UN Gazeti
Thursday 09 April 2009
Issue No. 13
UN Observances
| 07 April 2009 |
World Health Day |
| 23 April 2009 |
World Book and Copyright Day |
| 03 May 2009 |
World Press Freedom Day |
UN IN KENYA
KENYA MUST STOP ORGANIZED HARASSMENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS – UN EXPERT
Kenyan law enforcement agencies have systematically harassed and intimidated human rights defenders, a United Nations independent expert said, expressing outrage at threats made against those who have cooperated with the world body.
“Dozens of prominent and respected human rights defenders have been targeted in a blatant campaign designed to silence individual monitors and instil fear in civil society organizations at large,” with many rights defenders having been forced into hiding or exile, said Philip Alston, the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AGENCY RECEIVES MAJOR CASH INJECTION TO ENSURE ADEQUATE SHELTER FOR ALL
As most businesses and organizations tighten their financial belts in these times of economic turmoil, the head of the United Nations agency tasked with ensuring adequate shelter for all praised its oversight board for approving a record-breaking budget hike.
“We requested a total of $356 million including a general purpose budget of $66 million representing an increase of 32 per cent,” Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), said at the close of the agency’s yearly Governing Council meeting in Nairobi, Kenya.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN CONCERNED OVER KENYA’S FORCIBLE RETURN OF SOMALI ASYLUM-SEEKERS
The United Nations refugee agency expressed its concern over the increasing trend by Kenyan authorities to forcibly return Somali asylum-seekers back to their war-torn nation.
On 31 March, 31 asylum-seekers – nine men, eight women and 14 children – traveling by bus to refugees camps in Dabaab, in north-eastern Kenya, were sent back to Somalia.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
ZIMBABWE TO PRIORITISE HOUSING IN RECONSTRUCTION
The government of Zimbabwe will prioritise housing provision in its reconstruction efforts, a cabinet minister disclosed.
Addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the 22nd Session of the Governing Council of UN-HABITAT, National Housing and Social Amenities Minister Fidelis Mhashu said that his country which is just coming out of a deep political crisis accompanied with a historical inflation rate was doing its best to recover.
For more information, visit: http://www.unhabitat.org
UN-HABITAT AVAILS FUNDS FOR PRO-POOR HOUSING
In an attempt to confront the current economic crisis by encouraging pro-poor investment in housing, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, signed six agreements with project partners from Argentina, Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal, Tanzania and Uganda with the aim of providing funds for affordable housing and infrastructure.
Known as Experimental Reimbursable Seeding Operations (ERSO), the initiative operates on the basic premise of providing loans, rather than giving grants or donations, as has been the norm in the past for the UN. The loans are provided to local financial institutions, rather than to end users, and these institutions in turn leverage the ERSO loan to provide loans to the urban poor, for house building, improvements and infrastructure upgrading.
For more information, visit: http://www.unhabitat.org
CURTAIN FALLS ON SUCCESSFUL GOVERNING COUNCIL
The curtain came down on the 22nd Session of the Governing Council of UN-HABITAT which was described as the most successful ever in the agency’s history.
Some of the highlights of the weeklong meeting included dialogue sessions on affordable housing and climate change; the signing of partnership agreements with six financial institutions that would serve as pilot house financing schemes. Breakthrough resolutions were also passed most significantly being the one calling for governments to support UN-HABITAT’s work on human settlements development in the occupied Palestinian territories.
For more information, visit: http://www.unhabitat.org
GLOBAL PARLIAMENTARIANS VOW GREATER COMMITMENT ON HOUSING
The Global Parliamentarians on Habitat (GPH) met on the sidelines of the 22nd Session of UN-HABITAT Governing Council and discussed how to play greater role in housing issues.
The legislators also explored how to strengthen the Global parliamentarians’ forum as well as its regional forums to make them more active in promoting the housing and human settlements agenda as well as achieving the Millennium Development Goals in the current financial crisis and climate change.
For more information, visit: http://www.unhabitat.org
UN IN AFRICA
RWANDAN DEAD MUST BE HONOURED BY ENDING GENOCIDE – BAN
Marking the 15th anniversary of the 1994 mass killings in Rwanda, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asserted that preventing genocide was the most important collective response to the tragedy.
“Only by meeting this challenge can we match the resolve of the survivors and truly honour the memory of those who died in Rwanda 15 years ago,” he said in a message.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AND PARTNERS SEEK $36 MILLION TO AID MADAGASCAR AMID MULTIPLE CRISES
Six United Nations agencies and three non-governmental partners in Madagascar appealed for $35.7 million to help prevent a deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the country, which has been hit this year by drought, cyclones and political unrest.
Some 2.5 million people living mainly in Madagascar’s main cities and an additional 880,000 living in the drought-affected south now need humanitarian assistance, as a result of the multiple crises of recent months, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
DR CONGO: MORE THAN 30,000 FLEE NEW ATTACKS BY SPLINTERED REBEL FACTIONS
Even as some armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are being contained through peace pacts and military action, new fighting between other militias has driven more than 30,000 people from their homes, the United Nations refugee agency said.
“The latest flare-up threatens to reverse the considerable progress made in the repatriation and resettlement of thousands of Congolese affected by previous conflicts in the area,” William Spindler, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said in Geneva.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
ARMED MEN CARJACK PEACEKEEPER’S VEHICLE IN NORTH DARFUR, UN REPORTS
Two unidentified gunmen carjacked a vehicle from United Nations-African Union (AU) peacekeeping operation in Darfur (UNAMID), the mission in the violence-torn region of Sudan reported.
The driver of the vehicle, an international UN staff member, was unhurt by the two armed men who stole the car in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SECURITY COUNCIL DEMANDS END TO VIOLENCE IN CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
The United Nations Security Council demanded an end to violence by armed groups terrorizing the northern Central African Republic (CAR) and called for all parties in the country to abide by the results of a recent national dialogue.
The 15-member body also endorsed a plan by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to establish a new, integrated UN unit in the landlocked nation to replace the UN peace building office there known as BONUCA, according to a statement read out by Ambassador Claude Heller of Mexico, which holds the rotating Council presidency for the month.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AGENCY FEARS 30 SOMALI BOAT PEOPLE DEAD IN TRAGEDY OFF THE COAST OF YEMEN
Some 30 Somalis escaping across the Gulf of Aden are feared dead after one boat capsized and another hit rough seas this weekend in two separate smuggling incidents, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported.
The first boat, carrying 40 migrants, keeled over Saturday evening as the passengers attempted to disembark off the Yemeni coast. Although 20 made it to shore, the bodies of the remaining 20 have not been recovered, according to UNHCR.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN DARFUR FOCUS OF UN-AFRICAN UNION MEETING
Officials from the hybrid United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) were in Addis Ababa, where they briefed the AU Peace and Security Council on the latest security and humanitarian situation in the war-torn western region of the Sudan.
The AU-UN Joint Special Representative Rodolphe Adada briefed the Council on the impact of the arrest warrant issued at the beginning of last month by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN ASSESSES IMPACT OF AID GROUPS' OUSTER ON SOUTHERN SUDAN
A United Nations humanitarian team has been sent to Southern Sudan to assess the impact of Khartoum's recent decision to expel 13 international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and suspend three national NGOs.
The decision to bar the NGOs from operating in Sudan came immediately after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant on 4 March for President Omar Al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SUDAN'S 2010 ELECTIONS CRUCIAL BENCHMARK IN PEACE PROCESS – BAN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the announcement that national elections will be held in Sudan in February 2010, noting the polls will be an important step in consolidating the hard-won peace achieved by the country following its long-running north-south civil war.
“The holding of nationwide elections is an important benchmark in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA),” Mr. Ban's spokesperson said in a statement, referring to the 2005 accord signed by the Government of National Unity and the Government of Southern Sudan.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
SITUATION IN DR CONGO ‘FLUID AND VOLATILE’ DESPITE RECENT GAINS, WARNS BAN
Despite recent positive gains in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), including action against armed groups and the integration of rebels into the national military, the situation remains “fluid and volatile” and requires continued international attention, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in a new report.
The eastern provinces of DRC, particularly North Kivu, have witnessed months of fierce fighting involving Government forces (FARDC) and various militia groups, displacing some 250,000 civilians, on top of 800,000 uprooted in earlier violence.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
RECENT GUINEA-BISSAU KILLINGS UNDERSCORE URGENT NEED FOR REFORM, SAYS BAN
Last month’s assassinations of Guinea-Bissau’s president and his chief of staff have highlighted the need for the West African nation’s justice, defence and security sectors to be reformed, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in a new report.
President João Bernardo Vieira and his Chief of General Staff, General Batista Tagme Na Waie, were killed in early March.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN AROUND THE WORLD
MOLDOVA: BAN VOICES CONCERN OVER VIOLENT POST-ELECTION PROTESTS
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his concern over violent protests that broke out in Moldova, following the European nation’s Parliamentary polls on 5 April.
According to media reports, some 10,000 protestors have massed in the capital, Chisinau.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
GENERAL ASSEMBLY AGREES ON TERMS OF UN SUMMIT ON FINANCIAL CRISIS
The United Nations will convene a global summit in June to assess the impact of the world economic crisis on development, it was announced, after the General Assembly agreed on the arrangements for the conference.
“In the midst of the most serious economic downturn since the Great Depression, we now have the opportunity and the responsibility to search for solutions that take into account the interests of all nations, the rich and the poor, the large and the small,” Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto stated after the 192-member body adopted a resolution on the 1 to 3 June summit.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UNDER UN SCHEME, FACEBOOK USERS CAN LEND REFUGEES A HAND
Thanks to a partnership with the United Nations refugee agency, the over two million users of the popular social networking website Facebook can now lend a hand to uprooted people around the world in need of shelter.
Under a new virtual charity scheme, Facebook users can purchase “gifts” for 16 non-profit organizations, including the “Gimme Shelter” campaign of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN JOINS FORCES WITH WORLD’S PARLIAMENTS TO COMBAT HUMAN TRAFFICKING
The United Nations launched a manual for parliamentarians across the world aimed at helping lawmakers end the global scourge of modern-day slavery and human trafficking.
“Around the world, millions of people, usually women and children, are trapped in a modern form of slavery called human trafficking,” Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said at the launch of the handbook.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
PARTNERSHIP KEY TO PARLIAMENTARIANS' SUCCESS IN TACKLING GLOBAL CHALLENGES – BAN
Cooperation is crucial in addressing the current global issues, including the economic crisis and climate change, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed to an international gathering of parliamentarians in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
“No country is immune from the fallout of the current crises,” Mr. Ban said in a message to the 120th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). “Now is the time for global solidarity.”
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
$65 BILLION NEEDED FOR POPULATION SCHEMES TO CHECK POVERTY IN 2010 – UN
Nearly $65 billion worth of investment is required next year for population programmes to combat poverty, promote development and slash maternal death rates, according to the United Nations Commission on Population and Development.
One-third of this sum, or $22 million, will come from international donors, while the rest will be in the form of domestic investments by developing nations.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
GUATEMALAN, UN INVESTIGATORS SEEK ARREST OF SUSPECTS IN BUS KILLINGS
Guatemalan authorities with the support of a United Nations-backed anti-crime commission have issued arrest warrants in the allegedly drug-related murders of 15 Nicaraguans and one Dutch citizen travelling on a bus that was forced off a Guatemalan highway last November.
Attorney General Amilcar Velásquez and Carlos Castresana, head of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, revealed the warrants at a joint press conference in Guatemala City.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
UN URGES STATES TO STRENGTHEN LIFE-SAVING FACILITIES TO BETTER WITHSTAND DISASTERS
The United Nations marked World Health Day with an urgent call for greater investment in hospitals and other health care facilities that play a critical role in saving lives of survivors in the immediate aftermath of humanitarian crises.
In his message commemorating the Day, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that “when disaster strikes, well-prepared, functioning medical services are a priority.
For more information, visit: http://www.un.org/news
BAN LAUDS EFFORTS OF UN FORUM FOR INTER-CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING IN TROUBLING TIMES
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed that as the deepening global economic recession tears the fabric of societies by throwing a growing number of people out of work, the need for cross-cultural tolerance, dialogue, respect and understanding has never been greater.
In a message to the second forum of the United Nations campaign for understanding between faiths and cultures, known as the Alliance of Civilizations, Mr. Ban warned that too many people are jobless, hungry and angry and looking for scapegoats in other communities and religions.
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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