UN Gazeti
Wednesday 04 November 2008
Issue No. 287
UN Observances
| 6 November 2008 |
International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict |
| 12 November 2008 |
World Population Day |
| 14 November 2008 |
World Diabetes Day |
UN IN AFRICA
DR CONGO: UN AGENCIES STEPPING UP RELIEF EFFORTS AMID REPORTS OF FRESH FIGHTING
United Nations agencies are stepping up their efforts to assist hundreds of thousands of people displaced by violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), amid reports that fighting has resumed in rebel-held territory in North Kivu while the ceasefire seems to be holding in the provincial capital of Goma.
According to the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC, known as MONUC, fighting continues intermittently between PARECO, an ethnic militia, and rebels led by renegade general Laurent Nkunda in the village of Kiwanja, some two kilometres outside Rutshuru, in rebel-held territory.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SOMALIA: UNICEF SPEAKS OUT AGAINST STONING DEATH OF 13-YEAR-OLD RAPE VICTIM
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has deplored last week’s stoning to death of a 13-year-old Somali girl who was a victim of rape.
Aisha Duhulow was stoned to death in a stadium full of spectators in the southern port city of Kismayo on 27 October after authorities found her guilty of adultery.
But reports indicate that she had been raped by three men while walking to visit her grandmother in the capital Mogadishu. After the attack, Aisha asked for protection from prosecutors, who in turn accused her of adultery and sentenced her to death.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CAN BOOST ANGOLA’S POST-CONFLICT RECOVERY – UN
A greater focus on science, technology and innovation can enable Angola to diversify its economic base and help the southern African nation not only recover from its nearly three-decade long civil conflict but also become an engine of growth for the continent, a new United Nations study has found.
Economic diversification and reconstruction are Angola’s top development priorities, according to the science, technology, and innovation policy (STIP) review conducted by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SENIOR UN OFFICIAL ASSESSES STATUS OF STABILIZATION FORCE DURING VISIT TO CHAD
The United Nations official overseeing support for the world body’s various peace operations is in Chad to assess the deployment of the force tasked with bringing stability to the eastern part of that strife-torn nation and to the northeast of the neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR).
Chad and CAR have been beset by widespread fighting and civilian displacement in recent years, owing to rebel activity and a spill-over from Sudan’s Darfur conflict.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN POLICE TAKE ARDUOUS ROUTE TO DELIVER EQUIPMENT TO MISSION IN DARFUR
The joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur has received its latest batch of vital equipment and supplies after a convoy made the journey from a logistics base in central Sudan, a UN spokesperson said yesterday.
A police unit of the UN-AU mission, known as UNAMID, yesterday shipped the much-needed supplies from a UN logistics base in El Obeid to the operation in Darfur over some of the country’s most inhospitable terrain, particularly during the rainy season.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
RWANDA ACCEDES TO UN CONVENTION ON COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION
The small African Great Lakes nation of Rwanda has become the latest country to accede to a 50-year-old United Nations convention on commercial arbitration, the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) announced on Monday.
Rwanda becomes the 143rd State Party to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, also known as the New York Convention, as a result of the accession. The treaty will enter into force for Rwanda on 29 January next year.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
WORSENING VIOLENCE DEEPENS HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN CHAD, UN RELIEF WING WARNS
Volatile security conditions and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the area around Dogdoré in eastern Chad threaten the lives of 26,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), United Nations humanitarian officials warned on Monday.
“Humanitarian operations remain suspended in Dogdoré, with the exception of urgent activities such as responses to medical emergencies and the provision of drinking water,” said Philippe Verstraeten of the Office of the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for Chad.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SG APPOINTS ENVOY AS UN AID CONVOY REACHES REBEL-HELD TOWN IN DR CONGO
A United Nations aid convoy has reached one of the major rebel-held towns in the far east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), providing urgent supplies to civilians trapped amid the fighting in the region, as United Nations officials led by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon continue efforts to broker a solution to the conflict.
Mr. Ban told reporters on Monday that he has appointed Olusegun Obasanjo, the former Nigerian president, to serve as his Special Envoy on the issue and to work with leaders in the region and the broader international community to end the crisis.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AROUND THE WORLD
MORE PATIENCE NEEDED IN ASSESSING UN HUMAN RIGHTS BODY, ITS PRESIDENT SAYS
Nearly three years since its creation, more patience is needed in judging the work of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which is still in an “evolutionary” stage, the body’s President told the General Assembly yesterday.
The Council was set up in 2006 to replace the Commission on Human Rights, which had been dogged by accusations of bias and politicization, as part of ongoing UN reform.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
HUMAN SMUGGLING ACROSS GULF OF ADEN AND MEDITERRANEAN SEA KEEPS RISING – UN
The number of people illegally crossing the Gulf of Aden and the Mediterranean Sea is on the rise, the United Nations refugee agency reported yesterday, as it confirmed that 12 people fleeing Somalia in the past week have been found dead on a beach in Yemen and 28 others remain missing.
Smugglers forced up to 40 people overboard into the deep waters of the Gulf of Aden as they were on the last leg of the 36-hour journey from strife-torn Somalia to Yemen on Sunday, the 75 survivors told the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) at its Ahwar reception centre.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
AMENDMENT TO ELECTORAL LAW BODES WELL FOR IRAQ’S MINORITIES, SAYS UN
The United Nations has welcomed the decision by the Iraqi legislature to allocate a specific number of seats for representatives of the country’s minority communities ahead provincial elections, slated to be held sometime before the end of January 2009.
“The adoption of the amendment to the electoral law should be seen as a contribution towards furthering the respect for human rights and democracy in Iraq, through the commitment of the Iraqi institutions to recognize and guarantee minority representation in their elected governing bodies,” the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said in a news release.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
NEW UN FORUM TO PROMOTE BETTER ENERGY POLICIES IN ASIA-PACIFIC REGION
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) yesterday launched a new forum to try to develop energy policies across the region that are more gender and poverty-sensitive across the region.
The Policy Innovation Forum was launched in Bangkok at the end of a two-day policymakers’ meeting on the issue, according to a news release issued by ESCAP.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
NEW UN REPORT ON MARITIME TRANSPORT REVEALS EFFECTS OF FINANCIAL CRISIS
A United Nations report released yesterday shows that international seaborne trade surged to record levels last year but has since declined because of the financial crisis, jeopardizing the health of many developing countries, especially those that depend on commodities.
The UN Review of the Maritime Transport (RMT) finds that seaborne trade surpassed 8 billion tons last year and reached a peak at the start of this year.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN HUMAN RIGHTS EXPERT OUTLINES PRIORITIES FOR ADDRESSING THE SCOURGE OF RACISM
The relationship between racism and migration, ethnic conflicts and poverty will all be under the spotlight of the new United Nations independent expert on racism during his time in office, he told journalists yesterday.
“Migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers are among the most vulnerable groups to racial discrimination,” said the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Githu Muigai.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
PACIFIC RIM COUNTRIES STAGE UN-INITIATED TSUNAMI WARNING DRILL
The staged tsunami drill, “Exercise Pacific Wave 08,” will involve two days of testing the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (PTWS) – a UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) established network to promote the exchange of seismic and sea level data for rapid tsunami detection.
With the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami disaster providing a stark reminder of the need for preparedness, yesterday’s tsunami test will be the second of such exercises, the first conducted in May 2006.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
NORWEGIAN PRINCE PROMOTES UN ANTI-POVERTY TARGETS DURING VISIT TO MONGOLIA
Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is conducting a three-day visit to Mongolia as part of his efforts to promote the global anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The Crown Prince began his visit to the Asian country yesterday, touring a community development centre in the Khoroo district of the capital, Ulaanbaatar, where many families have moved in search of new opportunities, according to a press release issued by UNDP.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN GATHERING TAKES ON CAUSES AND IMPACT OF LAND DEGRADATION
With some 12 million hectares of land lost every year to degradation and other environmental causes, a United Nations gathering kicks off yesterday in Istanbul, Turkey, to tackle a problem which risks being forgotten due to the current global financial crisis.
Nearly half the African continent – where 60 per cent of the population depends on agriculture – is affected by land degradation, with sub-Saharan Africa facing threats to its food production capacity.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN’S INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE LIST COMES INTO BEING WITH 90 ENTRIES
A United Nations-endorsed list of the planet’s intangible cultural heritage, ranging from folk music and shadow puppetry to ox-herding traditions and sand drawings, came into being yesterday as part of efforts to safeguard such elements around the world.
The Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity was established yesterday in Istanbul, Turkey, with the inclusion of 90 elements that had previously been proclaimed as masterpieces, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported in a news release.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN ATOMIC WATCHDOG TO SEND TEAM TO ASSESS JAPANESE NUCLEAR PLANT HIT BY QUAKE
A team of global experts led by the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will visit Japan next month as part of the latest round of assessments on the impact of a strong earthquake last year on the world’s largest nuclear power plant located in the centre of the Asian nation.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Niigata Prefecture has been shut down since last July’s tremors.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN ENVOY SPEAKS OUT AGAINST RESUMED ISRAELI DEMOLITIONS IN WEST BANK
The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) has voiced alarm at Israel’s recent resumption of house demolitions – after a freeze which began this April – in the West Bank.
Robert Serry said in a statement issued over the weekend in Jerusalem that the UN Humanitarian Coordinator and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) are discussing the world body’s concerns – given the impact of the demolitions on the area’s most vulnerable, with many poor families left destitute – with Israeli authorities.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
MASSIVE GROWTH IN CITY POPULATIONS COULD DEEPEN POVERTY, WARNS BAN
The current unprecedented growth in urbanization means that by 2030 two-thirds of the world will be living in cities and some 2 billion people could be living in slums and temporary shelters, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on Monday.
He said ballooning population rates in cities around the world will have a significant impact on today’s global crises and on achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight pledges world leaders made to halve extreme poverty and other ills, including climate change, by the target date of 2015.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
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