UN Gazeti
Thursday 25 March 2009
Issue No. 07
UN Observances
| 08 March 2009 |
United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace (International Women’s Day) |
| 21 March 2009 |
International Day for the elimination of Racial Discrimination |
| 22 March 2009 |
World Water Day |
| 23 March 2009 |
World Meteorological Day |
UN IN KENYA
KILIMANJARO CLIMB TO RAISE CLIMATE CHANGE AWARENESS
Youths from impoverished urban areas in Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana will join a climb to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro to raise awareness on climate change.
The climb, which kicks off on 28 February, is the fourth annual ascent to "rooftop of Africa" organized by the Kilimanjaro Initiative, a Nairobi-based Non-Governmental Organization, in partnership with the United Nations. This year, ten underprivileged youths will join 25 other people from the private and public sectors in a group led by Timothy Challen, the founder of the Kilimanjaro Initiative.
For more information, visit: http://www.unep.org/
PAN-AFRICAN LANGUAGE CONFERENCE OPENS AT UNITED NATIONS OFFICES IN NAIROBI
Delegates from around the world joined senior officials of the United Nations, the African Development Bank, the European Union and representatives of the Brussels-based African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States on Monday for the first pan-African conference on the training of translators and interpreters.
In opening remarks, the Director General of the United Nations Office in Nairobi, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, lamented the lack of suitably qualified language staff in Africa and the difficulties encountered by aspiring African translators and interpreters trying to get specialized training outside the continent.
For more information, visit: http://www.unicnairobi.org
UN IN AFRICA
DARFUR: BAN WELCOMES COMMITMENT ON PRISONER RELEASE BY GOVERNMENT, REBELS
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed a commitment to release prisoners agreed upon by the Government of Sudan and a major rebel movement of the country’s violence-torn Darfur region.
The commitment is part of the “Agreement of goodwill and confidence-building for the settlement of the problem in Darfur” signed in Doha, Qatar on 17 February between the Sudanese Government and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
TOP UN ENVOY URGES HALT TO SOUTH SUDAN FIGHTING
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative in Sudan has called on all parties to immediately cease the fighting which erupted today in the southern town of Malakal, stressing the need to ensure the safety and security of civilians in the area.
Ashraf Jehangir Qazi also called on all concerned to “act responsibly to resolve their differences,” according to a press statement issued by the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), which was set up to support the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended two decades of north-south civil war in Sudan.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
RWANDAN REBEL ATTACKS LEAD TO MORE DISPLACEMENT IN EASTERN DR CONGO, UN SAYS
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today it continues to be extremely worried about rising violence against civilians in the eastern Congolese province of North Kivu, where attacks by Rwandan Hutu rebels have sparked new displacement.
UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond told a news conference in Geneva that thousands have been uprooted since 13 February, when the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) began carrying out attacks in Masisi, Lubero and Walikale areas in North Kivu, in the strife-torn eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN HUMANITARIAN OFFICIAL CHECKS ON CHOLERA, FOOD PROJECTS IN ZIMBABWE
As the cholera toll in Zimbabwe climbs to 83,000 cases, with more than 3,800 deaths, a senior United Nations humanitarian official arrived over the weekend in the country’s capital Harare, to assess responses to the epidemic as well as to a food emergency.
Catherine Bragg, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator and Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, visited a cholera treatment centre outside the city today, accompanied by representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP).
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SECRETARY-GENERAL MAKES FIRST OFFICIAL VISIT TO SOUTH AFRICA
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has touched down in South Africa on his first official visit to the country, beginning a trip that will also take him to Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Egypt.
On arrival this evening, Mr. Ban met with South Africa’s Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dhlamini-Zuma and tomorrow will hold talks with President Kgalema Motlanthe and with United Nations staff.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
CÔTE D’IVOIRE: TOP UN ENVOY TO TOUR 1000 MICRO-PROJECTS FOR PEACE
Starting at a chicken coop and a pig farm outside the city of Bouaké, the top United Nations envoy to Côte d’Ivoire today started a five-city pilgrimage through the divided West African country to visit projects that aim to help ex-combatants and other at-risk youths re-enter civil society.
“The realization of these projects has been positive and I have great hopes they will make a difference,” Y. J. Choi, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative for Côte d’Ivoire, said of the “1000 micro-projects for peace” programme backed by the UN Mission in the country, known as UNOCI, which Mr. Choi heads.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
EGYPTIAN DOCTOR, NICARAGUAN NGO RECEIVE TOP HONOURS FROM UN POPULATION FUND
An Egyptian doctor and a Nicaraguan non-governmental organization (NGO) have been awarded this year’s United Nations Population Award, which recognizes outstanding work in population and health.
Mahmoud Fathalla and Movimiento Comunal Nicaragüense (MCN) were chosen from 18 nominees by an Award Committee headed by Hamdon Ali, Malaysia’s Ambassador to the UN, and comprising 10 UN Member States.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AROUND THE WORLD
PAKISTAN: MOTHER OF ABDUCTED UN OFFICIAL APPEALS FOR HIS RELEASE
The mother of John Solecki, a United Nations staff member abducted in western Pakistan over two weeks ago, today appealed to the people of Balochistan province, in the south of the nation, to help secure his freedom.
Mr. Solecki, the Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Quetta, was kidnapped on 2 February during an attack in which his driver, Syed Hashim, who had been with the agency for 18 years, was killed.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
BAN WELCOMES AMNESTY IN MYANMAR AS ‘FIRST STEP’ TOWARD DEMOCRATIZATION
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed an amnesty announced by the Government of Myanmar, which reportedly includes some 23 political prisoners, as a “first step” toward release of all such detainees and further progress on democratization.
“This is the time for Myanmar to seize the opportunity before it to send positive signals,” he said following a meeting with his Group of Friends on Myanmar, which includes neighbouring countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other concerned States.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
FOOD, CLIMATE AND FINANCIAL CRISES THREATEN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS – UN OFFICIAL
A range of challenges from food and financial crises to climate change are threatening global efforts to achieve development that is sustainable, or that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, a top United Nations official said today.
“These multi-dimensional challenges do not have purely economic solutions, nor purely social or environmental ones. They require integrated solutions that combine economic, social and environmental elements,” Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang told a UN meeting on sustainable development that began today in New York.
For more information, visit: http://www.unep.org/
PEACEKEEPING, UNDER SEVERE STRAIN, TO UNDERGO THOROUGH REVIEW – UN OFFICIAL
United Nations peacekeeping operations, faced with unprecedented demands and extreme constraints, will undergo a thorough review in the coming year, the chief of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) said today.
“2009 will be a crucial year for peacekeeping,” Under-Secretary-General Alain Le Roy told the General Assembly’s Special Committee on Peacekeeping, in his first appearance before that body since he replaced Jean-Marie Guéhenno, who had held the top post from 2000 until last August.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN RIGHTS CHIEF URGES MEMBER STATES TO OVERCOME DIFFERENCES IN FIGHT AGAINST RACISM
The top United Nations official for human rights today stressed the need for Member States put aside their differences and work together to defeat racism ahead of the so-called Durban Review Conference later this year, which will examine the progress made worldwide since the 2001 global anti-racism summit held in the South African city.
Navi Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights, sent a report to Member States planning the review conference that will be held in April in Geneva to assess and accelerate progress towards the implementation of measures adopted at the landmark 2001 World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
BAN STRESSES ROLE OF PHILANTHROPY IN PREVENTING DEATHS FROM CHILD BIRTH, TROPICAL DISEASES
The role of philanthropists and philanthropic organizations is crucial in tackling some avoidable health threats which kill millions of vulnerable people every year, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.
“Health is a foundation for prosperity, stability and poverty reduction,” Mr. Ban said at the opening of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) meeting aiming at advancing progress in strengthening maternal and girls’ health, as well as fighting neglected tropical diseases.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
NEWLY-ELECTED OFFICIALS MUST WORK CONSTRUCTIVELY FOR IRAQIS, BAN SAYS
Calling recent polls in Iraq “an important turning point” for the strife-torn country, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urges the newly-elected provincial officials to work together to improve the lives of Iraqis, in a report released today.
“I was delighted that millions of Iraqi people exercised their right to vote in an environment largely free of violence,” Mr. Ban says in a report to the Security Council that outlines developments since 6 November 2008 and activities of the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), and which follows his 6 February visit to the country.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
GLOBAL ECONOMIC DOWNTURN IMPERILS HUMAN RIGHTS – UN
The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution today highlighting the threat posed by the global financial and economic crises on the realization of human rights and development goals.
Adopted by a vote of 31 for and 14 abstentions, the resolution stressed the need to set up an equitable, transparent and democratic international system to broaden developing nations’ participation in decisions regarding the economy.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT OFFERS HOPE FOR WORLD’S POOREST ‘BOTTOM BILLION,’ SAYS UN
Sustainable industrial development offers a ray of hope for lifting the world’s “bottom billion” – those that live on less than $1 a day – out of poverty, according to a new report released today by the United Nations.
The Industrial Development Report 2009, launched in London by the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the lead author, Professor Paul Collier, University of Oxford, is about the opportunities and constraints faced by two groups of countries.
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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