UN Gazeti
Wednesday 13 June 2007
Issue No. 225
UN Observances
| 04 June |
International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression
|
| 05 June |
World Environment Day |
| 17 June |
World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought |
| 20 June |
World Refugee Day |
UN IN AFRICA
CONGOLESE REFUGEES RETURN FROM MOZAMBIQUE
The United Nations refugee agency has announced the start of its airlift of Congolese refugees from Mozambique, pledging to help all those who want to go back.
Over 100 people headed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) this week by air from the north of Mozambique via Kigoma in Tanzania, where they were scheduled to embark on a ship crossing Lake Tanganyika to their homeland, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which said talks are underway to facilitate direct flights to DRC for about 170 additional Congolese seeking to return home.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SIERRA LEONE TO PROTECT CHILD RIGHTS
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has welcomed new legislation protecting the rights of the young in Sierra Leone, where they suffer disproportionately from poverty and other social ills.
The National Child Rights Bill, approved by the Sierra Leone Parliament last week, is a “huge step forward for children's rights,” the agency said in a news release.
Superseding all other existing national laws, the legislation offers an opportunity for aligning Sierra Leone with international rights standards for children, according to UNICEF.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
HYBRID FORCE IN DARFUR
The Sudanese Government yesterday announced its acceptance of the proposal for a hybrid United Nations-African Union peacekeeping operation to be deployed to the violence-wracked Darfur region after the UN and AU issued clarifications about the mandate, structure, components and tasks of the force.
The agreement was reached during two days of high-level technical consultations between the UN, the AU and the Sudanese Government that wrapped up yesterday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN SOMALIA DETERIORATING: UN
The human right situation in Somalia is deteriorating as hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes while others are being subject to threats, rape and violence in the war-torn East African nation, a United Nations expert said yesterday.
Ghanim Alnajjar, the Independent Expert on the situation of Human Rights in Somalia, told the Human Rights Council in Geneva that the current circumstances in the country are much worse than they were when he last briefed the 47-member body in September 2006.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
MORE THAN 400,000 FACING FOOD SHORTAGES IN LESOTHO
A new report by two United Nations agencies says that more than 400,000 people in Lesotho face food shortages due to the country’s most severe drought in 30 years.
The report, issued yesterday by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP), estimates that 410,000 people of Lesotho’s 1.9 million inhabitants will struggle to meet their basic food needs due to “extensive” crop failure and “exorbitant” maize prices.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN TO ADDRESS DROUGHT IN MOROCCO
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) yesterday announced a new projected designed to help Morocco deal with a water shortage brought on by drought and the pressures of development.
Mohamed Habib Halila, the agency’s Representative in Morocco, said the project will enable us to make better use of water resources in the Doukkala region, 100 kilometres south of Casablanca, “working together with the local administrative authorities and the beneficiaries of this initiative.”
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AROUND THE WORLD
WANTED GANG MEMBER KILLED IN HAITI
An alleged leading gang member wanted by both the Haitian National Police and the French authorities for serious crimes died this morning after he opened fire on forces trying to detain him, according to the UN Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), which participated in the operation.
Charles Junior, also known as “Yoyo Piman,” who was wanted on national and international warrants for murder, kidnapping and criminal conspiracy, resisted arrest during the early morning operation in the notorious Cité Soleil neighborhood of the capital, Port au Prince, the mission said in a news release.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SG EXPRESSES DEEP CONCERN OVER GAZA VIOLENCE
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday said he is “deeply concerned” at the resurgence of violence in Gaza, which has reportedly killed 20 people.
“The intensity of this latest round of fighting and the heightened public rhetoric marks a serious deterioration of the situation, placing the civilian population in Gaza in grave peril, jeopardizing the delivery of humanitarian assistance, and threatening the future of the Palestinian Government and Authority,” Mr. Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement
For more information please contact http://www.un.org/news
INDONESIA IMPROVING ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Human rights defenders in Indonesia’s province of West Papua continue to face torture, arbitrary detention and harassment from the country’s police, military and security forces, an independent United Nations expert said yesterday after wrapping up a week-long visit to the Asian archipelago, which she said had also taken some positive steps in the legal realm.
Hina Jilani, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on the situation of human rights defenders, said she had received “credible reports” of such activities, as well as attempts to interfere with defenders’ freedom of movement.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN GROUP ON ILLICIT ARMS OFFERS RECOMMENDATIONS ON NATIONAL LAWS
A United Nations group of experts dealing with illicit arms brokering has produced a series of recommendations for combating the trade through legislation.
The United Nations Group of Governmental Experts to consider further steps to enhance international cooperation in preventing, combating and eradicating illicit brokering in small arms and light weapons forged its proposals during an 8 June meeting, where it also called for consistent attention to the issue at future UN gatherings.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
BRAZILIAN STUDENTS WIN TOP PRIZE IN UN FILM COMPETITION
Nine Brazilian students have been recognized by the United Nations for a short film they produced on violence in their country and beyond.
The UN Department of Public Information (DPI) awarded a prize to the film “Looks can be Deceiving” in the FYI - Film Your Issue competition, which encourages young people to add their voice to the public dialogue by producing 30 to 60 second films on social issues.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UNHCR LAUNCHES LEGISLATIVE GUIDE ON CHILD RIGHTS TREATY
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has launched a new publication which aims to serve as a research tool for children's rights advocates based on the major international treaty guiding their work.
“This major study documents how the Convention on the Rights of the Child came to represent a sea change in the way the international community was prepared to address the rights of children,” High Commissioner Louise Arbour writes in the book's preface.
UNESCO CHIEF CONDEMNS MURDER OF IRAQI CAMERAMAN
The head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) – tasked with defending press freedom worldwide – yesterday condemned the murder of a cameraman in Iraq.
Speaking out against the killing of Saif Fakhri, UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said “his name is now added to the terrifyingly long list of journalists, media technicians, drivers, guards and others who have fallen in Iraq in the name of freedom of expression.”
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SG CONDEMNS KILLING OF RED CROSS WORKERS IN LEBANON
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday deplored the killing of two Lebanese Red Cross workers and the wounding of a member of delegation of clerics at a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon that has been the scene of fierce fighting for three weeks.
Mr. Ban “hopes the Lebanese authorities will fully investigate the matter” and offers his condolences to the families of the victims, his spokesperson said in a statement.
Media reports say the Red Cross workers were evacuating civilians from Nahr al-Bared camp when they were hit by either machine gun or shell fire, while the cleric was trying to broker a truce to the fighting when he was hit in a separate incident.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
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