UN Gazeti

Thursday 02 April 2009

Issue No. 12

UN Observances

UN IN KENYA

THOUSANDS OF SOMALIS STILL FLEEING TO KENYA, REPORTS UN AGENCY
Despite recent elections and the establishment of new government in their homeland, thousands of Somalis are continuing to flee to north-eastern Kenya, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported.
More than 20,000 Somalis have been registered in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camps since the start of 2009. Several of the new arrivals told UNHCR that they left due to rising insecurity, coupled with drought and food shortages.
For more information, visit: http://www.unep.org
BILLION TREE CAMPAIGN PASSES THREE BILLION MARK
The Billion Tree Campaign has passed the three billion planted tree mark following a confirmation from the Government of Turkey that it planted over 300 million trees in 2008.
According to the Turkish Ambassador to Kenya, H.E. Mr. S. Levent Sahinkaya, "A total of 305,362,000 trees were planted by the Turkish Government and the Turkish civil society in the year 2008. We believe that investing in our environment is investing in our future, and we consider the planting of over 300 million trees as a marvelous gift to our children and to the generations to come. The Turkish government will continue investing in the environment and is committed to the creation of an environment-friendly economy."
For more information, visit: http://www.unep.org
BAHRAIN DONATES USD 1 MILLION TO UN-HABITAT
The Kingdom of Bahrain made a donation of one million US dollars to UN-HABITAT towards various activities including establishing innovative mechanisms for pro-poor housing finance.
At the regular meeting of UN-HABITAT’s Committee of Permanent representatives, the head of the Bahraini delegation Sheikh Hussam Bin Isa Al Khalifa said that the decision to extend a further tranche of one million US dollars after a similar one last year was informed by keen interest in the work of UN-HABITAT.
For more information, visit: http://www.unhabitat.org

GOVERNING COUNCIL DELEGATES UPGRADE ‘SLUM’ IN FIVE DAYS
Housing finance is a core component of the work of UN-HABITAT and delegates to the ongoing 22nd Session of the Governing Council have practically proved this.
In the middle of the Council's serious deliberations, they have managed to squeeze in the time to take part in a five-day slum upgrading simulation to highlight the theme of housing finance for the urban poor.
For more information, visit: http://www.unhabitat.org

FREE ACCESS TO ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Almost fifty Governing Council delegates attended a briefing on how to get free access to environmental research through the On-line Access to Research on the Environment initiative.
Under the OARE initiative, which is supported by a partnership of several organizations including Microsoft, Research4Life, the Environment Consortium, the Food and Agriculture Organization, World Health Organization, the United Nations Environment Programme, access is given to the latest research at low or no cost to developing countries by 130 publishers. The research is made available through an on-line library of more than 7,500 peer-reviewed scientific journals, books and databases. 
For more information, visit: http://www.unhabitat.org

RUSSIAN FEDERATION TO STRENGTHEN COOPERATION WITH UN-HABITAT
The Russian Federation is planning to enhance cooperation with UN-HABITAT by establishing an office in Moscow which will also serve the greater Commonwealth of Independent States region. A Habitat Programme Manager has already been appointed to work on the parameters of the engagement.
At a press conference on the sidelines of the 22nd Session of the Governing Council of UN-HABITAT, Sergey Kruglik, Russian Deputy Minister for Regional Development said “The office would act as an important centre to extend the activities of UN-HABITAT not only in our country but in the region as a whole and we will be very happy to see its establishment,”
For more information, visit: http://www.unhabitat.org

UN-HABITAT GOVERNING COUNCIL PROMOTES AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE
Delegates from over 101 countries on Monday gathered in Nairobi, Kenya for the opening of the week-long 22nd Governing Council of UN-HABITAT at which governments set the agency’s budget and work programme.
This year’s theme “Promoting affordable housing finance systems in an urbanizing world in the face of the global financial crisis and climate change” reflects the prevailing global mood.
For more information, visit: http://www.unhabitat.org

SWEDISH SUPPORT FOR URBAN POLICING
Police departments in urban centres are being encouraged to have closer collaboration with local authorities and communities, thanks to a new initiative by UN-HABITAT and the Swedish National Police Board.
“This initiative, which is a first of this kind, will address sensitive issues of relationships between police and communities, the role of law enforcement in urban governance, management and planning, and the promotion of democratic policing in cities, and in particular in the context of slum upgrading,” UN-HABITAT Executive Director Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka said in a statement.
For more information, visit: http://www.unhabitat.org

UN-HABITAT’S GOVERNING BODY TO MEET
Against a backdrop of growing concerns at the impact of climate change and the global financial crisis that has jolted the housing sector, UN-HABITAT made final preparations for a weeklong meeting of governments that will set the agency’s work programme and budget for the next two years.

The week-long 22nd session of the Governing Council will see government ministers, senior officials and local authority representatives join civil society and corporate captains to deliberate on funding for shelter, better service delivery and other poverty reduction measures in a rapidly urbanizing world.
For more information, visit: http://www.unhabitat.org

UN IN AFRICA
UN REFUGEE AGENCY DEPLORES DEATHS OF HUNDREDS BOUND FOR EUROPE OFF LIBYAN COAST
The United Nations refugee agency expressed its shock at reports that hundreds of people are missing off the Libyan coast as they sought new lives in Europe, as the smuggling season gets under way in the Mediterranean.
Although details are sketchy, it has been reported that a number of vessels transporting several hundred people set sail for Italy in recent days, with one or more boats having gone down, Ron Redmond, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

ESCALATING VIOLENCE UPROOTS TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CENTRAL AFRICANS, UN SAYS
Intensified clashes in the Central African Republic have driven tens of thousands of civilians from their homes, the United Nations reported, noting that the unrest could prolong the humanitarian crisis that has wracked the country for more than a decade.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the violence could also jeopardize progress towards power-sharing between the Government and rebel groups.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

BOOSTING DEPLOYMENT OF UN-AFRICAN UNION FORCE FOCUS OF DARFUR MEETING
Representatives of the Government of Sudan, the African Union and the United Nations met in Darfur to discuss ways to facilitate and expedite deployment of the joint peacekeeping force tasked with quelling the violence in the strife-torn region.
Participants at the fifth meeting of the Tripartite Committee on the AU-UN peacekeeping operation in Darfur (UNAMID) noted that the deployment of military forces, including troops, officers and military observers, has reached 67 per cent as of the end of March.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

NAMIBIA: UN AGENCIES APPEAL FOR $3 MILLION FOR VICTIMS OF TORRENTIAL FLOODS
More than $2,700 000 dollars is urgently needed to support the Government of Namibia in responding to the plight of up to 350,000 people hit by widespread floods, a United Nations spokesperson said.
Around 17 per cent of the southwest African country’s population has been left bereft of shelter, water and sanitation, health, food, protection and education in some degree, according to the UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which has launched a Flash Appeal for the funding together with agencies of the Organization and their partners.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

EGYPTIAN TROOPS ARRIVE IN DARFUR TO BOOST AFRICAN UNION-UN FORCE
The hybrid United Nations-African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in Darfur, known as UNAMID, received a boost from the arrival of 100 personnel from the second Egyptian Infantry Battalion.
Another 100 troops from the battalion are slated to arrive tomorrow in the strife-torn western flank of Sudan as a meeting of the Tripartite Committee – comprising the Government of Sudan, the AU and the UN – is scheduled to take place for the first time in Darfur.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

DR CONGO: UN MISSION SUPPORTS CALENDAR FOR ELECTORAL REVIEW PROCESS
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has welcomed the announcement by the Independent Electoral Commission of a timetable for the electoral review process for local polls.
The operation will kick off in the Kinshasa and Bas-Congo provinces in June and will expand in August to the rest of the vast African nation.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UN OPENS TWO NEW INDIAN OCEAN SEARCH AND RESCUE CENTRES
The United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO) has opened two new search and rescue sub-centres in Tanzania and the Seychelles to conduct life-saving missions off the east coast of Africa.
The inauguration of the two sub-centres, located on the Indian Ocean in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Victoria, the Seychelles, marked a key step in a plan to provide effective and comprehensive emergency coverage off the coast of Africa.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

NIGERIA, NIGER HARDEST HIT BY 2009 MENINGITIS EPIDEMIC – UN HEALTH AGENCY
A vast majority of the nearly 25,000 suspected meningitis cases and more than 15,000 deaths worldwide in the first three months of 2009 have occurred in the so-called “African meningitis belt,” hitting Nigeria and Niger the hardest, the United Nations health agency has reported.
The bulk of the cases in the meningitis belt, stretching from Senegal to Somalia, has been in northern Nigeria, reporting 17,462 suspected cases and 960 deaths, and Niger, with 4,513 suspected cases and 169 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

TOP UN ENVOY SHOCKED BY ‘COWARDLY’ ATTACK AGAINST SOMALI MINISTER
The United Nations envoy to Somalia strongly condemned the deadly roadside bomb blast which wounded the country’s Interior Minister and killed one of his assistants in the capital, Mogadishu.
The minister, Sheikh Abdulkadir Ali Omar, was walking through bustling Bakara Market on Thursday when the landmine exploded.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UN BACKS DIALOGUE AS ONLY MEANS TO STABILIZE MADAGASCAR
The United Nations reiterated its belief that inclusive talks are the only means to bring about a smooth transition in Madagascar, which saw the resignation of President Marc Ravalomanana earlier this month.
Tensions have risen in the country in recent months, claiming some 100 lives and injuring many others since January, amid a dispute between Mr. Ravalomanana and the mayor of Antananarivo, Andry Rajoelina, who now leads the country.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

TENS OF THOUSANDS MORE FLEE ARMED GROUPS IN EASTERN DR CONGO, UN AGENCY REPORTS
The United Nations refugee agency voiced serious concern over the plight of thousands of civilians who have fled their homes to escape daily attacks by the many armed groups operating in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that civilians in North Kivu province continued to be terrorized by groups such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which has been the target of recent joint operations conducted by Rwanda and DRC.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

FLOODS DISPLACE THOUSANDS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA, UN SAYS
Floods across southern Africa, caused by extreme rainfall, have caused massive damage to land and property and displaced thousands of people, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
In Angola alone, the lives of 160,000 people have been upset by the rains and OCHA fears that number is likely to increase, with schools and other public buildings being used as shelter, interrupting education and other public services.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
INDIGENOUS GROUPS IN BOTSWANA STILL LACKING SERVICES, OPPORTUNITIES – UN EXPERT
Botswana’s indigenous peoples still struggle to gain access to health services, education and employment opportunities, despite efforts to improve their situation, according to a United Nations human rights expert who conducted a nine-day visit to the Southern African country.
S. James Anaya, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, welcomed government initiatives to eradicate discrimination and build a society of inclusion in Botswana.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
IDENTIFYING AND FILLING CRITICAL GAPS PRIORITY IN DARFUR AID EFFORT – UN RELIEF CHIEF
The international community must continue to work together to identify and fill the most immediately life-threatening gaps in Darfur in the wake of the ouster of 13 aid groups by the Sudanese Government, the top United Nations relief official said.
“Whatever our sense of outrage at the Government’s decision to remove, in such a fashion, organizations whose reputation and expertise have been built over years of dedicated service in humanitarian crises around the world, we must do all we can to prevent extra suffering for those in need as a result of this decision,” John Holmes told the Security Council in a closed-door meeting.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

AU-UN PEACEKEEPERS AIRLIFT EXAM PAPERS TO SCHOOL STUDENTS IN DARFUR
The joint United Nations-African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission in Darfur, known as UNAMID, helped airlift examination materials to remote secondary schools in the war-torn western region of Sudan.
The blue helmets flew three helicopters across North Darfur to distribute exam papers to nine locations across the state, UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters in New York.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

SUDAN: UN ASSISTS EX-COMBATANTS IN NORTH-SOUTH CONFLICT TO RETURN TO CIVILIAN LIFE
More than 180,000 ex-fighters in Sudan’s decades-long north-south civil war will be assisted to return to civilian life as their ongoing demobilization enters a new phase, the United Nations mission in the country (UNMIS) announced.
The mission said in a press release that reintegration is the last and most crucial phase of the multi-million dollar scheme for the process known as disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) called for by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which in 2005 ended the 22-year conflict.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UN AROUND THE WORLD
UN VOICES CONCERN OVER RIFT PREVENTING PATIENTS LEAVING GAZA FOR TREATMENT
United Nations agencies operating in the Gaza Strip have expressed serious concern over the halting of patients leaving the area for specialised hospital treatment after Hamas took control of the health department tasked with making referrals abroad.
On 22 March, the Hamas de facto authorities in Gaza took over the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health Referral Abroad Department, which oversees the process by which local people receive approval to travel for medical care.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

BAN WELCOMES US DECISION TO SEEK SEAT ON UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the announcement by the United States that it will seek a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, saying it embodies the country’s commitment to a “new era of engagement.”
“The Human Rights Council has a critical role to play in the protection and promotion of all human rights for all people, and the US has an important contribution to make to this end,” Mr. Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

GENERAL ASSEMBLY CONFIRMS HELEN CLARK AS NEW UN DEVELOPMENT CHIEF
The General Assembly confirmed the appointment of former Prime Minister Helen Clark of New Zealand as the new head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
UNDP is the largest of the independently funded UN agencies and, under its special General Assembly mandate, leads the world body’s work on eradicating extreme poverty and promoting good governance in the developing world.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

BAN EXPRESSES DISTRESS AT DEADLY ATTACK IN EASTERN PAKISTAN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed his distress regarding a deadly attack on a police academy in eastern Pakistan, voicing hope that authorities will investigate the incident and determine who was behind it.
According to media reports, several people were killed and scores of others injured when militants attacked the facility in the city of Lahore, near Pakistan’s border with India.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

FIRST ‘KILLING FIELDS’ SUSPECT STANDS TRIAL IN JOINT UN-CAMBODIAN COURT
Hearings at a United Nation-backed genocide tribunal have begun in the first trial of a suspect accused of crimes committed during the killing spree ordered by the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia in the late 1970s.
Kaing Guek Eav, whose alias is “Duch,” was charged by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) in Phnom Penh with crimes including torture and premeditated murder while he was in charge of the notorious S-21 detention camp.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

TOP UN OFFICIAL CALLS FOR FULLY FUNDING FIGHT AGAINST AIDS, TB AND MALARIA
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria must be fully funded if countries are to achieve the goal of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support, the head of the United Nations agency tasked with coordinating the AIDS response has stressed.
Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), told donors and partners gathered in the Spanish city of Cáceres for the Mid-Term Review meeting of the Global Fund’s Second Voluntary Replenishment process that many countries rely on Fund to finance their national AIDS programmes.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

BAN TO PUSH FOR FURTHER INVESTMENT IN HAITI TO WIDEN ‘BREAK-OUT OPPORTUNITY’
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that he will be asking donors to go beyond traditional assistance and invest in Haiti, at a time he called a crucial turning point for the impoverished Caribbean nation.
“This is Haiti’s moment, a break-out opportunity for one of the poorest nations to lift itself toward a future of real economic prospects and genuine hope,” Mr. Ban wrote in an opinion piece published in The New York Times on-line edition.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UN JOINS GLOBAL TASK FORCE TO CREATE NEW ‘GREEN’ ECONOMY
United Nations officials will begin work with a task force, launched in London, charged with developing a set of practical projects and policy proposals to stimulate a new low-carbon global economy.
The initiative comes in response to an invitation made by United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the annual World Economic Forum Summit in Davos, Switzerland, in January to create an unprecedented low-carbon prosperity task force.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UN RIGHTS EXPERT URGES URUGUAY TO END ‘APPALLING’ PRISON CONDITIONS
Concluding his visit to Uruguay, a United Nations human rights expert said he could not find hard evidence of torture, but urged action against what he called other “large-scale human rights violations” in detention facilities.
“I received few allegations of torture in police stations that could be proven beyond reasonable doubt by forensic examinations and other means of evidence,” Manfred Nowak, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, said after his five-day visit to the South American country.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

MEN AND BOYS MUST PLAY THEIR PART IN ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN – BAN
Greater efforts are required worldwide to end violence against women and girls, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stated, stressing that men and boys in particular must play their part.
“In too many countries, women are still not seen as equals in the eye of the law or the minds of men and boys,” Mr. Ban said in a video message to the Global Symposium on Engaging Men and Boys in Gender Equality, held in Rio de Janeiro. “No country and no culture has fully escaped this prejudice.”
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

UN-BACKED FORUM FOR CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING WILL FOCUS ON SPECIFIC CLASHES
Announcing the second Forum of the United Nations campaign for understanding between cultures, known as the Alliance of Civilizations, its director said that its purpose is to help reconcile specific communities, not to resolve political conflicts or divisive issues.
The overall aim is “to help reduce tensions across cultural divides that threaten to inflame existing political conflicts or trigger new ones,” Marc Scheuer told correspondents, as he previewed the Forum, which is scheduled to take place on 6 and 7 April in Istanbul, Turkey.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news

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