UN Gazeti
Wednesday 10 October 2007
Issue No. 242
UN Observances
| 16 October |
World Food Day |
| 17 October |
International Day for the Eradication of Poverty/ Stand Up against Poverty Campaign |
| 24 October |
United Nations Day |
UN IN KENYA
UNEP WARNS ON WASTE DUMP HAZARD TO CHILDREN
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on 5 October, warned that a large waste dump located in Kenya is posing a serious threat to children living nearby and pledged its assistance to help reduce the hazard.
Citing the results of a study it commissioned of 328 children up to the age of 18 around the Dandora Municipal Dumping Site, the agency said half had concentrations of lead in their blood exceeding internationally accepted levels, while 42 per cent of soil samples recorded lead levels almost 10 times higher than what is considered unpolluted soil.
Almost half of the children tested were suffering from respiratory diseases, including chronic bronchitis and asthma.
For more information, visit: http://www.unicnairobi.org/Dandora_waste.asp
UN IN AFRICA
WFP SAYS FOOD STOCKS FOR UGANDA'S FLOOD VICTIMS DANGEROUSLY LOW
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned yesterday a shortage of funds for its relief operations in flood-hit parts of Uganda could spell disaster for hundreds of thousands of people there.
“The situation is dire for hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their homes, their belongings and most of their crops,” said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN ENVOY MEETS SUDANESE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AHEAD OF PEACE TALKS
The United Nations Special Envoy for Darfur is in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, for talks with Government officials, civil society groups and other players ahead of major peace negotiations later this month that will try to end the conflict that has torn apart the impoverished region.
Jan Eliasson, who will convene those negotiations with his African Union counterpart, Salim Ahmed Salim, returned to Khartoum for the meetings this week, UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters in New York yesterday.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
TWO FORMER MILITIA LEADERS JAILED BY UN-BACKED TRIBUNAL IN SIERRA LEONE
The United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) yesterday sentenced two former leaders of a pro-Government militia to jail over war crimes they committed during the country’s prolonged civil war in the 1990s.
Moinina Fofana, who was convicted on 2 August on charges of murder, cruel treatment, pillage and collective punishments, was given a six-year prison term by the SCSL, which sits in the capital, Freetown.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
DARFUR TOWN WHERE AU PEACEKEEPERS WERE ATTACKED BURNED DOWN
The South Darfur town of Haskanita that witnessed a deadly attack against African Union (AU) peacekeepers last weekend has been burned down, the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) reported on 7 October.
Haskanita, “which is currently under the control of the Government, was completely burned down, except for a few buildings,” UNMIS said on 7 October, after conducting a joint assessment mission to the area on 6 October with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UNDP CHIEF KICKS OFF AFRICA VISIT TO SPUR ACTION ON GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS
The head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on 5 October started a 10-day trip to Africa to jump-start renewed efforts to assist countries that are not on track to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight targets to slash poverty and other ills by 2015.
UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis noted that although the leadership necessary to achieve the MDGs must come from within the continent, African countries need the support of international organizations and development partners.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UNOCI OFFICIAL MEETS WITH GOVERNMENT AND REBEL LEADERS
The military head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) met this week with Government and former rebel army leaders to discuss aspects of the implementation of the Ouagadougou political accord between rival political groups in the divided West African nation.
Held at UNOCI headquarters in Abidjan, participants at the meeting, including UNOCI Force Commander General Fernand Marcel Amoussou, discussed the structure and work of the Integrated Command Centre, created under the Ouagadougou pact to unify the Ivorian military parties.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN ENVOY HAILS TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT MOVES ON POLITICAL INCLUSION- SOMALIA
The senior United Nations envoy to Somalia today hailed a decision by the country’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) to endorse the recommendations of the recently concluded National Reconciliation Congress on political inclusion.
UN Special Representative for Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah issued a statement in Nairobi saying the move “should pave the way for greater inclusion of Somalis from a larger political spectrum.”
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN MISSION HELPS IN RESCUE EFFORTS AFTER DEADLY AIRPLANE CRASH IN DRC
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is taking part in rescue operations after a commercial aircraft crashed into a residential area of the capital, Kinshasa, earlier on 4 October.
The mission, known as MONUC, reports that 25 people were killed in the crash and many others have been injured.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AROUND THE WORLD
NEW GUIDE PUBLISHED BY FAO AIMS TO TEACH CHILDREN GOOD EATING HABITS
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has issued a wide-ranging new guide on teaching good eating habits to primary school children in an effort to reduce malnutrition and diet-related diseases.
The agency notes that one of the most effective strategies for overcoming malnutrition and chronic diet-related diseases, such as excess weight and obesity, diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases, is educating school children in healthy nutrition.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
CHILDREN MUST BE BETTER EDUCATED TO MINIMIZE DISASTER RISKS – ISDR
On the eve of the International Day for Disaster Reduction, a top United Nations official yesterday stressed the necessity of improving children’s disaster preparedness and bolstering their safety in the classroom.
“Too many children are dying because they are not educated to live with disasters or because they are attending classes in unsafe buildings. Making schools safer must be the priority of every government in a disaster-prone country,” said Sálvano Briceño, Director of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UNHCR TO AID PALESTINIANS ON IRAQ-SYRIA BORDER AFTER FIRE SWEEPS THROUGH CAMP
The United Nations refugee agency has responded with emergency supplies and assistance for Palestinian refugees caught on the Iraq-Syria border after a fire swept through their camp.
Some 25 people were injured and 53 tents were destroyed by the blaze, the third at the Al Tanf camp in less than a year, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis told a press briefing in Geneva.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
PRESIDENT KERIM STATES UN ASSEMBLY MEETING SHOWED IMPORTANCE OF INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE
Participation of over 80 countries and groups in the General Assembly’s high-level dialogue on interreligious and intercultural understanding showed the importance Member States place on the issue, the 192-member body’s president said on 8 October at the close of the first event of its kind at the United Nations.
Srgjan Kerim urged participants to “go forth and strive to build a new culture of international relations based on human rights and security, mutual cooperation and respect for international law.”
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
AS IRAQI CHILDREN RETURN TO SCHOOL, UNICEF URGES MORE AID
Nearly six million Iraqi children are going back to the classroom this week in what the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) calls a “remarkable achievement” while cautioning that more needs to be done to support the effort.
The damaging toll of displacement and the pervasive insecurity in Iraq have cost many of the country’s schoolchildren their education: according to figures released by Iraq’s Ministry of Education, only 40 per cent of final year students in Iraq (excluding the Kurdistan Region) passed their high school exams during the first examination session of 2007, compared to last year’s pass rate of 60 per cent, UNICEF said.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SINGAPORE REJOINS UNESCO AFTER 22-YEAR ABSENCE
Singapore rejoined the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on 8 October after a 22-year absence.
The Organization’s Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura welcomed the return of Singapore, which deposited its instrument of adhesion in London on 8 October, as the 193rd UNESCO member.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AND PARTNERS ISSUE HANDBOOK ON RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
Aiming to help lawmakers better understand the new Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol, the main United Nations human rights office and its partners on 8 October launched a handbook on the treaty's provisions.
“I hope that the Handbook, in addition to raising awareness, will foster the speedy ratification of the Convention so to end the protection vacuum that has, in practice, affected persons with disabilities,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SG APPOINTS LT. GENERAL AHMAD SHUJA PASHA AS NEW UN MILITARY ADVISER
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed a 30-year veteran of the Pakistan Army as the new Military Adviser of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO).
Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha will succeed acting Military Adviser General Per Arne Five of Norway.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SG DISAPPOINTED BY DELAY TO NEPALESE ELECTIONS
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 5 October voiced disappointment at the decision of Nepal’s interim Government to postpone Constituent Assembly elections scheduled for next month, stressing that the people of the Himalayan country deserve their opportunity to express their political aspirations.
In a statement released by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban strongly urged the Seven-Party Alliance which comprises the interim coalition Government “to redouble efforts so that outstanding issues can be expeditiously resolved and the election held very soon.”
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UNHCR CONCERNED BY SURGE OF ARRIVALS BY SEA INTO GREECE
The number of asylum-seekers and migrants arriving by boat in Greece has spiked dramatically this year, leading to overcrowding and serious hygiene concerns in the country’s detention centres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on 5 October.
UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond told reporters in Geneva that the average number of people arrested, intercepted or rescued by Greek coastguard officials has been about 3,000 each year since 2002, but already this year there have been nearly 4,500 cases.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SG WELCOMES DECLARATION TO STRENGTHEN INTER-KOREAN COOPERATION
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 4 October welcomed the signing in Pyongyang by the leaders of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea of a declaration to bolster cooperation between the two countries and promote peace and security in the region.
In a statement, he characterized the agreement on the Declaration on the Advancement of South-North Korean Relations, Peace and Prosperity as a “major step forward to enhance inter-Korean cooperation as well as peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.”
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
CHOLERA CONTINUES TO SPREAD IN IRAQ, WHO REPORTS
Cholera is continuing to spread across Iraq and dissemination to as yet unaffected areas remains highly possible, with more than 30,000 people having already fallen ill with acute watery diarrhoea, according to the latest update by the United Nations health agency.
More than 3,300 cases have been identified as positive for Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium that causes the debilitating and sometimes fatal intestinal infection, but clinical symptoms indicate the presence of cholera in many others, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
For more information on the United Nations and its activities, please visit the main U.N website at www.un.org or the U.N Kenya website at www.un-kenya.org
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