UN Gazeti
Wednesday 03 September 2008
Issue No. 279
UN Observances
| 8 September |
International Literacy Day |
| 16 September |
International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer |
| 1 October |
World Habitat Day |
UN IN KENYA
AENEAS CHUMA UNDP RR LAUNCHES HAND BOOK FOR MEDIA RESEARCHERS
The new UNDP Resident Representative, UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Kenya Mr. Aeneas Chuma launched the Media Handbook for Development Researchers in Nairobi. The handbook which is published by PANOS, can be a useful tool in forging the alliance between the media and researchers in the wake of the new coalition government. He stated that the book tackles a half of the problem by explaining how the media works and how researchers can use them for their benefit.
Media use also carries a benefit for research in that it can help to generate support from various stakeholders while giving the public an asset.
UN IN AFRICA
AID PLANE WITH 17 ON BOARD CRASHES IN EASTERN DR CONGO
A plane carrying humanitarian supplies with 17 people on board, including seven United Nations staff, has crashed into a mountain in the far east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the world body confirmed yesterday.
The plane had been en route from Kisangani to Bukavu yesterday when it crashed into a mountain about 15 kilometres northeast of Bukavu airport while beginning its landing approach in bad weather, UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters in New York.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UNICEF ANNOUNCES BOOST TO SCHOOL, HEALTH AND NUTRITION PROGRAMMES IN TOGO
The head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) yesterday announced $3 million of extra support for education, health and nutrition programmes in Togo during her first visit to the West African country.
Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF, unveiled the additional support at a meeting with Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe, the agency said in a press release.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SHUTDOWN LOOMS FOR UN AIR SERVICE FOR AID WORKERS IN WEST AFRICA
The future of the United Nations air service that helps relief workers to deliver life-saving supplies and assistance to hundreds of thousands of West Africans is in jeopardy because of a funding shortfall of more than $5 million, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) reported yesterday.
“As well as providing transport for aid workers, the humanitarian air service is also crucial for medical and security evacuations,” said Thomas Yanga, WFP’s Regional Director in West Africa.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN PEACEKEEPING OFFICIAL VISITS CHAD AND CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
A senior United Nations peacekeeping official is visiting Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR) for talks on the performance of the nascent UN mission to the neighbouring African countries.
Edmond Mulet, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, and the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Chad and the CAR, Victor Angelo, held talks yesterday with Chadian President Idriss Déby in N’Djamena. They are scheduled to hold talks in Bangui, the capital of the CAR, yesterday.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN REFUGEE CHIEF MEETS WITH TUNISIAN OFFICIALS BEFORE HEADING TO IRAN
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is visiting Tunisia to strengthen cooperation between his office and the North African nation, including the establishment of a full-fledged representation, before heading to Iran later this week.
During his two-day visit to Tunisia, António Guterres is scheduled to meet with the President, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, the Minister of National Defence and other senior Government officials as well as the UN Country Team, UNHCR partners and staff.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SITE OF RECENT DR CONGO CLASHES NOW CALM, UN ENVOY SAYS FOLLOWING VISIT
Alan Doss, the top United Nations official in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), says calm has returned to Rutshuru in the country's volatile North Kivu province following last week's clashes between Government forces and armed rebel groups.
Mr. Doss, who is also head of the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC – known as MONUC – conducted a joint mission to the area on Sunday, along with the country's Defence Minister, Tshikez Diemu, to assess security in the wake of the fighting.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
IN ETHIOPIA, TOP UN RELIEF OFFICIAL ASSESSES DROUGHT-STRICKEN AREAS
The top United Nations humanitarian official has begun his three-day visit to Ethiopia, where he is holding talks with Government officials, relief groups and individuals affected by the country's drought and food crisis.
John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, travelled to Ethiopia's Konso Special Woreda in Southern Nations Nationalities and People's Region (SNNPR) on Monday to review humanitarian efforts.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AROUND THE WORLD
AT LEAST 3 MILLION AFFECTED BY DEADLY FLOODS IN INDIA AND NEPAL, UN REPORTS
More than 3 million people have been uprooted and 60 people killed by the worst flooding to hit north-east India in five decades, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) reported yesterday.
The flooding began when heavy monsoon rains caused a dam to break, breaching the eastern embankment of the Kosi River, which straddles the India-Nepal border.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN MISSION ASSISTS HAITIANS AFTER SECOND TROPICAL STORM STRIKES IN LESS THAN A WEEK
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti is assisting local authorities in rescue and relief efforts in the northern city of Gonaives after it was hit this morning by floods and mudslides triggered by Tropical Storm Hanna, the second storm in a week to strike the country.
Peacekeepers from the UN mission in Haiti, known as MINUSTAH, are assessing the safety of roads and bridges in the wake of the storm, as part of the technical and logistical assistance the mission is providing to authorities.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
DPR KOREA: UN PLANS MAJOR FOOD RELIEF PROGRAMME TO HELP MILLIONS IN NEED
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced yesterday that it is launching a major relief campaign to help more than 6 million people in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), which is experiencing its worst food crisis in a decade.
Nearly $8 million will be needed every week to meet emergency food needs in the DPRK, according to WFP, which said it would formally approve the new operation in the days ahead.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN URGES IRAN NOT TO IMPOSE DEATH PENALTY ON JUVENILES
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has urged Iran not to impose the death penalty on juvenile offenders, following reports that two minors were recently put to death, in violation of the country’s obligations under international law.
Reza Hedjazi is believed to have been executed on 19 August and Behnam Zaare on 26 August. They are reported to have been 15 and 16, respectively, when they committed their crimes.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN SOUNDS ALARM ON HUMANITARIAN CONDITIONS IN GEORGIAN CITY
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) yesterday expressed concern over the humanitarian conditions facing people in and around the town of Gori, which lies just south of the border of the separatist region of South Ossetia.
Shelters in the city are stretched beyond capacity, with some 4,200 people from the buffer zone between Gori and the South Ossetian boundary registered as being internally displaced.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN POLICE HELP LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN HAITI DESTROY ILLEGAL DRUGS
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti has helped the national police destroy more than 2,000 kilograms of drugs as part of its efforts to work with authorities in the impoverished Caribbean country in the fight against the illegal trafficking of narcotics.
UN Police (UNPOL) serving with the mission, known as MINUSTAH, and Haitian National Police escorted some 2,287 kilograms of drugs on Sunday to a centre in the town of Ganthier, where they were burned.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO TEXT MESSAGE FOR PEACE
The United Nations launched a text messaging for peace campaign yesterday, urging cell phone users in the United States to compose peace messages to be published on a website and delivered to world leaders gathered for the General Assembly later this month.
One of the events promoting the International Day of Peace, held on 21 September to observe “a day of ceasefire and non-violence”, encourages US cell phone users to send 160-character text messages starting with the word ‘PEACE’ to phone number 69866.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
CLIMATE FORECASTS CRUCIAL TO WATER RESOURCES AND POVERTY REDUCTION
The chief of the United Nations meteorological agency yesterday called for weather forecasts to play a greater role in planning for economic development and poverty reduction because of the impact climate change has on water resources.
Michel Jarraud, the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), told the World Water Congress that the agricultural, energy, tourism and health sectors are among those most affected by the impact of climate change due to drought, deterioration in water quality, increased run-off and an increase in the salinization of ground water as a result of rising sea levels.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
RECENT NATURAL DISASTERS AMPLIFY NEED FOR URGENT ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
The destruction wreaked by Hurricane Gustav in the past week and the uprooting of some two million Indians by the worst flood in five decades has reinforced the need for countries to reach agreement on a successor pact to the Kyoto Protocol, the head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said yesterday.
These events “underline the increasing vulnerability of humanity to natural disasters – vulnerability that is set to rise under the scientific scenarios if climate change is left unchecked,” Achim Steiner said in a statement.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
GENDER INEQUALITY RENDERS AID INEFFECTIVE, UNFPA
Governments and aid donor partners need to make greater efforts in tackling gender inequality if they are to successfully combat global poverty, the United Nations and the European Commission (EC) stressed yesterday at a high-level forum in Accra, Ghana.
“Over a billion women worldwide continue to be trapped in poverty,” the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Director, Inés Alberdi, told the 3rd High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
ASIA-PACIFIC WORLD’S LARGEST BROADBAND MARKET, BUT WIDE GAP IN ACCESS
While some countries in Asia and the Pacific – the world’s largest broadband market – have high speed and affordable Internet access, the same cannot be said for most of the region’s poorer nations, the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU) said yesterday.
In its Telecommunication/Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Indicators Report for Asia and the Pacific, the ITU states that Internet access in the region’s poor countries remains limited and predominantly low speed.
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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