UN Gazeti
Wednesday 20 June 2007
Issue No. 226
UN Observances
UN IN KENYA
UNICEF CALLS FOR INCREASED EFFORTS TO PREVENT CHILD TRAFFICKING
UNICEF on Saturday called on countries in Eastern and Southern Africa to step up their efforts to stop child trafficking.
“With over 8 million children orphaned by AIDS, widespread poverty, increased tourism, especially in coastal areas, and greater movement of goods and services between countries, Eastern and Southern Africa is
gravely poised to become a major origin of trafficked children,” said UNICEF’s Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa Per Engebak. “Traffickers are exploiting the aspirations of those living in dreadful
conditions with virtually no risk of prosecution.”
For more information, contact Judith Otieno, Email: JOtieno@unicef.org
UN IN AFRICA
SECURITY COUNCIL DISCUSSES IVORIAN ELECTIONS
The Security Council delegation visiting Africa wrapped up its visit yesterday to Côte d’Ivoire, where the role of the United Nations in staging elections scheduled for later this year was the focus of discussions with the leaders of the divided West African country.
At a press conference in Abidjan, the Ivorian commercial capital, Ambassador Jorge Voto-Bernales of Peru said the group had held talks with President Laurent Gbagbo and Prime Minister Guillaume Soro.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
ANTI-HUMAN TRAFFICKING CONFERENCE OPENS IN KAMPALA
Trafficking in persons affects all countries. However, post-conflict societies appear to be particularly vulnerable to this crime. As a result of war, such societies often have inefficient criminal justice systems, social conflict, violence, human rights abuses, lack of economic opportunities and large-scale population displacement. Such a volatile environment increases the vulnerability of potential trafficking victims and, at the same time, creates a conducive environment for organized criminal organizations, which seek to exploit illegal markets.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Regional Office for Eastern Africa (ROEA), together with the Eastern African Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization (EAPCCO) through the INTERPOL Sub-regional Bureau is organizing the first regional anti-human trafficking conference in Eastern Africa bringing together authorities from the eleven countries of the EAPCCO region. The Ugandan Government through the Ugandan National Police has offered to host the conference.
For more information, contact Irene Mwakesi, Email: Irene.Mwakesi@unon.org
UN-LED TALKS ON WESTERN SAHARA WIND UP
United Nations-sponsored talks on Western Sahara between Morocco and the Frente Polisario – along with neighbours Algeria and Mauritania – concluded yesterday outside New York with the parties promising to resume the negotiations again in August.
“Representatives of the parties and the neighbouring countries met all day yesterday,” UN spokesperson Michele Montas said, providing an update on the talks, which were held at the Greentree Estate in Manhasset at the invitation of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and facilitated by his Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Peter van Walsum.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UNICEF GOODWILL AMBASSADOR URGES PROTECTION OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN
Having recently returned from a visit to eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Ambassador Lucy Liu called on the nation’s Government to bolster its efforts to protect women and children caught in the continuing violence.
On her mission to Ituri and North Kivu province, Ms. Liu, an American actress, met with former child soldiers, survivors of sexual violence and communities of people forced to flee their homes by the ongoing hostilities.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UNESCO CHIEF CONDEMS MURDER OF CONGOLESE JOURNALIST
Condemning the recent murder of Congolese radio journalist Serge Maheshe, the head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) yesterday called on authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to ensure that the crime does not go unpunished.
Adding his voice to those of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC (MONUC) in speaking out against the murder of Mr. Maheshe, who worked at the country’s most popular radio station, Radio Okapi, UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said that “a famous voice in the DRC has been silenced.”
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
AFRICAN WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURIAL POWER HINDERED BY DISCRIMINATION
The rampant gender-based discrimination hampering African women’s success in business must be tackled through policy and programmes, according to a new study by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
The study, entitled “Lessons from Success Stories of African Women Entrepreneurs,” called for initiatives beyond microcredit schemes while pointing out that women continue manage businesses which generate employment and tax revenue despite limited government support, negative social environments, institutional discrimination and lasting gender inequalities.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
PARTNERSHIPS IN HIV/AIDS WORK ENCOURAGED
More than 1,500 participants from around the world are exchanging lessons learned from their efforts to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS and to care for sufferers at a four-day United Nations-backed meeting in Rwanda.
The delegates at the meeting, being staged in the capital, Kigali, are also discussing how best to maintain quality control in the prevention, treatment and care programmes and how to better coordinate efforts with each other.
SECURITY IN SOUTH DARFUR TOWN SHOWS NO IMPROVEMENT
The security situation in the southern Darfur town of Gereida has not improved and militia attacks against civilians, especially women, are continuing, the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) said today after wrapping up a four-day visit to the town.
UNMIS conducted the visit to Gereida to follow up on the Darfur Peace Agreement’s (DPA) effect on the overall security situation, livelihoods and tribal reconciliation, according to a news bulletin issued by the Mission. Gereida is a key town about 90 kilometres south of the provincial capital, Nyala.
UN AROUND THE WORLD
SG HOLDS TALKS WITH LEADERS OVER PALESTINIAN CRISIS
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced concern yesterday about the continuing humanitarian problems in the Gaza Strip as he held talks by telephone with Middle East leaders about the ongoing crisis in the region.
Mr. Ban spoke with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad of the Palestinian National Authority, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordanian Foreign Minister Daoud Khattab, UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SG WELCOMES NEW ROUND OF MONITORING NEPALESE COMBATANTS
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday welcomed the beginning of the second stage of monitoring by the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) of Maoist army personnel to ensure that no minors are serving.
“This is a crucial stage of the implementation of the Agreement on Monitoring of the Management of Arms and Armies,” he said in a statement issued by his spokesperson.
For more information please contact http://www.un.org/news
UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL AGREES ON REVIEWING COUNTRIES
The United Nations Human Rights Council wrapped up its fifth session yesterday by agreeing to a package of new measures that includes how the “universal periodic review” mechanism – which allows the human rights records of every country to be scrutinized – will work.
After marathon discussions ending late on Monday night, the Council agreed that each year 48 nations, comprising a mixture of Council members and observer States, will be reviewed to assess whether they have fulfilled their human rights obligations. Members serving one or two-year terms will be among the first to be evaluated.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN REPORT FOCUSES ON CHALLENGES POSED BY AGEING POPULATIONS
As the proportion of older persons continues to increase at unprecedented rates worldwide, countries will need to examine and adapt national policies, particularly those relating to pension systems and health care, according to a new United Nations report launched yesterday.
The number of people aged 60 years and older is expected to increase from 670 million in 2005 to nearly 2 billion in 2050, and some 80 per cent of them will live in developing countries, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs José Antonio Ocampo told a press conference in New York to mark the launch of the 60th anniversary edition of the World Economic and Social Survey.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UNESCO ADDS 38 ITEMS TO GLOBAL REGISTER OF DOCUMENTARY HERITAGE
The world’s first feature-length film, the family archives of the Swedish industrialist and philanthropist Alfred Nobel and the proceedings of the trials of South African anti-apartheid figures such as Nelson Mandela are among 38 items of documentary heritage that have just been added to a United Nations register to help preserve them for posterity.
The items have been included in the Memory of the World Register set up by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), bringing to 158 the total number of inscriptions on the Register so far.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN INDEPENDENT EXPERT CALLS FOR DEATH PENALTIES TO END IN IRAQ
Citing Iraq’s “procedurally flawed legal processes,” the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers yesterday called on the country to halt the application of the death penalty.
According to a statement, Leandro Despouy urged “the Iraqi Government to stop carrying out death sentences imposed following trials conducted in violation of international human rights standards and principles.”
SG TO HOLD TALKS WITH US CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel to Washington tomorrow to hold talks with leaders of the United States Congress on “issues of mutual interest” to the world body and the US, including the Middle East and Sudan.
“This brief visit will allow him to further broaden his contacts with members of Congress,” the Secretary-General’s Spokesperson, Michele Montas, told reporters yesterday.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
INCREASING NUMBER OF AFGHAN CHILDREN CAUGHT IN CROSSFIRE
Concerned about the increasing number of children killed in Afghanistan, the United Nations envoy for children and armed conflict yesterday urged all sides to take the necessary steps to protect the country’s young people amid the worsening security situation.
“Children are caught in the crossfire and the number of victims is escalating,” stated Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
ALMOST ONE IN FOUR YOUNG AFGHAN CHILDREN FORCED TO WORK
Poverty, lack of educational opportunities and the demand for cheap labour are helping to fuel the prevalence of child labour across Afghanistan, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Monday.
Nearly one quarter of Afghan children between the ages of seven and 14 are working, with more girls working than boys and the problem worst in rural areas, Noriko Izumi, head of child protection for UNICEF in Afghanistan, said at a press conference in Kabul.
‘GRANNY POWER’ CAN PROPEL DEVELOPMENT, UN FOOD AGENCY SAYS
Grandmothers are a large untapped renewable resource for maternal and child nutrition, health and development, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Monday.
Grandmothers are “an abundant resource for development in all countries that is vastly under-utilized,” said William Clay, FAO’s Nutrition Expert, in a news release.
Participation of grandmothers leads to higher success rates for nutrition, health and community development projects, he added.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
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