consensus thirteen recommendations to the Human Rights Council. In his concluding remarks, the President of the Advisory Committee, Miguel Alfonso Martínez, thanked all his colleagues for…

Issues Concluding Observations on Reports of Ecuador, Namibia, Togo, Russian Federation, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Sweden The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has concluded its three-week seventy-third session, making public its concluding observations and…

Israel, Italy, Outgoing President of the Conference Also Make Statements The Conference on Disarmament this morning heard Georgia say Russia had committed acts "in grave breach of the rules of international humanitarian law" in the context of the Russian-Georgian conflict. In response, Russia…