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PRESS RELEASES |
11 July 2010 – This year, some 60 countries are collecting data and counting people as part of the 2010 census process. 26 June 2010 – As we prepare for this September’s United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals, we must recognize the major impediment to development posed by drug abuse and illicit trafficking. As this year’s theme stresses, it is time to “Think Health, Not Drugs”. 26 June 2010 – Torture is a crime under international law. The prohibition of torture is absolute and unambiguous. UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK, 23 June 2010 – Updated data on mortality rates among mothers and young children are likely to encourage G8 leaders, who at their meeting later this week will make this health issue – long considered a neglected area of international development efforts – a 2010 priority.
23 June 2010 – On the annual observance of Public Service Day, we pay tribute to public servants everywhere who have improved the lives of others in their communities. Ashgabat, 22 June 2010 – The high-level delegation of the European Union visited the UN House in Ashgabat on June 17 to get acquainted with the UN experience of work in the sphere of human rights in Turkmenistan. 20 June 2010 – On this observance of World Refugee Day, we must note a troubling trend: the decline in the number of refugees who are able to go home. |
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Message from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on United Nations Public Service Day |
Message from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on United Nations Public Service Day  23 June 2010 – On the annual observance of Public Service Day, we pay tribute to public servants everywhere who have improved the lives of others in their communities.
Public service is not always an easy career choice to make, but it can be immensely rewarding for the opportunity it offers to get involved in addressing the challenges of our times.
In an era of increasingly complex challenges, from climate change to food insecurity and the financial and economic crisis, the world needs its public servants to be more creative and talented than ever. Through this year’s United Nations Public Service Awards competition, we can see that innovation is thriving throughout the world. At the commemoration of Public Service Day in Barcelona, the United Nations will award twenty-three public institutions for their achievements.
In some cases, these institutions have used technology to increase the transparency and accountability of government services. Others have created social programmes that educate and empower marginalized groups. All the winners and finalists have powerful and inspiring stories to tell and best practices to share*. I congratulate them on their original ideas, their industriousness and their dedication to excellent public service delivery.
I hope these winners will generate other local, regional and national initiatives, and inspire young people to explore careers in public service. If we are to defeat poverty, disease, illiteracy and gender inequality and achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, we need to recruit into the public service an ever-increasing tide of ambitious youth who want to use their technological and scientific skills for the common good.
On this Public Service Day, I thank all people who currently work in service of their town, city or country, and I encourage young citizens everywhere to explore the dynamic and diverse careers that exist today in public service.
* http://www.unpan.org/Events/PublicServiceDayAwards/2010UnitedNationsPublicServiceDay/tabid/1217/language/en-US/Default.aspx |
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