UN Gazeti

Wednesday 15 October 2008

Issue No. 285

UN Observances

UN IN KENYA

RAISE YOUR VOICE AND REMIND WORLD LEADERS TO KEEP PROMISES THEY MADE TO FULFILL THE MDGS BY 2015

The United Nations Millennium Campaign and Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) has announced that over ten million Africans are expected to participate in this year’s Stand Up Campaign scheduled for October 17th – 19th 2008.

Globally the campaign aims to mobilize more than one percent of the world’s population -- over 67 million people – on October 17-19 to demand that world leaders deliver on their promises to eradicate extreme poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. This will be almost one and half times more than the 43 million mobilized globally in 2007.

For more information contact : Sylvia Mudasia-Mwichulie-mail: Sylvia.mwichuli@undp.org,

UN IN AFRICA

UN APPEALS FOR AID TO HELP CENTRAL AFRICANS BREAK ‘CIRCLE OF POVERTY AND CONFLICT’

The United Nations humanitarian wing yesterday appealed for donors to provide another $26 million to support its aid activities in the impoverished Central African Republic (CAR), where more than 200,000 people remain displaced from their homes by persistent conflict and banditry over the past two years.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that the aid programme launched by the UN and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the CAR this year needs $116 million in funding, but has received only $90 million so far.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

FIGHTING ON TWO FRONTS IN EASTERN DR CONGO UPROOTS OVER 150,000 – UN

More than 150,000 people have been driven from their homes in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) over the past two months by fighting on two fronts, with dissident Congolese and Ugandan rebels, the United Nations refugee agency reported yesterday, announcing efforts to boost relief aid.

Over 50,000 people have been forced to flee in the Ituri region due to intense fighting between the Congolese army and Uganda’s rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) which has caused heavy loss of life since last month.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

CORRUPTION IN AFRICA IN THE CROSS-HAIRS OF UN-SPONSORED CONFERENCE

Scholars, policy makers and civil society leaders from within and outside Africa are currently meeting in Addis Ababa in a three-day United Nations-sponsored conference aimed at giving momentum to the fight against corruption on the continent.

It is vital for Africans to “regain the discourse and agenda on anti-corruption in Africa” and “explore ways by which [they] can effectively tackle the problem,” UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Deputy Executive Secretary of ECA Lalla Ben Barka told the conference on “Institutions, Culture and Corruption in Africa” which opened yesterday.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

FINAL BORDER REPORT ON ETHIOPIA-ERITREA DISPUTE SENT TO SECURITY COUNCIL

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has transmitted to the Security Council the last report issued by the independent commission on Ethiopia and Eritrea’s common boundary.

In 2002, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission handed down a final and binding decision awarding Badme, the town that triggered fierce fighting between the neighbouring Horn of Africa nations, to Eritrea. But the two countries have since been at an impasse on that demarcation.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

IMPROVED AFRICAN AVIATION SAFETY TARGETED AT UN FORUM

The United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is seeking to boost air safety in Africa, organizing workshops and fine-tuning in-air flight separation regulations.

“The foundation for a much safer and efficient air transport system throughout Africa has been laid,” ICAO Council President Roberto Kobeh González told 281 participants from 19 African States and four international organizations at a two-week seminar in Addis Ababa.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

FINAL BORDER REPORT ON ETHIOPIA-ERITREA DISPUTE SENT TO SECURITY COUNCIL

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has transmitted to the Security Council the last report issued by the independent commission on Ethiopia and Eritrea’s common boundary.

In 2002, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission handed down a final and binding decision awarding Badme, the town that triggered fierce fighting between the neighbouring Horn of Africa nations, to Eritrea. But the two countries have since been at an impasse on that demarcation.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

TESTS MAY HAVE IDENTIFIED SOURCE OF UNKNOWN DISEASE IN AFRICA

Preliminary tests indicate that a mystery disease in Zambia and South Africa that has killed three people in the past month is caused by a virus from the family that includes Lassa fever, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Monday, as reports emerged that a fourth case of the illness has been confirmed.

Analysis is continuing at laboratories in South Africa and the United States to learn more about the virus, believed to be from the Arenaviridae family, according to a news update released by WHO.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

IN DR CONGO’S TROUBLED EAST, BLUE HELMETS ESCORT RELIEF WORKERS

United Nations peacekeepers have provided 21 escorts to humanitarian agencies in the field in North Kivu, the scene of heavy fighting in recent weeks, in the volatile east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

In a letter to President Christophe Fournier of Médecins Sans Frontières, Alan Doss, the Secretary-General Special Representative, wrote that this was in response to concerns voiced by relief organizations over the harassment of civilians by armed groups and by the armed forces (FARDC).

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

TOP UN ENVOY EXPRESSES CONFIDENCE IN PREPARATIONS FOR IVORIAN ELECTIONS

Preparations for voting in Côte d’Ivoire’s presidential elections – now just six weeks away – are progressing well, even though some logistical hitches persist, the top United Nations official to the West African country said on Monday.

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative Y. J. Choi toured identification and voter registration centres in the capital Abidjan at the weekend, noting that computer availability was one of the problems undermining the otherwise “solid advances” achieved so far ahead of the elections.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

INDONESIAN POLICE UNIT ARRIVES TO BOOST EFFORTS OF UN-AFRICAN UNION DARFUR FORCE

A group of 130 officers from the Indonesian Formed Police Unit (FPU) has arrived in Darfur to strengthen the efforts of the joint United Nations-African Union (AU) peacekeeping force working to quell the violence in the strife-torn Sudanese region.

The Indonesian contingent will be based in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur and headquarters of the joint force, known as UNAMID, which has been lacking troops and police, as well as key assets, since it was deployed at the start of this year.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UN AROUND THE WORLD

SG ARRIVES IN GENEVA AHEAD OF TALKS ON GEORGIA

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Geneva yesterday for talks on the role of the United Nations mission in Georgia after the August conflict with Russia in the Caucasus country.

Mr. Ban was attending a working dinner on the issue, a day in advance of technical level meetings with representatives of the European Union (EU) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) at which he will be represented by his Special Representative for Georgia, Johan Verbeke.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UNEQUAL HEALTH-CARE SYSTEMS ARE HURTING POOR WORLDWIDE, UN REPORT FINDS

People in different countries and even within the same State or city face strikingly different health outcomes because of vast inequalities in both access to health care and the amount they have to pay for that care, according to a new United Nations report, which calls for an overhaul of the way such assistance is provided worldwide.

The annual World Health Report, launched yesterday by the World Health Organization (WHO), finds that the inequalities are now much greater than they were 30 years ago and that too often health care is treated as a commodity on which a profit can be made.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UNESCO CONFERENCE TO EXAMINE STATE OF EDUCATION IN IRAQ

Over 150 international experts will examine the current state of Iraq’s education system, with a spotlight on the right to attend school, at an upcoming United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) conference in Paris.

Iraqi educators and students, academics and donors, along with representatives of international and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), will be among the participants at the 30 October-1 November event.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

GORILLAS HAVE UN ALLY IN FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL

United Nations agencies are stepping up efforts to save gorillas in the wild, with three of the four subspecies already critically endangered as humans’ close relative faces multiple threats ranging from hunting to destruction of habitat to the effects of armed conflicts and diseases.

The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS), an intergovernmental treaty concluded under the aegis of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), will declare 2009 the Year of the Gorilla at its 9th Conference of Parties in Rome in December in a effort to ensure implementation of the legally binding CMS Gorilla Agreement on conserving gorillas and their habitats in 10 African range states.

more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UN REFUGEE AGENCY MUSTERS AID FOR THOUSANDS DISPLACED BY PAKISTANI FIGHTING

The United Nations refugee agency is trying to provide urgent shelter and other aid for some 190,000 people who have been displaced from Pakistan’s Bajaur agency bordering Afghanistan since fighting started in mid-August.

The large majority are staying with host families on both sides of the border, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said yesterday, but as it cannot access most of these areas for security reasons, it is relying on government estimates of the numbers.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

$1 BILLION DISBURSED SO FAR BY UN EMERGENCY FUND TO HELP MOST VULNERABLE

Disbursements by the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for humanitarian aid worldwide topped the $1 billion mark this week when more than $200,000 was disbursed to feed women and children in Tajikistan, which is suffering from food insecurity and a poor harvest.

The Fund was set up in March 2006 to speed relief for natural and man-made disasters and save thousands of lives that would otherwise be lost to delay.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

EVEN IN DEATH, TENOR GREAT PAVAROTTI RAISES FUNDS FOR UN CAUSES

Fellow tenor greats Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo sang alongside contemporary musicians such as Sting and Italy’s Zucchero at a charity concert at the historic site of Petra, Jordan, on Sunday in honour of the late Luciano Pavarotti to raise funds for United Nations aid projects on what would have been the maestro’s 73rd birthday.

Pavarotti’s widow and concert organizer Nicoletta Montovani was aiming to raise €4 million ($5.4 million) for a joint project by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to help some 150,000 vulnerable former refugees, especially women and children, who have returned to their homes in Afghanistan.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UN ENVOY FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS HOLDS TALKS IN JORDAN

The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) has held talks with top officials in Jordan on the latest developments in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, especially the ongoing efforts to negotiate a two-State solution.

Robert Serry returned yesterday to Jerusalem after the talks in Jordan, where he met with King Abdullah II, Prime Minister Nader Al-Dhahabi and Foreign Minister Salaheddin Al-Bashir, according to a statement released by UNSCO.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

PROGRESS REPORTED IN UN-BACKED EFFORTS TO REDUCE POLLUTION, EMISSIONS FROM SHIPS

The United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO) has reported major progress on efforts to cut polluting and global warming emissions from ships, achieve more environmentally friendly recycling of vessels and prevent contamination from harmful organisms in ballast.

Under amendments to the so-called MARPOL (marine pollution) accords unanimously adopted by IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) earlier this month, emissions of sulphur oxide (SOx), nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter from ships will be progressively reduced.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

TREATY PROTECTING UNDERWATER CULTURAL HERITAGE TO ENTER INTO FORCE, UN REPORTS

Aiming to safeguard over 3 million shipwrecks and submerged ruins across the globe, the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage will enter into force in January 2009, the United Nations cultural agency reported yesterday.

Adopted in 2001 by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) General Conference, the treaty represents an international response to the increased looting and destruction of underwater cultural heritage by treasure hunters.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

GENERAL ASSEMBLY BAN ON ALL HUMAN CLONING TO BE RECONSIDERED BY UN ETHICS PANEL

The permissibility of therapeutic cloning will be the focus of a United Nations ethics panel later this month when it considers whether a non-binding General Assembly declaration calling on Member States to ban all forms of human cloning should be reassessed in light of scientific, ethical, social, political and legal advances.

In 2005 the Assembly declared all cloning incompatible with human dignity and protection of life, voting 84 in favour, 34 against, 37 abstaining and 36 absent, after a decade of work on reproductive cloning by the International Bioethics Committee (IBC) of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

GLOBAL RESPONSE NEEDED TO TACKLE ‘DAUNTING’ DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES, MIGIRO SAYS

Concerted international action is crucial in addressing development challenges, whose scope has intensified in recent months due to climate change, soaring food and energy prices and the global financial turmoil, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said yesterday.

“The immediate future is uncertain,” Ms. Migiro told the General Assembly’s fifth committee, which deals with budgetary matters.

For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

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