UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
21 July, 2009


BAN OUTLINES STEPS TO TURN PROMISE OF ‘RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT’ INTO PRACTICE

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today outlined a series of measures designed to prevent genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and related crimes against humanity, stressing “it is high time to turn the promise of the responsibility to protect into practice.”

Agreed to by world leaders in 2005, the ‘responsibility to protect’ – sometimes known as ‘R2P’ – holds States responsible for shielding their own populations from genocide and other major human rights abuses and requires the international community to step in if this obligation is not met.

“This universal and irrevocable commitment was made at the highest level, without contradiction or challenge. Our common task now is to deliver on this historic pledge to the peoples of the world,” Mr. Ban told the General Assembly, as he presented his latest report on the issue.

The proposals contained in the report, which the 192-member Assembly will consider tomorrow, rest on three pillars: State responsibility; international assistance and capacity-building; and timely and decisive response.

“First, the report seeks to situate the responsibility to protect squarely under the UN’s roof and within our Charter, where it belongs,” said Mr. Ban. “By developing fully UN strategies, standards, and processes for implementing the responsibility to protect, we can discourage States or groups of States from misusing these principles for inappropriate purposes.”

The report also asserts that prevention should be “job number one,” and offers a “balanced and nuanced” approach to prevention and protection that utilizes the full inventory of tools available to the UN and its partners, he stated.

In addition, the report proposes engaging Member States in a discussion about how to sharpen UN capacities for early warning and assessment. “When prevention fails, the United Nations needs to pursue an early and flexible response tailored to the circumstances of each case,” said the Secretary-General. “Military action is a measure of last, not first, resort and should only be undertaken in accordance with the provisions of the Charter.”

Lastly, the report seeks to encourage each of the UN’s principal organs to play its distinct and appropriate role under the Charter in developing and implementing the responsibility to protect.

Mr. Ban asked States to let the Assembly do what it does best: to provide the venue for a continuing search for common ground on a multilateral strategy to protect the world’s people from what he described as “massive affronts to human dignity.”

He also urged that the victims of such atrocities and crimes, who number in the millions, not be forgotten. “Those losses have permanently stained the history of the 20th century. Together, in this century, we can chart a different course,” he stated.

“Never forget, too, the complacency and cynicism that often prevented this Organization from acting as early or as effectively as it should have,” he added. “Our publics judged us then, and found us wanting. They will be watching again this week, and they will – rightfully – judge us harshly if we treat these deliberations as politics as usual.”


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ARAB DEVELOPMENT HELD BACK BY LACK OF HUMAN SECURITY, UN-BACKED REPORT SAYS

A widespread lack of basic elements of human security, such as access to clean water, freedom from hunger, democracy and a robust rule of law, is denying citizens of Arab countries the ability to fulfil their potential, according to a United Nations-sponsored report released today.

The annual Arab Human Development Report noted that human security – which it called a pre-requisite for human development – is being undermined by the region’s unjust political, social, and economic systems, a scramble for power and resources among fragmented social groups and, in some cases, the impact of external military intrusion.

“The tendency is to think of security only in military or state security terms,” said Amat Al Alim Alsoswa, Director of the UN Development Programme’s (UNDP) Regional Bureau for Arab States.

But Mr. Al Alim Alsoswa said that the ability of some 330 million people in the Arab world to lead stable lives and achieve their potential is not only threatened by conflict and civil unrest, but “also by environmental degradation, discrimination, unemployment, poverty, and hunger.”

He stressed that only if these sources of insecurity are addressed “will the people of the Arab region be able to make progress in human development.”

The report, which draws on contributions from more than 100 Arab scholars, identifies a series of measures to improve human security, including: guarantees on universal basic rights and freedoms, especially for women; better protection for the environment; tackling poverty and hunger; expanding access to affordable health services; and ending

occupation and military interventions, which cause human suffering and erase decades of economic development.

UNDP noted that the report highlighted that in six Arab countries, “there is an outright ban on the formation of political parties, while restrictions on political activities and civic organizations in other countries often amount to de facto prohibition.”

“National security measures such as the declaration of emergency law often serve as a pretext to suspend basic rights, exempt rulers from constitutional limitations, and afford security agencies sweeping powers,” it added.

Pointing to the poverty and hunger despite the comparative affluence in the region, the report said that one in five people live on less than $2 per day, below the internationally recognized poverty line, but stated that a more accurate estimate would be that 20 per cent of Arabs live in poverty.

Large segments of the population in low-income countries face basic deprivation, reflected in inadequate access to safe water and a high incidence of underweight children, with the number of undernourished people in the region rising from almost 20 million in 1990-1992 to 25.5 million in 2002-2004.

Since 2002 Arab Human Development Reports (AHDRs) have targeted decision-makers and opinion leaders in governments and civil societies, helping build consensus around regional and national development priorities and identify disadvantaged populations and religious groups suggesting policies, strategies and opportunities for investment to benefit them.

As instruments for measuring human progress and triggering action for change, the AHDRs feed into and draw upon the data and analysis of the global Human Development Reports, which promote regional partnerships for influencing change and region-specific approaches to human rights, poverty, education, economic reform, HIV/AIDS, and globalization.

The global HDR was first launched in 1990 and the Human Development Index has become a globally-recognized measure which ranks countries using indicators such as life-expectancy, levels of education and standards of living as its guide.


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UN’S HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS THIS YEAR FACE $5 BILLION SHORTFALL

More than halfway through 2009, United Nations agencies and their humanitarian partners face a nearly $5 billion gap in funding to respond to the most severe crises, with the UN’s top relief official warning today that the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people have been hardest hit by the global recession.

Of the $9.5 billion appealed for to cover activities for 2009, less than half has been received to date, leaving a $4.8 billion gap, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

“It is clear that the global recession puts pressure on the aid budgets of all donor governments, but of course it puts immeasurably more pressure on crisis-stricken people in poor countries,” said Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes.

Only a fraction of the money committed by governments to private financial institutions in the midst of the economic turmoil is needed to ensure that those in need are “getting the best available protection and assistance on time,” he added.

Since the start of the year, the Consolidated and Flash Appeals have been revised upward by $1.5 billion due to deteriorating humanitarian situations in some areas.

For example, acute food insecurity and the influx of refugees from neighbouring Somalia has driven up funding requirements for Kenya up by almost $200 million, while the Israeli military operation in Gaza earlier this year has caused needs to increase there by over $300 million.

Despite the end of more than two decades of fighting between the Government and separatist Tamils in Sri Lanka, humanitarian requirements have surged by more than $100 million due to the needs of the 285,000 people uprooted by violence.

The UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) – which seeks to speed up assistance to those suffering from natural and man-made disasters as well as support critically under-funded emergencies – has allocated more than $150 million to 18 appeals.

Mr. Holmes, who also serves as UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, today announced the allocation of a further $55 million for 11 protracted emergency situations in countries including the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Zimbabwe, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Ethiopia.


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MORE WOMEN IN CAMBODIA TURNING TO SEX TRADE AMID FINANCIAL CRISIS – UN REPORT

The global financial crisis has led to signs of an increase in Cambodian women entering the sex trade, says a new United Nations report, which recommends strengthening social safety nets and improving job training and placement to help women avoid such dangerous and exploitative work.

The report, prepared by the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP), is based on research conducted in April and May involving 357 women and girls aged between 15 and 49 currently working in the entertainment sector of the capital, Phnom Penh, including in brothels, karaoke bars and massage parlours.

“The objective of this research was to measure increases in human trafficking and exploitation in Cambodia as a result of the financial crisis, specifically, the trafficking of women and girls into the entertainment sector,” UNIAP says in a news release issued yesterday.

The report shows that during the crisis, women have entered the sex trade coming from situations where there have been declining working conditions, such as in the garment sector, where they experienced long working hours and low pay.

The most common reason given by the women and girls for entering the sex trade was “difficult family circumstances,” followed by “easily earn a lot of money, in good working conditions.”

Most massage parlour workers, 57 per cent, found their jobs independently, while 46 per cent of karaoke workers found theirs through friends. Nearly 80 per cent of direct sex workers also found their jobs on their own.

The report also found that 58 per cent of women who entered the entertainment sector before the crisis were in debt, while the same was true of 42 per cent who entered after the crisis.

“It could be assumed that the shift in women turning from money lenders to sex establishment bosses for loans may lead to more women being vulnerable to the control tactics and violence that are often thought to be associated with debt bondage,” states UNIAP.

However, it was debts to money lenders, and not debt bondage, that was found to be significantly associated with the worst violence and worst restrictions on freedoms among those surveyed.

The report recommends strengthening social safety nets, designed to meet the needs of families with women who are vulnerable to exploitation and degrading working conditions, as well as linking women who want jobs featuring better working conditions with alternative livelihood training and job placement assistance.

Also recommended is the use of targeted awareness raising and outreach to provide specific, clear information to people who may be vulnerable, for example on how to access social services and training that will lead to jobs, the risks of using moneylenders, and how to qualify for and access safer sources of loans and credit.


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NEARLY 300,000 UPROOTED PAKISTANIS RETURN HOME TO NORTHWEST – UN

Almost 300,000 Pakistanis – out of some 2 million uprooted by clashes in the country’s northwest – have returned home, the top United Nations humanitarian official said today, hailing the returns as a “positive development.”

Last week, the Pakistani authorities began a programme for internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return to some parts of Buner and Swat, among the areas hardest hit by the operations pitting Government forces against militants in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

The returns are “largely individual and spontaneous,” with the Government providing support in some instances, said Wolfgang Herbinger, the acting UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Pakistan.

Over the past week, some 280,000 people have returned to Swat and Buner, where he estimated that over half those who fled fighting have now returned.

The vast majority of the 2 million people who have escaped the violence are sheltering either in schools and other public buildings, with host families or in rental accommodations.

With the monsoon season set to start shortly, the camps housing a portion of the IDPs are in danger of flooding, and the Government “is making efforts to move people and ask whether they want to return” to their homes, Mr. Herbinger said.

Last week, the top UN humanitarian official underscored the need for returns to be voluntary, with “no obligation to return before people are ready.”

Under-Secretary-General John Holmes, who visited Pakistan earlier this month, stressed the need for proper consultation with the people concerned and to ensure that the right conditions are in place for their returns. “There has to be basic security there… the power needs to be on, the water needs to be running, the police force needs to be there, the local administration needs to be in place.

“The main point is that returns have got to be sustainable,” he stressed, adding that the worst scenario would be if people went back and were then displaced again.

The UN, Mr. Herbinger said today, is “trying to ease” the return of displaced people, with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) providing food in places of return and setting up humanitarian hubs where items will be handed out.

With plans in place for a military offensive in Waziristan, also in north-west Pakistan, the UN, he said, is undertaking contingency plans, planning to set up logistics centres where it believes people might escape to.

In a related development, the UN humanitarian arm announced today that only 43 per cent of the $542 million required to assist Pakistan, the scene of what is currently the world’s fourth largest displacement crisis, has been provided for.

Although support for the most essential needs such as food has been relatively well-funded, Mr. Herbinger voiced concern that given the start of returns, IDPs will need support for the foreseeable future.

“I do not think the international community ahs given the depth and extent of this humanitarian crisis the attention that it deserves,” he said.

The funds appealed for have increased ten-fold from the original 2009 appeal for Pakistan, launched last November, due to the unravelling humanitarian situation in the South Asian nation’s north-west.

Last week, Zill-e Usman, a 59-year-old Pakistani national who had served with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) since 1984, was shot by unidentified gunmen in the Kutcha Gari camp on the border of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in NWFP. Four to five gunmen reportedly opened fire as he was walking back from the camp administrative office to his car during a routine visit to the site.

Top UN officials roundly condemned the killing, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemning the “brutal attack on humanitarian personnel who are working for the well-being of the Pakistani people,” according to a statement issued by his spokesperson.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres voiced his outrage at the killing of Mr. Usman, who leaves behind a wife and four children. “There is no justification for attacks on humanitarian workers dedicated to the protection and care of the most vulnerable people,” he said.

The slain UNHCR staff member was working on the repatriation of people displaced by a conflict in Pakistan’s tribal areas that broke out in August 2008.


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RULE OF LAW FOCUS OF UN-BACKED TRAINING IN CARIBBEAN

The United Nations has helped train nearly 90 officials of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nations on the consolidation and advancement of the rule of law, a top priority of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The three-day workshop last week in Kingstown in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines brought together 17 men and 69 women serving with their nations’ foreign affairs and justice ministries, as well as judges and attorneys general.

Convened by CARICOM and organized in collaboration with the UN Treaty Section of the Office of Legal Affairs (OLA), the gathering touched on international treaty law, participation in multilateral treaties and how the UN can assist CARICOM nations implement treaties on the domestic level.

Earlier this month, Mr. Ban hailed the cooperation between the UN and CARICOM in tackling the various crises impacting the region and the world at large, including the global financial turmoil and climate change.

“In the current daunting international environment, our partnership is more important than ever,” he said in a message to the heads of government meeting of the regional body in Georgetown, Guyana.

CARICOM nations, the Secretary-General said, which are highly vulnerable to external shocks and among the most indebted in the world, are especially affected by the economic and financial crisis.


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UN COMMITTEE DISCUSSES NEW FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN

The United Nations committee which monitors compliance with the international convention on eliminating discrimination against women is 30 years old this year, but as it meets this week at UN Headquarters in New York, it is considering some very modern problems.

“We’re asking countries about the impact of the financial crisis on their basic social services, including women’s salaries and women’s unemployment,” says the chair of the committee, Naela Mohammed Gabr. She adds that committee is also considering the “scourge” of trafficking in women, and the impact on women of diseases including outbreaks of influenza.

“Don’t worry, there will still be plenty of work for us in another 30 years’ time,” Ms. Gabr laughs. “There is no ceiling for improvement in the human situation.”

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) has various means of influencing countries’ behaviour, including the publication of its observations, with recommendations to be followed up.

All the committee’s findings go to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, and form part of the Universal Periodic Review process, which involves a review of the records of all 192 UN Member States once every four years. Ms. Gabr believes that a good report is “important for the image and credibility of each country.”

Ms. Gabr believes that sooner or later, all Member States will join the Convention, including the United States, which has signed but not ratified it. She hopes the new US administration will move to ratify it soon. “The issue is that they will join, with or without reservations,” she said, adding that even some countries that had joined the Convention without reservations did not have a perfect record of implementation. “The issue is that the US should and will join,” Ms. Gabr said.

At this week’s meeting, the committee’s 22 independent experts will review the situation of women in Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Denmark, Guinea-Bissau, Laos, Japan, Liberia, Spain, Switzerland, Timor-Leste and Tuvalu.


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UN BLUE HELMETS CONDUCT ELECTION TRAINING FOR HUNDREDS OF DR CONGO POLICE OFFICERS

More than 500 Congolese police officers have received training in ensuring security for upcoming local, urban and municipal elections, the United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) announced today.

In the latest round of instruction, the UN mission (MONUC) and the Congolese National Police (PNC) trained 555 officers in the town of Kisangani last week.

MONUC reported that it has now trained some 6,965 Congolese policemen in several towns across the DRC, and plans on extending the programme to over 76,000 personnel in total.

There are three separate courses used for training different categories of policemen:

the management of queues in front of polling stations, intervention and arrest for police in charge of voting station security; teaching personnel working in the area of information gathering; and evacuation preparedness for reserve policemen, MONUC said.

Between 2005 and 2007, MONUC police trained PNC personnel who successfully ensured the security of the presidential and parliamentary elections in the DRC monitored by the UN.


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TOP UN ENVOY URGES RESTRAINT AFTER RECENT INCIDENTS IN SOUTHERN LEBANON

A top United Nations official has called for restraint following recent incidents in southern Lebanon, including the wounding of several of the world body’s peacekeepers during an investigation into an explosion at an arms cache last week.

Fourteen soldiers serving with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were reportedly injured, and some UN vehicles damaged, on Saturday when protesters tried to stop the investigation in the area of Khirbat Silim.

“We really need now to lower the temperature, to try and address the issues and not see any escalation which would be bad for 1701 and for Lebanon,” Michael Williams, the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, said following his meeting yesterday with Prime Minister Fuad Siniora.

Security Council resolution 1701, which helped to end the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbollah, called for renewed respect for the Blue Line separating the Lebanese forces and Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), the disarming of militias and an end to arms smuggling, among other elements.

Last week UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters that the incident of the explosions constitutes a serious violation of resolution 1701, notably with regards to the provision that there should be no presence of unauthorized assets or weapons in the area of operation between the Litani River and the Blue Line.

“Clearly there were violations of 1701,” said Mr. Williams, who discussed the incidents in a series of meetings over the past two days with senior Lebanese officials. In addition to Mr. Siniora, he also met with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, and with Assembly Speaker Nabih Berri.

After his meeting with Mr. Hariri, the Special Coordinator stated, “Any resolution from time to time faces many tests and challenges. There have been some testing incidents in recent days.

“I take this opportunity to call on all parties to renew their commitment and to exercise the utmost restraint.”

Mr. Williams also called again on Israel to put an end to its air violations of the Blue Line, which he said Lebanon is subject to “on a daily basis.”


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GROWING INSECURITY IN SOMALI CAPITAL HAMPERING AID ACCESS, UN WARNS

Aid workers are finding it increasingly difficult to gain access and provide assistance to residents of the Somali capital because of the worsening conflict there, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.

This week’s scheduled distribution of 4,000 aid kits in Mogadishu and surrounding areas had to be postponed because of security concerns, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman Ron Redmond told journalists in Geneva.

The looting by militants of UN facilities in Baidoa and Wajid yesterday has meant assistance efforts in those areas have also ground to a halt.

“We again appeal to the warring parties in Somalia to respect basic international humanitarian and human rights principles and to guarantee the safety and security of the civilian population as well as for the humanitarian workers trying to help the victims,” Mr. Redmond said.

The UN’s top humanitarian official, John Holmes, warned yesterday that aid workers in Somalia – and many other countries – are coming under increasingly violent attack.

Today Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement through his spokesperson condemning the looting.

“Such acts target the whole gamut of UN peace and humanitarian operations in Somalia,” the statement noted. “The UN is providing life-saving support to people in need throughout Somalia, and will continue to do all it can to help the country emerge from decades of violence.”

An estimated 223,000 residents have now left Mogadishu since early May, when the Al-Shabaab and Hisb-ul-Islam militant groups launched attacks against Government forces in the capital. In the past fortnight alone, about 20,000 people have fled their homes.

The newly displaced join another 400,000 Somalis packed into the Afgooye corridor, a congested strip of land that runs southwest from Mogadishu and is packed with makeshift shelters.

Mr. Redmond said non-governmental organizations (NGOs) trying to operate in the Afgooye area say they are overstretched and unable to cope with the latest influx.

“There is a lack of adequate shelter, sanitation facilities and clean drinking water. The situation has grown worse following recent torrential rains. The lack of sufficient latrines poses a major health risk.”

The widespread insecurity means aid workers are struggling to deliver humanitarian assistance from the port of Mogadishu to the Afgooye corridor.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that it is especially concerned about deadly outbreaks of acute watery diarrhoea, which is on the rise again around Mogadishu after two years of decline.

WHO is working with its NGO partners to provide cholera kits, oral rehydration sachets, aqua tabs and chlorine, and transport communication sets in a bid to contain the outbreaks of diarrhoea and cholera.

Two of Mogadishu’s four functioning hospitals are admitting only war-wounded patients and trauma patients for emergency surgery, which is adding to the burden for other facilities.

In the Bakool region, which is home to at least 300,000 people, several health facilities – including a hospital in the town of Xudur – have had to be closed because of insecurity and hostility towards aid workers.

A spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP) said that the agency was committed to helping Somalis and was continuing its operations, despite yesterday’s attack by looters.


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GREATER EFFORTS NEEDED TO HELP REFUGEES OUTSIDE IRAQ, SAYS SENIOR UN OFFICIAL

A senior official with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has pressed Iraqi authorities to do more to include refugees living outside the country’s borders in its national reconciliation process.

L. Craig Johnstone, Deputy High Commissioner for UNHCR, is halfway through a five-day visit to Iraq, where he is meeting with officials and is assessing the agency’s operations for returnees, refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).

During his talks yesterday with Vice-President Tarek Al-Hashimi, as well as the Minister of Human Rights and Minister for Migration and Development, UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond said that Mr. Johnstone stressed that “while the Government had quite naturally focused in the last few years on the situation inside the country, it was now time to increase contacts with refugee communities outside Iraq and to begin fostering a climate of confidence in the future in terms of security, political assurances and protection.”

This, the Deputy High Commissioner said, could pave the way for refugees to return voluntarily, but he also acknowledged that due to insecurity in some areas, “we are not there yet.”

He also commended the Iraqi Government for its compensation package for returnees and IDP families.

However, Mr. Johnstone underscored that greater efforts – including the provision of land for returnees – are crucial since the situation in Iraq will no be resolved “until the plight of displaced people and refugees has been resolved.

Shelter, he pointed out, is also crucial in laying the groundwork for the return of uprooted people.

UNHCR and its Iraqi partners have rehabilitated 5,000 homes for returnees and IDPs, with another 20,000 to be refurbished by the end of this year, Mr. Redmond told reporters in Geneva.

“The Deputy High Commissioner pledged that UNHCR will help in every way it can, particularly with respect to shelter because we accept the notion that people cannot return if they do not have safety and a home to return to,” the spokesperson said.

Currently, there are still more than 1.5 million Iraqis living outside the country, mostly in Syria and Jordan, with a further 2 million others displaced within Iraq.


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JUSTICE KEY TO ENSURING HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL AFGHANS – UN ENVOY

The top United Nations envoy to Afghanistan today called for strengthening the country’s justice system, which he stressed is fundamental for ensuring the rule of law and respect for human rights.

“The lack of proper access to justice leads to daily violations of human rights and to an atmosphere of impunity,” Kai Eide, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, said at a human rights conference held in the capital, Kabul.

“Laws are of critical importance. However, they will only be effective in protecting the individual if the mechanisms for enforcement exist, including a well functioning justice system,” he added.

Mr. Eide, who also heads the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), noted that the price for failing to improve the justice system – as well as strengthening the police – include lack of respect for rule of law, human rights violations, corruption and lack of economic development.

Addressing the atmosphere of impunity also means tackling the crimes of the past, he said. “If we fail to address past violations of human rights, then we will not be able to ensure future respect for human rights.”

The Special Representative said that while the country has made “significant” achievements in recent years and enabled millions to live a better life, much more remains to be done. The ongoing conflict and poverty are two factors which hamper the development of human rights in Afghanistan.

“Both hold the development of human rights back. But both also make a broadly based fight for human rights all the more critical,” said Mr. Eide.

Another issue that hampers development is the violence against women and their marginalization in society, he said. “No society has successfully developed and put poverty and misery behind without engaging the entire population – male and female.”

While applauding the recent signing by the President of the Law on the Elimination of Violence against women, Mr. Eide said the challenge now will be to secure approval by Parliament and then ensure its enforcement. Also vital is for men to stand up more firmly against violence and discrimination, and for the mobilization of women, as well as political, religious and community leaders.

On women’s participation, he noted that there are more female candidates standing for next month’s provincial council elections than during previous polls, and said he hoped there would be more than one female member of the new government to be formed later this year.

“The problem is not a lack of competence. The problem is a lack of access,” he stated. “The fact that the Afghan Parliament has one quarter female members is a significant achievement. And it will gradually also have an impact on other government institutions.

“However, the participation of women should not depend on Constitutional provisions only, but reflect an understanding of the need to bring women more fully into public life.”

Mr. Eide added that the 20 August presidential and provincial council elections must be “credible, inclusive and fair. We need elections, where all Afghans can cast their ballots. And we need elections, where each candidate can campaign in an atmosphere of fairness.”

In this regard, he voiced support for the conclusions of the Media Commission which today expressed concern about violations in the electoral process, particularly the interference of Government officials in favour of one candidate or another.

“In the heat of the campaign nobody must forget that these elections are about more than who will win. They are about the legitimacy and the credibility of the governing institutions.”

Meanwhile, the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative has called for safe passage for humanitarian aid, as the worsening security situation continues to shrink the area of operations available to relief agencies.

“Humanitarian actors have come under attack, have died, and supplies have been prevented from reaching urgently needed beneficiaries,” Robert Watkins told a news conference in Kabul today. “We appeal to those parties to allow humanitarian access into those areas so that all in the country can benefit from this international aid.”

Last month alone saw at least four security incident targeting humanitarian workers in the country, according to the UN which, along with its partners, is trying to assist millions around the country made vulnerable by natural disasters, lack of access to basic social services, increasing food insecurity and the ongoing conflict.

“Because of the security problems in the country, we are not able to access all the people that require assistance – so the issue of accessibility is at the top of our agenda,” said Mr. Watkins, who leads the Mission’s relief, recovery and reconstruction pillar.


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DISEASE KILLING FISH IN ZAMBEZI RIVER RISKS SPREADING TO OTHER PARTS OF AFRICA, UN WARNS

A deadly disease devastating fish stocks in Africa’s Zambezi River basin and threatening the livelihoods and access to food of millions of rural people could soon reach other parts of the continent, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned today.

The most affected country is Zambia, covering two-thirds of the basin’s almost 1.4 million square kilometres, with over 2,000 villages and some 7,000 people now at risk of hunger as fish is a major source of income in many rural districts and the cheapest source of protein, said FAO.

The disease, called Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome (EUS), is caused by a fungus forming deep lesions on fish and results in high mortality rates.

Although fish infected with EUS do not normally pose a threat to humans, the ugly lacerations render them unmarketable, threatening some 25 million people dependent on agriculture or fishing and fish farming in the Zambezi River basin with serious economic loss.

“If not properly contained there is the risk of the disease spreading to other countries surrounding the Zambezi River as well as river systems in the region,” said Rohana Subasinghe, FAO Senior Fishery Resources Officer.

Indications are that EUS, which was first confirmed in Africa in 2007, is spreading both upstream and downstream of the Zambezi and risks taking hold in other parts of Africa, FAO said in a news release.

Since 2007, FAO has bolstered defenses in the seven Zambezi River basin countries – Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe – against the disease, with measures including basic diagnosis, targeted surveillance and aquatic animal health management.

In cooperation with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), FAO is establishing a programme to strengthen institutional and human ability for managing aquatic animal health in the wild in the affected Southern African countries.

EUS, now present in at least 24 countries worldwide, first appeared in Japan in the early 1970s and then spread to Australia and much of Asia, while the United States was hit in 1984.

FAO said that controlling EUS in natural waters is an impossible task, but in fish farming operations a number of simple biosecurity measures – preventing possible carriers getting into water bodies or fish ponds, removing dead fish and improving water quality – can minimize its spread.


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UN EXPERTS OFFER HELP IN INVESTIGATING KILLINGS OF RIGHTS DEFENDERS

United Nations independent human rights experts today said that they stand ready to assist Russian authorities in carrying out an independent investigation into the recent string of murders of human rights lawyers, journalists and defenders, including the killing last week of Natalia Estemirova, a prominent activist looking into alleged rights abuses in Chechnya.

The seven experts acknowledged that Russia’s leaders have expressed outrage and have pledged that all necessary steps will be taken to apprehend and punish those behind the killing of Ms. Estemirova.

“However, these assurances will be worth little unless the authorities take steps that go beyond what has been done in the past, which has all too often led to a cycle of impunity,” they said in a press release issued in Geneva.

Ms. Estemirova, who worked for the non-governmental organization (NGO) Memorial, was kidnapped on 15 July near her home in the Chechen capital, Grozny, and her body was found in neighbouring Ingushetia later in the day with two bullet wounds to the head and chest.

The slain activist had worked for many years to promote human rights in the North Caucasus, having received numerous awards. Those included the Anna Politkovskaya Prize from the Nobel Women’s Initiative, which was named for the Russian journalist and outspoken human rights campaigner who was killed in 2006, with whom Ms. Estemirova had worked.

She had also worked alongside Stanislav Markelov, a human rights lawyer who was killed after having given a press conference in Moscow on 19 January.

“We offer our assistance to the Russian authorities in light of the failure to effectively and impartially investigate the killings and attacks on a number of human rights defenders in recent years and to prosecute and bring the perpetrators to justice,” the experts, who serve in an unpaid capacity, said.

Bringing an end to impunity would deter further violence and harassment against rights defenders, they added.

Last week, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called for a thorough and independent investigation into Ms. Estemirova’s killing.

Ms. Pillay welcomed the announcement that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered a high-level investigation, urging authorities “to do all they can to ensure that the perpetrators are prosecuted and brought to justice.”

Ms. Estemirova’s death – the latest in a series of killings or attacks against rights activists, journalists and lawyers in the country – “sadly underlines once again the need for governments to do much more to protect human rights defenders,” Ms. Pillay said.

For his part, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he is appalled and saddened by Ms. Estemirova’s “heinous” killing, calling on authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice “to send a strong and unambiguous message that the targeting of human rights will not be tolerated,” according to a statement issued by his spokesperson.

“The Secretary-General expresses his solidarity with human rights defenders around the world who work courageously and selflessly each and every day, in defense of basic rights and freedoms,” it added.

The Russian Government, the seven rights experts stressed today, is responsible under international human rights law to ensure the protection of human rights defenders “against any violence, threats, retaliation, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a result of their human rights work.”

The seven experts behind today’s press release are: Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Frank La Rue, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Manfred Nowak, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; Margaret Sekaggya, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Leandro Despouy, Special Rappporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers; Yakin Ertürk, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences; and Santiago Corcuera Cabezut, Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

* * *

ENDING RIVER BLINDNESS POSSIBLE WITH COMMONLY-USED DRUG, FINDS UN STUDY

Eliminating river blindness is feasible with ivermectin, a commonly-used drug that has contributed to significantly controlling the disease in endemic countries, according to evidence published today in a United Nations study.

Over 37 million people, mostly in poor, rural African communities are infected with onchocerciasis, which is often called river blindness because the blackfly which transmits the disease breeds in rivers. Blindness is the most debilitating symptom of this public health threat which also causes skin disease.

Published today in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases are the results of a study showing that treatment with ivermectin stopped further infections and transmission in three specific areas of Mali and Senegal where the disease has been endemic.

Previously, it was thought that elimination of river blindness was only possible in the limited, isolated areas in the Americas where the disease is endemic, according to a news release issued by the UN World Health Organization (WHO), which collaborated with the health ministries of the two countries in carrying out the study.

“This evidence is an historic milestone – it has far-reaching implications for the fight against this disease. Prior to this study we did not know if we would ever be able to stop treatment,” said Uche Amazigo, the Director of the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC).

APOC is charged with implementing control of the disease across Africa, where more than 99 per cent of cases are found.

Merck & Co., Inc. – the company that discovered and manufactures ivermectin – agreed in 1987 to donate the drug free of charge to countries where river blindness is endemic, resulting in the treatment of over 60 million people in 26 African countries in 2008.

While this enabled the control of river blindness in Africa, it has not been clear whether it could also be used to eliminate infection and transmission to the extent that treatment with ivermectin could be safely stopped, said WHO.

The agency noted that ivermectin kills the larvae but not the adult worms of Onchocerca volvulus, the parasite that causes the disease, so annual or biannual treatments are required to prevent resurgence.

The study shows that after 15 to 17 years of six monthly or annual treatments, only a few infections remained in the human population.

“Transmission levels were below predicted thresholds for elimination, so treatment was subsequently stopped in test areas and follow-up evaluations after 1.5 to two years showed that no further infections or transmission occurred,” stated WHO.

“Although further studies are needed to determine to what extent these findings can be extrapolated to other areas in Africa, the principle of onchocerciasis elimination with ivermectin treatment has been established,” it added.

Earlier this month, WHO announced the launch of a clinical trial in three African countries for the drug moxidectin, which is being investigated for its potential to kill or sterilize the adult worms of the parasite that causes river blindness.

If moxidectin kills not only the larvae but also sterilizes or kills the adult worms, it has the potential to interrupt the disease transmission cycle within around six annual rounds of treatment, according to WHO.

The development of the drug is being conducted through a collaboration of the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, which is executed by WHO and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

The trial involves 1,500 people in Ghana, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and will take place over the next two and a half years.


* * *

 

UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
20 July, 2009


BOSNIAN SERB COUSINS CONVICTED BY UN TRIBUNAL OVER HORRIFIC BURNINGS

The United Nations tribunal set up in the wake of the Balkan conflicts in the 1990s today convicted two Bosnian Serb cousins of war crimes, including the burning alive of scores of Muslim women, children and elderly men, an act the court said ranks among "the worst acts of inhumanity that a person may inflict upon others."

Milan Lukić was sentenced to life in prison, having been found guilty by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of murder, extermination, cruel treatment, inhumane acts and war crimes.

He was found responsible for the murders in 1992 of 59 Muslim women, children and elderly men by barricading them in one room of a house in the town of Višegrad, in south-eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, where a carpet had been treated with an accelerant and an explosive device was exploded, setting the house on fire.

According to evidence presented to the ICTY, victims were shot as they tried to escape the flames through the windows. "These people are killing our mother, our mother-in-law, and our brother's two children," said those who had escaped and hid from the attackers. "They didn't do anything wrong."

In another fire the defendant was found guilty of, at least 60 Muslims were burned alive at a house in Bikavac, where all exits had been blocked by heavy furniture to prevent people from fleeing.

Mr. Lukić was also found guilty today of killing seven Muslim men at the Varda factory in Višegrad, with evidence showing that he collected them from their workplaces and shot them on the banks of the Drina River in full view of others, including the wife and daughter of one of the victims.

The trial chamber convicted him of beating Muslim detainees at the Uzamnica detention camp between August 1991 and October 1994.

His cousin, Sredoje Lukić, a former police officer in Višegrad, was sentenced by the ICTY to 30 years in prison for his roles in the house fires in Višegrad and Bikavac as well as in the beatings of inmates at Uzamnica.

"In the all-too-long, sad and wretched history of man's inhumanity to man, the Pionirska Street and Bikavac fires must rank high," said Judge Patrick Robinson, reading out the summary of judgment in The Hague.

"At the close of the 20th century, a century marked by war and bloodshed on a colossal scale, these horrific events stand out for the viciousness of the incendiary attack, for the obvious premeditation and calculation that defined it, for the sheer callousness and brutality of herding, trapping and locking victims in the two houses, thereby rendering them helpless in the ensuing inferno, and for the degree of pain and suffering inflicted on the victims as they were burnt alive."

The trial of the two cousins, both members of a paramilitary group, began last July, with Milan having been arrested in Argentina in August 2005 after evading justice for seven years. Sredoje surrendered to the Bosnian Serb authorities the following month.

Since its establishment in 1993, the ICTY has indicted 161 people for war crimes. Proceedings against 120 people have been completed, with only two indictees -- Ratko Mladić and Goran Hadžić -- on the run.

The so-called "completion strategy" of the ICTY requires it to finish trials of first instance by 2009, and then start downsizing in 2010, and earlier this month, the Security Council extended the term of office of eight permanent judges and 10 ad litem, or temporary, judges until 31 December 2010, or until the completion of the cases to which they are assigned.

In addition, the Council decided, on the request of the President of the ICTY, that the Secretary-General may appoint additional temporary judges to complete existing trials or conduct additional trials.


* * *

SOMALI RADICALS LOOT UN BUILDINGS, FORCING SOME OPERATIONS TO CLOSE

Somali militants raided two United Nations compounds today, stealing equipment and vehicles and forcing the world body to close down one of its operations in the violence-wracked country.

Al Shabaab militiamen looted UN facilities in the towns of Baidoa and Wajid, UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters in New York, adding that the UN Office in Somalia "deeply regrets having to relocate staff and temporarily suspend its operations in Baidoa."

Ms. Okabe said that the UN will continue working in Wajid, where the minimum security measures remain intact, and it is optimistic that a reassessment of safety conditions on the ground will allow critical humanitarian work to resume in Baidoa and elsewhere in Somalia.

The looting occurred as the top UN envoy to Somalia warned that extremist rebel groups are threatening to overthrow its legitimately recognized Government, while calling on the international community to intervene.

"While the world focuses elsewhere, groups of foreign extremists are trying to take control of a strategically placed country," Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the Secretary-General's Special Representative, wrote in an opinion piece published today in The Washington Post.

A fresh wave of fighting, which broke out in Mogadishu in May, has driven 200,000 people from their homes, in addition to the more than 400,000 already displaced near the capital and along the Afgooye corridor, west of Mogadishu.

"Those who attacked Mogadishu in May are extremists with no common agenda except to seize power by force," said Mr. Ould-Abdallah. "They include individuals on the UN Security Council's list of al-Qaida and Taliban members and a few hundred experienced fighters from other areas of Africa, as well as Arabs and Asians."

He noted that Somalia has "the longest coastline in Africa and borders international maritime routes as well as regional powers Kenya and Ethiopia," stressing that foreign fighters are using the impoverished country "to further their agenda of spreading international violence."

The Special Representative said that the "credibility of the United Nations and others is threatened if they stand by and allow such a takeover in Somalia."

Last year's UN-brokered Djibouti Agreement ended the long-running conflict between the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, with President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed taking office in January and a new unity Government being formed in February.

"I saw what a tremendous effort his government is making... organizing an effective administration that is working for the people," Mr. Ould-Abdallah wrote, referring to a recent visit to President Sheikh Ahmed.

"But how can they defend against determined suicide bombers such as those who killed the extremely able internal security minister and dozens of innocent civilians in May?"

Mr. Ould-Abdallah urged donor countries to fund African Union peacekeeping troops who need better equipment, improved living conditions and logistical support, and to provide urgent life-saving aid and assistance to the suffering population.

Highlighting the Security Council's declarations to act against those "attempting to disrupt the peace process and create anarchy," he noted that a list "is being compiled for the UN sanctions committee of those who may find their assets frozen and face a travel ban."

He said that businessmen gaining from the continuing conflict and others who support extremists, whether out of conviction or in pursuit of profit, should be hit in their wallets.

"Some are working in Kenya, Congo and south Sudan, but they are known. Likewise, those extremist leaders who have sent their families abroad while they destroy innocent lives here should understand that these family members will no longer be welcome."

Mr. Ould-Abdallah said that the situation in Somalia should concern the international community and that, with help, the conflict can be stopped as other seemingly endless internal wars have been brought to a close.


* * *

SECRETARY-GENERAL TO FOCUS ON CLIMATE CHANGE DURING TRIP TO CHINA AND MONGOLIA

Climate change, which Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called "the defining challenge of our era," will feature prominently on the United Nations chief's visits later this week to China and Mongolia, his spokesperson said today.

Earlier this year, Mr. Ban called on China -- as well as the United States, India and the European Union -- to show "global leadership of the highest order" in tackling the issue, particularly in the run-up to the crucial climate change negotiations scheduled for December in Copenhagen to draw up a new agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"During his working visit to China, he will pursue his dialogue with the Chinese leadership on climate change and other global issues," UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters.

The Secretary-General is scheduled to meet on Friday with President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and other Chinese officials in Beijing and later, on Saturday, in Xi'an.

While in China, he will participate in a number of climate change-related programmes, including a "Green Light" event focusing on energy efficient technologies and the extensive production and use of energy saving lamps in the world's most populous nation.

Mr. Ban then travels on Sunday to Mongolia, where he will address the challenges of climate change and adaptation with an emphasis on the special needs of landlocked countries, said Ms. Okabe.

Mongolia is one of 30 landlocked developing countries, which face a number of constraints to their economic development, including lack of territorial access to the sea, remoteness and isolation from world markets and high transit costs.

Mr. Ban is scheduled to meet with President Elbegdorj Tsakhia, Prime Minister Bayar Sanj and Foreign Minister Sukhbaatar Batbold.

Also during his visit, the Secretary-General will spend time in a traditional Mongolian herder community that is faced with water shortages and desertification.

Herding and agriculture have traditionally been the backbone of the country's economic activity, according to the UN Office of the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS).


* * *

BAN CONDEMNS BOMBINGS ALONG CHADIAN-SUDANESE BORDER

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today deplored reported bombings along or near the Chadian-Sudanese border and urged both countries to exercise restraint and improve their frayed bilateral relations amid rising tensions in the region.

In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban said he was disturbed by the report that Chadian aircraft dropped bombs near the village of Umm Dukhum in the Sudanese region of West Darfur last week.

"These events put the lives of Sudanese civilians at risk and could increase the tensions between the two countries," the statement said.

"The Secretary-General condemns the incident and takes note that the Government of Sudan has rightly responded through diplomatic means. He urges both Governments to show restraint and make greater efforts to improve their relations."

The statement noted that Mr. Ban is also concerned by reports that Sudanese Government forces bombed rebel positions in the Jebel Moon area of West Darfur on the weekend. He called on the Government and other parties to the conflict to cease all military actions and commit to a cessation of hostilities.

"The Secretary-General reiterates that the only solution to the conflict in Darfur is through an inclusive, political statement."

Today, in his latest report on the UN mission to Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR), known as MINURCAT, Mr. Ban said recent clashes in the region have further destabilized the already insecure border between Chad and Sudan's volatile Darfur region, areas also facing a grave humanitarian crisis.

The day after the Chadian and Sudanese Governments signed an agreement, violence broke out on the border when rebels entered eastern Chad on 4 May.

Authorities from Chad accused Sudan of supporting the incursion, and launched air raids against Chadian rebels in Darfur, a move the Sudanese Government labelled an "act of war," according to the report.

The Secretary-General stressed that "enduring stabilization" in the region requires both nations to resolve continuing internal conflicts.

He voiced concern over the humanitarian situation in eastern Chad, where 260,000 Sudanese refugees, 70,600 CAR refugees and 171,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are receiving assistance.

But the volatile security situation, combined with the lack of access to basic services in return areas, will likely preclude the voluntary return of uprooted people this year, he noted.

On Friday, the head of the joint African Union-UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID), Rodolphe Adada, also voiced concerns about the ongoing tensions between Chad and Sudan.

The new publication on MINURCAT said that the mission continues supporting the Détachement intégré de sécurité (DIS), a special unit composed of Chadian police and gendarmes trained by blue helmets who are responsible for the protection of refugees and IDPs in eastern Chad, underscoring that "it is and will remain a community policing force."

As a result, DIS has limited capacity to respond to military threats, Mr. Ban said, calling for the deployment of the full MINURCAT force to be expedited. Currently, 2,424 troops -- less than half of the 5,225 authorized by the Security Council -- are deployed with the mission.

In September 2007, the Council approved the establishment of a UN-mandated, multidimensional presence, including European Union military forces, in Chad and CAR to help protect civilians and facilitate humanitarian aid to thousands of people uprooted due to insecurity in the two countries and neighbouring Sudan.

On 15 March, UN peacekeepers took over the military and security responsibilities of EU forces.


* * *

UN MOURNS PASSING OF US TELEVISION ANCHORMAN COMMITTED TO PRESS FREEDOM

The head of the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) today paid tribute to the United States journalist Walter Cronkite, best renowned for his work as a television anchorman, who has died aged 92.

"Mr. Cronkite was a singular voice in American life for many years and showed an admirable dedication to his craft as a chronicler of news large and small," Kiyo Akasaka, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, said.

After he retired from his role as a television anchorman in 1981, Mr. Cronkite helped launch the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a non-governmental organization (NGO) devoted to press freedom worldwide, and served as its honorary co-chairman.

"Both in his own work as a journalist, and later with the CPJ, Mr. Cronkite was an example to others," Mr. Akasaka said. "Freedom of the press is intrinsic to democracy and good governance across the world, and he was tireless in his efforts to ensure that everyone could enjoy it."

Mr. Cronkite moderated a nationally broadcast "town hall" meeting addressed by then Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2001, in the wake of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

As Mr. Akasaka noted, "with a life spanning decades of key developments on the global stage, Mr. Cronkite was a towering figure in the media world -- he carved out a reputation for telling the news as it is and inspired the best in journalistic traditions."

The UN annually commemorates World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, calling on Member States to uphold press freedoms and support the work of independent media. Marking that occasion earlier this year, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that journalists should be able to do their jobs "free of intimidation and harassment" and reminded that a free press contributed to democracy and stability.


* * *

UN GIVES TECHNOLOGICAL BOOST TO 500,000 ALBANIAN SCHOOL STUDENTS

Almost half a million Albanian students now have access to modern computer laboratories, high-speed Internet and training in information technology skills thanks to a new United Nations-backed initiative aiming to improve their employment prospects.

As a result of the "e-School" programme, some 379 high schools and 800 elementary schools across Albania have been equipped with up-to-date computer technology, benefiting some 450,000 students and 25,000 teachers.

"For us in the Western Balkans ICT or information technologies is a major cornerstone of our activities, particularly with a view to the European Union accession of these countries," Moises Venancio, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Senior Programme Manager and Team Leader for the Western Balkans told the UN News Centre today.

Mr. Venancio underscored the importance of the programme "in terms of helping to train the future generation of Europeans who will have to compete in a far different and far more complicated labour environment than their parents will have done."

Leonik Tomeo Secondary School, with more than 950 students and teachers, is using the tools to produce a school newspaper while, as one student put it, joining the rest of the world's teenagers on the Internet.

Before the "e-schools" project was launched in 2005, the situation in many schools was "very primitive, in some cases perhaps one computer for all the kids in the school," said Mr. Venancio.

"Some of these schools are really in rural areas that are very deprived of anything, in particular any access to any type of new information," he added. "So this has really enabled kids who live in very poor marginalized rural areas to benefit from the advances of having online access to information and what's going on in the world."

The initiative was financed with a $25 million loan from the World Bank and support from a number of private and public donors, including Western Union Corporation, the Albanian Banking Association and UFO, a private university.


* * *

G8 LEADERS 'IGNORED' UN'S SCIENTIFIC FINDINGS ON CLIMATE CHANGE, SAYS OFFICIAL

The world's largest economies have "clearly ignored" the findings of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning United Nations scientific body that evaluates climate change when formulating their recent proposals on slashing greenhouse gases, a top official said today.

It was a "big step" for leaders of over one dozen developed nations attending the Major Economies Forum (MEF) -- including the Group of Eight (G8) nations and others -- on 9 July meeting in L'Aquila, Italy, to recognize that the global average temperature should not increase by more than 2 degrees centigrade, Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told reporters in New York today.

But they have disregarded the IPCC's findings that emissions will have to reach their pinnacle in 2015 and rapidly decline thereafter, he said.

"If the G8 leaders agreed on this 2-degree increase as being the limit that could be accepted, then I think they should have also accepted the attendant requirement of global emissions peaking by 2015," Mr. Pachauri said.

At the very least, he added, the countries should have "categorically" committed to cuts by 2020, the date agreed to at the landmark 2007 UN climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia.

The official also pointed out that despite committing to "deep cuts" in emissions, the leaders of the MEF nations have yet to discuss the substance of the reductions.

"The science is getting clear," Mr. Pachauri underlined.

"The gaps in our knowledge are certainly filling up," he said, stressing the need for "the global community to take action" and ensure that this December's climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, ends with countries wrapping up negotiations on a strong successor pact to the Kyoto Protocol, whose first commitment period ends in 2012.

An IPCC meeting in Venice, Italy, last week drew 200 climate change experts from all over the world to discuss the focus of the body's next assessment report -- considered to be the most comprehensive study globally on global warming -- due to be released in 2014.

While in L'Aquila earlier this month, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that the cuts in greenhouse gas emissions proposed by the MEF nations, "while welcome, are not sufficient."

Underscoring that "the time for delays and half-measures is over," he stressed that "the personal leadership of every head of State or government is needed to seize this moment to protect people and the planet from one of the most serious challenges ever to confront humanity."

To support countries in their bid to conclude a successor pact in December to the Kyoto Protocol, whose first commitment period ends in 2012, the Secretary-General is convening a high-level summit -- expected to be the largest climate change gathering this year -- in New York on 22 September.


* * *

UN HUMANITARIAN CHIEF CONDEMNS INCREASING VIOLENCE AGAINST AID WORKERS

The top United Nations humanitarian official today deplored the growing number of attacks against aid workers, while highlighting that the effects of natural and man-made disasters on people's lives would become more devastating.

John Holmes, Emergency Relief Coordinator, told the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) that he was increasingly horrified by the attacks on humanitarian workers, who he noted gave their energies and lives to helping others and were often treated with hostility, suspicion and violence in return.

In his opening address to the ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs Segment in Geneva, Mr. Holmes warned that so far in 2009 the complexity and nature of emergencies had taken an even heavier toll than in previous years.

He said that many of the adverse trends plaguing the humanitarian community in recent years, showed no signs of slowing, citing as examples last year's Sichuan earthquake in China, which caused over 87,000 deaths and some $85 billion in damages, and hurricane Ike in the United States, which left losses of around $30 billion in its trail.

Mr. Holmes added that while long-running conflicts in Darfur, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the occupied Palestinian territories, and Somalia continued to disrupt the lives of millions, new outbreaks of hostilities in Pakistan and the recent offensive by Sri Lankan Government forces aimed at ending its decades-long struggle with Tamil rebels had forced hundreds of thousands more people into desperate situations.

This year's annual session of ECOSOC, which serves as the central UN forum for discussing international economic and social issues and formulating policy recommendations, kicked off on 6 July.


* * *

BAN LAMENTS SLOWDOWN ON KEY ELEMENTS OF NEPAL'S PEACE PROCESS

Progress on key elements in Nepal's peace process have slowed down or stalled altogether owing to the country's recent political crisis, says Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who proposes a six-month extension of the United Nations mission to continue assisting with remaining tasks.

"The two major tasks at the current stage of the peace process are the integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist army personnel and the drafting of the new constitution," Mr. Ban writes in his latest report on the request of Nepal for UN assistance in support of the peace process.

He notes that efforts to advance on both these fronts slowed with the onset of the crisis sparked by the resignation of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ("Prachanda") in early May, which occurred one day after the Chief of Army Staff -- who he had fired -- was reinstated.

A senior leader of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML), Madhav Kumar Nepal, was elected Prime Minister on 23 May and subsequently formed a new coalition Government with the support of 21 other political parties but without the participation of the Maoists.

"The modest progress witnessed in some aspects of the peace process during the first quarter of 2009 has stalled against a backdrop of mistrust and a further deterioration of relations among key stakeholders, notably between UCPN-M [Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist] and the other major parties and between UCPN-M and the Nepal Army," says the Secretary-General.

In particular, he notes that while there were promising signs of progress with regard to resolving the future of the Maoist army personnel, efforts have remained at a "standstill" since late April.

"A planning process should be initiated to address in parallel the commitment contained in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the Interim Constitution to democratize and determine the appropriate size of the Nepal Army, while ensuring that the institution reflects the diversity of Nepal and is imbued with the values of democracy and human rights," he writes.

Meanwhile, the task of drafting the constitution has continued to move forward, albeit with numerous hurdles.

"There is near unanimity that it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to meet the prescribed time frame of May 2010 for the promulgation of a new constitution," Mr. Ban states, strongly encouraging progress in this area, based on consensus among the main political actors and the wider public.

He adds that political leaders in Nepal have expressed the view that the presence of the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) is needed until the integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist army personnel is resolved. Therefore, he recommends that the Mission's mandate be extended for a further six months, until 23 January 2010.

Established following the signing of the 2006 peace deal by the Government and the Maoists to end the country's decade-long civil war, UNMIN has been assisting with key tasks, such as monitoring of the management of arms and armed personnel of the Maoists and the Nepal Army.

The Secretary-General also calls on the Government to urgently address the prevailing "climate of impunity," and says the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal can continue to play an essential and helpful role, including by promoting and protecting human rights and by building the capacity of independent national institutions.


* * *

UNICEF USES TEXT MESSAGES TO SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT POLIO IN ZAMBIA

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) will be sending text messages to millions of Zambian parents this week as part of a new initiative to harness modern technology in the fight to prevent polio.

UNICEF has joined forces with the Zambian Health Ministry and two mobile phone companies, ZAIN and MTN, to encourage parents to bring their children under the age of five to the nearest health-care centre for free polio vaccinations.

"It is about time that we used modern technology to ensure child health and this year is particularly important because of the polio prevention campaign," said UNICEF Zambia Representative, Lotta Sylwander.

Ms. Sylwander also expressed gratitude to MTN and ZAIN for sending SMS texts informing millions of their subscribers of activities taking place during the prevention campaign against the crippling disease in 28 districts bordering Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

"Your child can be healthier! Take your children under age five to the nearest health centre for free vaccinations from 20-25 July," is the message Zambian mobile phone users will read, UNICEF said in a news release.

The campaign at the centre of Zambia's Child Health Week activities is part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a partnership spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the United States Center for Diseases Control and Prevention and UNICEF.

Polio is a highly infectious and incurable viral disease. Contracted through contaminated food, water and faeces, it attacks the nervous system and mainly affects children under five. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, usually in the legs, and among those paralyzed, five to 10 per cent die when their respiratory muscles become immobilized.


* * *

NEW UN-BACKED REPORT FINDS DECLINING FUNDING LEVELS FOR HIV VACCINE RESEARCH

A new United Nations-backed report on investment in HIV prevention research in 2008 finds that funding levels for a possible vaccine for the virus have decreased for the first time since investment trends have been tracked.

The report -- "Adapting to Realities: Trends in HIV Prevention Research Funding 2000 to 2008" --notes that this trend may have been influenced by shifts in scientific priorities, the global economic downturn and competition for various health issues.

Despite the decrease, the overall trend since 2000 has been of greater investment for experimental biomedical prevention strategies, adds the report, prepared by the HIV Vaccine and Microbicide Resource Tracking Working Group, of which the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is a member.

It identifies investments of almost $1.2 billion in HIV prevention research in 2008, of which $868 million supported vaccine research and development (R&D), and $244 million supported microbicide R&D.

The United States was once again the leader in funding HIV prevention research, supporting 71 per cent of HIV vaccine R&D and 63 per cent of microbicide R&D in 2008.

"A decrease in investment from the US National Institutes of Health contributed to the overall decline of funding for HIV vaccine R&D," states a news release published by UNAIDS on the report.

In addition to the $39 million decline in US investment, there was also a decrease in funding for HIV vaccine research from other countries, including from European governments, Brazil, Canada, India, South Africa and Thailand.

A recent report from UNAIDS and the World Bank warned that the well-being of millions of people could be put at risk as HIV prevention and treatment programmes fall victim to funding cutbacks as a result of the global economic crisis.

It found that eight countries -- which together are home to more than 60 per cent of all those receiving AIDS treatment -- are already facing shortages of antiretroviral drugs or other disruptions to treatment.

In addition, 34 out of the 71 surveyed countries report that HIV prevention programmes focusing on high-risk groups such as sex workers, injection drug users and men who have sex with men are already feeling the impact of the crisis.

Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, said research to develop new HIV prevention tools and strategies is essential to prevent new infections, and an HIV vaccine still holds "the greatest hope" to ending the epidemic. "It is vitally important that investments into research for HIV prevention be sustained and increased for as long as it takes to reach those goals."


* * *

PREPARATIONS IN FULL SWING FOR AFGHAN POLLS, SAYS UN MISSION

With one month to go until Afghans elect the country's next leader, the United Nations said today that preparations are in full swing and that no effort will be spared to ensure security, considered the biggest challenge for the elections.

"There will be no let up on behalf of the international community in underlining the importance of security over the coming weeks so every Afghan who has the constitutional and democratic right to vote is provided with that opportunity on polling day," Aleem Siddique, spokesperson for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), told a news conference in Kabul.

"Security is imperative for the forthcoming elections," he added. "Voters must have confidence that they can vote without fear, without intimidation and in safety."

Forty-one presidential candidates, including two women, are running for the nation's top post while more than 3,000 Afghans are competing for provincial council seats during the 20 August elections, which are being organized by the Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC).

Last week the Security Council welcomed the Afghan-led preparations for next month's presidential and provincial council elections, which are taking place during what has been the bloodiest year since the fall of the Taliban.

It also stressed the importance of "free, fair, transparent, credible, secure, and inclusive" polls.

Logistical preparations are continuing, with thousands of ballot papers arriving in Kabul over the weekend.

"As we speak, 17 million ballot papers are being transported, across the country, to every province, in a safe and secure manner," he noted, adding that "these are all encouraging signs that bode well for the coming weeks as we approach polling day."

In addition, more than 1,600 civic educators are briefing voters across the country with an 11-page flip chart detailing the process, while a toll-free elections hotline is taking 30,000 to 40,000 calls a week.

The IEC has also started a massive broadcasting campaign of informational television and radio advertising spots, and is monitoring the media coverage by Afghanistan's televisions and radio stations.

Briefing the Security Council in June, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan stated that the August election is about more than choosing the country's leaders.

"It is about strengthening people's confidence in the democratic process, and about strengthening Afghanistan's institutions. It is not only about who will lead, but about the legitimacy of leadership," said Kai Eide, who also heads the UN Mission.


* * *

FORMER GHANAIAN LEADER TAKES HELM OF UN EFFORTS TO FIGHT

CHILD HUNGER

The former president of Ghana, John Kufuor, today was named a Global Ambassador against Hunger -- with a focus on the need to provide good nutrition for the 66 million children who go to school hungry every day -- for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

"Ensuring that every child has proper nutrition has to be the goal of every world leader," Mr. Kufuor said. "I hope to inspire them all to strive for this goal."

With his appointment, he joins other ambassadors for the agency, including marathon runner Paul Tergat, the footballer Kaka`, actress Drew Barrymore and former United States Senator George McGovern, in advocating on behalf of the world's poorest and hungriest.

With the number of hungry people in the world expected to top one billion this year, WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said that Mr. Kufuor's support is crucial.

"John Kufuor not only talks the talk, but walks the walk," she said. "Ghana is a leader in nourishing its children and Ambassador Kufuor can be a leader in getting others to follow his good work."

As WFP Ambassador, the former Ghanaian leader will also stress the need to fight hunger on several fronts: investment in long-term agricultural development, funding the agency's work and helping the poor access affordable and nutritious food.

WFP -- which feeds over 20 million young people every year -- said that just over $3 billion is needed annually to reach all 66 million hungry school-age children.


* * *

 

UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
17 July, 2009


SECURITY COUNCIL AND BAN DEPLORE DEADLY HOTEL BOMBINGS IN INDONESIAN CAPITAL

The Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have strongly condemned this morning’s bombings of two hotels in central Jakarta that have reportedly killed at least nine people and injured dozens of others.

“The Secretary-General extends his condolences to the families of the victims and wishes those injured a speedy recovery,” his spokesperson said in a statement.

Media reports say the blasts occurred almost simultaneously about 7:30 a.m. at the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels in the central business district of the Indonesian capital.

“The Secretary-General recognizes the steadfast efforts that the Indonesian Government has made in bringing to justice perpetrators of past terrorist acts,” his statement added. “He expresses confidence that these new attacks will be investigated with equal resolve and that those responsible will be prosecuted.”

The Security Council adopted a presidential statement in which members voiced outrage and offered “deep sympathy and condolences to the victims of these heinous acts of terrorism and to their families, and to the people and Government of Indonesia.”

The 15-member panel stressed the need to bring the perpetrators, organizers and sponsors of the bombings to justice and urged all States to cooperate with Indonesian authorities as they pursue that goal.

“The Security Council reaffirms that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, and that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed.”

The presidential statement added that States must also ensure that any measures taken to fight terrorism must meet their obligations under international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law.


* * *

PAKISTAN: MEMBERS OF UN PROBE VISIT SITE OF BHUTTO KILLING

Members of the United Nations team examining the circumstances surrounding the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto today visited the site in the city of Rawalpindi where the former Pakistani prime minister was killed.

“This was a very important visit for us and we spent a good amount of time there trying to understand more clearly and more fully what happened on that fateful day,” Ambassador Heraldo Muñoz of Chile, who heads the three-member independent Commission of Inquiry, told a news conference in the capital, Islamabad.

Mr. Muñoz and his team also met with senior police officers who were present at the scene of the assassination or were involved in the investigation.

“We have also spoken with other officials who have been involved in investigating the previous attempt on the life of the former prime minister in Karachi,” he stated.

The team held a number of meetings since arriving yesterday for its first working visit to the country, including what Mr. Muñoz described as a “productive” meeting with Ms. Bhutto’s widower and Pakistani President, Asif Ali Zardari, who was accompanied by his three children and several of his ministers.

Members also met with the Ministers of the Interior, Law and Justice, as well as Foreign Affairs, and received a number of briefings from senior officials.

“We are continuing with our activities by gathering more information and getting into contact with a number of individuals and officials that we would like to meet,” said Mr. Muñoz.

He recalled that the mandate of the Commission is to look into the facts and circumstances of the former leader’s assassination, and that the responsibility for investigating the crime and prosecuting the perpetrators remains with the Pakistani authorities.

Mr. Muñoz said the team was confident of the continued support of the Government throughout the fact-finding period, adding that it would also greatly appreciate the “voluntary involvement and engagement” of Pakistanis in this effort.

He added that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon considers the work of the Commission, set up in response to a request by the Pakistani Government, to be one of the UN’s top priorities.

“We are very much aware that this is no ordinary assignment. We have no preconceived ideas about what the outcome of our work will be,” he stated.

The Commission, which began its work on 1 July, will submit a report to Mr. Ban within six months.


* * *

CLIMATE CHANGE TOPS BAN’S TALKS WITH FRENCH LEADER

The urgent need to forge consensus on a new climate change pact aimed at curbing harmful greenhouse gases dominated Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s talks today with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Following a working lunch with the French leader, Mr. Ban told reporters in New York that he is “very grateful” for Mr. Sarkozy’s “full commitment to work together to ‘seal the deal’ in Copenhagen on a globally acceptable climate change deal.”

In December in the Danish capital, countries are expected to wrap up negotiations on an ambitious successor pact to the Kyoto Protocol, whose first commitment period ends in 2012.

The Secretary-General praised the “great leadership” of Mr. Sarkozy last year, as President of the European Union, in agreeing to the bloc’s energy and climate package, under which its 27 member countries agreed on a target to slash carbon emissions by 20 per cent by 2020.

Earlier this month, Mr. Ban warned that the cuts in emissions by 2050, proposed by the leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations at their summit in L’Aquila, Italy, “while welcome, are not sufficient.”

Today, he voiced his appreciation of the “great partnership” between the UN and France, especially in the area of peacekeeping. “I’m happy to have such strong support from the French President,” he said.

Among the other topics discussed were international governance and the situations in the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur, Somalia, Iran and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).


* * *

UN BREEDING BARN OWLS TO STAMP OUT CROP-EATING RODENTS IN LAOS

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is breeding barn owls under an innovative new programme that hopes to deter rodents from attacking crops in northern Laos.

Rats in Laos turned their attention to crops last year, with devastating results for farmers, after bamboo plants flowered and the number of bamboo seeds decreased as a result. To prevent a repeat of that situation, FAO is using the barn owl, a natural predator, to control the rodent population.

Serge Verniau, the agency’s representative in Laos, told UN Radio yesterday that FAO is not promoting rodenticide, but rather using the barn owl “to mitigate the risk and to avoid other outbreaks.”

The three-year scheme, he stressed, requires the cooperation of farmers.

At present, the initiative – the pilot version of which will be launched next month – has no donor support, but Mr. Verniau voiced hope that support will be forthcoming because “business as usual” can no longer continue.


* * *

SECURITY COUNCIL CALLS ON ALL SIDES TO RESPECT RULING ON DISPUTED SUDANESE TOWN

The Security Council today called on the parties to the dispute over the oil-rich Sudanese town of Abyei to abide by the decision to be rendered next week on the matter, one of several outstanding issues related to the 2005 peace pact that ended the country’s north-south civil war.

Abyei has been contested by the two signatories to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) – the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) – and was the scene of deadly clashes last year that forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee.

Both sides have expressed their commitment to accept and peacefully implement the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, located in The Hague, which is due to deliver its decision on 22 July.

“Members of the Council welcome the commitment of the parties to respect the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration on Abyei and call upon them to implement that decision and to communicate that commitment to their respect communities,” the 15-member body said.

In a statement read out to the press by Ambassador Ruhakana Rugunda of Uganda, which holds the rotating presidency this month, the Council also commended the efforts by the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) in the protection of civilians and urged it to “continue making preparations accordingly, particularly in the Abyei area.”

Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Alain Le Roy told reporters that UNMIS has reinforced its presence in Abyei to protect civilians in case of any incidents.

“We all expect that the implementation of this outcome should be as peaceful as possible,” he added.

The Council also voiced its concern at the delay in implementation of some aspects of the CPA, “especially in regard to the preparations for the elections and the escalation of inter-communal violence.”

In his recent report on UNMIS, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that next year’s planned national elections are vital for the process of democratic transformation throughout the country, and stressed the importance of peaceful, transparent and credible polls.

He added that escalating inter-tribal violence in Southern Sudan is jeopardizing the stability of the entire country, and key milestones in implementing the CPA.


* * *

JOINT AFRICAN UNION-UN ENVOY SPEAKS OUT AMID RENEWED SUDANESE-CHADIAN TENSIONS

The head of the joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur today called on Sudan and Chad to end any hostile activities along their border amid fresh accusations of air strikes in the troubled region.

Rodolphe Adada, the Joint AU-UN Special Representative, warned that the continuing tensions between the neighbouring countries remain “one of the major obstacles to the peace and security of Darfur.”

Mr. Adada, who heads the joint peacekeeping mission known as UNAMID, issued a press statement after Sudan accused Chad of carrying out air strikes in Umm Dukhum, a West Darfur village on its border with Chad.

“We are deeply concerned at such reports, which are being investigated by UNAMID, and I once again urge all parties to refrain from such escalation,” he said.

Mr. Adada stressed that dialogue is the only solution for the tensions between Chad and Sudan.

“I encourage you [the two Governments] to desist from conflict even as diplomatic efforts are being undertaken to bring an end to the ongoing tensions, which could exacerbate conditions for Darfur’s civilians. Good relations between Chad and Sudan are a key to ensuring lasting peace in the area.”

In Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s latest report to the Security Council on the work of UNAMID, released today, he said he is deeply concerned by the ongoing instability along the border and the “inflammatory rhetoric” of both sides.

Mr. Ban called on Khartoum and N’Djamena to end their support for one another’s rebel groups and to normalize their bilateral relations.

The Secretary-General has recommended that UNAMID’s mandate be extended at least through the end of July 2010, citing the numerous challenges in Darfur, despite the decrease in large-scale conflict.

An estimated 2.6 million Darfurians remain displaced from their homes and as many as 4.7 million people in total depend on humanitarian assistance, while sexual violence and banditry are also prevalent.

But Mr. Ban noted that more than 90 per cent of the authorized strength of UNAMID should be in place and fully operating by the end of the year, while mechanisms for cooperation with the Sudanese Government are functioning more effectively.

“Both developments will put UNAMID in a position to dedicate more time to the implementation of its mandate and less time to deployment-related issues.”

In its first 18 months the mission has struggled with numerous logistical and operational problems, which has made it difficult to effectively deploy troops and police officers across an arid and remote region that is larger than Iraq.


* * *

TOP UN OFFICIAL URGES IMMEDIATE PUBLICATION OF TIMETABLE FOR IVORIAN POLLS

The top United Nations official in Côte d’Ivoire has called for the immediate publication of a timetable for the long-awaited presidential elections, which are now set for 29 November.

If the deadlines for each stage of the electoral process are not met, there is a risk that the polls – repeatedly postponed since 2005 – could be delayed, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Choi Y. J., said following a meeting on Wednesday with Ivorian Prime Minister Guillaume Soro.

The UN Mission in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI), which is headed by Mr. Choi, has been providing technical and logistical support for preparations for the elections, including in areas such as voter identification and registration.

Over 6 million voters have been registered so far, or about 70 per cent of the eligible voter pool in the West African nation, which became divided in 2002 between the Government-controlled south and the rebel Forces Nouvelles-held north.

Mr. Choi, who held a similar meeting with President Laurent Gbagbo earlier this week, also stressed that UNOCI is ready to assist the Independent Electoral Commission and the relevant authorities in overcoming any challenge on the road to the elections, according to a news release issued by the mission.

In addition, the Special Representative underlined the fact that the implementation of decisions associated with the country’s 2003 peace agreement had been postponed, including the transfer of authority and the redeployment of the administration in the north of the country.

“We talked about how to strengthen the achievements and how to take up the challenges,” said Mr. Choi.

In his latest report on the work of UNOCI, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed that Côte d’Ivoire’s political parties have the responsibility for ensuring that the elections are held on time and are free, fair and transparent.

He added that it is important that the parties sustain the progress achieved so far and complete, “in a timely manner,” the remaining stages of the peace process.

In a related development, UNOCI staff met yesterday with their colleagues from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to identify challenges associated with the 1,000 microprojects programme.

Launched in 2008, the $4 million pilot initiative is designed to support the Government’s efforts to reintegrate ex-combatants. Some 2,700 people are working on 507 projects throughout the country under the programme, which is financed by the UN Peacebuilding Fund that was set up to help jump-start projects in countries emerging from conflict.


* * *

UN PACT TO EXPOSE EUROPE’S BIGGEST POLLUTERS

A new United Nations pact is set to blow the cover of Europe’s biggest polluters, according to the world body’s Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

The UN Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers – the first-ever legally binding pact on pollutants – requires countries to report every year on the amounts of certain types of pollutants released in the air or transferred to other facilities by industrial sites as well as smaller, widespread sources such as traffic and agriculture. That information will then be listed on the Internet.

The pact – which will enter into force on 8 October, 90 days after France ratified it on 10 July – will help to identify the largest polluters in communities across Europe. Facilities releasing large amounts of greenhouse gases, which amplify global warming, will also be bound by the treaty.

Past experience has shown that public disclosure of information on the release of pollutants has driven companies to improve their environmental performance, and the Protocol will give people in the 36 countries and the European Community, which are party to it, a new weapon with which to lobby for a drop in pollution.

Jan Kubiš, UNECE’s Executive Secretary, described the new international law as “a milestone in the advancement of public access to information about sources of environmental pollution” in the region.

Several parties to the Protocol, including Switzerland and Spain, have already released their data.

The new pact is a protocol to the so-called UNECE Aarhus Convention, or the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, which entered into force in October 2001.


* * *

UN EMERGENCY FUND GIVES $7 MILLION TO AID EASTERN DR CONGO’S DISPLACED

United Nations agencies and their partners will be able to provide urgent humanitarian relief to some 250,000 people in the strife-torn eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) thanks to $7 million in emergency funding.

“This allocation will help UN agencies and their partners to rush emergency aid to people who need it desperately,” Humanitarian Coordinator Ross Mountain said today in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa.

Mr. Mountain said the surge in violence by the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and rogue elements of the Congolese army (FARDC) has uprooted thousands of families, many of which have already been displaced several times.

There are currently an estimated 1.6 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the two Kivu provinces, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The grant from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) is in response to the urgent appeal for $38 million launched last month by the world body and its partners to help those in need of assistance in eastern DRC.

Some $4 million will be used by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to provide basic relief and non-food items, and another $2.5 million for potable water. In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) will receive $500,000 to make basic health care available for the displaced.

In May CERF allocated over $12 million to help nearly 200,000 people in the region cope with the lingering consequences of a series of attacks by the Ugandan rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

The Fund, administered by OCHA, was created in 2006 to allow the UN quick access to its accounts, potentially saving thousands of lives facing sudden crises. It has so far disbursed more than $1 billion to emergency programmes in 67 countries, with the DRC receiving more than any other nation – some $144.5 million over the last three years.


* * *

CYPRUS LEADERS DISCUSS SECURITY DURING LATEST ROUND OF UN-BACKED TALKS

Security was again the focus during the latest round of United Nations-backed talks today between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders as they try to reach a solution that will unify the Mediterranean island.

Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat met in Nicosia for several hours of discussions, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alexander Downer, told journalists.

“Next week, the leaders will continue to discuss security and they will also discuss… governance and power-sharing, and in the context of governance and power-sharing they will discuss aliens, immigration, asylum and citizenship,” Mr. Downer said.

He said the leaders also briefly discussed the mechanics of an agreement on the opening of a crossing between the two sides.

Today’s discussions were only the latest round of UN-backed talks between the two leaders aimed at reunifying the island of Cyprus.

In May 2008, Mr. Christofias and Mr. Talat committed themselves to working towards “a bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality, as defined by relevant Security Council resolutions.”

The partnership would comprise a Federal Government with a single international personality, along with a Turkish Cypriot Constituent State and a Greek Cypriot Constituent State, which would be of equal status.


* * *

TEN COMPANIES AND INDIVIDUALS ADDED TO UN SANCTIONS LIST FOR DPR KOREA

The United Nations Security Council has imposed sanctions on five companies and five individuals in connection with the nuclear test carried out by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in May.

The sanctions were imposed yesterday by the Council committee set up by a resolution in 2006 which demanded that the country “not conduct any further nuclear test or launch of a ballistic missile,” following its claims to have conducted a nuclear test in October of that year.

Last month, the 15-member Council unanimously adopted a resolution that condemned the 25 May nuclear test conducted in “violation and flagrant disregard” of relevant Council resolutions, a move that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sent a “clear and strong” message to Pyongyang.

It also demanded that the DPRK “not conduct any further nuclear test or any launch using ballistic missile technology.”

The Council imposed a series of measures on the DPRK that include tougher inspections of cargo suspected of containing banned items related to the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile activities, a tighter arms embargo with the exception of light weapons, and new financial restrictions.

Companies added to the list include Namchongang Trading Corporation, which the committee said has been involved in procuring Japanese-made vacuum pumps identified at a DRPK nuclear facility.

Also making the list is the General Bureau of Atomic Energy (GBAE), which is responsible for the DPRK’s nuclear programme, including the Yongbyon Nuclear Research Centre and its plutonium production research reactor, according to the committee.

Individuals targeted by the list include top officials from both the Namchongang Trading Corporation and the GBAE.

The Council committee also singled out two goods – graphite for machinery and para-aramid fibre – for inclusion on the sanctions list.

Last week, the Council expressed “grave concerns” over the DPRK’s 4 July ballistic missile tests, appealing to all parties to refrain from any actions that might escalate the situation and reiterating their commitment to a peaceful, diplomatic solution to the issue.


* * *

CHADIAN TRIBAL GROUPS END FEUD AFTER SUPPORT OF UN PEACEKEEPING MISSION

Another two tribal communities in eastern Chad have agreed to end their feud and reconcile under a joint initiative of the United Nations peacekeeping mission to the country and the national authorities to promote better community relations.

More than 130 village chiefs from the ethnic Zaghawa and Asshongori communities met to put an end to their long-running dispute and improve the security situation in the Waldagalda area of Molou canton along the Chadian-Sudanese border, the mission – known as MINURCAT – reported today.

The two communities of herders and farmers had been feuding over land use for some time, but under the mediation of local authorities with support from MINURCAT, they agreed to set up a reconciliation commission to improve relations.

Zaghawa chiefs committed to living peacefully with the Asshongori and to stopping insecurity caused by delinquent members of their own community, and they publicly called on the Asshongori to return to the area and tend to their fields.

It is hoped that more than 1,000 members of the Asshongori community currently living in neighbouring Sudan will now feel secure enough to return to their villages in eastern Chad.

Rima Salah, the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative in Chad, visited the region this week and praised the efforts of local authorities to support reconciliation moves.

Last month, as part of the Intercommunity Dialogue initiative sponsored by the mission, the European Union and Chadian authorities, members of the ethnic Zaghawa and Massalit communities near the town of Adre agreed to end their own dispute.


* * *

UN EXPERT CALLS ON JAPAN TO BOOST ACTION IN COMBATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Although Japan recognizes the seriousness of the problem of human trafficking within its borders, the East Asian nation must take more concrete action to fight the scourge, an independent United Nations human rights expert said today.

“Human trafficking affects every country of the world, and Japan is clearly affected as a destination country for many of those victims,” said Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, wrapping up a six-day visit to the country.

The majority of trafficking is for prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation in Japan, but she pointed out that trafficking for labour exploitation is also cause for great concern.

The country has adopted a National Plan of Action on trafficking. Further, Japan has granted victims special residence permits if they wish to stay in Japan and is also cooperating with sending countries, including Thailand, to support victims’ reintegration in their home countries.

But Japan must ratify relevant international treaties; adopt a clearer identification procedure to lessen cases of victims’ misidentification; and boost training and coordination of law enforcement officials, Ms. Ngozi Ezeilo said.

She also urged the country to take greater action at the regional level to combat trafficking and consider entering into bilateral agreements with source countries to address the problem on a long-term basis.


* * *

MORE WORK REMAINS TO ENSURE JUSTICE FOR WAR CRIMES VICTIMS, SAYS HEAD OF ICC

The creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its achievements to date are vital to ensuring justice for millions around the world, but much more work remains to be done to advance this noble ideal, according to the head of the landmark institution that was established 11 years ago today.

“Where national courts are unwilling or unable to act, the ICC can play a crucial role in delivering justice for victims, in sending a message of deterrence to potential criminals and in contributing thereby to the re-establishment of peace and the rule of law,” the Presidency of the Court said in a statement issued for International Justice Day, observed on 17 July.

Based in The Hague, Netherlands, the ICC is an independent, permanent court that investigates and prosecutes people accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. It is based on a treaty known as the Rome Statute, of which 109 countries are now States Parties.

The statement noted that the creation of the ICC was a “small but significant” step towards the realization of the vision of a world in which peace and justice prevail in accordance with the rule of law.

Since its creation, the Court has been investigating four situations – the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), northern Uganda, the Darfur region of Sudan, and the Central African Republic (CAR). Each one has been referred to it by the country concerned or by the United Nations Security Council, and the first trial began in January.

Other situations under analysis by the Office of the Prosecutor include Colombia, Afghanistan, Chad, Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire.

“The creation and early achievements of the ICC are only a beginning,” the statement noted. “Much more remains to be done to advance the cause of international justice.”

This includes strengthening the capacity of national courts to investigate and prosecute serious crimes, and the enforcement of decisions of the ICC or other courts.

“Adherence to and respect for the rule of law must become the norm and not the exception. The ideal of a world governed through law is what motivated the establishment of the ICC, it is what we celebrate today, and it is our aim for the future,” added the statement.

The President of the Court is Judge Sang-Hyun Song (Republic of Korea), and its Chief Prosecutor is Luis Moreno-Ocampo (Argentina).

Ambassador Christian Wenaweser of Liechtenstein, who serves as President of the Assembly of States Parties of the ICC, noted that the goal has been, and remains, universal membership in the Court.

“That means that all Member States of the United Nations will become States parties to the Rome Statute,” he told a news conference in New York, adding that the expected ratification of the Statute on 21 July by the Czech Republic will bring the number of parties to 110.

Mr. Wenaweser also reminded States of their obligation to cooperate with the Court, particularly in the area of arrests of indictees-at-large, such as Joseph Kony, the leader of the notorious Ugandan rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

The ICC issued arrest warrants for Mr. Kony and two other LRA leaders, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen, in 2005.

The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the LRA-affected areas, Joaquim Chissano, told reporters today that Mr. Kony “will not go to The Hague” if he signs the final peace deal negotiated between the Government of Uganda and LRA.

A series of accords struck by the rebels and the Ugandan Government last year raised hopes that they could reach a permanent, wide-ranging agreement ending the conflict, but Mr. Kony has repeatedly failed to sign a comprehensive deal mediated by the Government of Southern Sudan that his representatives have already initialled.

“Once the agreement is signed and the Ugandan Government is willing and capable of undertaking a juridical system, it may do so provided that it can prove to the ICC that it is following the minimum required international standards,” said Mr. Chissano, the former President of Mozambique.

“You cannot expect the ICC to come and just drop the warrants. They will drop the warrants in the face of the capability of the Government of Uganda to implement the case by themselves.

“We are ready to give [Mr. Kony] this explanation if he shows up,” he added.


* * *

NEPAL: UN WELCOMES DECISION TO DISCHARGE THOUSANDS OF CHILD SOLDIERS

The United Nations welcomed the decision to today begin discharging and rehabilitating more than 4,000 Maoist army personnel – including thousands of child soldiers – in Nepal, calling this a “significant milestone” in the country’s ongoing peace process.

The UN special political mission, known as UNMIN, and the world body’s Country Team lauded the announcement by the Government and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) that they would formally launch the discharge and rehabilitation process today for 4,008 Maoist army personnel (including 2,973 minors), who were disqualified under the verification process following the end of the civil war.

In a press statement, UNMIN and the Country Team called on the UCPN-M to cooperate with authorities “to ensure the successful completion” of the initiative.

They said that “it is encouraging that the agreement reached recognizes the importance of compliance with international standards in line” with the Security Council’s 2005 resolution on children and armed conflict.

Further, today’s launch also “commits to following a discharge and rehabilitation process that will allow the disqualified personnel to choose freely between a range of rehabilitation assistance packages in the coming months,” the statement said, voicing the UN’s readiness to assist in the process.

A decade-long civil war, claiming some 13,000 lives, ended in 2006 with the signing of a peace accord between the Government and Maoists. After conducting Constituent Assembly elections in May 2008, the nation abolished its 240-year-old monarchy and declared itself a republic.


* * *

GREATER EFFORTS NEEDED TO END DISPLACEMENT IN NORTHERN UGANDA, SAYS UN EXPERT

Stepped up efforts are needed to ensure that the last of the people uprooted by the long-running conflict between the Government and a notorious group in northern Uganda are able to return to their homes, a United Nations independent expert said today.

Wrapping up a week-long visit to the Great Lakes nation, Walter Kaelin, the Secretary-General’s Representative on the human rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs), said that he is “impressed” by progress made in tackling the displacement situation in the country’s north, where nearly 80 per cent of the uprooted have returned to their villages.

He voiced his appreciation for the Government’s actions in allowing the IDPs to find durable solutions, welcoming progress made in restoring security and freedom of movement in northern Uganda, which has seen two decades of fighting between the Government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

But Mr. Kaelin noted that “serious challenges remain for those remaining in camps to freely opt for return, local integration or settlement elsewhere as provided for by the Ugandan National IDP Policy and to ensure the sustainability of returns or other durable solutions.

Also impeding sustainable returns are the lack of water, food, health and education services, as well as land and property disputes, in areas of return, he added.

In spite of the Government’s efforts, the Representative said that the low impact of recovery and development activities in the north, especially the setting up of basic services in return areas, threatens stability and the durability of peace.

He called on national and local authorities to implement the Peace, Recovery and Developmetn Plan for northern Uganda, calling on the international community to support recovery efforts.

“The implementation of recovery projects and support for solving land conflicts would go a long way in restoring economic, social and cultural rights of those who have been deprived of their human rights for so long,” Mr. Kaelin said in a press release issued in the capital, Kampala.

Food insecurity is another cause for concern, especially among elderly people and orphans, he noted, urging authorities and their development partners to increase investment in guaranteeing the right to food.

Earlier this week, the outgoing UN envoy for the conflict in northern Uganda today stressed the need for a two-pronged strategy of pursuing negotiation as well as military action against the LRA.

In his last briefing to the Security Council as the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the LRA-affected areas, Joaquim Chissano spoke about the state of the Juba peace agreements – originally signed in Sudan in February 2008 and set to take effect after the signing of a final overall peace accord – involving the LRA and the Ugandan Government.

Countries in the region, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), have joined forces with Uganda to militarily root out the LRA, following the failure by the group’s leader, Joseph Kony, to sign the final peace pact which would end two decades of fighting.

Those operations, which display a new determination by countries to collectively deal with the dangers posed by the LRA, had both uprooted and disrupted the group, Mr. Chissano, the former president of Mozambique, told the 15-member Council in a closed meeting.


* * *

 

UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
16 July, 2009


KILLING OF UN STAFFER IN PAKISTAN SPARKS OUTCRY FROM TOP OFFICIALS

Secretary-General General Ban Ki-moon has led a chorus of condemnation over the shooting death of a staff member of the United Nations refugee agency at a camp outside the north-west Pakistani town of Peshawar today.

The murder of Zill-e Usman, a 59-year-old Pakistani national who had served with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) since 1984, is the third killing of the agency’s staff in the country in the past six months.

Mr. Usman was shot by unidentified gunmen in the Kutcha Gari camp on the border of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Four to five gunmen reportedly opened fire as he was walking back from the camp administrative office to his car during a routine visit to the site.

Another staff member was injured in the incident but is in stable condition in a nearby hospital, according to UNHCR. A guard working with a government-funded agency known as the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees was also killed.

“The Secretary-General strongly condemns this brutal attack on humanitarian personnel who are working for the well-being of the Pakistani people,” Mr. Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres voiced his outrage at the killing of Mr. Usman, who leaves behind a wife and four children.

“There is no justification for attacks on humanitarian workers dedicated to the protection and care of the most vulnerable people,” he said.

Mr. Usman was working on the repatriation of people displaced by a conflict in Pakistan’s tribal areas that broke out in August 2008.

UNHCR is among several agencies currently aiding some 2 million people displaced in NWFP by more recent fighting between Government forces and militants in regions surrounding the Swat Valley.

Earlier this year, Syed Hashim, a UNHCR driver, was killed in the 2 February kidnapping of John Solecki, head of the agency’s Quetta office, who was later released. Then on 9 June, staff member Aleksandar Vorkapic died in the bombing of the Pearl Continental hotel in Peshawar.

Mr. Guterres called on all armed groups to cease attacks on humanitarian workers whose mission is to provide protection and assistance to the needy.

“It is unacceptable that humanitarian workers doing such vital and selfless work are attacked in this way,” said Mr. Guterres. “We urge all armed groups to show respect for their countrymen and for innocent civilians as well as for the humanitarian workers who are providing life-saving assistance.”

Meanwhile, the UN Resident Coordinator in Pakistan, Fikret Akcura, added his voice to those condemning the attack, which he said “underscores the difficult and dangerous circumstances we are working in and the risks our staff must take on a daily basis.”


* * *

DONOR HELP CRUCIAL AS HEALTH SITUATION CRUMBLES IN SOUTH AND CENTRAL SOMALIA – UN

Donor assistance is urgently needed as the health situation in southern and central Somalia, including its violence-wracked capital, Mogadishu, continues to deteriorate, the United Nations humanitarian arm said today.

Violence in the impoverished Horn of Africa nation has impeded access to essential and life-saving health services, as well as to clean water and sanitation, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

A fresh wave of fighting, which broke out in Mogadishu in May, has driven 200,000 people from their homes, in addition to the more than 400,000 already displaced near the capital and along the Afgooye corridor, west of Mogadishu.

Poor coverage of health care is leading to more frequent communicable disease outbreaks, rising rates of severe acute malnutrition, and falling immunization rates, among other effects.

“With the country already facing one of the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the world, the humanitarian health community is finding itself constrained by the health funding deficit, leaving a number of critical life-saving health projects uninitiated and ongoing ones under threat of cessation,” OCHA said in a donor alert.

Earlier this week, relief organizations in Somalia issued an $11 million appeal to meet the emergency water and sanitation needs of those who have fled Mogadishu in recent weeks.

Aid agencies are currently only able to supply two to eight litres of water per person per day in that area, while between 7.5 and 15 litres – less than one flush of an average toilet – is considered the minimum needed for survival, according to OCHA.

There is also currently one latrine for every 212 displaced people in the Afgooye corridor, and a major concern is that effect the lack of water is having on efforts to prevent the spread of communicable diseases in overcrowded situations.


* * *

TOP UN OFFICIALS CALL FOR THOROUGH INVESTIGATION INTO KILLING OF RUSSIAN ACTIVIST

Russian authorities must conduct a thorough and independent investigation into the murder of a prominent activist looking into alleged human rights abuses in Chechnya, top United Nations officials said today.

Natalia Estemirova, who worked for the Russian non-governmental organization (NGO) Memorial, was kidnapped on Wednesday near her home in the Chechen capital, Grozny, and her body was found in neighbouring Ingushetia later in the day with bullet wounds to the head and chest.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay today welcomed the announcement that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered a high-level investigation, urging authorities “to do all they can to ensure that the perpetrators are prosecuted and brought to justice.”

Ms. Estemirova’s death – the latest in a series of killings or attacks against rights activists, journalists and lawyers in the country – “sadly underlines once again the need for governments to do much more to protect human rights defenders,” Ms. Pillay said.

For his part, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he is appalled and saddened by Ms. Estemirova’s “heinous” killing, calling on authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice “to send a strong and unambiguous message that the targeting of human rights will not be tolerated,” according to a statement issued by his spokesperson.


“The Secretary-General expresses his solidarity with human rights defenders around the world who work courageously and selflessly each and every day, in defense of basic rights and freedoms,” it added.

The slain activist had worked for many years to promote human rights in the North Caucasus, having received numerous awards. Those included the Anna Politkovskaya Prize from the Nobel Women’s Initiative, which was named for the Russian journalist and outspoken human rights campaigner who was killed in 2006, with whom Ms. Estemirova had worked.

She had also worked alongside Stanislav Markelov, a human rights lawyer who was killed after having given a press conference in Moscow on 19 January.


* * *

TRIBAL VIOLENCE IN SOUTHERN SUDAN UNDERMINES PEACE AGREEMENT, UN REPORTS

Escalating inter-tribal violence in Southern Sudan is jeopardizing the stability of the entire country, and key milestones in implementing the peace pact that ended the long-running north-south civil war are at risk, the United Nations warned today.

In his latest report on the work of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the security situation in the south has deteriorated since April, with long-simmering disputes sparking “alarming waves of violence [and] at times triggering vicious cycles of attack.”

At least 200 civilians have been killed in the clashes, as well as dozens of members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), the former southern rebel group that signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005 to end the civil war.

Mr. Ban said the future of the CPA depends largely on the relationship between the SPLA and the National Congress Party (NCP), which signed the agreement and formed a Government of National Unity in Khartoum.

“Their action or inaction in the coming months will determine whether the outstanding benchmarks,” such as elections scheduled for next year and a subsequent referendum that could result in the secession of southern Sudan, can be upheld.

He urged both sides to “take steps to engage in meaningful dialogue and reach agreement on outstanding issues.”

One of those issues is the status of Abyei, an oil-rich area in the centre of the country that has been contested by north and south and was the scene of deadly clashes last year that forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration on Abyei is preparing to give its decision on the issue shortly, and in today’s report, Mr. Ban said he welcomed the commitment by both sides to accept and peacefully implement whatever the court decides.

“This commitment would now have to be translated into requisite orders to the security apparatus on the ground and to the local leadership and communities who may feel disenfranchised by the arbitration decision.

“Crucially, the Abyei area needs a fully funded and functional civilian administration irrespective of the result of the arbitration and I urge the parties to take all steps needed to achieve this.”

Next year’s planned national elections are vital, the report noted, “for the process of democratic transformation throughout” the country and it stressed the importance of peaceful, transparent and credible polls.

Mr. Ban also welcomed recent joint efforts by the Government, the UN and its aid partners to reduce the most critical humanitarian gaps created by the expulsion in March of many international non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

But he added that “current levels of assistance in some areas remain below the necessary standards and the humanitarian community remains watchful of the onset of the rainy season.”


* * *

POOR COUNTRIES NEED TO RETHINK DEVELOPMENT MODEL, UN REPORT FINDS

The world’s poorest countries are bearing the brunt of the global economic crisis and their governments need to review the development model they have followed for the past three decades if they are to substantially reduce poverty and achieve long-term growth, a new United Nations report concludes.

The report from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), released today, says “the crisis should be grasped as a turning point” for the so-called Least Developed Countries (LDCs) – a classification grouping the 49 poorest States around the globe.

“The magnitude of the crisis offers both the necessity and an opportunity for change,” according to the report, which says LDCs are particularly vulnerable to the current crisis because they have small economies and are so dependent on international trade, capital flows and finance.

The report notes that, in recent decades, many LDCs have severely reduced the role of government in promoting development. Yet the current crisis has “exposed the myth of self-regulating markets” and neo-liberal economic policies have also not succeeded in tackling other problems such as bottlenecks in production, chronic deficits and shortages of skills and knowledge among the labour force.

The roles of the state and the market must be rebalanced, UNCTAD argues, and many affluent countries have already started shifting to include a much bigger role for the state in economic management, especially through fiscal stimulus packages.

“Yet this tendency has been more evident in the advanced countries than in the developing world… most LDCs simply cannot afford to deploy similar packages.”

Most LDCs are also behind schedule in their efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the globally agreed set of social and economic targets that are supposed to be realized by 2015.

The report recommends that poor countries therefore “build a new developmental state” that ensures much greater collaboration between the state and the private sector, and boosts investment and technological capabilities so that a more diverse range of products can be made.

Wealthy countries must boost their support for struggling nations as well, the report emphasizes.

“This is not simply a question of more and better aid, but also the design of rules that govern international economic relationships with regard to trade, finance, investment and technology flows.”


* * *

UN OFFICIAL PRAISES G8 LEADERS' COMMITMENT TO BOOSTING FOOD SECURITY

The recent pledge made by leaders of the so-called Group of Eight (G8) industrialized countries to mobilize $20 billion to boost food security is a “substantive” commitment, a senior United Nations official said today.

“Countries themselves know they are going to be held to account over that pledge” made at the G8 summit earlier this month in L’Aquila, Italy, David Nabarro, Coordinator of the High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Crisis, told reporters in New York.

“We are really pleased that food security is now back and central on the international agenda,” he said.

But the official cautioned that a jump in spending should not come at the expense of other priorities, such as health and education.

Addressing the same press conference today, Robert Orr, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Planning, stressed that the outcome from the G8 gathering is “a first step, and there’s much more to be done.”

Mr. Nabarro noted that in spite of the progress made in L’Aquila, the funding gap currently faced by the UN World Food Programme (WFP), which he described as “the world’s anti-famine mechanism.”

The agency had a record income of $5 billion last year, but at present is two-thirds short of the resources needed to respond to food demands worldwide, he said.

On influenza A(H1N1), Mr. Nabarro, who serves as Senior UN System Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza, said that the work done on avian influenza has laid the groundwork to address the current pandemic.

While in relatively prosperous countries, the A(H1N1) pandemic has not been very serious, he said.

But evidence shows, Mr. Nabarro said, that in communities where resources are not dedicated to health care at the same level as very wealthy nations that “they are going to face greater problems,” with the UN now focusing on building stronger relationships with poorer nations, especially the least developed ones, to ensure that “they have some chance of being able to access the particular things that they need in order to be able to deal with these problems.”


* * *

BENIN: UN AGENCIES INCREASE ASSISTANCE IN WAKE OF FLOODS

United Nations humanitarian agencies have stepped up their relief efforts in the West African country of Benin, where more than 20,000 people have been displaced or affected and numerous farms destroyed by floods.

Mosquito nets, water purification tablets, blankets, tents and mats are being distributed and assistance is being provided with water and sanitation and with maternal health care in the wake of the floods.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is providing 3,000 chlorine tablets for water treatment and 1,000 mosquito nets, and is also funding a health awareness campaign and water and sanitation activities, UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told journalists today.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has also donated blankets, nets, mats and tents, while the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) plans to spend up to $100,000 on health care.

A UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team is in the country to help local authorities deal with the floods, which follow some of the heaviest rainfall in Benin – beset by floods every wet season – in recent years. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) is also spending $100,000 to coordinate the overall relief effort.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was also monitoring the situation, particularly to ensure that widespread outbreaks of meningitis do not occur.

The bands of rain have moved northwards across Benin in recent days, with flood waters subsiding in the southern cities of Cotonou and Porto Novo and heavy rains and high rains in the north.


* * *

INDEPENDENT UN PROBE INTO BHUTTO KILLING STARTS WORK IN PAKISTAN

The independent United Nations commission charged with examining the facts and circumstances behind the December 2007 assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto arrived today in Islamabad as it began its first working visit to the country.

During their visit the members of the Commission of Inquiry held what they described as a productive meeting with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Law, Justice and Human Rights Minister Afzal Sindhu.

Senior Government officials from the Interior Ministry also briefed the commissioners on some details about the assassination.

The Commission, which formally started its activities on 1 July, is headed by Ambassador Heraldo Muñoz of Chile, and its other members are Marzuki Darusman, the former attorney-general of Indonesia, and Peter Fitzgerald, a veteran of the Irish National Police who has also served the UN in a number of capacities.

Set up following a request from the Pakistani Government, the Commission will submit a report to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon within six months. Mr. Ban will then share the report with the Government and submit it to the Security Council for information.


* * *

OFFICIALS FROM UN-BACKED COURT APPEAL FOR RESOURCES TO FINISH SIERRA LEONE TRIALS

Top officials from the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) today appealed to States for the necessary resources to conclude its work, including the war crimes trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, and deliver justice to thousands of victims.

Briefing the Security Council, Prosecutor Stephen Rapp recalled that the commission of serious crimes against the civilian population of Sierra Leone motivated the creation of the Court, which is based in Freetown.

“We ask for the cooperation and support necessary to complete its mandate, so that justice can be achieved for the victims of those crimes,” he said, noting this will send a “powerful message” that the international community strongly supports institutions established to hold to account those responsible for such atrocities, and by doing so, deter their perpetration.

“For the victims – the thousands who had been mutilated, the tens of thousands who had been murdered, the hundreds of thousands who had been subjected to sexual violence – the Special Court offers justice by holding to account those alleged to bear the greatest responsibility for these crimes,” stated Mr. Rapp.

He told the 15-member body that the Court’s immediate financial situation may be fairly characterized as “an impending crisis.

“Even if all pledged donations from donors for this year come in early, our funds will run dry before next year’s round of donations, and the Special Court will not have the resources necessary to complete its work.”

Set up jointly by the Government of Sierra Leone and the UN in 2002, the Court is mandated to try those who bear the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian law and national law committed in Sierra Leone since 30 November 1996.

Mr. Rapp noted that the Court has been ground-breaking in several respects, including the first-ever convictions on the charge of sexual slavery, both as a war crime and crime against humanity, as well as convictions on the use of child soldiers.

The Court has completed three multiple-accused trials. In addition, a fourth trial – that of Mr. Taylor, who faces charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity – is currently under way at The Hague.

It is expected that Mr. Taylor’s trial, which this week saw the former leader take the stand in his own defence, will be conducted to allow for a judgment by mid-2010, and for finalization on appeal by early 2011.

“We project that in February 2011, upon delivery of the appeals judgment in the Taylor case, we will have completed all of the Special Court’s judicial activities,” the Court’s President, Justice Renate Winter, told the Council.

The Court will, however, still be bound by a number of legal obligations – known as “residual issues” – that will not terminate once the trials and appeals are completed, she noted.

A small successor body will likely need to be established to manage and perform residual functions, including the enforcement of sentences, maintenance of the Court’s archives, witness protection and assistance, and the possible trial or transfer of the case of the one indictee-at-large, former Sierra Leonean military leader Johnny Paul Koroma.

Justice Winter stated that assistance to the Court will continue to be as important in the future as it has been in the past.

“To successfully complete its mandate in the coming months, the Special Court continues to rely on the indispensable support of the Security Council and all Member States. Today, more than ever before, this request is urgent.”


* * *

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES STILL HURTING FROM HIGH FOOD PRICES – UN

Despite a drop in international food prices and good cereal harvests overall, prices in developing countries remain high, hurting millions of poor people in both rural and urban areas, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned in a report released today.

In several countries, current prices exceed last year’s highs or stand at record levels, according to the “Crop Prospects and Food Situation” report.

In 27 sub-Saharan African nations, FAO found that 80 to 90 per cent of all cereal prices remain over 25 per cent higher than before the food price crisis two years ago.

“The high food price situation continues to give rise to concern for the food security of vulnerable populations in both urban and rural areas, as these groups spend a large share of their incomes on food,” the publication said.

In Sudan, prices of sorghum, a type of grain, were three times higher in June than they were two years ago. In Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia, maize prizes have doubled, while in Southern Africa, they have dropped recently due to a bumper harvest but remain above pre-2007 levels.

Spurring continued high prices in poorer nations are reduced harvests, higher or delayed imports, civil conflicts, strong demand in neighbouring countries, devalued national currencies, and higher transport costs, among other factors, said FAO.

Although global cereal production will decline by 3 per cent this year from 2008, which saw the largest harvest ever, the report said that the outlook for world cereal supply and demand is satisfactory.

But it also cautioned that 30 countries around the global are in crisis and require assistance due to natural disasters, insecurity and economic problems.

FAO’s Rome headquarters will host a World Food Summit in November to further success towards eradicating hunger and improving governance of the international agricultural system.


* * *

UN AGENCY COMMITS TO HELPING PROTECT LAND RIGHTS FOR AFRICA’S DISPLACED

The United Nations agency tasked with promoting adequate shelter for all has committed to ensuring better protection of land and property rights for people uprooted from their homes in Africa, which hosts nearly half of the total number of displaced persons worldwide.

UN-HABITAT and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) signed a Memorandum of Understanding last week committing them to this common goal.

Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, said she hoped the new agreement will be an opportunity to “work together to mobilize resources and help the significant number of displaced persons in Africa.”

The two institutions will work together to promote the creation of proper legal and institutional frameworks so that countries can be better prepared to protect the rights of displaced populations and to find durable solutions with regards to land and property issues.

In 2008 there were an estimated 11.6 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Africa, nearly half of the total number of displaced worldwide.

“The technical assistance that UN-HABITAT can provide will aid us greatly in our quest to help the huge displaced populations in the Great Lakes Region,” said Liberata Mulamula, Executive Secretary of the ICGLR. “The sharing of experience and resources is going to be essential in dealing with the current situation.”

The ICGLR is an institution created by Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia to implement the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region.


* * *

GRANT FROM UN-BACKED FUND ENABLES TOGO TO SCALE UP HIV SERVICES

The United Nations-backed Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has signed a grant agreement with Togo worth $20 million over two years, the first part of a five-year grant that will allow the country to scale-up treatment and care for people living with HIV.

“This agreement reflects Togo’s determination to continue its fight against the AIDS epidemic,” said Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund, who travelled to Lomé to sign the agreement.

There are 130,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Togo, which has a population of 6 million, according to a news release issued by the Fund.

Portions of the new grant will help to reduce the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV among vulnerable populations, including through the use of communication campaigns, counselling and testing and the implementation of reproductive health care services.

While the country had received resources from the Fund twice before, subsequent requests for funding were not successful. As a result, the Fund had put in place a continuation of services agreement to allow those under antiretroviral treatment to continue receiving their medication.

Mr. Kazatchkine said Togo’s success in obtaining the new funding is “a wonderful example of what can be achieved when a country and its local and international partners come together with a common goal.

“We are all proud of the success of Togo’s HIV proposal and the fact that, in this funding round, Togo’s grant negotiations were among the first to be concluded,” he added.

The Global Fund is designed to attract, manage and disburse resources to fight AIDS, TB and malaria. Since its creation in 2002, it has approved $16 billion worth of funding in 140 countries.


* * *

 

UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
15 July, 2009


BAN SAYS ENGAGEMENT OF NON-ALIGNED MOVEMENT VITAL IN TACKLING TODAY’S CHALLENGES

The engagement of the international grouping of over 100 countries known as the Non-Aligned Movement is vital to solving today’s common problems, from climate change and the economic crisis to ensuring a world free of nuclear weapons, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

“It is abundantly clear that no country – regardless of size or resources – can solve problems alone,” Mr. Ban said in his address to the high-level segment of the 15th NAM Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

“That raises the stakes and the space for the Non-Aligned Movement to shape a better world,” he added. “Now more than ever, your engagement is very vital to achieving global solutions to our common problems.”

The Secretary-General noted that the Movement’s commitment to peace naturally led it to place high value on a world free of weapons of mass destruction. “All countries should recognize that disarmament contributes to development – and that both are critical to peace,” he said.

Among recent progress, he said that, with the support of many Non-Aligned countries, the Conference on Disarmament broke its 12-year impasse and preparations for the review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are gaining momentum.

In addition, he welcomed the recently announced pledge by the leaders of the United States and Russia to reducing their nuclear arsenals.

“But the challenges remain immense if we are ever to achieve a world without nuclear weapons,” Mr. Ban stated, adding that it is not only weapons of mass destruction that demand a concerted international response. Conventional arms continue to destabilize the world, and small arms and light weapons are overwhelmingly the weapon of choice in violent conflicts, he noted.

The Secretary-General added that NAM’s longstanding commitment to development and social justice also resonates today as the world faces a severe economic and financial crisis.

“All countries are feeling the effects, but some developing countries are suffering most, including millions of people living in the NAM States, particularly those emerging from conflict. The impact will likely be even graver in the future,” he said.

The UN chief also pointed out that efforts to move the global economy in a greener, more sustainable direction and improve food security and energy access for the poor can also contribute to creating the more equitable world that NAM has always envisioned.

In addition, he highlighted the effort to “seal the deal” at Copenhagen later this year on an ambitious new climate change pact aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

“We need to mobilize the political momentum for an equitable and effective deal,” said Mr. Ban. “Your participation is vital – I count on you to attend.”

On his arrival in Egypt yesterday, Mr. Ban met with Libyan leader Muammar Al-Qadhafi, with whom he discussed major challenges in Africa, including Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia-Eritrea, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He met today with Eyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and they discussed the way forward in the Middle East, climate change, Sudan, and Somalia.

The Secretary-General also meet with President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka, with whom he raised the issue of conditions in the camps housing internally displaced persons (IDPs), as well as the arrests of UN staff.

Meanwhile, his meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani focused on the fact-finding probe into the killing of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto which is visiting Pakistan this week, and upcoming meetings of the Group of Friends of Democratic Pakistan.

Also in Sharm el-Sheikh today, the Secretary-General addressed the First Ladies Summit on women in crisis management. “We need to view women as agents of change. This is what we are doing at the United Nations. We advocate for women, but more than that, we involve women,” he stated.

Mr. Ban noted that under his tenure as Secretary-General, more women have been appointed to senior positions than ever before, nearly tripling their number in top managerial roles.

The Secretary-General’s wife, Mrs. Ban Soon-taek, also participated in the First Ladies Summit, convened by Egypt’s First Lady, Suzanne Mubarak.

In her remarks, Mrs. Ban stressed that when women have social equality and assurance to be able to make their own decisions, they can help solve the world’s many problems. Women hold the key to tackling the financial crisis and the problem of hunger, but the question is how to turn that key and unlock the solution, she added.

Mrs. Ban urged all the First Ladies of the NAM States to take their influence and combine strengths to help the world’s women, so as to benefit their children as well as change the entire world for the better.


* * *

RETURN OF DISPLACED PAKISTANIS MUST BE VOLUNTARY AND SUSTAINABLE – UN RELIEF CHIEF

As families uprooted by the military operations in north-west Pakistan begin to make their way back home, it is vital to ensure that the returns are voluntary, that it is safe for them to repatriate and that basic services have been restored, the top United Nations relief official said today.

More than 2 million Pakistanis have been displaced by the conflict between Government forces and militants in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), and the vast majority are either sheltering in schools and other public buildings, with host families or in rental accommodations.

The Government this week began a programme for internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return to some parts of Buner and Swat, among the areas hardest hit by the operations.

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes, who just returned from a four-day visit to the country, told reporters in New York that the issue now is how quickly and on what scale people will begin to return home. It was clear from his conversations with the IDPs that people are “desperate” to go home, he said.

He noted that the Government is keen that the IDPs should go home in order to reduce the burden on host communities as well as the general financial burden.

“We’re of course also concerned that they should be able to return home as quickly as possible,” added Mr. Holmes. “What we’ve also said is that this has to be a voluntary process; there must be no obligation to return before people are ready.”

He emphasized the need for proper consultation with the people concerned and to ensure that the right conditions are in place for their returns. “There has to be basic security there… the power needs to be on, the water needs to be running, the police force needs to be there, the local administration needs to be in place.

“The main point is that returns have got to be sustainable,” he stressed, adding that the worst scenario would be if people went back and were then displaced again.

Mr. Holmes got a first-hand look at the site of the clashes when he visited the district of Buner last week. He noted that conditions there were in “reasonable shape,” with more half of the displaced having already returned to the district and life seems to be returning to “something approaching normality.

“The shops were open, the bazaars were busy, there’s a lot of people moving around and trying to resume their normal activities,” he stated.

An initial assessment is currently underway in Swat, where media reports say that people have started to return.

Mr. Holmes also pointed out that when after people return to their homes they will need assistance for some months to come, and repeated his plea to donors and the international community for continued and increased support, including for early recovery efforts.

“I sometimes have the feeling that the international community and the media have not given the depth and extent of this humanitarian crisis the attention that it deserves,” the UN relief chief said.

He added that the UN and its partners have so far received about 42 per cent of the $543 million appeal launched in May to help those affected by the crisis.

“We hope the donors will respond generously to what is a continuing and very large-scale humanitarian problem.”


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SECURITY COUNCIL STRESSES NEED FOR FREE, FAIR AND SECURE AFGHAN POLLS NEXT MONTH

The Security Council today welcomed the Afghan-led preparations for next month’s presidential and provincial council elections, and stressed the importance of “free, fair, transparent, credible, secure and inclusive” polls.

In a statement read out by Ambassador Ruhakana Rugunda of Uganda, which holds the rotating Council presidency this month, the 15-member body also called on the Afghan people “to exercise their vote in this historic opportunity for all Afghans to make their voices heard.”

In addition, the Council stressed the importance of a secure environment for conducting elections, and condemned those who resort to violence to obstruct the electoral process.

While recognizing the ongoing efforts of the Afghan Government, it encouraged additional efforts by the authorities with the assistance of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to ensure security during the electoral period.

The presidential poll is scheduled to be held on 20 August, the date set by the country’s Independent Electoral Commission.

Last month the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan told the Council that the August election is about more than choosing the country’s leaders.

“It is about strengthening people’s confidence in the democratic process, and about strengthening Afghanistan’s institutions. It is not only about who will lead, but about the legitimacy of leadership,” said Kai Eide, who also heads the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

As part of its efforts to assist in the preparations for the polls, the Mission has issued a set of guidelines for the conduct of all those who are engaged in the elections – government officials, candidates, supporters, electoral officials and media and international representatives – related to the election campaign, the election day and the immediate post-election day process.

The UN has also been involved in the training of some 35,000 police officers ahead of the elections, and helped set up a toll-free election information hotline.


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TWO-TRACK STRATEGY NEEDED TO END LONG-RUNNING CONFLICT IN NORTHERN UGANDA – UN ENVOY

The outgoing United Nations envoy for the conflict in northern Uganda today stressed the need for a two-pronged strategy of pursuing negotiation as well as military action against the notorious rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

In his last briefing to the Security Council as the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the LRA-affected areas, Joaquim Chissano spoke about the state of the Juba peace agreements – originally signed in Sudan in February 2008 and set to take effect after the signing of a final overall peace accord – involving the LRA and the Ugandan Government.

Countries in the region, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), have joined forces with Uganda to militarily root out the LRA, following the failure by the group’s leader, Joseph Kony, to sign the final peace pact which would end two decades of fighting.

Those operations, which display a new determination by countries to collectively deal with the dangers posed by the LRA, had both uprooted and disrupted the group, Mr. Chissano, the former president of Mozambique, told the 15-member Council in a closed meeting.

But he also noted that these military ventures have triggered “vicious” LRA reprisals in the DRC and Southern Sudan.

Mr. Kony has given the impression that he has little interest in the peace process, the envoy said, but emphasized that opportunities for peaceful re-engagement with the LRA and military action must be pursued simultaneously.

The LRA leader’s direct engagement would be the yardstick of the credibility of any discussions, Mr. Chissano, who was appointed to his position in December 2006, said.

The Juba peace agreements should be implemented, he said, adding that people in northern Uganda have already experienced the fruits of peace.

Members of the Council commended Mr. Chissano’s efforts as Special Envoy, Ambassador Ruhakana Rugunda of Uganda, which holds the body’s rotating monthly presidency, told reporters following today’s consultations.

The Council also called on the LRA to “come and seize the opportunity still there and sign the final peace agreement,” said Mr. Rugunda.


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CONSTRAINTS ON PRESS FREEDOM MUST BE LIFTED IN HONDURAS, SAYS UNESCO CHIEF

The head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today called for restrictions on press freedom to be lifted in Honduras, where President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales was ousted by the military last month.

“I am deeply concerned about reports of restrictions on the media and harassment of journalists in Honduras,” said UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura.

“In situations of crisis, it is especially important to ensure that the media can report freely and without intimidation,” he added.

Since Mr. Zelaya was forced from office on 28 June, human rights and press freedom organizations have reported severe restrictions on news media by blocking cable television transmissions and Internet access, as well as arrests of and attacks on journalists, according to a UNESCO press release.

Mr. Matsuura also condemned the killing, apparently unrelated to recent political events in Honduras, of Gabriel Fino Noriega, a radio reporter, in San Juan Pueblo in the country’s north.

The reporter was shot on 3 July by an unidentified gunman as he left Radio Estelar, a local station on which he presented a daily news programme. He was also the local correspondent for Radio América, a national radio station.

“Using violence to silence journalists constitutes an intolerable attack on the fundamental human right of freedom of expression and on the whole of society’s ability to enjoy human rights,” the UNESCO head said.


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MIGIRO SAYS UN MUST NOT ONLY PREACH GENDER EQUALITY, IT MUST PRACTICE IT TOO

The United Nations must both be on the cutting edge of change and practice fully what it preaches when it comes to achieving gender equality and parity, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro told the Group on Equal Rights for Women in the UN (GERWUN).

“We cannot simply promote gender equality outside our walls, if we do not implement it inside them,” she said in remarks delivered yesterday at UN Headquarters.

“Indeed, it is a sad reality that a group such as yours is still needed as we continue to strive to ensure that gender equality is practiced and parity achieved within our Organization,” she added. “GERWUN’s very existence shows that there is still some work to do.”

She noted that despite the Organisation’s commitment, progress has been slow. “Some departments have made notable progress towards achieving gender parity. However let us be honest that, overall, the numbers are gloomy.”

A working mother herself, Ms. Migiro acknowledged that the modern workplace is a “testing and demanding” environment, and that combining a career with family life is difficult.

“I know that finding the right balance between professional advancement and motherhood, between work and life, is the toughest challenge we face, not least because we have to admit that we cannot achieve a perfect balance,” she stated.

Among other things, she pointed out that women tend to be under-represented in the more substantive fields such as political affairs and peacekeeping, “a fact often attributed to the stereotyping of women and their situations and capabilities.

“While this needs to be changed still, we must remain optimistic and note that the Secretary General is insisting on progress, and the issue is gaining momentum where it was lacking before,” she said.

The Deputy Secretary-General noted that an effective gender balance strategy requires strong commitment and leadership from the top, as well as information-sharing to ensure that managers and staff at all levels are made aware of the strategy and the actions expected from them.

“The Secretary-General is committed to ensuring this. All managers must get on board. All staff must play their role.”


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CHALLENGES REMAIN IN RUN-UP TO COPENHAGEN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE – UN OFFICIAL

With only 144 days left until the start of the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen, greater efforts are needed to ensure that countries “seal the deal” on a new pact to slash greenhouse gas emissions, an official with the world body said today.

Countries attending the meeting of the Major Economies Forum (MEF) on 9 July made some headway on climate change, “but also highlighted areas where we have a lot to do before we reach agreement in Copenhagen,” Janos Pasztor, Director of the Secretary-General’s Climate Support Team, told reporters in New York.

Leaders of over one dozen developed nations attending the MEF meeting in L’Aquila, Italy, said they recognize that the global average temperature should not increase more than 2 degrees centigrade, which is “a critically important goal” which these nations had never endorsed explicitly before, he said.

They also agreed to set up a global partnership to spur the use of low-carbon technologies and to double public sector investment into research of these new technologies by 2015.

Further, the leaders said that financial resources for both mitigation and adaptation must be scaled up dramatically, and although the stopped short of specifying amounts, they did agree to consider a ‘green’ fund, Mr. Pasztor noted.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that the cuts in greenhouse gas emissions proposed by the Group of Eight (G8) leaders, “while welcome, are not sufficient.”

Underscoring that “the time for delays and half-measures is over,” Mr. Ban stressed that “the personal leadership of every head of State or government is needed to seize this moment to protect people and the planet from one of the most serious challenges ever to confront humanity.”

Heads of G8 countries agreed in L’Aquila to a long-term goal of reducing emissions by 2050, but Mr. Ban said that this target was not credible without “ambitious mid-term targets, and baselines.

“In order to achieve such a global goal, developed countries must lead by example in making firm commitments to reduce their emissions by 2020 on the order of the 25 to 40 per cent below 1990 levels that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) tells us is required. It is disappointing to note that thus far, the mid-term emissions targets announced by developed countries in the MEF are not in this range.”

To support countries in their bid to conclude a successor pact in December to the Kyoto Protocol, whose first commitment period ends in 2012, Mr. Ban is convening a high-level summit – expected to be the largest climate change gathering this year – in New York on 22 September.

It is hoped that this summit can foster trust among world leaders, Mr. Pasztor said today, adding that “we will not be able to address climate change without that trust.”


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GEORGIA: TOP UN OFFICIALS DEPART FORMER MISSION AREA

The top military and police officials serving with the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) – which ceased its functions last month – have now left what was formerly their area of operation, a spokesperson for the world body announced today.

The departures of the Chief Military Officer and Senior Police Adviser are part of the Mission’s liquidation phase, which includes the withdrawal of its military and police personnel.

It follows the Security Council’s lack of agreement to renew the Mission’s mandate, which led to UNOMIG effectively ceasing its functions in mid-June.

“According to the drawdown plan, all civilian staff will also be leaving in the near future, with the goal being to completely close the Mission by November 2009,” UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters.

For nearly 16 years, UNOMIG was entrusted with overseeing the ceasefire accord between the Government and Abkhaz separatists in the country’s north-western region.

It had no jurisdiction in nearby South Ossetia, the scene of fighting last August which pitted Georgia against separatists and their Russian allies.

Ms. Montas also reported that the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Johan Verbeke, chaired the first meeting, under UN auspices, of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism yesterday.

The purpose of the Mechanism, she said, is to bring together the Georgians, Abkhaz and Russians, as well as representatives from the UN and European Union, on a periodic basis to discuss security matters.

At yesterday’s meeting, held in the town of Gali, it was agreed to set up a “hotline” to prevent future incidents. Participants also agreed to meet on a bi-weekly basis, and the next meeting is scheduled to be held in Gali under UN auspices on 28 July.


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UN EXPERTS PREDICT BETTER SEEDS CAN HELP BENIN BECOME SELF-SUFFICIENT IN RICE

Experts from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are predicting that Benin could one day become self-sufficient in rice and even export its surplus output through the intensified production and marketing of high quality seeds.

A $500,000 FAO project, due to begin in September 2009, seeks to help the small West African nation achieve the goal of producing 300,000 tonnes of rice – more than double the current output – by 2011.

To do that, Benin will have to produce more than 2,200 tonnes of high quality rice seeds each year, the agency said in a news release.

The project encourages the production of high quality seeds while facilitating access to them by farmers. FAO says an increase in production of high quality rice seeds should result in enough output to cover 70 per cent of domestic demand.

Currently, domestic rice output is “far from able to satisfy the ever-growing demand” not only in Benin but also in other parts of West Africa. FAO figures show that West African rice imports reached 6 million tonnes in 2001 and this is likely to rise to 11 million tonnes by 2010.

Exploiting Benin’s rice production potential, say the experts, will not only enable the country to satisfy local demand but will also enable it to export surplus output to sub-regional and regional markets.

“If Benin exploited its full rice production potential, the net gain would be more than $55 million,” according to the news release. Increased revenues would also lead to better livelihoods for farmers and would make local rice cultivation production more competitive.


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NEW UNICEF KIT HELPS YOUNG CHILDREN CAUGHT UP IN WAR, DISASTERS

A new United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) kit – the first of its kind in the humanitarian community – seeks to help young children who have been uprooted from their homes or affected by war and natural disasters regain a sense of normalcy.

Launched by UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman in Geneva today, each Early Childhood Development Kit, which costs $230, can be used by some 50 children up to six years of age.

They contain 37 items – including dominos, colouring pencils, construction blocks, hand puppets and memory games – that encourage playing, drawing, story-telling and numeracy.

According to an agency press release, early childhood is the most critical period for brain development, with young children especially vulnerable to the stresses of war and disasters, such as hurricanes, floods and earthquakes.

The kit was created after UNICEF staff and partner organizations responding to emergencies identified a need for special materials to help young children.

Before its launch today, the kit was tested in seven countries – Chad, Liberia, the Republic of Congo, Jamaica, Guyana, Maldives and Iraq.

The new kit complements UNICEF’s “school-in-a-box,” of which 600,000 have been distributed during emergencies to date.


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ECONOMIC CRISIS ROLLING BACK ASIA’S DEVELOPMENT GAINS – UN OFFICIAL

The economic crisis is rolling back the significant progress made to date in Asia and the Pacific in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – according to a senior United Nations official.

Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), said her organization has responded to the crisis by encouraging policies that include social programmes such as health coverage, pensions, education and agricultural extension services, as well as investment in small and medium scale enterprises.

“The huge scale of government spending in the pipeline in many countries offers an unprecedented opportunity to design development policies that will bring about more inclusive and sustainable development,” Ms. Heyzer said during the course of the substantive session of the UN Economic and Social Council, which is currently taking place in Geneva.

“Pro-poor policies aimed at strengthening social protection systems not only create the social foundations for more inclusive societies, they free up spending of consumers. In other words social protection systems also make good economic sense.”

She added that financial stimulus packages and reforms could help create a more integrated and coordinated Asia and the Pacific that builds upon collective regional strengths and resources.

In addition, she highlighted the need for appropriate investments in infrastructure to create economic corridors that link less developed countries to economic centres in the region, thereby increasing intra-regional trade.

As a result, the recovery of larger economies like China, India and the Republic of Korea will have “greater reciprocal positive spin offs” for their smaller neighbours.

Ms. Heyzer noted that ESCAP has sought to provide its member States with the necessary strategic analysis, policy options and technical assistance.

“Our flagship publication, the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2009, provides a compelling analytical basis for the policy reforms that the region will need to collectively implement in response to the economic crisis,” she said.

The report predicts that developing nations in the region will see their growth drop from 5.8 per cent last year to 3 per cent this year, with as many as 23 million people – particularly women in the manufacturing sector – potentially losing their jobs.

For its part, the Asian Development Bank estimates that the number of poor people in Asia and the Pacific could climb by 60 million in 2009 and approach 100 million by 2010, thwarting the region’s achievement of the MDGs.


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KAZAKHSTAN HAS ‘ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT’ ON MINORITY ISSUES – UN RIGHTS EXPERT

In spite of the high degree of inter-ethnic and inter-religious cooperation and tolerance in Kazakhstan, a United Nations human rights expert said there is still “room for improvement” on minority issues in the Central Asian nation.

The Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan is “a valuable national symbol of the recognition of minorities and the commitment of the State to the preservation of the cultural heritage of minorities,” Gay McDougall, the UN Independent Expert on minority issues, said, wrapping up a nine-day visit to the country.

But she pointed out that the body’s potential and legitimacy could be boosted if members were elected by minority groups directly, “without reference to the cultural associations which are themselves not based on a principle of representativeness.”

While appreciating the Government’s establishment of Kazakh as the national language, Ms. McDougall warned that “sensitivity must continue to be exercised to ensure that the policy does not unduly impact upon the rights and opportunities of those communities and sectors of society that might require additional assistance, time and resources to gain proficiency in the Kazakh language.”

She was appointed as a UN Independent Expert in July 2005, and reports to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council in an unpaid capacity.


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