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“If one man can show so much hatred, imagine how much love we can show together.” So said a young woman who lost friends on the island of Utøya during the attacks of Friday 22 July. The quote has been widely embraced by survivors, families and political leaders in Norway. Read more

Last year, the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) supported 466 projects in 51 countries. Norway contributed with about USD 43 million, or 11% of the total, according to CERF’s annual report that has just been published. Read more

Norway supports UN efforts to establish the right to clean drinking water and sanitation. Every year more children die of diseases caused by contaminated drinking water than of Aids, malaria and measles combined. Read more

Today the first preparatory talks on negotiating an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) concluded at the United Nations in New York. Norway is working for an agreement that can prevent violations of international humanitarian law and human rights by requiring states to have stringent rules for the trading in arms. Read more

The Prime Minister of Norway, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg, co-chaired the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing 12-13 July 2010, alongside the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Mr. Meles Zenawi. Read more

At a packed July 6th event at New York’s Museum of Modern Art hosted by United Nations Secretary-General H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, The Permanent Representative of Norway to the UN, Ambassador H.E. Mr. Morten Wetland and the Royal Norwegian Consulate General in New York, Christy Turlington Burns added her voice to the growing momentum in the fight to save the lives of millions of women and children... Read more

Earlier this month a team from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs travelled to the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince to assess how Norway’s USD 100 pledge of support for Haiti could be put to good use. First Secretary Julie M. Jacobsen Takahashi, from the Permanent Mission of Norway to the UN, went with them. This is her personal account of the visit. Read more

Norway will be an important partner for Haiti in the country’s reconstruction efforts following the disastrous earthquake in January. The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), of which Norway is now a member, held its first meeting on 17 June in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. Read more

The Review Conference for the UN Fish Stocks Agreement was held at the UN in New York on May 24-28. The meeting was a continuation of the conference from 2006, and the main objective was to evaluate the implementation of the Agreement and to look for possible ways to strengthen the implementation and have more States become parties to the Agreement. Read more

On May 27 in Oslo, heads of state and government, ministers and other representatives of some 50 countries concluded an agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation. Around NOK 25 billion has been pledged for the period 2010–2012 for measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries. Read more

The States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) are gathering in Kampala, Uganda, to take stock of the progress of the Court. “This is a milestone in the history of international criminal law,” commented Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. Read more

UNICEFs new leader Anthony Lake opened his first annual Executive Board meeting by thanking those gathered and the UN Secretary General for having given him what he called "the greatest opportunity of my life". Lake urged everyone to increase their efforts to secure the rights of every child, not least “the forgotten child" who is marginalised because of gender, ethnic identity or class... Read more

Norway and Indonesia agreed today to enter into a partnership to support Indonesia’s efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation of forests and peat lands. Indonesia will take immediate and decisive action to reduce its forest and peat related greenhouse gas emissions. Norway will support those efforts with USD 1 billion over the next few years. Read more

Every fall the Norwegian Parliament, Stortinget, sends two groups of observers to the United Nations General Assembly. In 2009 Elisabeth Aspaker, from the political party Høyre, was one of the Norwegian members of parliament that spent time the UN. Here she reflects on those four hectic weeks she spent in New York. Read more