Salon.com > Ban Ki-Moon

UN chief urges India to act on rape crisis

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 17:20:00 +0000

The body of a 23-year-old woman who died in hospital from injuries sustained in a brutal gang-rape was cremated Sunday. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in India in the past week to protest Indian authority's treatment of rape and rape victims. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon today called upon the government to enact changes to protect women.

"Every girl and woman has the right to be respected, valued and protected," Ban said in a statement in which he expressed "deep sorrow" at news of the young woman's death and called for "further steps and reforms to deter such crimes and bring perpetrators to justice".

What is the UN General Assembly, anyway?

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 20:56:00 +0000

With the crisis in Syria hitting new levels of urgency and unrest across the Middle East and beyond, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week foretold a busy September for the UN's member nations.

"This year’s General Debate will be among our busiest ever. This reflects the tumultuous time in which we live — a time of turmoil and transition,” he said.

The General Debate is part of the UN General Assembly, a series of annual meetings where the countries who comprise the UN hammer out major decisions on some of the world's most tangled problems.

What is the UNGA?

The United Nations General Assembly is a forum of all of the members of the United Nations that takes place for several months each year. Held in New York, the annual convening of member states allows the UN to address the most pressing global issues of the moment.

Will blasphemy be criminalized?

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 17:22:00 +0000

The long-standing United Nations debate over free speech and its limitations will take particular precedence this week in light of the recent global reaction to an anti-Islam YouTube clip.

A number of Muslim leaders, including Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, will argue this week that blasphemy should (in some way) be criminalized under international law. Meanwhile, the majority of Western leaders will continue to push back against such an idea, arguing (as they have for some years) that such blasphemy laws could be used to punish, imprison or even execute dissidents under certain regimes.

According to a McClatchy Newspapers report: