UN Gazeti
Wednesday 07 November 2007
Issue No. 246
UN Observances
| 16 November |
International Day for Tolerance |
| 20 November |
Universal Children’s Day |
| 25 November |
International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women. |
UN IN KENYA
SECURITY COUNCIL COUNTER-TERRORISM COMMITTEE CONCLUDES CONFERENCE
The Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) has wrapped up a meeting in Nairobi with a plan for specific steps to boost border security.
A joint statement and action plan issued by the Committee and some three dozen international, regional and subregional organizations stated the participants' intention to share information on border control and security matters, giving due regard to confidentiality of information, by providing guidance material on regional policies, legal instruments, and best practices
For more information, visit: http://www.unicnairobi.org/terrorism_action.asp
UN IN AFRICA
UN OFFICIAL DECRIES SEXUAL VIOLENCE, URGES STRONGER DRC RESPONSE
A senior United Nations official in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) yesterday decried the problem of sexual violence in the war-torn country, saying perpetrators are mostly police, military and militia members but civilians are increasingly involved, and calling for stronger response measures.
“This is an extraordinary large problem. It is not just an anecdotal problem but a massive one that demands we all combined try and make sure that essentially not only women who are victims of rape and abuse are treated but that sexual violence must stop,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Deputy Special Representative Ross Mountain.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN SEEKS $64 MILLION FOR HUMANITARIAN AID TO LIBERIA
The United Nations and its partners in Liberia yesterday appealed for $64 million to meet urgent humanitarian needs in the country for the remainder of this year and the first half of 2008.
“Despite some improvements in political, security and the socio-economic conditions of Liberians, humanitarian needs do still remain,” said UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Liberia Jordan Ryan. The appeal covers water and sanitation, health and agriculture.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AND AU ENVOYS CONTINUE DARFUR PEACE NEGOTIATIONS AND CONSULTATIONS
United Nations and African Union envoys yesterday held workshops on wealth-sharing issues with the Sudanese Government and some of Darfur’s rebel groups as they continue their efforts to try to find a way to end the deadly conflict in the war-torn region of western Sudan.
The officials conducted the negotiations in Sirte, Libya, site of the first phase of the three-part UN-AU peace process aimed at quelling the violence and suffering that has engulfed Darfur since 2003.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
DISPLACED SOMALIS SUFFERING UNDER 'EXTREMELY HARSH CONDITIONS
Displaced Somalis who have fled fighting in Mogadishu are living in “extremely harsh conditions” with reports of malnutrition and rape, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which recently joined other agencies in assessing their plight.
The evaluation mission on Saturday found that facilities in Afgooye, a small town west of the Somali capital, is struggling to absorb swelling populations with scant resources. “Entire families are now crammed into tiny huts,” said UNHCR spokesman William Spindler in Geneva.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
MIGIRO CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION TO BOOST AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT
United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro on 5 October urged all countries to come together in support of development initiatives for Africa.
“What is needed most now is to translate the current consensus on meeting the special needs of Africa into concrete and actionable sets of measures which would help transform people’s lives in the short and long term,” she said in an address to the 8th Regional Consultation Meeting of UN Agencies and Organizations working in Africa in support of the African Union and NEPAD, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, a strategic framework for the continent’s renewal adopted in 2001.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN TO LAUNCH OIL CONTAMINATION ASSESSMENT IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA
The United Nations environment and development agencies are joining forces to launch a comprehensive assessment of oil contamination in the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta as part of a broader Nigerian Government-led peace and reconciliation programme.
Exploration and production of oil in the area, which began in the 1950s, were suspended in the 1990s due to public unrest. Spills from this period are still problematic, and the lack of maintenance and damage to infrastructure has led to further contamination in the past 15 years.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT FOCUS OF DEPUTY SG’S TRIP TO ETHIOPIA
Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro is heading to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where she will be participating in a regional meeting between the United Nations, the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).
“It will be her first participation at a meeting of this type to emphasize the importance the UN attaches to regional cooperation and to the role played by regional commissions in promoting development,” UN Spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
ABDUCTED CHILDREN FROM CHAD HAD FAMILY MEMBERS
The vast majority of the 103 children abducted for adoption in France from eastern Chad had family in the country, according to United Nations agencies and their partners who are providing assistance and investigating the identities and places of origin of the group.
“During interviews with humanitarian staff, 91 children said they had been living with their family, consisting of at least one adult they considered to be their parent,” according to joint statement issued by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the non-governmental organization the International Red Cross Committee (ICRC).
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AROUND THE WORLD
SG DEPLORES DEADLY SUICIDE ATTACK IN AFGHANISTAN
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today denounced the suicide attack that killed more than 40 civilians and injured scores of others in the northern Afghan town of Baghlan – one of the deadliest the war-torn nation has witnessed in recent years.
“The Secretary-General strongly condemns this heinous attack and sends his profound condolences to the bereaved families of the victims, as well as to the Government and people of Afghanistan,” according to a statement issued by his spokesperson.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
CANADIAN UNIVERSITY AND UN-HABITAT SET UP ONLINE URBAN ARCHIVE
The United Nations agency tasked with promoting socially and environmentally sustainable housing has announced a partnership with a Canadian university to establish the world’s most complete online information archive on urban issues.
The UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) issued a statement on 5 October saying that the University of British Columbia, which is based in Vancouver, had taken the initiative to host more than 30 years of print and electronic material.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SECURITY COUNCIL TO SEND MISSION TO TIMOR-LESTE THIS MONTH
The Security Council will send a mission to Timor-Leste to build on the success of the tiny nation’s recent elections and to support efforts to bolster peace and democracy, it was announced yesterday.
The mission, to be lead by South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, will take place from 24 to 30 November.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE TO HONOUR UNHCR OFFICIAL, ANGELINA JOLIE
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres and internationally renown actress Angelina Jolie, one of his agency's most active supporters, will receive the International Rescue Committee's annual Freedom Award for 2007 in New York today.
The award being given to UNHCR and its Goodwill Ambassador recognizes extraordinary contributions to the cause of refugees and human freedom has previously been given to another UN High Commissioner for Refugees – Sadako Ogata, in 1995.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SG URGES STATES TO ELIMINATE CHEMICAL AND UNEXPLODED WEAPONRY
Underscoring the horrific impacts of both chemical and unexploded weaponry on civilians and future generations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged States to ratify and adhere to global treaties banning these arms.
Mr. Ban made his remarks in messages to two separate meetings: in The Hague on the Chemical Weapons Convention, and in Geneva on the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons’ Protocol V, covering Explosive Remnants of War.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SG STATES ROTARY INTERNATIONAL CRUCIAL ALLY IN ADVANCING UN’S GOALS
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has hailed members of Rotary International as allies in advancing the work of the United Nations through their global efforts in support of initiatives for health, literacy and poverty eradication.
“You have helped people understand what the UN is, what it does, and what it can do,” Mr. Ban told those gathered for the Rotary International Day programme held at UN Headquarters in New York on 3 November. “Ever since the United Nations was founded, you have been a wonderful partner to our organization.”
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SG ARRIVES IN TURKEY FOR TALKS ON IRAQ
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived on 2 Monday in Istanbul where he met with Turkish leaders ahead of a planned conference on Iraq bringing together the country’s neighbours and other interested States.
The Secretary-General and his Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, B. Lynn Pascoe, travelled this morning to Ankara, where they met and had a working lunch with Turkish President Abdullah Gul.
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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