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Official visit by the Secretary General of the United Nations in Luxembourg Statement 17/04/2012

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, has been on an official visit to Luxembourg on 16 and 17 April 2012. He was received by H.R.H. the Grand Duke and met with Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker and Deputy-Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean Asselborn. In the afternoon of April 17th, the Secretary-General of the United Nations intervened at the rostrum of the Chamber of Deputies on the occasion of an extraordinary public session. He spoke furthermore at a conference at the University of Luxembourg on “Global Citizenship for a New Future”. ... (read more)
Disaster Risk Reduction: tangible contribution by Luxembourg Statement 12/04/2012

In the framework of the thematic debate on disaster risk reduction which was held on 12 April 2012 at the initiative of the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Luxembourg has presented its tangible contribution to the efforts undertaken by the international community to reduce significantly the impact of disasters on societies and economies, notably in developing countries which are the most vulnerable because of their geographic location ... (read more)
Luxembourg contributes to the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons Statement 03/04/2012

In the context of the interactive dialogue held on 3 April 2012 under the aegis of the President of the General Assembly and co-organised by UNODC and the Group of Friends for the Fight against Human Trafficking, Ambassador Sylvie Lucas co-chaired a Panel of experts on assistance to the victims of trafficking. Intervening in a national capacity, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Luxembourg, Mr Olivier Maes underlined the importance of a good coordination of activities of prevention, repression and support to victims (…read more)
Joint Debate by the General Assembly on the reports of the Peacebuilding Commission and the Peacebuilding Fund Statement 19/03/2012

In her intervention to the General Assembly, Ambassador Sylvie Lucas saluted the fact that the work of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) over the last few years had led to a deepening of the understanding of the concept of peacebuilding, including more and more issues in relation to statebuilding. Including the Republic of Guinea on the Peacebuilding Commission's agenda had also widened the horizon to transitional situations other than post-conflict transition. In this work, political will and ownership by the Government of the country on the Peacebuilding Commission’s agenda are a necessary condition and must go hand in hand with political will and ownership by the Member Countries of the Configuration. The Ambassador judged that the Country-specific Configurations had the mission to become true intergovernmental partnerships, which should throw the combined political weight of their members into the balance for peacebuilding in the country concerned ...(read more)
Luxembourg participates in the 6th World Water Forum in Marseille Statement 13/03/2012

On March 13, 2012, the Minister for Home Affairs and the Greater Region of Luxembourg, Jean-Marie Halsdorf, who is in charge of the policy of Luxembourg in the field of water, attended the Ministerial Conference of the World Water Forum, a forum for exchanges between all actors involved in the field of water management, be they public, private or non-profit, at the global, regional and local levels. Minister Halsdorf informed his colleagues on this occasion of the unanimous vote by the Luxembourg parliament, on March 7, 2012, of the law approving the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses. Luxembourg has thus kept its commitment made at the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul by ratifying this important agreement which will offer, as soon as it comes into force, a regulatory framework for cross-border cooperation between riparian States located in an international drainage basin. ... (read more)
Luxembourg participates at the open debate of the Security Council on the situation in Somalia Statement 05/03/2012

During her intervention, the Permanent Representative recalled that the next six months will be determining for Somalia. Ambassador Lucas underlined that it is now primarily up to all Somali political actors and notably the Transitional Federal Government to demonstrate their will to seize this opportunity to complete the transition process until the month of August, so that the reconciled Somali people may live in peace and security and so that the Somali authorities may establish rule of law leaving no space for pirates and terrorists. The Permanent Representative stated that the commitment of Luxembourg is articulated along three lines: political, security and humanitarian. ... (read more)
Minister for Equal Opportunities Françoise Hetto-Gaasch participates in the 56th session of the Commission on the Status of Women Statement 29/02/2012

From 27 to 29 February 2012, Françoise Hetto-Gaasch, Minister for Equal Opportunities of Luxembourg, attended the 56th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. On 27 February, the Minister for Equal Opportunities participated in the high-level roundtable on empowerment of rural women, the priority theme of the session. In her intervention, Françoise Hetto-Gaasch stressed the importance of women's role in the fight against poverty and hunger and recalled the priorities of Luxembourg in this context: Luxembourg allocates more than 1% of its gross national income to Official Development Assistance (ODA) and about 10% of its bilateral ODA to agriculture, rural development and food. ... (read more)
Luxembourg signs the 3rd Optional Protocol of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure Statement 28/02/2012

Luxembourg was among the first twenty States to sign the 3rd Optional Protocol of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure on 28 February 2012 in Geneva.
The 3rd Optional Protocol aims to give children and their guardians the possibility to call upon the UN if they are denied justice in their country. It aims thus to cover a normative gap, given that the Convention on the Rights of the Child so far had no complaints mechanism.
The Protocol was adopted on 19 December 2011 by the General Assembly of the United Nations. It shall enter into force after ratification or accession by at least ten States.
Deputy Prime Minister Jean Asselborn at the Friends of the Syrian people conference in Tunis Statement 24/02/2012

At the invitation of the Tunisian Government, the Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister of Luxembourg, Jean Asselborn, has participated in the Friends of the Syrian people conference which was held in Tunis on 24 February 2012. This conference provided an opportunity to stress the support of the international community to the aspirations of the Syrian people to freedom and democracy and to the initiatives of the League of Arab States aiming at ending the violence in Syria as soon as possible and resolving the Syrian crisis by peaceful means.
Open debate of the Security Council on women and peace and security Statement 23/02/2012

In her intervention at the open debate of the Security Council, the Permanent Representative renewed Luxembourg’s commitment to the collective effort of combating conflict-related sexual violence, and welcomed the Secretary-General’s latest report which illustrates in a very worrying way how impunity relating to past human rights abuses, in particular acts of sexual violence during the armed conflict, is a major factor undermining early recovery and peace consolidation, and frequently allows sexual violence to persist post-conflict. Ambassador Lucas indicated how Luxembourg, since the last public debate of the Council on the issue on 28 October 2011, has further intensified its commitment to support women in armed conflict, including through a voluntary financial contribution to support the work of the team of experts of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict. ... (read more)