UNESCO KICKS OFF PROJECT FOR ITALY TO RETURN ETHIOPIAN ARTIFACT

UNESCO KICKS OFF PROJECT FOR ITALY TO RETURN ETHIOPIAN ARTIFACT
New York, Jun 22 2007 7:00PM
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (<"http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=29008&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html">UNESCO) World Heritage Centre has signed a contract with an Italian construction company to re-erect the Aksum obelisk on its original location in Ethiopia beginning this July.

Measuring 24 metres high and weighing 150 tonnes, the obelisk was transported to Rome by Mussolini's troops in 1937.

In April 2005, the Italian Government – after UNESCO's mediation – decided to return the artifact to Ethiopia.

Due to its enormity, it was cut into three pieces before being flown to Aksum, in the country's north-east, where archaeological digs were underway to prepare for the installation.

Italy is providing the over $2.3 million cost of the project, slated to take 18 months.

The 1,700-year-old obelisk symbolizes the Ethiopian people's identity, and the Kingdom of Aksum was the most powerful state between the Eastern Roman Empire and Persia. Currently an archaeological park with ruins dating between the 1st and 13th century A.D., Aksum was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1980.
2007-06-22 00:00:00.000

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BAN KI-MOON SAYS UN READY TO SUPPORT DEMOCRATIC INITIATIVES IN BOLIVIA

BAN KI-MOON SAYS UN READY TO SUPPORT DEMOCRATIC INITIATIVES IN BOLIVIA
New York, Jun 22 2007 7:00PM
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today that he is "following with interest" the process Bolivia is undergoing to bolster democracy and pledged the world body's full support in this endeavour.

Mr. Ban "underscores the exceptional opportunity that Bolivia's Constituent Assembly represents to establish, through broad national agreement, a democratic society based on ethnic and cultural diversity, inclusion, equal opportunities and social justice," his spokesperson said in <"http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2007/sgsm11058.doc.htm">statement.

Mr. Ban also pledged the world body's support in Bolivia's efforts to strengthen democracy.

Jan Egeland, his Special Adviser, visited the South American country from 29 May to 2 June.
2007-06-22 00:00:00.000

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UN TRIBUNAL BEGINS TRIAL OF RWANDAN PRIEST CHARGED WITH GENOCIDE

UN TRIBUNAL BEGINS TRIAL OF RWANDAN PRIEST CHARGED WITH GENOCIDE
New York, Jun 22 2007 7:00PM
The trial before the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) of a priest and former college rector charged with genocide, murder and extermination against the Tutsi ethnic group began today in Arusha, Tanzania.

Hormisdas Nsengimana, a priest and formerly a Rector of Christ-Roi College in Nyanza, Nyabisindu Commune in Butare Prefecture, is charged with four counts of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and crimes against humanity for murder and extermination.

In her opening remarks, the Chief of Prosecution, Sylvana Arbia, said that she will call on two dozen witnesses, including members of the clergy; members of the Hutu ethnic group who were College employees; victims and survivors of mass attacks; former College students; and experts who will put Mr. Nsengimana's activities during Rwanda's 1994 genocide in context.

The 53-year old suspect is alleged to have been one of the organizers of the Tutsi slaughter in Nyanza, Butare, in 1994, and is accused of been a leader in "Les Dragons," or "Escadrons de la Mort" ("Death Squad"), which allegedly played a key role in the murder of Tutsis in and around the College and other parts of the region.

He is alleged to have worked in concert with soldiers in the prefecture to commit these crimes.

The defendant is also alleged to have been instrumental in the killing of Tutsi priests from his College. In one incident, he allegedly paid several people to obtain the whereabouts of three Tutsi priests who had fled the College, and sent the information to his co-perpetrators who killed them.

Mr. Nsengimana's counsel, David Hooper, said that his client believes this trial will vindicate him. The accused disputes all allegations, was caught up in the deadly events of 1994 and lost family members and friends, Mr. Hooper said.

On a 24 April appearance before the Tribunal, Mr. Nsengimana pleaded not guilty to three counts of genocide, murder and extermination as crimes against humanity.

He was arrested in Cameroon on 21 March 2002 and transferred to the UN Detention Facility in Arusha on 10 April 2002.
2007-06-22 00:00:00.000

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DR CONGO: UN COLLEAGUES MOURN SLAIN JOURNALIST SERGE MAHESHE

DR CONGO: UN COLLEAGUES MOURN SLAIN JOURNALIST SERGE MAHESHE
New York, Jun 22 2007 7:00PM
United Nations colleagues are mourning the death of Serge Maheshe, a journalist for Radio Okapi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who was shot last week while entering a UN car.

Sebastien Lapierre, a former Radio Okapi colleague, recalled the victim as "one of the best journalists on our team" dedicated to covering breaking news events.

"Given his extensive contacts in South Kivu, Serge always had his finger on the pulse of this volatile region and was often at the forefront of breaking news," said Mr. Lapierre, who now serves as a Team Leader in the Peacekeeping Best Practices Section of the Department for Peacekeeping Operations.

Mr. Maheshe contributed to both news and analysis stories, often acting as the Bukavu correspondent for Dialogue Entre Congolais, Radio Okapi's flagship political analysis programme. "The fact that he had recently taken on additional responsibilities as the local head of the radio station is an indication of the confidence of the management in his abilities and professionalism," Mr. Lapierre told the UN News Service.

The slain journalist was remembered for his commitment to peace in the DRC, where in 2004, during a crisis in Bukavu, he helped bring threatened civilian families to the safety of the UN compound while at the same time gathering information for news coverage of the events.

"Above all, Serge was a friend. He was very sociable, and loved music," Mr. Lapierre said. "We will miss him dearly, and our thoughts are with his family in these difficult times."

The 31-year old, who had worked for Radio Okapi since 2003, was shot dead on 13 June by two men on a street in Bukavu, in eastern DRC, as he and two friends were about to enter a UN-marked vehicle. He left behind his wife and two children.

Jean-Jacques Simon, who met Mr. Maheshe when he headed Radio Okapi in South Kivu, recalled how he had learned a great deal in a short period of time. Once he was hired full-time, he "instilled a completely different dynamic" in the newsroom, said Mr. Simon, "first by his good mood and then by his energy."

Mr. Maheshe's timely reports earned him the nickname, "quick intervention journalist," Mr. Simon, who now works as Head of Outreach & Advocacy in the Public Information Office of the UN Assistance Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), told the UN News Service.

Mr. Simon also shared an enduring personal bond with Mr. Maheshe's. "I will always have for Serge a deep friendship. His kindness, his respect for those around him, his intelligence and his expansive courage as a journalist will remain forever engraved in my memory."

At a tribute ceremony in honour of Mr. Maheshe on Monday, the senior UN envoy to the DRC, who had condemned the murder, called for strict measures to ensure the safety of journalists in the country.

"It is high time, it is urgent that strict measures are taken to protect journalists and guarantee freedom of expression," he said.

Mr. Maheshe's death also prompted a statement from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, whose spokesman on 15 June called it "a great loss for the United Nations and the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as they continue their efforts to build a sustainable peace in their country."

The Secretary-General said the UN "will do everything possible to support the authorities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to identify the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to justice."

Adding his voice to those of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC (MONUC) in speaking out against the murder of Mr. Maheshe, who worked at the country's most popular radio station, Radio Okapi, UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said that "a famous voice in the DRC has been silenced."

Calling on Congolese authorities to do everything possible to find and punish those responsible for the murder of the 31-year-old, Mr. Matsuura said, "it is essential that media professionals, the true pillars of democracy, are protected and that crimes against them do not go unpunished."

Radio Okapi is a partnership between MONUC and the Hirondelle Foundation, a Swiss non-governmental organization (NGO).

According to UNESCO – tasked with defending press freedom worldwide – Mr. Maheshe is the third Congolese journalist to be murdered since November 2005. Bapuwa Mwamba, from daily newspaper Le Phare, was killed at his home by three armed men in July 2006. Franck Kangundu, a journalist for La Référence Plus, was killed with his wife in November 2005.
2007-06-22 00:00:00.000

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SECURITY COUNCIL URGES GREATER PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS IN ARMED CONFLICT

SECURITY COUNCIL URGES GREATER PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS IN ARMED CONFLICT
New York, Jun 22 2007 7:00PM
The United Nations Security Council today called for greater protection for civilians, who continue to account for the majority of casualties in situations of armed conflict.

In a <"http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2007/sc9058.doc.htm">press statement following an <"http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2007/sc9057.doc.htm">open debate, the 15-member Council expressed its "grave concern" at the suffering of civilians and underscored that parties to armed conflict are primarily responsible for making efforts to ensure that civilians are protected.

The statement, which was read out by Council President Ambassador Johan C. Verbeke of Belgium, noted that international humanitarian law obliges sides to shield civilians from harm, and "urged all concerned parties to allow full, safe and unimpeded access by humanitarian personnel to civilians in need of assistance in situations of armed conflict."

Addressing the Council, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said that "if there is one thing we need to do above all, it is to end the culture of impunity which underlies so many abuses."

He cited rule of law and judicial redress as key, and noted that greater participation by women in all aspects of protection – including peacekeeping – would substantially improve attitudes regarding sexual violence.

Since taking office four months ago, Mr. Holmes has visited such areas as Darfur, Chad, the Central African Republic, Northern Uganda and Somalia.

"In each of these, and in too many other places as well, I have seen how hundreds of thousands of civilians have been uprooted from their ordinary lives by the effects of conflict and left stranded, their fate of no apparent consequence to those who fight around them," he said, adding that many thousands have been "killed, injured, maimed, assaulted, humiliated, ignored and treated as less than human."

He mentioned three main areas of concern: the targeting of civilians, forced displacement and access and security for humanitarian workers.

"Civilians bear the brunt of indiscriminate firing and violence in populated areas, including cities, where warring parties fail to distinguish, or even try to distinguish, between combatants and the civilian population," Mr. Holmes, who also serves as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, told the Council.

He cited Somalia, where hostilities between March and early May killed 400 civilians and wounded more than 700, as well as the fighting in the occupied Palestinian territory and violence in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Civilians are too often deliberately targeted in order to create a climate of fear and to destabilize populations," he said, mentioning Janjaweed attacks on innocent villagers in Darfur and Chad as examples.

Mr. Holmes voiced concern over continued forced displacement of civilians due to – "or sometimes as the very purpose of" – conflict.

For the first time since 2002, the number of refugees worldwide has increased, surging to 9.9 million at the end of 2006 primarily because of refugee flows from Iraq.

To remedy the situation, the Emergency Relief Coordinator appealed for attention to the right to voluntary and safe return in his address to the Council debate, which saw the participation of more than two dozen countries.

"To do otherwise is to condemn millions to lasting misery and degradation," he said.

He also pointed out that targeting aid workers threatens the survival of those trapped in conflict.

"Killing humanitarian staff and arbitrarily denying access violates international humanitarian law," Mr. Holmes said. "It also threatens the lifeline to hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people."
2007-06-22 00:00:00.000

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UN AGENCIES WARN OF FOOD SHORTAGE UNLESS GAZA BORDER CROSSINGS RE-OPEN

UN AGENCIES WARN OF FOOD SHORTAGE UNLESS GAZA BORDER CROSSINGS RE-OPEN
New York, Jun 22 2007 6:00PM
United Nations agencies aiding Palestinian refugees warned today that Gaza could face general food shortages within weeks if the border crossing points into the area remain closed.

Matthias Burchard of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (<"http://www.un.org/unrwa/english.html">UNRWA) told reporters in Geneva that the re-opening of the Karni crossing, which used to handle 200 to 300 trucks each day is particularly crucial in order prevent a food shortage in two weeks' time.

He told a press briefing in Geneva that the refugee poverty rate has now risen to 88 per cent, with UNRWA now providing food aid to 860,000 people in Gaza alone.

The UN World Food Programme (<"http://www.wfp.org/english/?n=31">WFP) said it has been able today to use one crossing point, at Kerem Shalom, to transport some 400 tons of food aid to Gaza, and added that more food aid needs to come in, with commercial stocks running low.

Food and other humanitarian supplies must continue to enter Gaza if a major humanitarian crisis is to be averted, WFP's Simon Pluess told the press briefing.

Meanwhile, the UN Children's Fund (<"http://www.unicef.org/media/media_40072.html">UNICEF) said it is delivering emergency medical supplies and vaccines to help prevent outbreaks of measles, tuberculosis and other diseases among children in Gaza.

With little access in or out of Gaza, stocks of essential medicines are at critical levels, and health facilities are struggling to address the needs of an "exhausted and traumatized population," according to a press release from the agency, which said it is working to treat children suffering from shock and extreme stress.

Despite shortages of everything from fuel to medicines, the UN World Health Organization (<"http://www.who.int/en/">WHO) confirmed today that hospitals inside Gaza were staying open.

WHO also confirmed that Israel had allowed a brief opening at the Erez crossing so that urgent medical cases from Gaza could be transferred to Israeli hospitals.

Amid the worsening humanitarian situation, UNRWA announced it will start a ten-week programme of games for 192,000 children and youth in Gaza tomorrow.
2007-06-22 00:00:00.000

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UN AGENCY SEEKS TO ENSURE PATIENT CONFIDENTIALITY IN HIV DATA COLLECTION

UN AGENCY SEEKS TO ENSURE PATIENT CONFIDENTIALITY IN HIV DATA COLLECTION
New York, Jun 22 2007 5:00PM
Aiming to protect the almost 40 million men, women and children living with HIV from potential stigma and discrimination, the main United Nations agency dealing with AIDS today released new guidelines to ensure that patient confidentiality is not compromised in the process of collecting and storing information on the virus.

The Interim Guidelines on Protecting the Confidentiality and Security of HIV Information were developed through a workshop supported by the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (<"http://www.unaids.org/en/MediaCentre/PressMaterials/FeatureStory/20070621_confidentiality_guidelines.asp">UNAIDS) and the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

According to the guidelines, using data for public health goals must be balanced against the rights of individuals to privacy and confidentiality. Among the recommendations, they call for countries to adopt privacy and confidentiality laws.

"Ensuring this information is securely stored and confidentially maintained will avoid potential stigmatization and discrimination of individuals and communities, and enhance the quality of the information collected," said Eddy Beck, UNAIDS Senior Technical Officer.

Together, stigma and discrimination constitute one of the greatest barriers to dealing effectively with the epidemic, according to UNAIDS. They discourage governments from taking timely action against AIDS, and they deter individuals from finding out about their HIV status.

They also inhibit those who know they are infected from sharing their diagnosis and taking action to protect others and from seeking treatment and care for themselves, the agency said.
2007-06-22 00:00:00.000

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INSECURITY HAMPERS FOOD AID DELIVERY IN AFGHANISTAN - UN AGENCY

INSECURITY HAMPERS FOOD AID DELIVERY IN AFGHANISTAN – UN AGENCY
New York, Jun 22 2007 5:00PM
With food stocks running short in Afghanistan and security problems hampering relief operations there, the United Nations food agency warned today that thousands of vulnerable Afghans may soon see critical food supplies suspended.

The United Nations World Food Programme (<"http://www.wfp.org/">WFP) said it has been unable to move food to the country's western region for four weeks due to insecurity.

Unless the agency can resume movement along the southern ring road – a major artery linking Kandahar to Herat and the site of most incidents involving WFP deliveries – it will have to reduce or suspend distributions to many of the poor families, children and internally displaced people living in those areas.

"We continue to work with Government authorities at central, provincial and district level, as well as our own transporters, to enable deliveries to resume, hopefully as soon as possible," Rick Corsino, WFP Country Director for Afghanistan, said.

WFP currently has 14,800 metric tons of food ready to move in Quetta, Pakistan, with transporters and trucks available to resume shipments across the border into Afghanistan when conditions permit.

Since June 2006, there have been 25 incidents involving trucks carrying WFP food throughout Afghanistan, the agency reports. An estimated 600 tons of food – valued at about $400,000 – has been lost.

While significant, Mr. Corsino said the loss represented only a fraction of overall deliveries. "In the past 12 months, WFP Afghanistan has moved over 150,000 tons of food to needy people throughout the country. The losses from the attacks and looting during this time account for less than .4 per cent of the total but transporters insist on minimum security guarantees."

WFP aims to provide 520,000 metric tons of food aid to 6.6 million Afghans between January 2006 and December 2008 – at a cost of $372 million.
2007-06-22 00:00:00.000

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UN REPORT SAYS ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION TRIGGERING TENSIONS IN SUDAN

UN REPORT SAYS ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION TRIGGERING TENSIONS IN SUDAN
New York, Jun 22 2007 2:00PM
Environmental degradation is among the root causes of decades of conflict in Sudan, a new United Nations report argues, warning that the country is unlikely to see lasting peace unless it is addressed.

The UN Environment Programme's (<"http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=512&ArticleID=5621&l=en">UNEP) investigation "has shown clearly that peace and people's livelihoods in Darfur as well as in the rest of Sudan are inextricably linked to the environmental challenge," said Achim Steiner, the Executive Director of the agency, which carried out the Sudan Post-Conflict Assessment at the request of the new Government of National Unity and the Government of Southern Sudan.

"Just as environmental degradation can contribute to the triggering and perpetuation of conflict, the sustainable management of natural resources can provide the basis for long-term stability, sustainable livelihoods, and development."

Mr. Steiner saw positive signs in the signing of a comprehensive peace agreement in 2005 and recent developments including the decision to deploy a joint African Union-UN peacekeeping force to Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and at least 2 million others displaced since clashes erupted in 2003 between Government forces, allied Janjaweed militias and rebel groups.

But he warned the rehabilitation of Sudan's environment is critical to peace efforts. "Sudan's tragedy is not just the tragedy of one country in Africa – it is a window to a wider world underlining how issues such as uncontrolled depletion of natural resources like soils and forests allied to impacts like climate change can destabilize communities, even entire nations."

The most serious concerns are land degradation, the spread of deserts southwards by an average of 100 kilometres over the past four decades, and the overgrazing of fragile soils by a livestock population that has "exploded" from close to 27 million animals to around 135 million, according to the report.

It also cites mounting evidence of long-term regional climate change in several parts of the country, as witnessed by "a very irregular but marked decline in rainfall" especially in Kordofan and Darfur states.

While the tensions and conflicts in Darfur are currently in the headlines, the report warns that other parts of Sudan, particularly in the north-south border zones, could see resumptions of historical clashes driven in part by the erosion of environmental services.

Investment in environmental management, financed by the international community and from the country's "emerging boom in oil and gas exports," will be a vital part of the peacebuilding effort.

The report contains specific recommendations for action in such areas as desertification, industrialization, urbanization, resources, agriculture, wildlife and displacement.

The total cost of carrying out these proposed measures is estimated at approximately $120 million over three to five years, states the report. "These are not large figures when compared to the Sudanese GDP in 2005 of $85.5 billion," it adds.
2007-06-22 00:00:00.000

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UNESCO CHIEF VOICES CONCERN OVER POTENTIAL BOYCOTT OF ISRAELI ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS

UNESCO CHIEF VOICES CONCERN OVER POTENTIAL BOYCOTT OF ISRAELI ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS
New York, Jun 22 2007 2:00PM
The head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (<"http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=29008&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html">UNESCO) today expressed concern over a threatened boycott of Israeli academic institutions by the British University and College Union, stressing that opportunities for peace and dialogue must be seized especially in conflict situations.

"Academics are responsible for gathering, processing and distributing information, which are tasks necessary for building stable, prosperous and democratic societies," said UNESCO's Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura. "We need to preserve the universality of research, exchange and learning, and support all joint academic activities that foster the sharing of experiences and expertise."

Academic work and institutions are centred on the free flow of ideas and knowledge, which is the core of all intellectual activity, he added.

The request for the boycott is current being circulated to all local Union branches for discussion.

"If we are serious about the need to promote sustained peace, democracy and development, I believe that we have the moral responsibility to share knowledge and promote understanding," said the UNESCO chief, noting that cooperation among the world's university is a necessity, not a luxury.

"We must therefore continue to support all efforts within civil societies to nurture contacts in the spirit of respect and mutual understanding which characterize peaceful relations."
2007-06-22 00:00:00.000

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CONCERNED AT ABUSE OF ORPHANS IN IRAQ, UNICEF URGES MEASURES IN RESPONSE

CONCERNED AT ABUSE OF ORPHANS IN IRAQ, UNICEF URGES MEASURES IN RESPONSE
New York, Jun 22 2007 2:00PM
Reacting to broadcast images of children in a Baghdad orphanage suffering "horrific neglect and abuse," the United Nations Children's Fund (<"http://www.unicef.org/media/media_40071.html">UNICEF) today urged the Iraqi Government to assess conditions nationwide and take measures to address the problem.

"Even in a country overshadowed by daily scenes of violence, these images are truly shocking," said UNICEF Representative for Iraq, Roger Wright. "Making children suffer in this way is totally unacceptable."

The agency said all Iraqi children are at risk in the current conflict, but orphans – and those with special needs – are particularly vulnerable, while the plight of institutionalized children is exacerbated by the decline in qualified childcare workers.

In a statement, UNICEF welcomed Prime Minister Nuri El Maliki's call for a national enquiry into the conditions of children in orphanages, and urged the Iraqi Government "to enable a rapid assessment of all the country's orphanages and juvenile centres as soon as possible."

UNICEF called for an open monitoring system for the management of children's institutions and measures to improve the skills of caregivers and accelerating community-based childcare alternatives.

At the same time, the agency paid tribute to the "tremendous determination of the majority of the Iraqi people to extend helping hands and to protect children" and urged that these efforts continue.

"Caring for children is our primary responsibility as human beings, no matter what the circumstances," said Mr. Wright. "I hope these terrible images from the Baghdad orphanage will spur us all on to do even more for Iraq's children."
2007-06-22 00:00:00.000

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UN FOOD AGENCY MOVES FROM RELIEF TO RECOVERY IN DJIBOUTI

UN FOOD AGENCY MOVES FROM RELIEF TO RECOVERY IN DJIBOUTI
New York, Jun 22 2007 8:00AM
Aiming to help pastoralists hit by drought in Djibouti, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced today it is gradually transitioning from emergency assistance to Food for Work projects in the country.

"The shift aims at leaving permanent structures for pastoralists in most projects in partnership with the Government and other UN agencies," said WFP Djibouti Country Director Benoit Thiry.

Food for Work projects involve WFP, other organizations and the Government contracting local communities to build lasting infrastructure such as gardens and wells that will help them cope with droughts.

Some 5,600 Food for Work participants will receive a five-person family ration in exchange for their work, according to the agency.

At the peak of the last lean season in September 2006, when food from the last harvest ran out, a fifth of the population of Djibouti lacked adequate food, WFP said.

This year, without assistance, many people will be forced to move to Djibouti city, where they lose their pastoralist lifestyle and are often forced to dwell in the spreading slums on the outskirts of the capital. "We are trying to help those who want to stay in rural areas by improving water access and gardens," said Mr. Thiry.

Despite shifting from free food distributions to Food For Work programmes, WFP will still maintain a contingency food stock in Djibouti to use in case of an emergency. Assistance to refugees from Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia, school feeding and food for nutritional centres will continue.

2007-06-22 00:00:00.000

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UN REFUGEE AGENCY HAILS PLANNED COOPERATION PACT WITH MOROCCO

UN REFUGEE AGENCY HAILS PLANNED COOPERATION PACT WITH MOROCCO
New York, Jun 22 2007 8:00AM
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today welcomed Morocco's announced intention to sign a cooperation agreement with the agency, saying it would pave the way for improved coordination to help those who have fled to the North African country.

The announcement, made on Wednesday to coincide with World Refugee Day June 20, will pave the way for upgrading the status of the UNHCR office in Rabat. "UNHCR staff in Morocco will benefit from open channels of communication with all relevant governmental departments, central and local authorities, and partner organizations," agency spokesman Ron Redmond told reporters in Geneva.

The imminent signature of the accord "is a clear expression of the expanding and deepening cooperation between the Moroccan authorities and UNHCR in the country," he said. "This cooperation is aimed at protecting refugees within broader migratory movements affecting the country, and at finding durable solutions for refugees, including voluntary return, self-reliance and targeted use of resettlement."

Morocco was the first country on the African continent to receive UNHCR staff in 1959 and to allow UNHCR to open an honorary delegation in 1965. The agency's office in Rabat currently has registered some 600 refugees recognized under its mandate, while some 1,000 asylum applications are pending, mainly from nationals from sub-Saharan African countries.

2007-06-22 00:00:00.000

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ONE IN FIVE TIMORESE NEEDS FOOD ASSISTANCE, UN REPORT SAYS

ONE IN FIVE TIMORESE NEEDS FOOD ASSISTANCE, UN REPORT SAYS
New York, Jun 22 2007 8:00AM
A new United Nations report says one in five people in East Timor needs food assistance, blaming crop losses on persistent drought and locust plagues.

The report issued today by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warns that to avert a major food crisis, up to 220,000 vulnerable people living in outlying areas across the country will require more than 15,000 tonnes of emergency food assistance, particularly during the six months of the coming 'lean season' starting in October.

"A poor harvest this year has worsened the already fragile livelihoods of people all over Timor but especially among the poorest people living in rural and more remote districts," said Anthony Banbury, WFP's Regional Director for Asia.

"And for many of those displaced by the conflict during last year's crisis, who continue to live outside of their communities, a restricted domestic food supply means they will continue to rely on food assistance."

The new report, based on a joint assessment mission carried out by the two UN agencies in March and April, suggests substantial reductions in all of the country's crops due in large part to recurring drought, especially on the north coast, and an outbreak of locust infestations in the western regions.

Production of maize, Timor's most important crop, declined by 30 per cent to 70,000 tonnes. Output of cereals, cassava and other tubers dropped by 25 30 per cent while rice production decreased by 20 per cent, the report says.

"We need to continue to closely monitor the drought situation and any further locust infestations to help provide Timorese farmers with the best information and assistance," said Henri Josserand, Chief of FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System.

The FAO/WFP report also noted that the severe food crisis earlier this year, with commodity price hikes and the virtual disappearance of rice from the market, highlighted the need
strategies and implementation mechanisms.

In addition to those affected by crop failure, Timor also has nearly 100,000 internally displaced people living in Dili or with relatives in the districts as a result of a political crisis that began in 2006 in the country, which the UN helped to shepherd to independence in 2002.

2007-06-22 00:00:00.000

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UN APPEALS TO KENYA TO ALLOW FOOD INTO SOMALIA

UN APPEALS TO KENYA TO ALLOW FOOD INTO SOMALIA
New York, Jun 22 2007 8:00AM
The United Nations food relief agency today appealed to Kenyan authorities to allow assistance for more than 100,000 people to be trucked into Somalia, where piracy is hampering deliveries by sea.

One hundred and forty WFP-contracted trucks carrying the food left the Kenyan port of Mombasa and were unexpectedly stopped at the Northeast Kenyan border crossing of El-Wak since they first started arriving there on 25 May.

"The Kenyan overland route was chosen because of major problems with sea routes to Somalia plagued by pirate attacks," said WFP Somalia Country Director Peter Goossens.

"Delays in distributing food this month to 108,000 people in Gedo district risks further aggravating the alarming rates of malnutrition that are already reported there," he warned. The supplies in the trucks are intended to last for three months.

"We are in intense contacts with Kenyan authorities to facilitate the passage of this cargo into Somalia so that food distributions can urgently resume in southern Gedo," he said, recalling that Kenya had allowed the agency to use El-Wak since January "because it is the most direct route to southern Gedo, where food assistance is urgently needed."

Many of the 140 WFP-contracted trucks had waited so long at El-Wak that they were unloaded in recent days and the food assistance moved to a local warehouse, the agency said.

The Nairobi Government has closed its border with Somalia since January to people and commercial traffic, but humanitarian assistance was previously allowed across into the war-ravaged country, where fighting between the Ethiopian-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and anti-TFG factions caused hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes earlier this year.

In the coming days, a third round of WFP food distributions to people driven from their homes by fighting in Mogadishu is due to start, with a total of 150,000 people slated to receive food.

2007-06-22 00:00:00.000

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BAN KI-MOON MARKS TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF PEACE AGREEMENT IN TAJIKISTAN

BAN KI-MOON MARKS TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF PEACE AGREEMENT IN TAJIKISTAN
New York, Jun 21 2007 8:00PM
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today <"http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2007/sgsm11056.doc.htm">congratulated the people and Government of Tajikistan on the tenth anniversary of the signing of the General Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and National Accord.

"The signing of the Peace Agreement was eloquent testimony to the wisdom and patriotism of the Tajik people and leadership," he said in a statement. "The 10 years that have passed since this auspicious event have reinforced the understanding that there is no viable alternative to the road of peace and national reconciliation."

Mr. Ban cited the UN's instrumental role in aiding the restoration of peace and stability in the Central Asian country.

"And today," he observed, "Tajikistan stands as an excellent illustration of a UN success story, achieved jointly with the Tajik people and the guarantor countries."

During the past decade, the people of Tajikistan have endeavoured to rebuild their country, he said, expressing the UN's continued commitment to assisting the Government.

"On this joyous anniversary, I wish the Government and the people of Tajikistan every success on the road to economic and social development, national revival and prosperity," he said.
2007-06-21 00:00:00.000

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SECURITY COUNCIL BRIEFED ON IRAN SANCTIONS

SECURITY COUNCIL BRIEFED ON IRAN SANCTIONS
New York, Jun 21 2007 8:00PM
The chairman of the United Nations committee monitoring sanctions on Iran in relation to its uranium enrichment activities <"http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2007/sc9055.doc.htm">briefed the Security Council today on Member States' implementation measures.

Security Council resolution 1737 of last year banned trade with Iran in all items, materials, equipment, goods and technology which could contribute to the country's enrichment-related, reprocessing or heavy water-related activities, or to the development of nuclear weapon delivery systems.

A subsequent resolution adopted this March further tightened the sanctions, imposing a ban on arms sales and expanding the freeze on assets.

Of the documents the committee has received in the past three months, "38 States reported that they already had legislation in place" regarding the sanctions, while 12 have given details on measures they have taken or will take to put the necessary legal framework into place, said Belgian Ambassador Johan C. Verbeke, who serves as the committee's chairman.

Iranian authorities have stated that their nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes, but other countries contend that it is driven by military ambitions.
2007-06-21 00:00:00.000

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UN-BACKED $2 BILLION RESPONSE PLAN TO CONTAIN TB LAUNCHED

UN-BACKED $2 BILLION RESPONSE PLAN TO CONTAIN TB LAUNCHED
New York, Jun 21 2007 7:00PM
The United Nations World Health Organization (<"http://www.who.int/en/">WHO) and the Stop TB Partnership today launched a $2.15 billion two-year programme to save over 100,000 lives.

The new initiative lays out steps to prevent, treat and control drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) and multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).

If fully implemented, the plan, which sets out measures to allow laboratories in countries with high levels of the disease to increase their detection of MDR-TB cases, will lead to a ten-fold surge in the number of XDR-TB and MDR-TB patients who will be treated and cured under WHO guidelines.

It also underscores the urgency with which basic tuberculosis control and investment in crucial areas – such as bolstering diagnostic laboratories, increasing infection control and surveillance and stepping up funding for research – are needed.

"XDR-TB is a threat to the security and stability of global health," said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan. "This response plan identifies costs, milestones and priorities for health services that will continue to have an impact beyond its two-year time line."

The plan, called the Global MDR-TB and XDR-TB Response Plan 2007-2008, also jumpstarts efforts towards reaching a 2015 goal of providing access to drugs and testing to all patients affected by these two disease types, potentially rescuing the lives of 1.2 million people.

XDR-TB first came to the world's attention in March 2006 when researchers reported that emerging global threat posed by highly-resistant strains of the disease, and six months later, there was a spate of cases resulting in over 50 deaths of "virtually untreatable" cases in an area of South Africa with a high prevalence of HIV.

Meanwhile, last month, an air passenger from the United States infected with XDR-TB heightened concerns about the tuberculosis epidemic.

"We have sounded the alarm on the potential for an untreatable XDR-TB epidemic," said Mario Raviglione, Director of the WHO Stop TB Department. "Today we issue our response on behalf of all patients and communities whose lives are most at risk."

The initiative is an ambitious one and must be "fully supported if we are to keep a stranglehold on drug-resistant TB," he added.

A key element of the scheme is a steady supply of quality drugs to treat tuberculosis in underserved countries from the Global Drug Facility, which, since its establishment in 2006, distributes more anti-tuberculosis drugs free of charge to poor countries than any other group.
2007-06-21 00:00:00.000

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UN ENCOURAGES SIERRA LEONE TO IMPROVE PRISONERS' RIGHTS

UN ENCOURAGES SIERRA LEONE TO IMPROVE PRISONERS' RIGHTS
New York, Jun 21 2007 7:00PM
The top United Nations envoy in Sierra Leone today presented the Government with a report aimed at encouraging it to improve prisoners' rights, noting that failure to protect them constitutes "a threat to peace and stability" in the West African nation.

"In a country that has endured a decade-long war, peace consolidation is only achieved once all the potential threats to stability are addressed. The failure to protect and promote human rights for a particular group of people is one such threat," stated Victor Angelo, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Executive Representative in Sierra Leone.

The report – entitled "Behind Walls: An Inventory and Assessment of Prisons in Sierra Leone" – was presented to Sierra Leone's Minister of Internal Affairs, Pascal Egbenda, in a brief ceremony held at the Freetown headquarters of the UN Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL), which Mr. Angelo heads.

Major challenges facing prisons in Sierra Leone include overcrowding and squalid living conditions, including the lack of adequate food, clothing, medicine, hygiene and sanitation.

The result of physical inspection of the country's 13 prisons and interviews with inmates and staff, the report highlights that though the 13 prisons have a combined capacity of 1,495 detainees, there are a total of 1,693 persons detained as of 13 April 2007. Twenty of them, including one woman, were on death row.

UNIOSIL has already put in place measures for emergency relief assistance to the prisons and is supporting the Government in developing a project to strengthen the prisons through the UN Peacebuilding Fund, which was launched in October 2006 in response to the growing global demand for sustained support to countries emerging from conflict.

The Fund supports countries before the UN Peacebuilding Commission, currently Burundi and Sierra Leone, but is also available to countries in similar circumstances as designated by the Secretary-General.

UNIOSIL has also been conducting training programmes for prison officials, which is one of the recommendations of the report released today.
2007-06-21 00:00:00.000

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SIERRA LEONE: UN OFFICIAL APPLAUDS GUILTY VERDICTS FOR REBEL LEADERS

SIERRA LEONE: UN OFFICIAL APPLAUDS GUILTY VERDICTS FOR REBEL LEADERS
New York, Jun 21 2007 6:00PM
The United Nations envoy for children and armed conflict has <"http://www.un.org/children/conflict/pr/2007-06-21specialcourtfors158.html">welcomed the judgment of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (<"http://www.sc-sl.org/">SCSL), which found three former rebel leaders guilty of multiple counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity – including the recruitment of child soldiers – during the West African country's prolonged civil war in the 1990s.

Yesterday's judgements were not only the first from the Special Court, but they marked the first time that an international tribunal has ruled on the charge of recruitment of child soldiers into an armed force.

"This first verdict sends a strong signal to the perpetrators and it will have a crucial deterrence effect," said UN Special Representative Radhika Coomaraswamy, stressing that such crimes need to stop. "This first triple conviction will motivate the international community to pursue its fight against impunity."

Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu were each found guilty on 11 charges, including committing acts of terrorism, murder, rape and enslavement and conscripting children under the age of 15 into armed groups. A sentencing hearing has been set for 16 July.

The SCSL, the second international war crimes tribunal established in Africa, was mandated to try those bearing the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian and Sierra Leonean law within Sierra Leone's borders since 30 November 1996.
2007-06-21 00:00:00.000

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UN MISSION REPORTS CONTINUING ATTACKS ON AID CONVOYS IN DARFUR

UN MISSION REPORTS CONTINUING ATTACKS ON AID CONVOYS IN DARFUR
New York, Jun 21 2007 5:00PM
The United Nations Mission in Sudan (<"http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unmis/">UNMIS) reports that attacks are continuing on humanitarian convoys operated by international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the country's strife-torn Darfur region.

On Tuesday, an unknown armed man shot at a vehicle in South Darfur hired by an international NGO, while in West Darfur, two men stopped an international NGO convoy made up of two vehicles with five staff members, and robbed them of personal effects and communication equipment.

Also in West Darfur, an international NGO vehicle with four staff members was carjacked on Tuesday. All staff members were rescued by Government police, UNMIS said.

Meanwhile, the Mission also reports that Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan, Tayé-Brook Zerihoun today concluded a two-day visit to the capitals of the three Darfur States.

During the trips to Nyala, El Geneina and El Fasher, he met with UN staff to brief them on the recent agreement on the deployment of a hybrid operation in Darfur and on the coordination of UN support to the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) in preparation for the hybrid operation.

Mr. Zerihoun also met with local Government officials to discuss the security and humanitarian situation in Darfur and recent political developments.

Last week, the Sudanese Government announced its acceptance of a proposal for a hybrid UN-AU peacekeeping operation to be deployed in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and at least 2 million others displaced since clashes erupted in 2003 between Government forces, allied Janjaweed militias and rebel groups.
2007-06-21 00:00:00.000

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SECURITY COUNCIL LAUDS ACCORD BETWEEN BURUNDIAN GOVERNMENT AND REBEL GROUP

SECURITY COUNCIL LAUDS ACCORD BETWEEN BURUNDIAN GOVERNMENT AND REBEL GROUP
New York, Jun 21 2007 5:00PM
The United Nations Security Council today welcomed the 17 June agreement between Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza and Agathon Rwasa, leader of the Palipehutu-National Liberation Forces (PALIPEHUTU-FNL), to implement the ceasefire they reached last year.

"The resumption of the dialogue represents a major milestone on the way to peace consolidation in Burundi," Council President and Belgian Ambassador Johan C. Verbeke said in a <"http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2007/sc9056.doc.htm">press statement.

The 15-member body commended the efforts of Tanzania – which hosted the recent talks between the two sides in Dar-es-Salaam – as well as those of South Africa, Uganda and the African Union in supporting the peace process.

Appealing for "continued dialogue, consensus-building and inclusiveness in order to achieve a successful transition," the Council called on both sides to press forward with efforts to fully implement the Comprehensive Ceasefire Agreement of 7 September 2006.

The Council's statement echoes that of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who welcomed the same agreement earlier this week, expressing the hope that "both parties will maintain the momentum created in Dar-es-Salaam to allow for the earliest recovery and consolidation of peace."

Yesterday, the UN Peacebuilding Commission – which focuses on reconstruction, institution-building and the promotion of sustainable development to prevent countries from sliding back into bloodshed – endorsed the framework to engage Burundi, the UN and other international partners to work together to consolidate peace in the African country.
2007-06-21 00:00:00.000

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DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL TO ADDRESS AFRICAN UNION SUMMIT IN GHANA

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL TO ADDRESS AFRICAN UNION SUMMIT IN GHANA
New York, Jun 21 2007 4:00PM
United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro will address the annual summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU), to be held in Ghana in early July, as part of a four-nation tour that will also take her to Austria, Guinea-Bissau and Kenya.

Ms. Migiro will represent Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the AU summit, where she will speak at the opening session and hold a number of bilateral meetings, UN spokesperson Michele Montas announced today.

Prior to her participation at the summit, she will make an official visit to Austria, where she will address the opening ceremony of the 7th Global Forum on Reinventing Government, which is being hosted by the UN in Vienna. Since 1999, the Global Forum has addressed the need for improvements in governance and public administration worldwide.

From Vienna, Ms. Migiro is scheduled to visit Guinea-Bissau in what will be "the first-ever official visit of a Secretary-General or Deputy Secretary-General since that country joined the Organization in 1974," Ms. Montas noted. The visit is intended to reaffirm UN support for the West African country's ongoing efforts to consolidate peace, national reconciliation and constitutional governance.

Following her stop in Accra, Ghana's capital, the Deputy Secretary-General will visit Nairobi, Kenya, where she will address the opening ceremony of the International Women's Summit on Women's Leadership on HIV and AIDS and meet with Government officials and civil society organizations.
2007-06-21 00:00:00.000

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UN AGENCY HELPING COUNTRIES FIGHT ILLEGAL FISHING IN INDIAN OCEAN

UN AGENCY HELPING COUNTRIES FIGHT ILLEGAL FISHING IN INDIAN OCEAN
New York, Jun 21 2007 4:00PM
Representatives from 13 Indian Ocean countries are meeting in Mauritius, under the auspices of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (<"http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2007/1000608/index.html">FAO), to focus on strengthening port security – a key tool for combating illegal fishing.

"We are now on the threshold of a new era in addressing [illegal] fishing through the key compliance tool of port State measures… widely regarded to be one of the most cost-effective means of combating [illegal] fishing," Ichiro Nomura, Assistant Director-General of FAO's Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, told participants.

Tighter port controls make it harder for illegal fishers to offload, refuel and take on supplies, and can include requiring boats to radio in prior to docking and in-port inspections.

Illegal fishing in the Indian Ocean takes on many forms, including fishing without permission or out of season, harvesting prohibited species, using outlawed fishing gear and disregarding catch quotas.

It is a particular concern in the western Indian Ocean and along the eastern coast of Africa, where fishing boats have taken advantage of the lack of strong enforcement measures in coastal countries.

The two-day workshop comes on the heels of an international symposium organized by the Indian Ocean Commission in partnership with FAO, the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission and the South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission, during which country representatives, intergovernmental organizations, industry and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) discussed new measures taken in recent years against illegal fishing in the region.

The stakes are high, particularly for the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, whose Executive Secretary, Alejandro Anganuzzi, warned that unless effective control measures are implemented soon, the sustainability of tuna fisheries in the region "might be compromised," adding that port controls offer an attractive option, given their cost-effectiveness.

In March 2007, 131 countries attending a high-level FAO meeting agreed to start work on a legally binding global agreement establishing common port control measures.
2007-06-21 00:00:00.000

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RESTRICTIONS ON GAZA CROSSING POINTS HURTING PALESTINIANS, SAYS UN OFFICIAL

RESTRICTIONS ON GAZA CROSSING POINTS HURTING PALESTINIANS, SAYS UN OFFICIAL
New York, Jun 21 2007 4:00PM
The humanitarian situation inside the Gaza Strip could worsen unless Israel eases the restrictions and closures at its border crossings with the strife-torn area, a senior United Nations official warned today.

David Shearer, head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (<"http://ochaonline3.un.org">OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territory, told reporters at a briefing at UN Headquarters in New York that Gaza only has enough supplies of wheat flour to make bread for the next two to three weeks.

"The situation we have at the moment is an extremely serious one," Mr. Shearer said, noting that about 1.4 million Palestinians are already crowded into Gaza's relatively small 360-square-kilometre area.

Gaza has been largely cut off from the outside world since deadly intra-Palestinian fighting between members of the Fatah and Hamas movements erupted earlier this month, although in the past few days Israel has allowed some relief supplies – including food and medicines – to be brought in by truck.

But Mr. Shearer said the aid supplies must be complemented by commercial deliveries to meet the local demand for staples. OCHA has estimated that 450 tons of flour is required in Gaza each day.

"As a series of agencies in the UN, we cannot support the whole of the Gaza Strip with aid flows. The market has to be able to work, and at the moment it is not working."

He called for the re-opening of the Karni crossing, which used to handle 200 to 300 trucks each day and was the main commercial crossing point into Gaza.

Meanwhile, the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) today <"http://www.un.org/unrwa/news/releases/pr-2007/jer_21Jun07.pdf">welcomed the United States' announcement that it would <a contribute $40 million to the agency's emergency appeal.

Commissioner-General Karen AbuZayd said the funds would be used to provide food aid, temporary jobs, health care and other basic services to refugees in Gaza and the West Bank.

The UNRWA appeal remains severely under-funded, however. After the US donation, the agency – which assists more than 4.3 million refugees across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria – is still $136 million short of its $246 million target for 2007.
2007-06-21 00:00:00.000

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UNESCO CHIEF DEPLORES DEATH OF IRAQI EDITOR

UNESCO CHIEF DEPLORES DEATH OF IRAQI EDITOR
New York, Jun 21 2007 3:00PM
The head of the United Nations agency tasked with defending press freedom worldwide today condemned the murder of the Iraqi journalist Filaih Wadi Mijthab, who was kidnapped on 13 June and then executed by his abductors.

"His abduction and execution add yet another name to the long list of journalists and other media professionals who have been murdered," <"http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=38523&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html">said Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Mr. Mijthab was the managing director of the daily newspaper al-Sabah, part of the Iraqi Government-owned media. Under the previous regime, he was a columnist for al-Thawra, a daily newspaper.

He was abducted on 13 June while driving to his office in the Al-Habibiya district of Baghdad's Sadr City neighbourhood, and his body was found on 15 June near a mosque in the same area.

Journalism as a profession "is regularly targeted in Iraq, when it has a crucial role to play in the country's reconstruction," Mr. Matsuura noted. "It is in everyone's interest, and in the interest of democracy, that the press be better protected."

The Director-General reiterated his appeal to both Iraqi and international authorities to bolster security for media professionals and those who work for them.

The latest murder brings the total to 29 journalists who have been killed in Iraq in the last six months alone, averaging more than one weekly, according to the organization Reporters without Borders. Currently, 14 journalists are being held hostage, some having already spent months in captivity.

In another development, a conference on the significance of cultural diversity <" http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=38525&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html">wrapped up at UNESCO headquarters in Paris today.

About 300 participants from 57 States Parties to the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, as well as observers and civil society representatives, attended the gathering.

The <" http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=33232&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html">Convention aims to strengthen ties between culture and sustainable development, while respecting human rights, fundamental freedoms, equal dignity of cultures and cultural openness. It also recognises that nations have the sovereign right to determine policies to promote the diversity of cultural expressions within their borders.

During the meeting, rules of procedure were adopted and 24 members of the Intergovernmental Committee were elected, with several seats having been reserved for developing countries. This Committee will be responsible for such matters as promoting the Convention's objectives and ensuring its implementation.
2007-06-21 00:00:00.000

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UN-ASSISTED MINE CLEARANCE ENABLES 1,000 AFGHAN FAMILIES TO RETURN HOME

UN-ASSISTED MINE CLEARANCE ENABLES 1,000 AFGHAN FAMILIES TO RETURN HOME
New York, Jun 21 2007 12:00PM
Some 1,000 Afghan families can now return to their homes on a hilltop in downtown Kabul and live in a more secure environment thanks to the efforts of the United Nations-supported Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan (MAPA).

During a handover ceremony today, MAPA released 70,000 square meters of cleared residential area to 1,000 families on Kabul's "TV Hill" – where a total of 103 anti-personnel mines and nearly 2,600 unexploded ordnance have been destroyed since December 2006.

Following the ouster of the Taliban in 2001, some 500,000 square meters of land were found contaminated by landmines and unexploded ordnance on the TV Hill area. According to media reports, almost 1,000 people were killed or injured by such weapons in that area in 1998. Today more than 440,000 square meters have been cleared and nearly 2,000 anti-personnel mines and almost 7,400 unexploded ordnance destroyed.

"Thanks to the work of manual clearance teams almost 7,000 families have already retuned to the Hill and rebuilt their houses. TV Hill is now one of the most populated areas in the centre of the city," the UN Mine Action Centre for Afghanistan (<"http://mineaction.org/org.asp?o=17">UNMACA), which coordinates MAPA's activities in areas such as minefield clearance, mine risk education and support for mine victims, said in a press release.

Afghanistan became a State party to the Ottawa Mine Ban Convention in March 2003 and is working towards clearing all minefields by 2013.

Also in Kabul today, the UN Development Programme (<" http://www.undp.org.af/about_us/overview_undp_afg/psl/prj_sup_mine_act.htm">UNDP) inaugurated the AliceGhan project, which will provide housing and support for livelihoods to 1,400 Afghan returnees and internally displaced persons (<" http://www.unhcr.org/protect/3b84c7e23.html">IDPs) in Qarabagh District.

Those selected to participate in the project, which enjoys $7.3 million in funding from the Australian Government, will receive housing construction materials to build their own earthquake-resistant houses, as well as vocational training.

The name "AliceGhan" is derived from the combination of Alice Springs – a town in Australia which has strong links with Afghan migrants to Australia – and Afghanistan, symbolising the partnership and commitment between the two countries.

The project is implemented by UNDP in close partnership with several Afghan ministries, and with the support of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (<"http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home">UNHCR) and the UN Human Settlements Programme (<" http://www.unhabitat.org">UNHABITAT).
2007-06-21 00:00:00.000

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SECURITY COUNCIL REQUESTS PANEL TO ASSESS SITUATION IN LIBERIA

SECURITY COUNCIL REQUESTS PANEL TO ASSESS SITUATION IN LIBERIA
New York, Jun 20 2007 7:00PM
The Security Council today called on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to set up a panel of financial and diamond experts to renew investigations of whether UN sanctions against Liberia are being broken after learning of "credible allegations" that the notorious former president Charles Taylor may still have access to considerable wealth.

In a unanimous <"http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2007/sc9051.doc.htm">resolution, the Council asked Mr. Ban to establish a panel of up to three members to carry out a follow-up assessment mission in Liberia and neighbouring countries to determine the effectiveness and impact of the measures introduced against Mr. Taylor and others.

A Council resolution in 2004 ordered all governments to freeze the assets of Mr. Taylor and his immediate family and barred them from using "misappropriated funds and property" to obstruct the restoration of peace and stability in the region.

The panel, which must be set up within a month, is expected to draw "as much as possible on the expertise" of the existing panel of experts, whose mandate expires today, which monitors Liberia.

That group, in a report released earlier this month, found there are "credible allegations" that Mr. Taylor – who is facing war crimes charges before the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) – has investments in Nigeria that have been unfrozen. Mr. Taylor has called on the SCSL to cover his legal costs at his trial, claiming he is indigent.

The panel report also noted allegations "of a large sum of money being with Charles Taylor at the time of his arrest in Nigeria" last year and his continuing ties to a cell phone company in Liberia. It added that the Nigerian Government had not allowed the panel to pursue the allegations and Liberia has not adopted laws authorizing a freeze.

But in its resolution today, the Council lauded the "sustained progress" made by the Liberian Government since January 2006, when the inauguration of a democratically-elected president, Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson, capped the peace process envisaged in a 2003 peace accord ending the country's bloody civil war.

The Government has made great strides "in rebuilding Liberia for the benefit of all Liberians, with the support of the international community," the 15-member body noted.

The new experts' panel is also expected to probe the Government's compliance with the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, a mechanism introduced to prevent so-called "blood diamonds" from reaching international markets.

Meanwhile, the Council extended the mandate of the Group of Experts monitoring the arms embargo in Côte d'Ivoire until 31 October, determining that the situation there still constitutes a threat to regional peace and security.

This Group was created in early 2005 to gather and analyze information on arms caches and flows in the region, and was asked by the Council today to submit a written update before 15 October.
2007-06-20 00:00:00.000

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ASIA-PACIFIC DEVELOPMENT ARM OF UN SIGNS COOPERATION DEAL ON MIGRATION

ASIA-PACIFIC DEVELOPMENT ARM OF UN SIGNS COOPERATION DEAL ON MIGRATION
New York, Jun 20 2007 7:00PM
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (<"http://www.unescap.org/unis/press/2007/jun/g25.asp">UNESCAP) today signed an agreement to bolster its cooperation with the International Organization for Migration (<"http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/newsArticleAS/cache/offonce?entryId=14419">IOM) on issues concerning the cross-border movement of people searching for better opportunities or greater human security.

Of the 190 million international migrants in the world, the Asia-Pacific region accounts for one-third – or 58 million – of them.

"Member States of [UNESCAP] increasingly view international migration as an emerging issue with ramifications on the broader development agenda," said Kim Hak-Su, the agency's Executive Secretary.

In 2004, UNESCAP's member countries received approximately $85 billion in remittances, which have become crucial for the region's economy by contributing to the sustaining and local and national economies.

"Migration management challenges such as human trafficking remain and need to be curbed through concerted and coordinated action," said Irena Vojackova-Sollorano, IOM's Regional Representative for South-East Asia.

It is hoped that closer cooperation between the two organizations will allow common socio-economic development goals – such as boosting migrants' livelihoods and reducing poverty through the positive contributions of international migration – to be implemented more effectively.
2007-06-20 00:00:00.000

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WEST AFRICA: UN HOLDS WORKSHOP ON AVIAN FLU PREPARATIONS

WEST AFRICA: UN HOLDS WORKSHOP ON AVIAN FLU PREPARATIONS
New York, Jun 20 2007 7:00PM
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (<"http://ochaonline3.un.org/">OCHA) is holding a three-day workshop this week in Bamako, Mali, to prepare humanitarian relief providers for an avian influenza pandemic.

More than anywhere else in the world, Africa's efforts to curtail such viruses are thwarted by weak health systems, limited financial resources and insufficient technical capacity.

"Preparing to contain this disease rapidly is high priority for human, economic and social security in West African countries," said Hervé Ludovic de Lys, OCHA's Regional Director for West Africa.

In response to cases of avian influenza which first emerged on the continent in 2006, government authorities have taken measures to respond to the threat.

Since poultry and poultry products are key components of the basic diet in many African countries, people would have to locate other sources of protein if a pandemic broke out. This would result in stock keepers losing income, a surge in prices and population movements to unaffected areas.

Therefore, improved surveillance, swift diagnostics, an informed population and behavioural changes are necessary for a rapid response.

The three-day workshop which ends tomorrow brings together 14 nations, regional organizations, civil society representatives and UN agencies and their partners.

Participants will evaluate their levels of preparedness, take part in a simulation exercise using UN contingency plans and endeavour to improve communication with government institutions and civil society organizations.

This meeting is the second in a series, with the first having been held in Accra, Ghana, last week.
2007-06-20 00:00:00.000

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UN PEACEBUILDING COMMISSION BACKS STRATEGY FOR ENSURING PEACE IN BURUNDI

UN PEACEBUILDING COMMISSION BACKS STRATEGY FOR ENSURING PEACE IN BURUNDI
New York, Jun 20 2007 7:00PM
The United Nations Peacebuilding Commission, established to help countries recovering from war avoid a relapse into violence and chaos, today <"http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2007/pbc15.doc.htm">endorsed the framework to engage Burundi, the UN and other international partners to work together to consolidate peace in the African country.

Meeting at UN Headquarters in New York, the Commission agreed that the strategic framework devised by the Burundian Government last month offered the best way forward for mobilizing financial and political support to overcome the internal challenges threatening the country's long-term recovery.

That framework identifies several major objectives in the years ahead, especially the implementation of a ceasefire between the Burundian Government and the National Liberation Forces (Palipehutu-FNL). Reforming the justice and security systems, generating jobs and making radical improvements in governance are key priorities as well.

The framework also stresses the responsibility of Burundi's leaders towards achieving stability, as well as the role that the UN Integrated Office for Burundi (BINUB) can play.

The Commission's Vice-Chair, Ambassador Johan Løvald of Norway, said the framework was the first strategic partnership of its kind and "the fruit of an intense multi-stakeholder process that evolved in parallel in Burundi and here in New York at the UN."

Established in December 2005, the Commission focuses on reconstruction, institution-building and the promotion of sustainable development in post-conflict countries. Its first two country cases are Burundi and Sierra Leone.
2007-06-20 00:00:00.000

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DR CONGO FINAL STOP ON SECURITY COUNCIL'S WEEK-LONG AFRICA TRIP

DR CONGO FINAL STOP ON SECURITY COUNCIL'S WEEK-LONG AFRICA TRIP
New York, Jun 20 2007 6:00PM
Members of the Security Council wrapped up their week-long mission to Africa today, holding meetings with United Nations and Government officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The DRC was the last stop on the Council's five-nation tour which also took the 15-member body to Ethiopia, Sudan, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, in support of ongoing peace efforts on the continent.

When the delegation arrived in Kinshasa yesterday, they received briefings from the Secretary-General's Special Representative, William Swing, and other UN officials about the work of the UN Mission in that country (<"http://www.monuc.org/News.aspx?newsID=14807">MONUC), a spokesperson for the world body said.

With MONUC's support, the country last year held its first fully democratic vote since independence, resulting in the election of President Joseph Kabila and a parliament.

French Ambassador Jean Marc de la Sablière, the head of this leg of the Council trip, congratulated the Congolese people for "the political maturity which they showed at the crucial stage of the elections, which allowed them to finally emerge from crisis and the transition."

Speaking to reporters in Kinshasa, he added "there are now new challenges that are a matter for the Democratic Republic of the Congo to strengthen what has been made, to create a strong democratic society on the basis of these elections."

During their meeting with President Kabila today, Council members discussed the post-electoral situation in the DRC, security issues and the reform of the military. The President also brought up proposals for a Great Lakes security summit.

The delegation also met with Acting Prime Minister Nzanga Mobutu and other Cabinet officials, along with members of the Senate and National Assembly and civil society and community leaders.

Council members are scheduled to arrive back in New York tomorrow.
2007-06-20 00:00:00.000

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UN-BACKED PARTNERSHIP AIMS TO USE SATELLITES TO BOLSTER GLOBAL DISASTER RESPONSE

UN-BACKED PARTNERSHIP AIMS TO USE SATELLITES TO BOLSTER GLOBAL DISASTER RESPONSE
New York, Jun 20 2007 6:00PM
The United Nations International Telecommunications Union (<"http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2007/15.html">ITU) today joined forces with a communications firm and a business organisation to employ satellites to bolster the global response to natural disasters.

The poor – especially those living in remote and isolated areas – are most vulnerable to calamities, which wreak havoc and impede sustainable development and poverty reduction efforts.

"Satellite communication provides a platform to deliver a wide range of services and applications even to remote areas," said Hamadoun Touré, ITU's Secretary-General.

Last year alone, nearly 22,000 people lost their lives due to natural disasters, with 95 per cent of the deaths occurring in the least developed countries.

"In the digital age, we are able to provide an [information and communications technology] lifeline to disaster victims and humanitarian personnel entrusted with coordinating rescue and relief operations, especially when terrestrial communications infrastructure is disrupted, overloaded or destroyed," Dr. Touré said.

In the new scheme, satellite provider ICO Global Communications will provide airtime on its F2 satellite – through voice and other telecommunication methods – to effectively respond to disasters, while the Commonwealth Business Council supply content and oversee the entrepreneurial skill development initiative.

ITU will manage and coordinate emergency telecommunications, as well as provide an hour's worth of airtime daily to assist countries in their preparedness efforts, convey early-warning information and elicit quick response. Should a disaster occur, this hour-long window will be extended as needed.
2007-06-20 00:00:00.000

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SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES AGREEMENT ON DETAILS OF UN HUMAN RIGHTS REVIEW

SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES AGREEMENT ON DETAILS OF UN HUMAN RIGHTS REVIEW
New York, Jun 20 2007 6:00PM
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the Human Rights Council's agreement setting out how its universal periodic review mechanism will work, saying it "sends a clear message" that the rights record of every country faces serious and meaningful examination.

"No country – big or small – will be immune from scrutiny," Mr. Ban's spokesperson said in a <"http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2007/sgsm11053.doc.htm">statement, adding that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other civil society groups need to play an active role in the review to ensure the process works.

"The periodic review holds great promise for opening a new chapter in human rights promotion and underscores the universality of human rights."

Council members agreed yesterday on the modalities for universal periodic review after several days of marathon discussions. Each year 48 nations, comprising a mixture of Council members and observer States, will be reviewed to assess whether they have fulfilled their human rights obligations.

The modalities were decided as part of a package of new measures and decisions that includes the continuation of the work of Special Rapporteurs and other independent human rights experts.

But in today's statement, Mr. Ban voiced disappointment at the Council decision to single out Israel as the only specific regional item on its agenda, "given the range and scope of allegations of human rights violations throughout the world."

The 47-member Council also agreed to end the mandate of the Special Rapporteurs on the situations in Belarus and Cuba, while retaining the other 39 mandates under the so-called "special procedures" system.

Mr. Ban noted "that not having a Special Rapporteur assigned to a particular country does not absolve that country from its obligations under the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and every other human rights treaty."

The statement from his spokesperson added that the Secretary-General "trusts that members of the Council will take seriously their responsibilities and continue to seek out ways to improve the Council's work in the months and years ahead." He also noted that Council members "worked hard to reach consensus on a number of issues."

Meeting today in Geneva, the Council also adopted resolutions on the situation in Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territory and Darfur.
2007-06-20 00:00:00.000

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MIDDLE EAST: UN ENVOY VOICES CONCERN ON 'HIGHLY VOLATILE' REGION

MIDDLE EAST: UN ENVOY VOICES CONCERN ON 'HIGHLY VOLATILE' REGION
New York, Jun 20 2007 5:00PM
Hamas' violent seizure of de facto political authority in Gaza, the demise of the Palestinian National Unity Government and the declaration of a state of emergency by President Mahmoud Abbas have created new political realities and worrying conditions across the occupied Palestinian territory, the United Nations Middle East envoy warned today.

Addressing an <"http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2007/sc9053.doc.htm">open meeting of the Security Council, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Michael Williams also said that renewed violence has threatened the stability of Lebanon and that Israel has faced fresh rocket attacks on its northern front.

"The region as a whole is highly volatile and unstable, overshadowing efforts to make political progress," Mr. Williams said during his briefing on the Middle East's latest developments.

Describing Hamas' takeover of control in the Gaza Strip as "well planned and executed," he condemned "the brutal violence… and the attacks on the legitimate institutions of President Abbas and the PA [Palestinian Authority] government" as totally unacceptable and said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon regretted the failure of the National Unity Government.

"Despite what has happened, Gaza and the West Bank remain one Palestinian territory, legally administered by one Palestinian Authority headed by President Abbas, who has appointed an emergency government led by Prime Minister [Salam] Fayyad."

Mr. Williams said it was now vital that Israel and the international community immediately deliver political and financial support to Mr. Abbas and the Palestinian government, including by releasing all previously withheld Palestinian customs and tax revenue.

"What is also needed is action on previous Israeli commitments, including the evacuation of settlement outposts, removal of roadblocks and checkpoints and release of prisoners. Equally, Fatah and the PA should act on previous commitments, not only to end violence, but to thoroughly reform its institutions."

The UN's most immediate humanitarian concern is to re-open the crossings between Israel and Gaza for commercial and humanitarian imports, the envoy told the Council, especially as the situation in Gaza has stabilized and food and medical shortages there have mounted.

In response later to a question from journalists, Mr. Williams welcomed Israel's move this morning to allow a number of people seeking urgent medical care to cross from Gaza.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (<"http://ochaonline3.un.org/">OCHA) said that crossing points into and out of Gaza remain largely closed, and increasing food shortages are expected in the coming weeks.

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes called on Israel and the Palestinian authorities to regularize access for essential goods to prevent a further deterioration of the situation.

The World Food Programme (<"http://www.wfp.org/english/?ModuleID=137&Key=2537">WFP) reported that seven of its trucks successfully crossed into Gaza yesterday, and another nine trucks crossed today, carrying basic commodities. A separate truck brought medical supplies yesterday as well.

The UN Children's Fund (<"http://www.unicef.org/">UNICEF) is aiming to send vaccines and medical and emergency kits, as well as fuel for urgent sanitation and water needs, to Gaza.

Turning to Lebanon in his briefing, Mr. Williams expressed concern about last week's assassination of the lawmaker Walid Eido and nine others in a Beirut bombing, and the continuing violence between the Lebanese Armed Forces and Fatah el-Islam gunmen at a Palestinian refugee camp in the north of the country.

He also noted that two Katyusha rockets were fired on Sunday from southern Lebanon at the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, causing minor damage but no casualties, and called it "a most serious violation" of the Security Council resolution ending last year's war between the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and Hizbollah.
2007-06-20 00:00:00.000

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UN POLITICAL AFFAIRS OFFICIAL NAMED DEPUTY ENVOY TO NEPAL

UN POLITICAL AFFAIRS OFFICIAL NAMED DEPUTY ENVOY TO NEPAL
New York, Jun 20 2007 5:00PM
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has <"http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2007/sga1073.doc.htm">appointed a senior United Nations political officer as his Deputy Special Representative for Nepal and deputy head of the UN mission in that country (<"http://www.un.org.np/unmin.php">UNMIN), his spokesperson announced today.

Tamrat Samuel of Eritrea has served with the world body since 1983, most recently as Senior Political Affairs Officer responsible for the South Asia region within the Department for Political Affairs, spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters in New York.

His efforts in that capacity were focused primarily on UN efforts to help resolve the conflict in Nepal, which has emerged from a 10-year civil war.

"He was closely involved in the conceptualization and operationalization of the current UN role in support of the Nepalese peace process, which is being implemented by UNMIN under the leadership of the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Ian Martin," Ms. Montas said.

UNMIN is a special political mission established by the Security Council in January to assist with the follow-up to the landmark Nepalese peace deal, reached in November 2006 between the Government and the Maoists, and also to support this year's planned elections in the Himalayan country.
2007-06-20 00:00:00.000

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UN, SUDAN AGREE TO TALKS TO IMPROVE IMPLEMENTATION OF PEACE DEAL IN SOUTH

UN, SUDAN AGREE TO TALKS TO IMPROVE IMPLEMENTATION OF PEACE DEAL IN SOUTH
New York, Jun 20 2007 4:00PM
The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) and the Sudanese Government will hold high-level consultations shortly on how to better implement the comprehensive peace agreement from 2005 that ended the country's protracted civil war between north and south.

The peacekeeping mission and the Government agreed to hold the talks after a meeting on Saturday between the Secretary-General's Acting Special Representative for Sudan Tayé-Brook Zerihoun and Idris AbdelGadir, the State Minister to the Sudanese Presidency.

The consultations "will be held in the near future," <"http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unmis/">UNMIS reported today, adding that they would focus on how to make the peace deal more effective. Under that accord, which ended a 21-year civil war, the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) was brought into a new Government of National Unity.

UNMIS said it is continuing its monitoring and verification duties under the peace agreement, although both the Sudanese armed forces and the SPLA have restricted access to the north and south of the town of Abyei.

In Juba, the Mission is also continuing to promote reconciliation between the Mundari and Bari communities, and has begun an assessment to see whether some Mundari communities can be resettled to the Tali and Terekeka areas.

Meanwhile, in Sudan's western region of Darfur, where a separate conflict has raged since 2003, UNMIS reported that an unknown armed man yesterday shot at a vehicle in South Darfur hired by an international non-governmental organization (NGO).

In West Darfur, two men stopped an international NGO convoy of two vehicles with five staff members, and robbed them of personal effects and communication equipment.

More than 200,000 people have been killed and at least 2 million others displaced from their homes in Darfur since rebel groups began clashing with Government forces and allied Janjaweed militias.
2007-06-20 00:00:00.000

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REBEL LEADERS FOUND GUILTY IN FIRST VERDICTS FROM UN-BACKED COURT IN SIERRA LEONE

REBEL LEADERS FOUND GUILTY IN FIRST VERDICTS FROM UN-BACKED COURT IN SIERRA LEONE
New York, Jun 20 2007 4:00PM
The United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (<"http://www.sc-sl.org/">SCSL) today <"http://www.sc-sl.org/Press/pressrelease-062007.pdf">issued its first verdicts, finding three former rebel leaders guilty of multiple counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the West African country's prolonged civil war in the 1990s.

Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu were each found guilty on 11 charges, including committing acts of terrorism, murder, rape and enslavement and conscripting children under the age of 15 into armed groups.

The three men, former leaders of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), a group of Sierra Leonean soldiers who allied themselves with the notorious rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) during the civil war, were each acquitted on three other charges, including sexual slavery and forced marriage.

Justice Julia Sebutinde, the presiding judge in the trials, read out the verdicts today at a hearing in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. A sentencing hearing has been set for 16 July.

Today's judgements are not only the first from the Special Court, but they mark the first time that an international tribunal has ruled on the charge of recruitment of child soldiers into an armed force and on the crime of forced marriage in an armed conflict.

Mr. Brima, Mr. Kamara and Mr. Kanu were indicted separately in 2003 but in February 2004 the Court's trial chamber ordered that the three men be tried together.

The SCSL, the second international war crimes tribunal established in Africa, was mandated to try those bearing the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian and Sierra Leonean law within Sierra Leone's borders since 30 November 1996.
2007-06-20 00:00:00.000

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SECRETARY-GENERAL MEETS WITH US CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS

SECRETARY-GENERAL MEETS WITH US CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS
New York, Jun 20 2007 3:00PM
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is meeting today in Washington with leaders of the United States Congress on issues of mutual interest to the country and the world body.

Earlier today, he met with Senators Norm Coleman, Bill Nelson and George Voinovich, and held a discussion over lunch with Congressman Tom Lantos.

"These meetings focused on UN-US relations including funding, on UN reforms, on peacekeeping operations, on Darfur, Kosovo and Haiti," Mr. Ban's spokesperson told reporters in New York.

During his first visit to Washington soon after taking office in January, Mr. Ban called on the country's president, George W. Bush, as well as Congressional leaders to raise their spending cap on the UN peacekeeping budget, warning that if the limit remains then the work of individual operations may be hampered.

The Secretary-General observed that the Congressional cap means that the US, which is the UN's largest financial contributor, never funds more than 25 per cent of expenses for peacekeeping operations.

According to a scale of assessments agreed upon by UN Member States in 2000, the US is required to pay about 27 per cent.

Mr. Ban has meetings tentatively scheduled with other members of Congress, and will return to New York this evening to attend an awards ceremony.
2007-06-20 00:00:00.000

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UN-BACKED PROGRAMME ASSISTS THE POOR IN MOUNTAINOUS AREAS

UN-BACKED PROGRAMME ASSISTS THE POOR IN MOUNTAINOUS AREAS
New York, Jun 20 2007 2:00PM
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (<"http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2007/1000607/index.html">FAO) has launched a new programme to bolster development efforts in mountain communities, in which almost one-third – or 245 million people – of the world's hungry live.

The Decentralized Cooperation scheme pools FAO's knowledge together with the resources and expertise of highland communities in Italy, France and Spain to aid fellow mountainous region dwellers in developing countries.

With a total budget of $13 million, 18 projects will target the neediest mountain areas in the world.

"Mountain people often have a natural connection despite vast geographic distance and different income levels and lifestyles," said José Antonio Prado, FAO's Forest Management Division Director.

Local groups in countries of differing levels of prosperity will share skills and traditional practices, referred to as decentralized cooperation, and this benefits the poor by providing access to resources, education, goods and services.

Problems faced in developing countries are compounded in highland areas by the climate, limited transportation options and isolation from urban areas.

Wealthier countries also stand to benefit from such an alliance through new markets for goods, through the development of new products such as specialty coffees and medicinal plants and through the protection of valuable natural repositories of freshwater.

While only 12 percent of the world's population lives in mountainous regions – which cover one-quarter of the earth's surface – many of these people are chronically undernourished even though mountains are the source of half of the world's freshwater supply.

Aid to mountain communities in developing nations could be crucial in protecting and improving freshwater resources while also bridging the economic gap between those living in the highlands and lowlands.

FAO is also involved in other projects designed to alleviate the plight of the mountain poor, hosting the Secretariat of the Mountain Partnership, which was established in 2002 and comprises 47 countries, 15 intergovernmental organizations and 82 private sector and civil society groups.
2007-06-20 00:00:00.000

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INVESTORS FLOCKING TO RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGY, SAYS UN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY

INVESTORS FLOCKING TO RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGY, SAYS UN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
New York, Jun 20 2007 2:00PM
Climate change worries coupled with high oil prices and increasing government support are fuelling soaring rates of investment in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries, a new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said today.

"One of the new and fundamental messages of this report is that renewable energies are no longer subject to the vagaries of rising and falling oil prices – they are becoming generating systems of choice for increasing numbers of power companies, communities and countries irrespective of the costs of fossil fuels," said <"http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=512&ArticleID=5616&l=en">UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.

Investment capital flowing into renewable energy climbed from $80 billion in 2005 to a record $100 billion in 2006, according to the report. The growth of the renewable energy sector "although still volatile… is showing no sign of abating."

Renewable energy sectors attracting the highest investment levels are wind, solar and biofuels, "reflecting technology maturity, policy incentives and investor appetite."

In addition to concerns about climate change, which Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called "the defining issue of our era," increasing energy demand and energy security are spurring the sector's growth, as is the persistently high price of oil – averaging more than $60 a barrel in 2006.

The report also credited the November 2006 United States mid-term Congressional elections, which it said confirmed renewable energy as "a mainstream issue," moving it up the political agenda.

"Growing consumer awareness of renewable energy and energy efficiency – and their longer term potential for cheaper energy, and not just greener energy – has become another fundamental driver," said the report. "Most importantly Governments and politicians are introducing legislation and support mechanisms to enable the sector's development."

The report added that while investment in sustainable energy is still mostly concentrated in the industrialized members of the Organization for Economic and Cooperative Development (OECD) – with the US and European Union together accounting for more than 70 per cent in 2006 – investment in developing countries is growing quickly.
2007-06-20 00:00:00.000

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BAN KI-MOON CONDEMNS STRING OF FATAL ATTACKS IN AFGHANISTAN

BAN KI-MOON CONDEMNS STRING OF FATAL ATTACKS IN AFGHANISTAN
New York, Jun 20 2007 2:00PM
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has strongly condemned the recent spate of violence in Afghanistan, including the weekend attack on police trainers that claimed more than 30 lives and constituted the deadliest attack of its kind in the nation's capital since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

"The Secretary-General condemns these acts in the strongest possible terms, which reflect an inexcusable disregard for the value of human life," said his spokesperson in a <"http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=2625">statement.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for Sunday's bomb attack against an Afghan Police Academy bus in Kabul, in which 30 Afghans were killed and dozens more injured.

The statement adds that "over the past few days, there has been a spate of similar attacks in other parts of the country, reportedly claiming the lives of dozens of civilians, including 11 children."

While noting the efforts of the Afghan and international forces to counter the threat posed by insurgent and other anti-Government elements, the Secretary-General "has learned with deep sadness of reports of the death of seven Afghan children resulting from a Coalition air strike in Paktika province on Sunday."

Mr. Ban calls on the Afghan Government and the international community to take "the necessary measures to address the security situation," adding that in doing so, "the protection of civilian lives must remain the guiding principle."

The recent wave of violence, and particularly its impact on children, has also sparked reaction from other senior UN officials including Mr. Ban's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, and his Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, Chris Alexander.
"Those responsible for these attacks – those who have killed hundreds of Afghan civilians this year in cold blood – are committing brutal crimes. These are crimes against the holy religion of Islam; they are crimes against humanity," said Mr. Alexander.
2007-06-20 00:00:00.000

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INUIT LEADER WINS UN AWARD FOR ACTIVISM AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE

INUIT LEADER WINS UN AWARD FOR ACTIVISM AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
New York, Jun 20 2007 1:00PM
An Inuit activist whose tireless advocacy has raised global awareness about the devastating impact of climate change on Arctic communities will <" http://content.undp.org/go/newsroom/2007/june/human-development-award-20070620.en">receive a prestigious lifetime achievement award from the United Nations today.

Sheila Watt-Cloutier, a 53-year-old political leader representing indigenous communities in Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Russia and a nominee for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, will receive the Mahbub ul Haq Award for Excellence in Human Development from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the 2007 Human Development Awards this evening at UN Headquarters in New York.

"Ms. Watt-Cloutier's life work is what human development is all about: helping people live healthier lives so they can realize their full potential," said Kevin Watkins, Director of the Human Development Report Office, UN Development Programme (UNDP). "Her leadership and advocacy on behalf of Arctic communities have advanced the cause of human development around the world. Her strength and dedication should inspire us all."

Born in a small village in Canada's frozen north, Ms. Watt-Cloutier helped launch one of the world's first international legal actions on climate change, contending that unchecked greenhouse gas emissions from the United States violated Inuit cultural and environmental rights.
"The world must pay attention to what's happening to Arctic communities because we are the early warning system for the rest of the planet," she said.

In addition to her work on climate change, she was an instrumental force behind a global campaign to ban industrial toxins that can cause infertility, cancer and brain damage.

The award Ms. Watt-Cloutier will receive was created in honour of Mahbub ul Haq, the pioneer who founded the global <"http://hdr.undp.org//nhdr/outreach_advocacy/hd_awards.cfm">Human Development Report, an independent annual research project commissioned by UNDP to analyze major issues confronting humanity and recommend policy changes. The 2007 Human Development Report, due out in early November, focuses on climate change.

Human Development Awards are presented only every two to three years. This year, awards were also presented to research teams from Costa Rica, China, Chhattisgarh (a state of India), Guinea-Bissau and the Asia-Pacific region for excellence in human development policy analysis and advocacy.
2007-06-20 00:00:00.000

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SECURITY COUNCIL EXTENDS UN OBSERVER FORCE IN GOLAN HEIGHTS

SECURITY COUNCIL EXTENDS UN OBSERVER FORCE IN GOLAN HEIGHTS
New York, Jun 20 2007 12:00PM
The Security Council today extended for a further six months the mandate of the UN force monitoring the long-standing ceasefire between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights.

In a unanimously adopted resolution, the 15-member Council decided to renew the mandate of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (<"http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/undof/index.html">UNDOF) until 31 December 2007, as recommended by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his latest <"http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=s/2007/331">report on the Force's activities.

While acknowledging that the situation in the Israel-Syria sector has remained generally quiet, Mr. Ban said he considered the continued presence of the 1,000-strong Force essential.

He added that the situation in the region was likely to remain tense "unless and until a comprehensive settlement covering all aspects of the Middle East problem can be reached."

The Force has, for the past 33 years, supervised the disengagement accord between Syrian and Israeli forces after the 1973 war.
2007-06-20 00:00:00.000

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BAN KI-MOON CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY WITH WORLD'S REFUGEES

BAN KI-MOON CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY WITH WORLD'S REFUGEES
New York, Jun 20 2007 11:00AM
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today marked <"http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/getinvolved">World Refugee Day by issuing a global reminder to not forget the plight of the nearly 10 million men, women and children who are forced to leave their homes and a call for greater international solidarity to meet their humanitarian needs.

"Let us recall what sets these families, children and elderly apart from others on the move around the globe. The difference is that they cannot go home," Mr. Ban said in his <"http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=2624">message marking the Day.

While millions of those fleeing their homes depend on the UN for material aid, they also need refuge and legal protection, which begins with an understanding by governments and individuals alike that "refugees are not exiles by choice," he stated.

According to the latest data from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of refugees worldwide has risen for the first time in five years, largely due to the violence in Iraq, and the number of internally displaced persons (<"http://www.unhcr.org/protect/3b84c7e23.html">IDPs) has nearly doubled.

"As humankind enjoys unprecedented mobility, with more people than ever before changing countries and even continents in pursuit of better opportunities, let us remember that not everyone who leaves home does so by choice," Mr. Ban stated.

Refugees do not leave their homes and villages willingly, but are forced to do so by conflict or persecution. In many cases, Mr. Ban said, "they are fleeing for their very lives, trying to find safety, protection and a way to meet their most basic needs."

Leaving home, he added, has meant "traumatic experiences of uncertainty, deprivation and intolerance."

Drawing attention to the growing numbers of those seeking refuge within their own countries, "living in refugee-like conditions within their borders," Mr. Ban also emphasized that IDPs have the same need for protection and assistance, education and a safe environment.
2007-06-20 00:00:00.000

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UN ENVOY CONDEMNS ATTACK ON BAGHDAD'S AL-KHILLANI MOSQUE

UN ENVOY CONDEMNS ATTACK ON BAGHDAD'S AL-KHILLANI MOSQUE
New York, Jun 20 2007 11:00AM
The top United Nations envoy in Iraq has <"http://www.uniraq.org">condemned the attack on the Al-Khillani mosque in the heart of Baghdad - resulting in the death and injury of more than 200 -warning that the increased targeting of places of worship is aimed at pushing the country further into a sectarian war.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative for Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, "forcefully condemned" yesterday's bombing of the Shi'a mosque in one of Baghdad's busiest areas, describing it as "especially repugnant" because it targeted worshippers leaving the noon prayer, resulting in a large number of dead and injured.

In a statement issued today, Mr. Qazi called on all Iraqis to "reject violence and opt for unity and reconciliation," and called on those responsible for law enforcement in Iraq to pursue the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

Yesterday's bombing follows last week's attacks on the holy shrines of Imam Ali Al-Hadi and Imam Hassan Al-Askary in Samarra, which Mr. Ban stated were "clearly aimed at provoking sectarian strife and undermining the peace and stability of Iraq."
2007-06-20 00:00:00.000

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UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL AGREES TO DETAILS FOR REVIEWING COUNTRIES

UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL AGREES TO DETAILS FOR REVIEWING COUNTRIES
New York, Jun 19 2007 8:00PM
The United Nations Human Rights Council wrapped up its <"http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/5session/index.htm">fifth session today by agreeing to a package of new measures that includes how the "universal periodic review" mechanism – which allows the human rights records of every country to be scrutinized – will work.

After marathon discussions ending late on Monday night, the Council agreed that each year 48 nations, comprising a mixture of Council members and observer States, will be reviewed to assess whether they have fulfilled their human rights obligations. Members serving one or two-year terms will be among the first to be evaluated.

These evaluations will not only involve input from the individual governments under review, but also will include contributions from treaty bodies, special procedures and other relevant organizations, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The Council also made decisions regarding its special procedures system, or the mechanisms, from rapporteurs and experts to working groups, which the Council can use to explore either specific country situations or thematic issues.

The Special Rapporteurs will be reviewed and will continue to report the Council. To improve the performance of the special procedures, the Council determined by consensus to retain 39 of the 41 mandates the body previously had, dropping the mandates to scrutinize Belarus and Cuba. A new item – "human rights situations that require the Council's attention" – was also added to the Council agenda.

The Council's outgoing President Luis Alfonso de Alba praised the results of the lengthy negotiations among the body's 47 members before today's decision.

"They lived up to the challenges that they were facing and they went to a final agreement on the institution building which is going to be a decision with historical dimensions, because it is the beginning of a new era for the United Nations and a new culture in dealing with human rights."

He described the Universal Periodic Review mechanism as "a tool that will be, because of its dimension and because of its universal… character, what can make a difference in the way we deal with human rights with each other."

Mr. de Alba added that the introduction of a new mandate on "human rights situations that require the Council's attention" meant that if any Member State wished to focus on a particular issue on which different views existed, then it was possible to examine that topic closely.

Doru Romulus Costea of Romania, who assumed the role of Council President today, said the body would be judged by its willingness and ability to transform ideas into real action for the benefit of victims of human rights abuses all over the world.

"Let us have no illusions," he said. "We may adopt good decisions, but are they enough to change the situation of the women, children and men, young and old, who have their rights violated, who are victims of abuses, whose voices are not heard, nor heeded by those who were called to protect them in their countries?"

The Council was established last year to replace the much-criticized Commission on Human Rights.
2007-06-19 00:00:00.000

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UNITED STATES OFFICIAL CHOSEN FOR SENIOR POST AT UN ANTI-HUNGER AGENCY

UNITED STATES OFFICIAL CHOSEN FOR SENIOR POST AT UN ANTI-HUNGER AGENCY
New York, Jun 19 2007 7:00PM
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today that James G. Butler of the United States has been appointed Deputy Director-General of the Rome-based anti-hunger agency.

Mr. Butler, who is expected to assume his new post in January 2008, succeeds David Harcharik, who has held the number two position at the <"http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2007/1000606/index.html">FAO since the start of 1998.

In a statement announcing the appointment, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said Mr. Butler has worked at the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture since December 2005 and before then served as a senior official with the US Department of Agriculture.
2007-06-19 00:00:00.000

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SECURITY COUNCIL TEAM DISCUSSES IVORIAN ELECTIONS ON LATEST LEG OF AFRICAN TOUR

SECURITY COUNCIL TEAM DISCUSSES IVORIAN ELECTIONS ON LATEST LEG OF AFRICAN TOUR
New York, Jun 19 2007 7:00PM
The Security Council delegation visiting Africa wrapped up its visit today to Côte d'Ivoire, where the role of the United Nations in staging elections scheduled for later this year was the focus of discussions with the leaders of the divided West African country.

At a press conference in Abidjan, the Ivorian commercial capital, Ambassador Jorge Voto-Bernales of Peru said the group had held talks with President Laurent Gbagbo and Prime Minister Guillaume Soro.

Mr. Voto-Bernales said both leaders stressed that the UN – which operates a peacekeeping mission in Côte d'Ivoire known as <"http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unoci/index.html">UNOCI – should remain involved in the country, to certify the identification process, help in the organization of elections and to implement the peace agreement reached in March.

That accord, known as the Ouagadougou Peace Agreement, sets out a series of measures to deal with the political divide in Côte d'Ivoire, which has been split between the Government-controlled south and the rebel Forces Nouvelles-held north since 2002.

Among other steps, the agreement calls for creating a new transitional government, organizing free and fair presidential elections, and merging the Forces Nouvelles and the national defence and security forces through the establishment of an integrated command centre. It also calls for dismantling the militias, disarming ex-combatants and enrolling them in civil services programmes, as well as replacing the so-called zone of confidence separating north and south with a green line to be monitored by UNOCI.

Since the agreement was signed, Mr. Gbagbo and Mr. Soro of the Forces Nouvelles reached a separate pact designating Mr. Soro as the new Prime Minister, stipulating he will remain in office until presidential elections are held, and then barring him from running in that election.

Mr. Voto-Bernales said the Council delegation and the Ivorian officials discussed the modalities of how the UN can assist the process leading up to elections scheduled for later this year, as well as the elections themselves.
They also considered how to maintain the functions of the office of the UN High Representative for Elections, Gerard Stoudmann, and whether it would be included in the office of the Secretary-General's Special Representative.

During its stay in Côte d'Ivoire, the Council delegation also met Foreign Minister Michel Bassolet of Burkina Faso, which facilitated the Ouagadougou Peace Agreement.

Earlier, while visiting neighbouring Ghana, the delegation held talks with that country's President, John Kufuor, focusing on the planned hybrid UN-African Union peacekeeping force for Sudan's violence-wracked Darfur region.

The mission heads now to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the final stop on its five-nation tour in Africa, before returning to New York on Thursday.
2007-06-19 00:00:00.000

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UNESCO ADDS 38 ITEMS TO GLOBAL REGISTER OF DOCUMENTARY HERITAGE

UNESCO ADDS 38 ITEMS TO GLOBAL REGISTER OF DOCUMENTARY HERITAGE
New York, Jun 19 2007 7:00PM
The world's first feature-length film, the family archives of the Swedish industrialist and philanthropist Alfred Nobel and the proceedings of the trials of South African anti-apartheid figures such as Nelson Mandela are among 38 items of documentary heritage that have just been added to a United Nations register to help preserve them for posterity.

The items have been included in the Memory of the World Register set up by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (<"http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=38423&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html">UNESCO), bringing to 158 the total number of inscriptions on the Register so far.

UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura announced today that he had approved the latest inscriptions, which were recommended by the International Advisory Committee of the Memory of the World Programme during a meeting last week in Pretoria, South Africa.

The Programme, launched in 1992 to preserve and promote documentary heritage of global significance, much of which is endangered, helps networks of experts to exchange information and raise resources for preservation of, and access to, documentary material.

This year's additions include the relatively new, such as <i>The Story of the Kelly Gang</i>, an Australian film from 1906 that is the world's first of feature length; the family archives of Mr. Nobel from 1840 to 1900; the personal archives of the Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman; the proceedings of the trials of African National Congress (ANC) leaders, including Mr. Mandela; and the archives of the Red Cross from 1914 to 1923.

They also include the not so modern, such as France's Bayeux Tapestry, an embroidery depicting life in the 11th century; Hereford Mappa Mundi, the only complete example of a large medieval world map; Korean printing woodblocks of Buddhist texts dating from the 13th century; and 30 manuscripts of the Rigveda, ancient texts from India that are more than 3,000 years old.

This year's additions come from or relate to the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bolivia, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Iran, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States and Venezuela.

Mr. Matsuura also announced that the UNESCO/Jikji Prize, an award of $30,000, has been given to Austria's Phonogrammarchiv, in recognition of its contribution to the advancement of audio and video preservation. Established in 1899, the sound archive is the oldest in the world and now houses more than 50,000 recordings.
2007-06-19 00:00:00.000

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UN REPORT SPOTLIGHTS SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHALLENGES POSED BY AGEING POPULATIONS

UN REPORT SPOTLIGHTS SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHALLENGES POSED BY AGEING POPULATIONS
New York, Jun 19 2007 6:00PM
As the proportion of older persons continues to increase at unprecedented rates worldwide, countries will need to examine and adapt national policies, particularly those relating to pension systems and health care, according to a new United Nations report <"http://www.un.org/esa/policy/wess/wess2007files/pressreleases/wess07pr_en.pdf">launched today.

The number of people aged 60 years and older is expected to increase from 670 million in 2005 to nearly 2 billion in 2050, and some 80 per cent of them will live in developing countries, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs José Antonio Ocampo told a <"http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs//2007/070619_Ocampo.doc.htm">press conference in New York to mark the launch of the 60th anniversary edition of the World Economic and Social Survey.

Designed to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, and entitled <i><"http://www.un.org/esa/policy/wess/wess2007files/wess2007.pdf">Development in an Ageing World</i>, the 2007 report notes the "profound impact" ageing has on economic and social development. It also offers suggestions for addressing expected challenges relating to national health care and pension systems in the next four and a half decades.

The report emphasizes that pension systems in developing countries are "significantly underdeveloped," and that without urgent pension reform there could be 1.2 billion people without income security by 2050.

Mr. Ocampo noted that the report presents "very strong evidence" of the association between the development of pension systems and poverty at old age.

"Countries that have very well developed pension systems are also countries that have lower poverty rates of older people, while those countries that do not have well developed pension systems have high poverty rates of older people, and older people are sometimes forced to work beyond their working life," he said.

While the report does not advocate a one-size-fits-all solution, Mr. Ocampo stressed that future pension systems should aim at universal access, be equitable and ensure enough benefits to avoid old-age poverty.

The report also notes that health and long-term care systems need to be reformed and adapted to fit ageing populations. At the same time, it states that ageing is not the most important factor in driving up the future cost of health care. Rather, rising costs can be attributed to inefficiencies in the delivery of health services, the introduction of new medical technologies, and price increases of pharmaceuticals and health insurance policies.

Mr. Ocampo added that addressing the economic challenges related to ageing will have to be tackled through "a mix of solutions," which should include increasing the participation of women in the labour force, lengthening the working life and improving worker satisfaction – all aimed at improving labour productivity.

"It is quite clear that if there is no increase in labour productivity in rapidly ageing societies, there will actually be a slowdown in economic growth that will affect everyone," he said.
2007-06-19 00:00:00.000

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IRAQ CRISIS SPURS FIRST RISE IN GLOBAL REFUGEE NUMBERS IN FIVE YEARS - UN

IRAQ CRISIS SPURS FIRST RISE IN GLOBAL REFUGEE NUMBERS IN FIVE YEARS – UN
New York, Jun 19 2007 6:00PM
The number of refugees worldwide has risen for the first time in five years, largely because of the crisis engulfing Iraq, while the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) has nearly doubled as well, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported today.

About 9.9 million refugees received help from <"http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/467785bb4.html">UNHCR last year, an annual increase of 14 per cent – or about 1.2 million – and the highest figure since 2002, according to data released in UNHCR's latest Global Trends report on the eve of <"http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/events?id=3e7f46e04">World Refugee Day.

The key reason for the surge in numbers, the report's authors stated, is the violence in Iraq, which has forced 1.2 million people to flee the country since the start of last year, predominantly to either Syria or Jordan.

Overall, the biggest national group of refugees remain Afghans (2.1 million), followed by Iraqis (1.5 million), Sudanese (686,000) and Somalis (460,000), but UNHCR noted that thousands of Afghans and Sudanese – as well as Liberians, Burundians and Angolans – were among the 734,000 refugees who returned home voluntarily last year.

The refugee figures do not include the estimated 4.3 million Palestinians living in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the occupied Palestinian territory who fall under the mandate of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The number of IDPs being assisted by UNHCR reached a record high of 12.9 million, a dramatic increase on the 2005 figure of 6.6 million. The report said this was driven mainly by improved registration systems, more accurate statistics and UNHCR taking up the lead role for IDP protection in some countries from other agencies.

But persistent or fresh conflict in Colombia, Iraq, Lebanon, Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste has also contributed to the jump.

In total, UNHCR provided assistance last year to almost 33 million people, which includes asylum-seekers, returnees and people deemed stateless as well as refugees and IDPs. This represents a sharp increase on the previous year's 21 million, but the leap is due partly to new methodologies for collecting and assessing data in some countries.

Meanwhile, High Commissioner António Guterres joined more than 160 southern Sudanese refugees yesterday as they made their way home from exile in neighbouring Uganda, where some had been living for two decades.

Mr. Guterres, who is on a three-day mission in Africa to coincide with tomorrow's World Refugee Day, described the repatriation programme to southern Sudan as one of the few bright spots in the region.

About 155,000 southern Sudanese have been returning home since the Government and rebels signed a comprehensive peace deal in 2005 ending the long-running north-south civil war.

"Life will not be easy; you will face many difficulties," Mr. Guterres told the returnees, who received a bundle of aid items, food stocks and information on landmines and HIV/AIDS prevention.
2007-06-19 00:00:00.000

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SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES NEW ROUND OF MONITORING NEPALESE COMBATANTS

SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES NEW ROUND OF MONITORING NEPALESE COMBATANTS
New York, Jun 19 2007 5:00PM
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the beginning of the second stage of monitoring by the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) of Maoist army personnel to ensure that no minors are serving.

"This is a crucial stage of the implementation of the Agreement on Monitoring of the Management of Arms and Armies," he said in a <"http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2007/sgsm11051.doc.htm">statement issued by his spokesperson.

The UN Mission in Nepal (<"http://www.un.org.np/unmin.php">UNMIN) will individually verify the details of each registered Maoist army member to ensure that they were over the age of 18 before 25 May 2006 and that they joined the Maoist army before this cut-off date. Child protection officers from the UN Children's Fund (<"http://www.unicef.org/">UNICEF) and registration personnel from the UN Development Programme (<"http://www.undp.org/dpa/journalists/">UNDP) will also participate in the effort.

UNMIN teams completed the first phase of registering weapons and personnel in mid-February, when more than 30,850 Maoist personnel were registered and 2,855 weapons were stored under 24-hour UN monitoring. An equivalent number of weapons of the Nepal Army was also stored under UN-monitoring as part of this process.

The verification process will be undertaken through individual interviews of each person registered as a Maoist combatant, and will be done in each of the seven main cantonment sites one after the other, according to UNMIN.

Additionally, Mr. Ban "reiterates to all parties the need to cooperate in the creation of a conducive environment to holding the Constituent Assembly Election later this year."
2007-06-19 00:00:00.000

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BAN DISCUSSES PALESTINIAN CRISIS DURING TELEPHONE TALKS WITH LEADERS

BAN DISCUSSES PALESTINIAN CRISIS DURING TELEPHONE TALKS WITH LEADERS
New York, Jun 19 2007 5:00PM
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced concern today about the continuing humanitarian problems in the Gaza Strip as he held talks by telephone with Middle East leaders about the ongoing crisis in the region.

Mr. Ban spoke with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad of the Palestinian National Authority, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordanian Foreign Minister Daoud Khattab, UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters.

During those talks Mr. Ban and the leaders discussed the humanitarian situation inside Gaza, where recent fighting between members of the Fatah and Hamas movements has left dozens of people dead and severely hampered international relief operations, which a large segment of the local population depends on for daily sustenance.

Ms. Montas said the discussions also focused on security and political issues, with Mr. Ban reaffirming his support for Mr. Abbas and the need for a two-State solution in the Middle East, with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security.

The telephone talks took place as the UN World Food Programme (<"http://www.wfp.org/english/?n=31">WFP) today sent its first shipment of food aid into Gaza since the latest wave of unrest, which forced many aid agencies to suspend operations and Israel to close border crossings.

Two trucks carrying 51 metric tons of food have crossed the border between Israel and Gaza and more are expected to follow later today, Ms. Montas said.

WFP has warned that commercial food stocks in Gaza are depleting quickly, with stocks having already run out in some areas, due in part to panic buying of stable goods, and expected to run extremely low in other areas within two weeks.
2007-06-19 00:00:00.000

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UNESCO CHIEF CONDEMNS MURDER OF FEMALE IRAQI JOURNALIST

UNESCO CHIEF CONDEMNS MURDER OF FEMALE IRAQI JOURNALIST
New York, Jun 19 2007 4:00PM
The head of the United Nations agency tasked with defending press freedom worldwide has condemned the murder of Iraqi journalist Sahar Hussein Ali al-Haydari, whose murder follows those of two female Afghan journalists in recent weeks.

"In only a few days, three women journalists have been brutally murdered," declared Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (<"http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=24784&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html">UNESCO), reacting to the killing of Ms. al-Haydari, who was killed by unidentified gunmen in Mosul on 7 June.

A correspondent for the national Iraqi press agency NINA and the independent agency Aswat al-Iraq, Ms. al-Haydari also taught journalism, including for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting in London.

Her murder follows those of Zakia Zaki, founder of one of the first community radio stations in Afghanistan managed by women, and Shokiba Sanga Amaaj, a reporter and presenter for the Pashtu-language private television channel Shamshad TV.

"These pioneering women were targeted because they devoted their energy and courage to help bring about democratic change in their societies," Mr. Matsuura stated, adding "I trust these particularly heinous crimes will not go unpunished."

Ms. al-Haydari is the second journalist from Aswat al-Iraq to be murdered this year, according to UNESCO. Her colleague Nazar Abdulwahid al-Radhi was shot to death in southern Iraq on 30 May.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at least 106 journalists and 39 media workers have been killed in Iraq since March 2003.
2007-06-19 00:00:00.000

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INCREASING NUMBER OF AFGHAN CHILDREN CAUGHT IN CROSSFIRE - UN OFFICIAL

INCREASING NUMBER OF AFGHAN CHILDREN CAUGHT IN CROSSFIRE – UN OFFICIAL
New York, Jun 19 2007 4:00PM
Concerned about the increasing number of children killed in Afghanistan, the United Nations envoy for children and armed conflict today urged all sides to take the necessary steps to protect the country's young people amid the worsening security situation.

"Children are caught in the crossfire and the number of victims is escalating," <"http://www.un.org/children/conflict/pr/2007-06-19afghanistanchild157.html">stated Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN Special Representative for <"http://www.un.org/children/conflict/english/home6.html">Children and Armed Conflict.

Anti-Government forces killed 11 children during a suicide attack against members of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on 15 June in Uruzgan province. In addition, they have been targeting schools, including the 12 June attack outside a girls' school near Kabul that left two students dead and several injured.

"The anti-Government forces are also suspected of using children as human shields," added Ms. Coomaraswamy.

She also expressed concern over reports that international coalition forces accidentally killed seven Afghan children in an air strike in Paktika province.

Yesterday, the Secretary-General's Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, Chris Alexander, denounced the recent wave of terrorism in Afghanistan, citing in particular the devastation wrought by the attack on schoolchildren.

"Those responsible for these attacks – those who have killed hundreds of Afghan civilians this year in cold blood – are committing brutal crimes. These are crimes against the holy religion of Islam; they are crimes against humanity," he said.
2007-06-19 00:00:00.000

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UN-LED TALKS ON WESTERN SAHARA SET TO CONCLUDE

UN-LED TALKS ON WESTERN SAHARA SET TO CONCLUDE
New York, Jun 19 2007 4:00PM
United Nations-sponsored talks on Western Sahara with representatives of the parties – Morocco and the Frente Polisario – along with neighbours Algeria and Mauritania – are set to conclude today outside New York, according to the world body's spokesperson.

"Representatives of the parties and the neighbouring countries met all day yesterday," spokesperson Michele Montas said, providing an update on the talks, which are being held at the invitation of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and facilitated by his Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Peter van Walsum.

At the outset of yesterday's meeting, the UN's top political official, Under-Secretary-General B. Lynn Pascoe, urged the parties to proceed in good faith, and expressed the Organization's commitment to assist in the negotiations.

Stressing that the stalemate was becoming intolerable, Mr. Pascoe said the dispute over Western Sahara must be brought to a conclusion through "a mutually agreed solution that will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara."

The invitations to this month's talks follow a request from the Security Council in its latest resolution on Western Sahara, adopted in late April, that Morocco and the Frente Polisario enter into negotiations without preconditions. The Secretary-General will report to the Council by 30 June with regard to the status and progress of negotiations.
2007-06-19 00:00:00.000

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DR CONGO: UNICEF AMBASSADOR LUCY LIU URGES PROTECTION OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN

DR CONGO: UNICEF AMBASSADOR LUCY LIU URGES PROTECTION OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN
New York, Jun 19 2007 3:00PM
Having recently returned from a visit to eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Ambassador Lucy Liu called on the nation's Government to bolster its efforts to protect women and children caught in the continuing violence.

On her mission to Ituri and North Kivu province, Ms. Liu, an American actress, met with former child soldiers, survivors of sexual violence and communities of people forced to flee their homes by the ongoing hostilities.

"I had the opportunity to meet with children and women who have faced unspeakable horrors, and who continue to live in an unstable environment," she said.

"Yet it is clear to me that the people of DRC are still very much hopeful for change which can only happen if the international community continues to support the work of agencies like UNICEF and its partners."

The deadly civil war which mired the DRC between 1998 and 2003 claimed the lives of roughly 3.8 million people, and is the most lethal conflict worldwide since World War II. Furthermore, approximately 1,200 people die daily in the Central African nation, with children comprising half of these victims.

Children suffer disproportionately, whether from disease or witnessing and participating in conflict. Nearly 30,000 child soldiers have laid down their arms thus far and are being reintegrated into their communities, while thousands more are still active in armed groups, according to UNICEF.

Since the start of this year, more than 50,000 have been displaced from their homes and lack basic services and shelter. UNICEF has supplied assistance to these people by providing clean water and emergency education and household supplies.

<"http://www.unicef.org/">UNICEF, in conjunction with its partners, has also aided 100,000 to return to their communities by providing them with survival kits and equipping schools with supplies so children's educations can resume.

In a related development, UN agencies and their partners yesterday asserted that education offers promise in responding to the HIV/AIDS epidemic ravaging sub-Saharan Africa in a summary of a new report set to be issued later this year.

"Education is essential to preventing HIV infection among young people, especially girls," according to the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (<"http://www.unaids.org/en/">UNAIDS), UNICEF, the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (<"http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=29008&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html">UNESCO), the <"http://www.worldbank.org/">World Bank and the Partnership for Child Development.

"It helps them live free from HIV and AIDS by imparting knowledge, skills and values to help them protect themselves as they grow up," it added. "At the same time, preventing HIV infection is essential for ensuring the sup ply, demand and quality of education."

The study, entitled "Accelerating the Education Sector Response to HIV and AIDS: Five Years On," highlights the achievements made by the agencies in the past five years in propelling the education sector's response to the epidemic.

Adolescents and young people, the report said, are not given enough information on HIV/AIDS. Life skills must be taught to supplement facts about sex and the virus to truly be effective in reducing vulnerability and curtailing risky behaviour.

The report also underscored the necessity of empowering young girls to alter the course of the epidemic, as gender disparities still result in women being at increased risk of infection and bearing the greater burden of the disease.

This new study is a result of the work of the UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team on Education. Since its establishment in 2002, the education sectors of 37 countries – representing mover 200 million school-age children in sub-Saharan Africa and 2.6 million school teachers – have participated in the programme, known as "Accelerate Initiative."
2007-06-19 00:00:00.000

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BAN KI-MOON TO HOLD TALKS WITH US CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS

BAN KI-MOON TO HOLD TALKS WITH US CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS
New York, Jun 19 2007 2:00PM
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel to Washington tomorrow to hold talks with leaders of the United States Congress on "issues of mutual interest" to the world body and the US, including the Middle East and Sudan.

"This brief visit will allow him to further broaden his contacts with members of Congress," the Secretary-General's Spokesperson, Michele Montas, told reporters today.

In addition to the Middle East and Sudan, Mr. Ban and Congressional leaders are also expected to discuss the relationship between the UN and the US, peacekeeping, UN reform and climate change – which the Secretary-General has recently referred to as the "defining issue of our era."

During his first visit to Washington soon after taking office in January, Mr. Ban called on US President George W. Bush and the country's Congressional leaders to lift their spending cap on the UN peacekeeping budget, warning that if the limit remains then the work of individual operations may be hampered.

He noted that the Congress has imposed a cap so that the US – the largest financial contributor to the UN – pays no more than 25 per cent of expenses for peacekeeping operations.

According to a scale of assessments agreed upon by UN Member States in 2000, the US is required to pay about 27 per cent.

Also holding talks in the US capital is Ibrahim Gambari – appointed by Mr. Ban last month to continue diplomatic initiatives on Myanmar – who has meetings scheduled today and tomorrow at the White House, the US State Department and Congressional leaders on Capitol Hill, Ms. Montas said.
2007-06-19 00:00:00.000

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UN INDEPENDENT EXPERT CALLS FOR DEATH PENALTIES TO CEASE IN IRAQ

UN INDEPENDENT EXPERT CALLS FOR DEATH PENALTIES TO CEASE IN IRAQ
New York, Jun 19 2007 1:00PM
Citing Iraq's "procedurally flawed legal processes," the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers today called on the country to halt the application of the death penalty.

According to a statement, Leandro Despouy <"http://www.unog.ch/unog/website/news_media.nsf/(httpNewsByYear_en)/B27B39F8BEDD3115C12572FF00397A69?OpenDocument">urged "the Iraqi Government to stop carrying out death sentences imposed following trials conducted in violation of international human rights standards and principles."

Reiterating several recent statements, Mr. Despouy said that the right to be tried by an independent and impartial tribunal as well as the right to an adequate defense had been denied in trials conducted by the Iraqi High Tribunal.

Such rights, he noted, are stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

"The violence, threats and intimidation to which judges and lawyers are subjected in the country, illustrated amongst others by the very high number of assassinations of defence lawyers in the country, greatly contribute to impinge on their independence," the Special Rapporteur added.

He appealed to the Government to not carry out the death sentence against Mahmoud Sa'eed, who has confessed to having participated in the deadly August 2003 attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad, which killed the Secretary-General's Special Representative in Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 others.

Mr. Despouy pointed out that in addition to the illegality of the death penalty in cases where strict due process standards have not been followed, the punishment also impedes the right to the truth of victims and their families, especially those impacted by the regime of Saddam Hussein.

In the case of Mr. Sa'eed, his execution would "also deprive the families of the victims of the attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad of the only information they could have on those tragic events," he said.

Mr. Despouy acts in an independent personal capacity and reports to the UN <"http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil">Human Rights Council, established last year to replace the much-criticized Commission on Human Rights.
2007-06-19 00:00:00.000

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UNESCO CHIEF CONDEMNS MURDER OF CONGOLESE JOURNALIST

UNESCO CHIEF CONDEMNS MURDER OF CONGOLESE JOURNALIST
New York, Jun 19 2007 12:00PM
Condemning the recent murder of Congolese radio journalist Serge Maheshe, the head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today called on authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to ensure that the crime does not go unpunished.

Adding his voice to those of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC (MONUC) in speaking out against the murder of Mr. Maheshe, who worked at the country's most popular radio station, Radio Okapi, UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura <"http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=24785&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html">said that "a famous voice in the DRC has been silenced."

Calling on Congolese authorities to do everything possible to find and punish those responsible for the murder of the 31-year-old, Mr. Matsuura said, "it is essential that media professionals, the true pillars of democracy, are protected and that crimes against them do not go unpunished."

Maheshe, who had worked for Radio Okapi since 2003, was shot dead on 13 June by two men on a street in Bukavu, in eastern DRC, as he and two friends were about to enter a UN-marked vehicle. His friends were not injured in the attack.

Radio Okapi is a partnership between <"http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/monuc/index.html">MONUC and the Hirondelle Foundation, a Swiss non-governmental organization (NGO).

According to UNESCO – tasked with defending press freedom worldwide – Maheshe is the third Congolese journalist to be murdered since November 2005. Bapuwa Mwamba, from daily newspaper Le Phare, was killed at his home by three armed men in July 2006. Franck Kangundu, a journalist for La Référence Plus, was killed with his wife in November 2005.
2007-06-19 00:00:00.000

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ALMOST ONE IN FOUR YOUNG AFGHAN CHILDREN FORCED TO WORK, SAYS UNICEF

ALMOST ONE IN FOUR YOUNG AFGHAN CHILDREN FORCED TO WORK, SAYS UNICEF
New York, Jun 18 2007 7:00PM
Poverty, lack of educational opportunities and the demand for cheap labour are helping to fuel the prevalence of child labour across Afghanistan, the United Nations Children's Fund (<"http://www.unicef.org/">UNICEF) warned today.

Nearly one quarter of Afghan children between the ages of seven and 14 are working, with more girls working than boys and the problem worst in rural areas, Noriko Izumi, head of child protection for UNICEF in Afghanistan, said at a press conference in Kabul.

"Poverty and low family income levels force children to work to support their family," said Ms. Izumi.

While some types of work serve to teach children new skills that can help them become responsible and productive adults, she said work that interferes with the education of children and affects their mental, physical and social well-being is considered child labour.

"It is those jobs which are detrimental to children's development that we are talking about."

Lack of educational opportunities also pushes a child to work, as did the demand for cheaper labour, she stated, adding "children are cheaper to employ than adults and easier to manipulate. It is easier to hire and fire children."

The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that 218 million children worldwide, from 5 to 17 years old, are engaged in some kind of labour, with 126 million children engaged in the worst forms of child labour.

UNICEF is working on several fronts to tackle child labour in Afghanistan, which already has a number of legal and policy instruments to protect children, including a national strategy for children at risk and a child labour law defining the legal age of employment.

At the same time, it urged the Afghan Government to sign and ratify two important ILO conventions – one concerning the minimum age of employment and the other one regarding hazardous work.

Among the challenges for UNICEF is difficulty verifying a child's age because of the low birth registration rate in the country, which has emerged from decades of conflict.

"It is also difficult to regulate informal sectors like agriculture where we know many children are employed in Afghanistan," Ms. Izumi added.

UNICEF's interventions in the country include non-formal education, which it hopes will help transit the child to formal schooling, and vocational skills training for older children. It is also supporting children "associated with armed forces and other war-affected children." Since 2003, over 12,600 children have been supported in 29 provinces with literacy classes and vocational training.

Ms. Izumi noted that while there are fewer children now involved in child labour globally, that does not seem to be the case in the Asia-Pacific region. "So we still have lots of work to do in this region."
2007-06-18 00:00:00.000

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UN OFFICIAL URGES ALL STATES TO SIGN ON TO TREATY AGAINST NUCLEAR TERRORISM

UN OFFICIAL URGES ALL STATES TO SIGN ON TO TREATY AGAINST NUCLEAR TERRORISM
New York, Jun 18 2007 7:00PM
Urging all Member States to become a party to a new international treaty which aims to prevent acts of nuclear terrorism, bring perpetrators to justice and promote cooperation among countries, a senior United Nations official today called for more vigilance and greater cooperation in the fight against the scourge.

"Advances in technology continue to outpace the efforts undertaken to prevent terrorists from obtaining weapons of mass destruction," said Larry Johnson, Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, he told a panel of nuclear terrorism experts held at UN Headquarters in New York.

"There is an urgent need to enhance international cooperation between States for devising and adopting effective and practical measures for the prevention of acts of terrorism and for the prosecution and punishment of the perpetrators."

The International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism enters into force on 7 July, almost two years after it was adopted by Member States, after Bangladesh earlier this month became the 22nd country to ratify or accede to it.

Originally proposed by Russia, the Convention was adopted on 13 April 2005, and outlaws specific and concrete acts of nuclear terrorism. It is intended to protect against attacks on a range of targets, including nuclear power plants and reactors. It is also applicable to threats and attempts to commit such crimes.

The Convention, which has been signed by 115 countries, promotes cooperation among countries through the sharing of information and the providing of assistance for investigations and extraditions.

Mr. Johnson stressed today that international terrorism remains an issue for all nations, whether rich or poor, large or small, and he reminded States that "terrorists must never be allowed to create a pretext in order to justify their actions."

Walter Gehr, Project Coordinator in the Terrorism Prevention Branch of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), told the panel that it is not enough to become a party to the new convention and other international instruments – States must be willing to properly implement the provisions in their national legislation.
2007-06-18 00:00:00.000

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UN ADVOCATE FOR POOR STATES SAYS LONG-TERM INVESTMENT VITAL FOR TRANSPORT SYSTEMS

UN ADVOCATE FOR POOR STATES SAYS LONG-TERM INVESTMENT VITAL FOR TRANSPORT SYSTEMS
New York, Jun 18 2007 7:00PM
Long-term financial assistance is critical to establishing efficient transport systems that can connect the world's poorest landlocked countries to countries with coastlines, the United Nations advocate for those States told a conference today.

Anwarul K. Chowdhury, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, said considerable investment is needed to develop, upgrade and maintain reliable transport infrastructure in such countries.

He told a meeting on the issue in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, that multilateral, regional and bilateral donors can all step up with more focused and longer-term assistance to landlocked countries that depend on the transit transport systems to deliver their goods to the rest of the world.

Mr. Chowdhury added that so-called "transit transport" systems can also receive a boost from greater South-South cooperation as most transit neighbours of landlocked developing countries are themselves developing nations. Administrative and customs delays between countries could be minimized, thereby lowering transport costs and spurring further investment.

"The success of our endeavours will indeed depend on the strength of our partnership," he said, referring to a process launched in 2003 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, to improve transit transport systems in landlocked developing countries.
2007-06-18 00:00:00.000

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UN-LED TALKS ON WESTERN SAHARA GET UNDERWAY

UN-LED TALKS ON WESTERN SAHARA GET UNDERWAY
New York, Jun 18 2007 6:00PM
Talks carried out under United Nations auspices on Western Sahara began today outside of New York, with the participation of representatives of the parties – Morocco and the Frente Polisario – along with neighbours Algeria and Mauritania, a spokesperson for the world body announced.

The talks, held at the invitation of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, are being facilitated by the Secretary-General's Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Peter van Walsum, spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters.

Addressing the opening session on behalf of Mr. Ban, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe that said today marked the beginning of a new phase in the search for a solution on Western Sahara.

He urged the parties to proceed in good faith and to establish an atmosphere of mutual trust, and expressed the UN's firm commitment to assist in the negotiations, Ms Montas said.

Mr. Pascoe stressed that the stalemate is becoming "intolerable" and that the dispute over Western Sahara must be brought to a conclusion through "a mutually agreed solution that will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara," she added.

The spokesperson quoted the political affairs chief as underscoring the importance of the meetings. "The Secretary General, the Security Council, and indeed the entire international community are deeply interested in events unfolding here today. The time has come for a solution. We wish you the best of luck, and reiterate our commitment to assist this process in every way possible."

The invitations to this month's talks follow a request from the Security Council in its latest <"http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=s/res/1754">resolution on Western Sahara, adopted in late April, that Morocco and the Polisario Front enter into negotiations without preconditions. The Secretary-General will report to the Council by 30 June with regard to the status and progress of negotiations.
2007-06-18 00:00:00.000

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CENTRAL AFRICAN GOVERNMENT, REBELS SIGN UN DEAL ON REINTEGRATING CHILD SOLDIERS

CENTRAL AFRICAN GOVERNMENT, REBELS SIGN UN DEAL ON REINTEGRATING CHILD SOLDIERS
New York, Jun 18 2007 6:00PM
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Central African Republic (CAR) and the country's major rebel group have <" http://www.unicef.org/media/media_40015.html">signed an agreement that will allow some child soldiers in the northeast – the scene of fierce fighting in recent months – to return to their families and become reintegrated with their former communities.

In an accord signed with UNICEF in the Central African town of Gordil on Saturday, the Government and the rebel Assembly of the Union of Democratic Forces (UFDR) agreed to allow the child soldiers in the local area to demobilize.

UFDR has already agreed to release some 400 children from its ranks in the Vakaga region, while under the deal UNICEF will also help prevent the future recruitment of children into armed groups.

Although the CAR is not one of the countries that endorsed the so-called Paris Principles in February, which call upon States to reintegrate all children enrolled in armed groups, UNICEF said the agreement indicated that the nation's warring parties were making their own voluntary steps towards respecting children's rights.

"This important process will allow the restoration of children's rights in Gordil," said UNICEF representative Mahimbo Mdoe. "The demobilized will now be able to go to school and to take advantage of health-care facilities. UNICEF hopes to use Gordil as an example to renew such initiatives in other regions and do so on a larger scale."

The programme is set up to work at the community level, with UNICEF offering support to those communities accepting former child soldiers and also helping to re-establish social services after years of war or misrule.

The deal comes as a UN team led by François Dureau, Director of the Situation Centre in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), conducts a three-day of the CAR and neighbouring Chad to help assess whether a mission of blue helmets should be established in the troubled countries.

The 12-member team is expected to hold talks with authorities in both Chad and the CAR and with local representatives of the international community during the visit, which starts today.

Meanwhile, UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman <" http://www.unicef.org/media/media_40014.html">voiced deep concern over the spate of deadly attacks in the past week against aid workers around the world, from Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territory to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the CAR.

The attacks and threats "have a double impact," Ms. Veneman said in a statement issued on Saturday. "People whose only motive is to help others are being killed and wounded. And, as a result, aid that is essential to the survival of millions of civilians, many of them women and children, is often scaled back in the wake of the attack."

She called for every effort to be made to ensure that relief workers can carry out their activities as safely as possible.
2007-06-18 00:00:00.000

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GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT URGES PARTNERSHIP TO END POVERTY

GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT URGES PARTNERSHIP TO END POVERTY
New York, Jun 18 2007 6:00PM
Tackling global poverty requires a concerted effort by governments of developed and developing countries supported by the private sector, civic groups, the media and other players on the international scene, United Nations General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa has <"http://www.un.org/ga/president/61/statements/statement20070617.shtml">told a gathering on financing for development in Doha.

The President said yesterday there is a "desperate need to accelerate progress" toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of anti-poverty targets to be reached by 2015.

"Our ability to deliver on our promises – partner and donor countries – is also reflection of our commitment to effective multilateralism, and building greater trust among the global community," she told the more than 90 participants attending the two-day meeting.

She noted that foreign aid dropped from $106 billion in 2005 – a record high due to debt relief operation to Iraq and Nigeria – to $104 billion last year. Excluding debt relief, official development assistance (ODA) fell by 1.8 per cent in real terms, she said. Aid to sub-Saharan Africa, excluding debt relief, was static in 2006.

"To meet existing commitments by the 2010 target aid will have to increase substantially in 2007 and 2008," she said, adding that quality of aid is as important as quantity. "The true test of aid effectiveness is the improvement in people's lives. And in this area there is much more to be done."

She cited statistics to illustrate the challenges ahead in a world where 270 million children worldwide have no access to health care, 4 million children die each year in the first month of life, more than half a million women die from complications in pregnancy or childbirth, malaria kills 1 million people, tuberculosis 2 million people and AIDS 3 million people.

At the same time, she noted that there has been encouraging progress, evidenced by the increase in life expectancy in the developing world, reduced illiteracy rates and the almost complete eradication of polio.

"In partnership, we have made progress in a number of areas," she said. "The challenge for all of us is to make good on our commitments and work in closer partnership."

She said that civil society, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the media and the private sector can all contribute to achieving the MDGs, but stressed that both developing and developed countries must "work to live up to their respective commitments."

"When poverty is so immediate and the suffering so intense, the world has a moral and strategic obligation, to address the concerns of the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly in Africa," she said.

"Each of us here today has a responsibility for delivering their share of the commitments we have promised, or holding others to account."
2007-06-18 00:00:00.000

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UN NUCLEAR WATCHDOG AGENCY TEAM TO VISIT DPR KOREA

UN NUCLEAR WATCHDOG AGENCY TEAM TO VISIT DPR KOREA
New York, Jun 18 2007 6:00PM
In response to an invitation from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to visit the country for talks, the head of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (<"http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/PressReleases/2007/prn200708.html">IAEA) said today that he is dispatching a team to Pyongyang next week.

IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei received a letter dated 16 June from the Director General of the country's General Department of Atomic Energy Ri Je Son, in which he asked for an IAEA delegation to visit the capital to discuss how the agency could verification and monitor the shutdown of the Yongbyon nuclear facility.

In his letter to Mr. Ri today, Mr. ElBaradei said that an IAEA team headed by Olli Heinonen, the Deputy Director General for Safeguards, will travel to Pyongyang for talks.

Mr. ElBaradei visited DRPK in March to discuss plans for the country to get rid of nuclear weapons in what he called "the first step in a long process" toward normalizing relations with a country that ordered UN inspectors out more than four years ago.

Ever since the Asian country ordered IAEA inspectors out at the end of 2003 and formally withdrew from the NPT and its inspections and other safeguards of fuel diversion from energy generation to weapons production, top UN officials have repeatedly appealed to it to return to the fold.

In October, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on the DPRK as well as individuals supporting its military programme and demanded that it cease its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction after it claimed to have carried out a nuclear test.
2007-06-18 00:00:00.000

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STEPPING UP PARTNERSHIPS IN HIV/AIDS WORK DISCUSSED AT UN-BACKED MEETING

STEPPING UP PARTNERSHIPS IN HIV/AIDS WORK DISCUSSED AT UN-BACKED MEETING
New York, Jun 18 2007 6:00PM
More than 1,500 participants from around the world are exchanging lessons learned from their efforts to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS and to care for sufferers at a four-day United Nations-backed meeting in Rwanda.

The delegates at the meeting, being staged in the capital, Kigali, are also discussing how best to maintain quality control in the prevention, treatment and care programmes and how to better coordinate efforts with each other.

"An AIDS-free generation can be a reality," said Doreen Mulenga, UNICEF's Acting Chief of HIV and AIDS. "We know what works – so let's use this knowledge."

Although children have increasingly become important in the agendas of policymakers, only 15 per cent of children in need have access to antiretroviral treatment, she said.

"Partners, including governments and donors, must increase and expand social services that will provide children in need with treatment, as well as protect them from HIV and the impact of AIDS," she added.

Most of the attendees travelled from developing countries, and participants include government ministers and those working in HIV programmes, including representatives from faith and community-based organizations, and those living with the virus.

"The combined efforts of donors, affected nations, UN agencies and national authorities are providing substantial, ongoing progress in access to HIV services," said Kevin De Cock, Director of the HIV/AIDS Department at WHO. "This meeting will allow partners to share important lessons learned during the implementation of multisectoral HIV/AIDS programmes."

Hosted by the Rwanda Government, the meeting is sponsored by the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN World Health Organization (WHO), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the United States' President's Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

The meeting, which has a theme this year of "Scaling Up Through Partnerships," is expected to wrap up tomorrow.
2007-06-18 00:00:00.000

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SECURITY COUNCIL ASKS INDEPENDENT COMMISSION TO PROBE BOMBING IN BEIRUT

SECURITY COUNCIL ASKS INDEPENDENT COMMISSION TO PROBE BOMBING IN BEIRUT
New York, Jun 18 2007 5:00PM
The Security Council has asked the independent commission charged with investigating the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri and other killings to help the country's authorities probe last week's murder of the lawmaker Walid Eido.

In a <"http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=s/2007/356">letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that was released today, Council President Ambassador Johan C. Verbeke of Belgium said members invited the International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC) "to extend appropriate technical assistance to the Lebanese authorities in the investigation."

Mr. Eido was killed last Wednesday, along with his son and at least six others, after an explosion struck the Manara district of the capital, Beirut. He had been a member of the Lebanese Parliament.

The Council letter follows a request from Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora for help to find the perpetrators of the bombing, which was condemned by Council members and Mr. Ban.

Mr. Eido's apparent assassination is the latest in a series of targeted killings of Lebanese political figures, including Mr. Hariri, who was killed with 22 others in a massive car bomb explosion in downtown Beirut in February 2005.

Last week Mr. Ban began the steps and measures to formally establish a special tribunal to try the suspected killers of Mr. Hariri – and possibly those responsible for the subsequent assassinations as well.

He also extended the appointment of Serge Brammertz, the head of the International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC), through 31 December this year.

In April 2005 the Security Council set up the IIIC after an earlier UN mission found that Lebanon's own inquiry into the Hariri assassination was seriously flawed and that Syria was primarily responsible for the political tensions that preceded the attack.

Mr. Brammertz told the Council last September that evidence obtained so far suggests that a young, male suicide bomber, probably non-Lebanese, detonated up to 1,800 kilograms of explosives inside a van to assassinate Mr. Hariri.
2007-06-18 00:00:00.000

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BAN KI-MOON PRAISES AGREEMENT BETWEEN BURUNDIAN GOVERNMENT AND REBEL GROUP

BAN KI-MOON PRAISES AGREEMENT BETWEEN BURUNDIAN GOVERNMENT AND REBEL GROUP
New York, Jun 18 2007 5:00PM
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the agreement between Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza and Agathon Rwasa, leader of the Palipehutu-National Liberation Forces (PALIPEHUTU-FNL), to implement the ceasefire deal they reached last year.

Yesterday's agreement in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, concerned the implementation of the Comprehensive Ceasefire Agreement between the two sides last September.

Mr. Ban "hopes that both parties will maintain the momentum created in Dar-es-Salaam to allow for the earliest recovery and consolidation of peace," according to a <"http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2007/sgsm11049.doc.htm">statement issued by his spokesperson today.

The statement also expressed deep thanks to Tanzania, South Africa and the African Union (AU) for their "valuable contributions to the peace process" and pledged the UN's continued support to Burundians for their efforts to bring lasting peace to their country.
2007-06-18 00:00:00.000

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SECURITY IN SOUTH DARFUR TOWN SHOWS NO IMPROVEMENT, SAYS UN

SECURITY IN SOUTH DARFUR TOWN SHOWS NO IMPROVEMENT, SAYS UN
New York, Jun 18 2007 5:00PM
The security situation in the southern Darfur town of Gereida has not improved and militia attacks against civilians, especially women, are continuing, the United Nations Mission in Sudan (<"http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unmis/">UNMIS) said today after wrapping up a four-day visit to the town.

UNMIS conducted the visit to Gereida to follow up on the Darfur Peace Agreement's (DPA) effect on the overall security situation, livelihoods and tribal reconciliation, according to a news bulletin issued by the Mission. Gereida is a key town about 90 kilometres south of the provincial capital, Nyala.

The UNMIS team found that Janjaweed attacks outside towns were ongoing and women were still subject to rape and harassment.

The DPA, signed in May 2006 between the Sudanese Government and part of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), was supposed to put an end to the fierce fighting in Darfur, and the agreement covers security, wealth-sharing and power-sharing.

But the Darfur conflict has raged on and some 200,000 people have now been killed since 2003 and more than 2 million others have had to flee their homes, resulting in large numbers of Sudanese refugees in neighbouring Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR).

In a related development, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed France's offer to airlift life-saving humanitarian assistance to a growing number of Sudanese refugees and displaced Chadians living in an "increasingly precarious situation."

"With the onset of the rainy season, thousands of refugees and internally displaced people will face even greater hardship. This airlift will help avoid any critical gaps in our operation to feed thousands of people," said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran.

WFP aimed to pre-position a six-month supply of food to feed 240,000 Sudanese refugees in 12 camps and 150,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in eastern Chad through the rainy season from June to November. So far, it has managed to build four months of food stocks.
2007-06-18 00:00:00.000

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SECRETARY-GENERAL CONDEMNS ROCKET ATTACK FROM LEBANON ON ISRAELI TOWN

SECRETARY-GENERAL CONDEMNS ROCKET ATTACK FROM LEBANON ON ISRAELI TOWN
New York, Jun 18 2007 4:00PM
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today strongly deplored the rocket attack launched from southern Lebanon at the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, calling it the most the serious violation of the Blue Line since the end of last year's war in the region.

In a <"http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2007/sgsm11048.doc.htm">statement released by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban described yesterday's rocket attack – which media reports say damaged roads and vehicles but caused no casualties – as "an attempt to destabilize the situation in Lebanon."

The statement stressed the importance of respecting and fully implementing Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the 34-day conflict last year between the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and Hizbollah, and called on all parties to exercise maximum restraint.

Mr. Ban said he had been assured by the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (<"http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unifil/index.html">UNIFIL), as well as by Lebanon's armed forces, "that they will do their utmost to apprehend those responsible for this violation and will continue their close cooperation to prevent any further attacks."
2007-06-18 00:00:00.000

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AS UN AID EFFORTS IN GAZA RETURN TO EARLIER STRENGTH, WEST BANK WAREHOUSE IS ATTACKED

AS UN AID EFFORTS IN GAZA RETURN TO EARLIER STRENGTH, WEST BANK WAREHOUSE IS ATTACKED
New York, Jun 18 2007 4:00PM
The United Nations agency tasked with helping Palestinian refugees <"http://www.un.org/unrwa/news/releases/pr-2007/jor_18Jun07.pdf">says its operations in the Gaza Strip have returned to their levels before the recent outbreak of deadly fighting, but a warehouse on the West Bank housing stocks of the UN World Food Programme (<"http://www.wfp.org/english/?ModuleID=137&Key=2532">WFP) was ransacked at the weekend.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (<"http://www.un.org/unrwa/english.html">UNRWA) had temporarily suspended all but its emergency health and food programmes in Gaza last week after the killing of two of its workers.

But its wider operations have resumed again and returned to pre-fighting levels, UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters in New York today.

At a meeting of UNRWA's Advisory Commission in Jordan, the agency's Commissioner-General Karen Koning AbuZayd said the security situation inside Gaza was improving, but there were still threats to staff who work in the field there.

As sporadic violence between members of the Fatah and Hamas movements continued over the weekend in the occupied Palestinian territory, a warehouse in the West Bank city of Nablus was attacked by armed men on Saturday.

The warehouse, containing several tons of food as well as office equipment such as computers and fax machines, was looted by the gunmen, WFP said in a statement. The food had been earmarked for chronically poor Palestinian families.

WFP called on all parties in the occupied Palestinian territory "to respect the independence and neutrality of humanitarian workers and installations and calls on parties concerned to return the stolen goods and equipment immediately," adding that it could only continue its operations so long as the safety of its goods and staff is assured.

The agency estimates that it currently helps about 665,000 people in the West Bank and Gaza.
2007-06-18 00:00:00.000

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OFFICIALS FROM UN WAR CRIMES TRIBUNALS URGE HELP IN ARRESTING FUGITIVES

OFFICIALS FROM UN WAR CRIMES TRIBUNALS URGE HELP IN ARRESTING FUGITIVES
New York, Jun 18 2007 3:00PM
Senior officials from United Nations war crimes tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia today <"http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2007/sc9048.doc.htm">called for efforts to capture a number of infamous fugitives known to be hiding from justice in different countries.

While observing "general progress" in Serbia's level of support, Carla Del Ponte, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (<"http://www.un.org/icty/">ICTY), told a meeting of the Security Council that she would continue to demand Belgrade's full cooperation, including full access to documents and the arrest and transfer of fugitives, particularly Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic – suspected architects of mass crimes during the Balkans wars – who she said she believes "are currently in Serbia or within Serbia's reach."

"The continuing impunity enjoyed by Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic gravely undermines all efforts to bring justice to the victims," Ms. Del Ponte told the Council, adding that it also seriously affects the credibility of the Tribunal.

ICTY President Fausto Pocar said the imperative for States to cooperate in the apprehension of the accused has reached a "critical stage."

He noted that General Zdravko Tolimir, a top aide to General Mladic during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, was apprehended by Bosnian authorities, while Vlastimir Dordevic, a senior Serbian police officer accused of participating in the campaign against Kosovo Albanians in 1999, was arrested in Montenegro just yesterday.

Reaffirming the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda's (<"http://www.un.org/ictr/">ICTR) "firm and unwavering" commitment to completing its work on time, Prosecutor Hassan B. Jallow stressed the need to bring remaining indictees to trial, particularly well-known fugitive Felicien Kabuga.

Asserting that the suspect is in Kenya, Justice Jallow called on the Security Council and Member States to "bring their influence to bear on the Government of Kenya for it to live up to its international legal obligations" by arresting Mr. Kabuga and handing him over to face justice at the Tribunal, located in the Tanzanian city of Arusha.

In his first address to the Council as the new President of the Rwanda Tribunal, Dennis Byron emphasized that the purpose of the court's establishment – to contribute to peace and international justice – will be "seriously impaired" if the remaining indictees are not brought to justice.

"If these fugitives are not arrested and transferred in time for their trials to be completed by the end of 2008, a solution must be discussed that will allow the Tribunal or another mechanism to proceed with such cases beyond the end of 2008," he stated.

The calls for help in bringing suspects to justice were made as the Council discussed the completion strategies of the courts, with the ICTR expected to wrap up its work by 2009 and the ICTY the following year. Officials from both tribunals said referrals to national courts were critical to meeting the deadline.

Mr. Pocar said the impact of referrals on his court's overall workload has been "substantial," noting that ten accused have been transferred for trial to the domestic courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, two to Croatia, and one to Serbia.

To ensure that international norms of due process are observed in those cases, he said it is imperative that domestic jurisdictions in the region receive strong support to strengthen their judicial capacity, including adequate detention facilities.

By prosecuting war crimes cases at the domestic level, Judge Pocar said "it is these courts that will carry on the legacy of the International Tribunal long after it has completed its mission."
2007-06-18 00:00:00.000

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AFRICAN WOMEN'S ENTREPRENEURIAL EFFORTS THWARTED BY DISCRIMINATION - UN

AFRICAN WOMEN'S ENTREPRENEURIAL EFFORTS THWARTED BY DISCRIMINATION – UN
New York, Jun 18 2007 3:00PM
The rampant gender-based discrimination hampering African women's success in business must be tackled through policy and programmes, according to a new study by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

The study, entitled "Lessons from Success Stories of African Women Entrepreneurs," called for initiatives beyond microcredit schemes while pointing out that women continue manage businesses which generate employment and tax revenue despite limited government support, negative social environments, institutional discrimination and lasting gender inequalities.

If African nations are to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a series of targets aimed at slashing social ills such as poverty by 2015, governments need to address these issues, the report argued.

The study – based on the experiences of nine randomly selected women entrepreneurs in Botswana, Burundi, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda – said that these women share the ability to take risk, creativity, extraversion, optimism and social skills.

None of the women said economic gain is the top indicator of success, but rather, success is comprised of honestly, reliability, hard work and the ability to spend more time with their families.

The findings of the report will be discussed at a two-day workshop which kicks off today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
2007-06-18 00:00:00.000

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'GRANNY POWER' CAN PROPEL DEVELOPMENT, UN FOOD AGENCY SAYS

'GRANNY POWER' CAN PROPEL DEVELOPMENT, UN FOOD AGENCY SAYS
New York, Jun 18 2007 2:00PM
Grandmothers are a large untapped renewable resource for maternal and child nutrition, health and development, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) <" http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2007/1000605/index.html">said today.

Grandmothers are "an abundant resource for development in all countries that is vastly under-utilized," said William Clay, FAO's Nutrition Expert, in a news release.

Participation of grandmothers leads to higher success rates for nutrition, health and community development projects, he added.

In a recent FAO seminar, this pro-granny attitude was put forward by Judi Aubel, a community development and health specialist, in her "grandmother-inclusive methodology."

"Elders are natural leaders," she said. "Young people are taught to value their knowledge and experience and are expected to look to them for advice."

But FAO said most development projects are youth biased, and reflect the attitudes the organizations running them, which are based in the West where elders are generally not as well respected as they are in other parts of the world.

Dr. Aubel heads a non-governmental organization called The Grandmother Project, which reports that its work in empowering grandmothers had yielded great success in maternal and child health projects in Senegal, Mali and Laos.

She also noted that grandfathers, who play a different role, can be great allies.
2007-06-18 00:00:00.000

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UN OFFICIAL ISSUES RINGING DENUNCIATION OF TALIBAN TERRORISM IN AFGHANISTAN

UN OFFICIAL ISSUES RINGING DENUNCIATION OF TALIBAN TERRORISM IN AFGHANISTAN
New York, Jun 18 2007 11:00AM
A senior United Nations official today sounded a ringing denunciation of Taliban terrorism in Afghanistan, decrying the group's atrocities as crimes against humanity and Islam while urging a concerted international response to the violence.

Chris Alexander, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Deputy Special Representative for <"http://www.unama-afg.org/Index.htm">Afghanistan, cited the weekend attack on police trainers and the recent killing of nearly a dozen schoolchildren in calling for strong action against the perpetrators.

"What is clear is that those attacking Afghanistan today – its institutions and its international partners – are arrogant, criminal and marginal. They are the enemies of Afghan life, faith and law. They will not succeed," he declared.

Mr. Alexander pointed out that just hours after yesterday's attack, the European Union inaugurated its new police mission for Afghanistan, which will bring nearly 200 mentors and trainers to all parts of this country, while President Hamid Karzai announced new police leadership for south and southeast.

"Terrorists are swimming against the tide in Afghanistan," said the UN official. "Police reform will continue to improve the quality of law enforcement in this country: better training, better leadership and better equipment are already prevailing."

The deputy envoy offered a personal account of the devastation wrought by the attack on the schoolchildren, naming the victims and their parents to underscore the suffering endured by the families at the hands of the terrorists. "Who on the side of those calling themselves 'Taliban' will take responsibility for these crimes?" he asked. "Who are those that celebrate the killing and the injuring of innocent civilians, of Afghans who so richly deserve peace?"

He demanded answers to these questions and condemned the actions and motives of the perpetrators. "Those responsible for these attacks – those who have killed hundreds of Afghan civilians this year in cold blood – are committing brutal crimes – these are crimes against the holy religion of Islam, they are crimes against humanity," he said.

"Those responsible have placed themselves outside the law, certainly, but also outside of morality and faith – beyond the community of Afghans and their institutions. They have joined the company and infamy of terrorists."

Mr. Alexander called on Afghans to speak out against the terrorists, and on insurgent leaders to stop deliberately killing innocent civilians.

"We also call on the Afghan Government and its international partners to continue their efforts to protect Afghans and to end this violence," he said.

"Our responsibility – as Afghan citizens, government officials, police, international military forces and international partners – is to work together, to stand together for decency and humanity, for the founding values of this country and of Islam itself, to end this violence."

In another recent attack, 20 armed perpetrators attacked a team of 60 deminers in Kandahar on 13 July, locking them up overnight and robbing their compound. The incident followed earlier attack on deminers, whose work is critical to preventing further mine casualties and paving the way for a peaceful future for Afghanistan.

'Despite these repeated attacks against deminers, the Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan (MAPA) does not intent to stop its activities in any part of the country; the Programme never ceased its activities even during the wars period," the UN said in a statement today.

"The MAPA extends its heartfelt thanks to the deminers for their unwavering courage,
sacrifice and commitment to their country." said Mohammad Sediq, the Chief of Operations of the UN Mine Action Center for Afghanistan (<"http://www.mineaction.org/org.asp?o=17">UNMACA), which oversees mine action on behalf of the Government of Afghanistan.

"Deminers are heroes who risk their lives each day to save innocent lives and free Afghanistan of landmines and unexploded ordnance to return the cleared land back to their countrymen. They should be praised for their hard work and not attacked."
2007-06-18 00:00:00.000

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UNICEF CALLS FOR INCREASED EFFORTS TO PREVENT CHILD TRAFFICKING

UNICEF CALLS FOR INCREASED EFFORTS TO PREVENT CHILD TRAFFICKING
New York, Jun 16 2007 10:00AM
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) marked the Day of the African Child today by calling on governments, communities and families to boost efforts to prevent child trafficking.

"Globally, an estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked each year, within countries as well as across borders," said UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman. "Children are trafficked into prostitution, into armed groups to serve as child soldiers, to provide cheap or unpaid labour, and to work as house servants or beggars."

Trafficking exposes children to violence, sexual abuse, severe neglect, and HIV infection, she pointed out, while violating children's right to be protected, to grow up in a family environment and to have access to education.

UNICEF called for punishing the perpetrators of human trafficking, which generates an estimated $9.5 billion a year and fuels other criminal activities.

Concerted action is also needed to tackle the social and economic factors behind this crime, which has its roots in poverty, UNICEF said. Children are frequently lured with promises of good jobs in other countries or in cities in their own countries. In reality they are "traded like commodities" to work in brutal conditions and many children face beatings and other forms of physical and sexual abuse from their employers.

Also marking the Day, Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, recalled meeting a 13-year old Congolese girl who was abducted on her way to school, gang raped, subject to forced nudity, and used as a sexual slave by a dissident armed group in Eastern Congo for more then two years.

The victim, who became pregnant during her ordeal, is now receiving schooling while her baby receives childcare. But Ms. Coomaraswamy said the girl has no response when asked about her future. "Her silent answer and her whole story is the most heartbreaking one that I have ever heard," said the Spe

Citing another example of the trauma endured by African children in conflict, the Special Representative described the ordeal of a former child soldier in Sierra Leone who left his community because he felt "haunted by bad spirits" and was re-recruited to fight for rebels in Liberia before working as a mercenary in Côte d'Ivoire. He said he left Sierra Leone because there is peace there now, explaining: "What I really know how to do well is fight and be a soldier."

Ms. Coomaraswamy pointed out that courts are now trying Charles Taylor, the former President of Sierra Leone, and Congolese fighter Thomas Lubana. The battle against impunity, she said, is the key to end grave violations against children.

"Children deserve protection. Violations of children's rights must stop, impunity must end," she said.

The Day of the African Child is celebrated on 16 June in recognition of the day when, in 1976, thousands of Black schoolchildren had marched in the streets of Soweto to claim their right to a better education, sparking a two-week revolt in which more than 100 people were killed and thousands were wounded.

2007-06-16 00:00:00.000

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UN AND AFRICAN UNION AGREE TO STRENGTHEN SECURITY COOPERATION

UN AND AFRICAN UNION AGREE TO STRENGTHEN SECURITY COOPERATION
New York, Jun 16 2007 6:00PM
The United Nations Security Council and its African Union (AU) counterpart today agreed to bolster their collaboration in addressing conflict and building peace.

"We commit ourselves to the development of a stronger and more structured relationship between the UN Security Council and the AU Peace and Security Council," they said in a joint communiqué issued following a meeting in Addis Ababa, specifying that areas to be addressed include conflict prevention, management and resolution, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, and the exchange of information on hotspots.

The two bodies emphasized the importance of developing the African Standby Force. On financing, the joint communiqué looked forward to a report of the UN Secretary-General on "supporting and improving in a sustained way the resource base and capacity of the AU."

The AU Peace and Security Council and the UN Security Council agreed to hold joint meetings at least once a year, either in Addis Ababa or New York.

"To further our relationship we will consider how best to improve the effectiveness of AU and UN peace efforts in Africa and how to strengthen coordination between the AU and the UN," they said.

A delegation of the Security Council is scheduled to depart from Addis Ababa early on Sunday for Khartoum before heading next to Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The team is expected to return on 21 June.

2007-06-16 00:00:00.000

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QUARTET CONCERNED AT WELFARE OF PALESTINIANS AFFECTED BY CRISIS -- STATEMENT

QUARTET CONCERNED AT WELFARE OF PALESTINIANS AFFECTED BY CRISIS -- STATEMENT
New York, Jun 16 2007 6:00PM
Members of the diplomatic Quartet -- the United Nations, European Union, Russian Federation and United States -- today voiced "deep concern over the welfare and security of all Palestinians, especially those in Gaza, whose lives have been most seriously affected by the ongoing crisis."

Following a telephone call on 15 June, Quartet Principals released a statement which also expressed the group's support for efforts to meet the humanitarian needs of Palestinians and called for respect for the human rights of all those in Gaza and the safety and security of international workers.

In addition, the statement called for an urgent end to the violence, and the cooperation of all parties to ensure appropriate security and access conditions for the passage of humanitarian goods and personnel both within the Gaza Strip and at key crossing points.

The Quartet expressed "understanding and support for President Abbas' decisions to dissolve the cabinet and declare an emergency, given the grave circumstances, the statement said."

Recognizing the "necessity and legitimacy of these decisions, taken under Palestinian law," the Quartet welcomed President Abbas' stated intention to consult the Palestinian people at the appropriate time.

The statement also noted the Quartet's "continuing support for other legitimate Palestinian institutions."

The Quartet said it "supports the efforts of responsible regional states to help calm the situation, and will continue to promote a negotiated, comprehensive, just and lasting Middle East peace in line with relevant UN Security Council resolutions."

2007-06-16 00:00:00.000

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UN COMMITTED TO FACILITATING MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS -- BAN KI-MOON

UN COMMITTED TO FACILITATING MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS -- BAN KI-MOON
New York, Jun 17 2007 10:00PM
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today voiced concern about deteriorating conditions in the Middle East while pledging the full support of the United Nations for facilitating the peace process and providing relief aid in the region.

In comments to the press made before a meeting in New York with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Mr. Ban said, "The United Nations is committed to facilitate the peace process and committed to provide all humanitarian assistance in this regard."

Mr. Ban said the Prime Minister's visit "takes place at a crucially important time, when the whole international community has been gravely concerned about what has been happening" in the Middle East.

"The deteriorating situation in Gaza and in the region has been the source of great concern to all of us, and the failure of the national unity government in Palestine is also a great concern," said Mr. Ban, calling it a "setback in terms of humanitarian security and the peace process in the Middle East."

The Secretary-General added, "I know that Israel has legitimate concerns over security, placing challenges to them. At the same time, this is very serious for the United Nations -- we have all the humanitarian concerns."

He noted that there are many Palestinian refugees who are living on daily assistance from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) -- "over 10,000 United Nations employees, who are mainly Palestinians, whose security and safety are in danger."

Mr. Ban called for a concerted response. "We need to overcome this crisis with common efforts, as well as wisdom. At the same time, I would urge all the parties concerned to exercise maximum restraint, and to resolve all the pending issues through peaceful means, through dialogue."

2007-06-17 00:00:00.000

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SUDAN ACCEPTS UN-AFRICAN FORCE FOR DARFUR WITHOUT CONDITIONS -- COUNCIL OFFICIAL

SUDAN ACCEPTS UN-AFRICAN FORCE FOR DARFUR WITHOUT CONDITIONS -- COUNCIL OFFICIAL
New York, Jun 17 2007 11:00PM
Sudan's Government has agreed to support unconditionally the deployment of a hybrid United Nations-African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in the Darfur region following talks in Khartoum with a delegation of the Security Council, which said that it would seek funding for the operation from the UN budget.

"I can tell you that the Foreign Minister told us in no uncertain terms that the Government of Sudan accepted the hybrid operation without any conditionality. The President himself just confirmed the same thing to us," Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo of South Africa said at a press conference following the meetings.

"The Sudanese leadership, at the level of the President of the Republic, has confirmed that the State of Sudan is committed to all the agreements signed -- including the recent agreement signed in Addis Ababa on a hybrid operation in Darfur," Sudan's Foreign Minister, Lam Akol, told reporters.

"The President of the Republic has made it clear that the ball is now in the court of the United Nations," he added.

Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry of the United Kingdom said the Security Council's would seek financing for the force from the UN's regular peacekeeping budget, meaning that the cost would be borne by all UN Member States.

"We all laid heavy emphasis in two long constructive meetings and over lunch" on the hybrid force with emphasis on the need "to accelerate the implementation and get that in place as soon as possible," he said.

Stressing that "there isn't going to be an enduring peace unless there is a political settlement," he said Council members called for accelerated efforts on that front. "The Government confirmed its commitment to pursue that, and I quote the Minister, 'aggressively' -- meaning that the Government is fully committed to it."

Sudanese officials also provided "certain assurances" on humanitarian access to those in need.

On the need for a ceasefire, Ambassador Jon
members stressed that Government "should exercise a measure of self-restraint faced with lots of temptations given the performance of the rebels."

The purpose of the visit was to reaffirm the Council's commitment to the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Sudan while encouraging its Government and other parties to engage constructively in the Darfur peace process, said Ambassador Kumalo.

In addition the aim was to "achieve without delay, full agreement" on deploying the hybrid operation. The Council also "came to encourage all parties here to fully implement the ceasefire agreement," he added.

Asked when the Council would recommend that the General Assembly authorize funding for the hybrid force, Ambassador Kumalo said this would happen "within a month."

2007-06-17 00:00:00.000

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