MBN The Monte Bubbles Network: United Nations News

Mar 24

UN ENVOY CONDEMNS ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON IRAQ'S DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

New York, Mar 24 2007 2:00PM The senior United Nations envoy to Iraq today strongly condemned the recent assassination attempt against Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Salam Z. Al-Zubai, joining Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who met with the leader in Baghdad just one day before the attack, in extending best wishes for a speedy recovery. Mr. Ban's Special Representative to Iraq, Ashraf Qazi issued a statement calling the act "cowardly and despicable," while warning that "the targeting of political leaders is intended to stoke the flames of division and undermine the Iraqi Government's efforts to stabilize the country." He wished Mr. Al-Zubai a speedy recovery and extended his deep condolences for the death of his brother, Abdul Rahaman Al-Zubai, and other close relatives, as well as to the families who had lost their loved ones "in this criminal attack." Mr. Ban, who met the Deputy Prime Minister during his official visit on 22 March, sent a personal letter to "condemning the heinous attack and wishing him full and speedy recovery," the statement noted. The Secretary-General also issued a statement on Friday in which he paid tribute to Mr. Al-Zubai's "readiness to serve Iraq at a great personal risk." 2007-03-24 00:00:00.000

Mar 23

TIMOR-LESTE: UN ENVOY URGES ALL PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES TO CAMPAIGN FAIRLY

New York, Mar 23 2007 1:00PM Welcoming the end of voter registration and the official start of the campaigning period for next month’s presidential election in Timor-Leste, the chief United Nations envoy to the small country today reminded all eight candidates to play their part to ensure that the poll is free and fair and conducted without violence. Atul Khare, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, urged the candidates and parties to respect each other in the run-up to the election, the first since Timor-Leste gained independence from Indonesia in 2002. “It is important for each of the eight candidates to send strong and clear messages about their political vision for this emerging democracy,” Mr. Khare said in a statement released by the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste “But it is equally important for this emerging democracy that the campaign is conducted freely, fairly and without violence, without intimidation and without misuse of State resources.” Earlier this month all eight candidates signed a code of conduct committing themselves, and their supporters, to either accept the election results or challenge them only through competent courts and to conduct campaigns that are positive and not based on personal attacks against other candidates. Other clauses include a commitment to respect the rights of competing candidates and to refrain from exercising any illegitimate influence on voters. The code was drafted by the Technical Secretariat for the Administration of Elections, the national body which will run the election on 9 April, and was approved by the National Electoral Commission. The Commission will also supervise the campaigning, which is also being monitored by national and international election observers. Campaigning ends on 6 April, allowing for a two-day information black-out ahead of the poll. Mr. Khare added in his statement that UNMIT was willing to offer assistance to national authorities during the election period whenever needed. Eric Tan, the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative, told a press conference yesterday in Dili, the Timorese capital, that nearly 1,000 UN Police (UNPOL) officers and more than 2,400 Timorese national police officers will be on duty across the country during the election campaign. The police will concentrate on protecting polling stations, securing election materials and responding to any security issues such as armed clashes, fires or roadblocks. Voter registration ended on Wednesday after being extended by five days because of disruptions, but Mr. Tan said the registration process proceeded smoothly overall. 2007-03-23 00:00:00.000

SOMALIA: UN HUMANITARIAN OFFICIAL APPEALS TO ALL TO END VIOLENCE IN STRIFE-TORN CAPITAL

New York, Mar 23 2007 11:00AM The chief United Nations humanitarian official for Somalia has called has called on all combatants, whether in uniform or not, to desist from further “acts of aggression and to respect civilian life” in the country’s strife-torn capital, Mogadishu, which has seen a surge in deadly violence in recent days. “This is a tragic situation,” UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia Eric Laroche said in a statement issued in Nairobi, neighbouring Kenya. “Tens of thousands of people are fleeing Mogadishu and civilian casualties are mounting daily. “The dragging of bodies through the streets is barbaric. This is a gross violation of international humanitarian law, and these kinds of acts must cease immediately,” he added, referring to reports that insurgents dragged soldiers’ bodies through the streets of Mogadishu before burning them on Wednesday. The UN estimates that more than 40,000 people fled Mogadishu due to conflict in February. Recent statements by the warring parties naming areas to be targeted for security operations are already causing further displacement of civilians. Movement of local UN staff in Mogadishu is severely restricted by the violence, while humanitarian access from outside the city is currently impossible. Mr. Laroche called for immediate access to all civilians affected by the recent upsurge in violence. “The neutral and impartial humanitarian response desperately required can only take place if there is unimpeded access,” he said. Violence in the capital has increased since the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), backed by Ethiopian forces, dislodged the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) from Mogadishu and much of the rest of the country at the end of last year. Somalia has been beset by factional violence and lacked a functioning central government since 1991, when the regime of Muhammad Siad Barre was toppled. 2007-03-23 00:00:00.000

UN PEACEKEEPERS BRING IN FRESH WATER FOR HAITIAN ORPHANS

New York, Mar 23 2007 11:00AM It may be a mere drop in the ocean, but for 160 children in a Haitian orphanage it meant much more when United Nations peacekeepers delivered 9,000 litres of clean, fresh water: it meant that they were not alone in the battle against poverty and the diseases brought by contaminated supplies. “It is our way of being close to the people and showing them our solidarity,” Major Irantha Ranathunga of the Sri Lankan contingent of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti said of the water delivery to the 105 girls and 55 boys at Santo 3 Karo Christian orphanage at Léogane. Yesterday’s delivery marked World Water Day but help from the UN’s Sri Lankan contingent, which is based nearby, comes on a regular basis. “We are happy to benefit from this regular support from the Sri Lankan soldiers every week,” the orphanage’s principal, Reverend Jean Claude Charlier, said. “In the whole area, there are wells but they don’t hold drinking water.” The water deliveries are just one small part of the humanitarian aid brought daily by MINUSTAH, set up in 2004 to help re-establish peace in the impoverished Caribbean country after an insurgency forced President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to go into exile. From helping to set up local municipal administrations to providing electricity, education and health services to restoring a library to laying out a football field, no task is too small or parochial for the UN peacekeepers as they try to make a difference for the people on the ground in one of the poorest countries on earth. As to water, UN World Health Organization country representative Paulo Teixeira noted that while his agency recommends a daily supply for 50 litres per person, some people in Haiti do not even have access to eight litres a day. “In urban agglomerations water is badly distributed and in rural areas, people can find water but with great difficulty,” he said. One of the first actions of UN peacekeepers after they cleared out criminal gangs terrorizing one of the violence-ridden country’s most dangerous areas, the Cité Soleil neighbourhood in Port-au-Prince, the capital, earlier this month was to ship in thousands of litres of clean water. 2007-03-23 00:00:00.000

Mar 22

UN MARKS WORLD WATER DAY WITH CALLS FOR INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT OF VITAL RESOURCE

New York, Mar 22 2007 11:00AM With some 700 million around the world currently suffering from water scarcity, a figure that could increase to more than 3 billion by 2025, integrated cross-border management of this vital resource is crucial, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today in a message marking World Water Day. “The state of the world’s waters remains fragile, and the need for an integrated and sustainable approach to water resource management is as pressing as ever. Available supplies are under great duress as a result of high population growth, unsustainable consumption patterns, poor management practices, pollution, inadequate investment in infrastructure and low efficiency in water-use,” he noted. “Yet even more water will be needed in the future: to grow food, to provide clean drinking water and sanitation services, to operate industries and to support expanding cities. The water-supply-demand gap is likely to grow wider still, threatening economic and social development and environmental sustainability.” He stressed that international cooperation will be crucial since many of the world’s rivers and aquifers are shared among countries. “The way forward is clear: strengthening institutional capacity and governance at all levels, promoting more technology transfer, mobilizing more financial resources, and scaling up good practices and lessons learned,” he said. Of the hundreds of millions of people currently facing water shortages an estimated 425 million are children under 18, and UN Children’s Fund Executive Director Ann M. Veneman kicked off the Walk for Water Event in New York City to mark the Day. “In many parts of the world women and children walk long distances to fetch water for their families for drinking, washing and cooking,” she said. “Access to clean drinking water is critical for the health of children around the world.” UN World Health Organization (<" http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2007/s06/en/index.html">WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan noted that over 1.6 million people die every year because they lack access to safe water and sanitation, 90 per cent of them among children under five, mostly in developing countries. “For every child that dies, countless others suffer from poor health, diminished productivity, and missed opportunities for education. Much of this illness and death could be prevented using knowledge that has existed for many years,” she said. Diseases such as cholera, typhoid, malaria and dengue could rise due to climate change, which makes availability of freshwater less predictable because of more frequent flooding and droughts, she warned. UN Environment Programme (<" http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=503&ArticleID=5543&l=en">UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner also stressed the dangers of climate change. “If we want to avoid ‘Water Scarcity’ as the permanent theme for the 21st century, a big part of the solution is cuts in greenhouse gas emissions of 60 to 80 per cent,” he said, referring to humankind’s role in heating up the planet. UN Food and Agriculture Organization (<"http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2007/1000520/index.html">FAO) Director-General Jacques Diouf pointed to the agricultural sector’s role as the number 1 user of water worldwide and its consequent duty to take the lead in addressing rising global demand and its potential drain on the earth’s natural resources. “With the right incentives and investments to mitigate risks for individual farmers, improving water control in agriculture holds considerable potential to increase food production and reduce poverty, while ensuring the maintaining of ecosystem services,” he said. “The potential exists to provide an adequate and sustainable supply of quality water for all, today and in the future. But there is no room for complacency. It is our common responsibility to take the challenge of today’s global water crisis and address it in all of its aspects and dimensions.” UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (<"http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=37165&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html">UNESCO) Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura stressed the threat to peace and poverty eradication posed by the growing scarcity and competition for water. “It is imperative to secure a more effective and equitable allocation of this vital resource,” he said in a message. 2007-03-22 00:00:00.000

HAITI: ARMED GANGS SURRENDER MORE WEAPONS FOLLOWING UN-BACKED CRACKDOWN ON CRIME

New York, Mar 22 2007 11:00AM Some of the most notorious armed gangs in Haiti are handing over their weapons following a United Nations-backed crackdown on crime in one of the violence-ridden country’s most dangerous areas which they had terrorized for years, the Cité Soleil neighbourhood in Port-au-Prince, the capital. In recent days the armed gang leader in the Bélékou quartet, Amaral Duclona, handed over to the National Disarmament, Dismantlement and Reintegration Commission 16 automatic weapons and 2,000 cartridges of all calibres, while Claude Jeune, a member of the gang led by the notorious Evens Jeune, who was himself captured earlier this month, surrendered nine automatic weapons and munitions. Just this Monday the armed group close to Jean Edy, alias Blade, in the Brooklyn quarter handed over 13 powerful weapons and 1,000 cartridges, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) said in its latest update on the months-long security sweeps in which hundreds of UN peacekeepers teamed up with Haitian National Police (PNH). “MINUSTAH operations in cooperation with the PNH are going to continue in high-risk areas,” Commission president Alix Fils-Aimé said, praising the mission’s role. Meanwhile MINUSTAH, set up in 2004 to help re-establish peace in the impoverished Caribbean country after an insurgency forced President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to go into exile, is continuing its efforts to reinforce state institutions by promoting decentralization and better management of local finances, now that mayors are elected. “In concert with the Haitian Government, MINUSTAH intends to accompany and support the new mayors in accomplishing their tasks,” the head of the mission’ Civil Affairs Section’s Unit of Institutional Support, Marc Plum, said of training sessions organized in the run-up to municipal elections, attended by 14,000 civilians and 1,000 candidates of the past year. The mission is helping the Finance and Interior Ministries train some 60 financial controllers to assist the new municipal administrations in better managing their budgets. “We will also work together with the Finance and Interior Ministries on ways to generate new local sources of revenue for the new municipalities to allow them to put in place better services adapted to the needs of their constituents,” Mr. Plum said. 2007-03-22 00:00:00.000

Mar 21

HAITI: UN EXPANDS HUMANITARIAN ACTIVITIES IN FORMER HOTBED OF ARMED CRIMINAL GANGS

New York, Mar 21 2007 11:00AM From security and justice to water and electricity to health and education, United Nations agencies are teaming up with the Haitian authorities to bring sorely needed services to the Cité Soleil neighbourhood in Port-au-Prince, the capital, one of the violence-ridden country’s most dangerous areas until a recent UN-backed crackdown on armed gangsters. “Recent security operations in Cité Soleil have allowed a more serene climate to take hold after a very difficult period for the inhabitants of this slum,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest update on the impoverished Caribbean country, which the UN has been helping to stabilize after an insurgency forced President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to go into exile in 2003. “This new panorama, beyond facilitating the realization of humanitarian activities and development already underway, has also allowed the reinforcement of cooperation between the United Nations system and the Haitian Government in their joint efforts to improve the living conditions of the population in Cité.” After sending in hundreds of UN peacekeepers together with Haitian police in several sweeps over the past two months in a crackdown that netted scores of suspected gangsters and several arms caches, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) took immediate humanitarian steps to improve the lot of Cité Soleil’s inhabitants, including restoring schools, health care posts and the water supply. Now UN agencies, including the World Food Programme (WFP), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), as well as MINUSTAH, are planning further initiatives over the coming days together with other international partners. The Haitian Government has set up four sub-groups for this international operation in Cité Soleil: security and justice; infrastructure, water, sanitation and electricity; health; and education/leisure and psychosocial services. “In this way the UN system in Haiti will continue to engage in the different sectors identified by the Government for the necessary support of vulnerable people and in backing the efforts of the national authorities to achieve Haiti’s social stabilization and economic development,” OCHA said. 2007-03-21 00:00:00.000

NEARLY 14,000 FLEE BURNED-OUT TOWN IN NEW FIGHTING IN CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - UN

New York, Mar 21 2007 11:00AM Nearly the 14,000 inhabitants have fled the burned-out wreck of the main town in north-eastern Central African Republic (CAR) since this month’s resumption of fighting between Government and rebel forces, United Nations officials reported today. “Never before has the UN seen a town in CAR where 70 per cent of houses have been torched,” UN country humanitarian coordinator Toby Lanzer said after leading the first mission to Birao yesterday following the fighting which resumed on 3 March. “The impact of this on people’s lives cannot be exaggerated.” The area on the border of Sudan’s conflict-torn Darfur region has suffered from a spill-over of the violence there as well as from fighting between the Government and armed opposition militias that has uprooted over 200,000 people in recent months, about 50,000 of whom have sought refuge in neighbouring Chad, amid reports of summary executions, ethnic violence and burning of villages. Prior to this month’s fighting, some 14,000 people lived in Birao, but following yesterday’s visit, the UN now estimates that no more than 600 people remain, the rest having fled the violence and believed to be living in the bush. In addition to the burning of houses, which makes the population's return virtually impossible before the start of the rainy season in May, the team also noted that the town's schools and hospital had been destroyed or looted. Priorities for humanitarian aid include shelter, supplies and psycho-social support. “This alarming news underscores the importance of my mission, which is intended to highlight the dire situation in the north of the Central African Republic, as well as the gaps in our ability to provide an adequate response due to both a shortage of resources and of humanitarian actors on the ground,” said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes who is on a two-week mission to Sudan, Chad and the CAR. The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in various parts of the CAR tripled in 2006. As many as 280,000 are now displaced, including 20,000 who have sought refuge in Cameroon, 50,000 in Chad, and an estimated 212,000 IDPs. Overall, some 1 million people, a quarter of the total population, are estimated to be affected by widespread insecurity throughout the north. Decades of recurrent armed conflict, political instability and poor governance have devastated the lives of the 4.2 million people of the CAR, the seventh least developed country on earth, according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Index. Social indicators have been declining steadily for two decades, with 2003 estimates putting under-five child mortality at more than 20 per cent. Basic infrastructure and social services, such as health and education, are nearly nonexistent outside the capital of Bangui. In 2007, the UN is appealing for $54.5 million for urgently-needed aid. To date, just under $8 million has been received, or 15 per cent of requirements. In 2006, only 60 per cent of total needs was covered. 2007-03-21 00:00:00.000

THAILAND: UN CALLS FOR END TO DEADLY ATTACKS ON SCHOOLCHILDREN IN RESTIVE SOUTH

New York, Mar 21 2007 10:00AM United Nations agencies today called for an end to violence against children in southern Thailand, where five children were killed recently and 12 others injured in escalating unrest in provinces bordering Malaysia. “UN agencies working in Thailand are deeply concerned about the ongoing violence against schoolchildren in the provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla,” UN Resident Coordinator Joana Merlin-Scholtes said. “First we saw schools and teachers attacked; now children themselves are becoming targets.” It is estimated that the conflict in southern Thailand has taken over 2,000 lives in the past three years, including 60 teachers. Over 100 schools have been burned down. In recent weeks, three students were killed and seven others injured when assailants attacked a boarding school in Songkhla, five primary school students were injured when gunmen fired on their bus in Narathiwat, and two teenage girls were killed while on their way to final exams in Yala province. These attacks follow a rash of school burnings and attacks on teachers late last year, which led to widespread temporary school closures across the south. “This is affecting children in all the southern communities and contributes to a climate of fear across the region,” Ms. Merlin-Scholtes said. “Such attacks against innocent children are against all norms and are completely unacceptable.” UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) country representative Tomoo Hozumi called for an end to the violence “so that all children can attend school in a safe and secure environment. Education is the key to present and future development in southern Thailand, and all schools should and must be treated as ‘zones of peace,’” he added. UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) country director Sheldon Shaeffer said it was important that schools serve as “sanctuaries for children” in the South. “Genuinely child-friendly schools, where cultural, religious and linguistic diversity is respected and welcomed, can do much in the long term to stop the increasingly critical cycle of violence against children,” he added. 2007-03-21 00:00:00.000

Mar 20

UN ENVOY CALLS FOR GREATER INTERNATIONAL AND INTERNAL EFFORTS TO STABILIZE AFGHANISTAN

New York, Mar 20 2007 5:00PM The senior United Nations envoy to Afghanistan today called on both the international community and the war-torn country’s Government to increase efforts to promote reconstruction and bring lasting stability to the “place of hope and challenge.” Given the conflict in the south of the country and militarily vulnerable borders in the east and southeast, “the threat to peace has not diminished,” the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Tom Koenigs, told the Security Council in an open meeting that saw the participation of more than two dozen speakers. “To be candid, international participation needs to improve,” he said, calling on donors to ensure “meaningful participation” of their representatives in international meetings on Afghanistan’s future and on the ground. Mr. Koenigs also pressed the Government to do more to fulfil its role as called for in the Afghanistan Compact, a five-year UN-backed blueprint launched early last year which sets benchmarks for certain security, governance and development goals. “The continued passivity of many government agencies – in the expectation that the international community will come to their rescue to meet the Compact objectives – only serves to delay progress and in some cases undermine it,” he cautioned. Also briefing the Council, UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa reported on its latest Afghanistan survey, which offered a mixed picture marked by some progress but also serious threats posed by the nexus between terrorism and illicit drug revenue. While opium cultivation in the centre-north of the country is decreasing, thanks to improved security conditions and development, in the south, “the vicious circle of drugs funding terrorism and terrorism supporting drug lords is stronger than ever,” he said. “Afghanistan’s drug problem occurs in a security vacuum, where illicit crops coexist with other criminal activities that support such cultivation.” Mr. Costa recommended improved border management, bringing major drug traffickers to justice and stamping out corruption as three tactics to combat Afghanistan’s illicit drug production. “Terrorism, narcotics, weak State institutions and the slow pace of reconstruction are among our main challenges,” Afghanistan’s representative Zahir Tanin acknowledged at the meeting. “As such, it would be safe to state that we have jointly underestimated the magnitude of the challenges facing Afghanistan.” Citing the gains the country has made since 2001, when the oppressive Taliban regime was ousted, he said that it is “ever more obvious that the renewed commitment of the international community is required to address the remaining obstacles and consolidate the gains of the past years.” As a basis for its discussion, the Security Council had Security-General Ban Ki-moon’s latest report on Afghanistan, which proposed a 12-month extension of UN Assistance Mission in the country (UNAMA). With Afghanistan at a “critical juncture,” the report said “it is time for the international community to reconfirm its commitment to Afghanistan.” UNAMA, along with its Afghan and international partners, is “well positioned” to assist in meeting challenges the country faces, such as the insurgency, national reconciliation and narcotics trafficking, the report said. 2007-03-20 00:00:00.000

UN AGENCY LAUNCHES SCHEME TO DRIVE DOWN COST OF REMITTANCES TO RURAL FAMILIES

New York, Mar 20 2007 1:00PM The United Nations agency dedicated to eliminating rural poverty has launched a global initiative to try to reduce the cost of remittances services, where workers living in foreign countries send money back to their families, to rural households. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) unveiled the $10 million Financing Facility for Remittances in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on Sunday, with the first round of grant recipients expected to be selected and announced later this year. More than $250 billion is sent in remittances every year, according to some estimates, easily outstripping the total amount of overseas development assistance to poor countries. Pedro de Vasconcelos, the coordinator of IFAD’s new funding scheme, said “remittances are a vital lifeline for rural families around the world. These transfers go directly to improve the living standards of millions and millions of poor households.” But while competition has driven down the cost of remittances services between major cities, it remains more expensive to send money to rural areas, which often lack formal financial services. The new financing facility will give funding priority to those projects or proposals which link remittances with the provision of other financial services, such as savings, insurance and loans. It will assist financial institutions which either want to provide remittances services directly or as agents of banks or money transfer companies. Donald F. Terry, manager of the Inter-American Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund, said the positive impact of remittances rises dramatically when tied to other financial services. “The challenge is to find mechanisms that will turn remittances from a poverty reduction plan to a development tool, benefiting millions of poor families and their communities,” he said. The new scheme has been set up with the financial support of the European Commission, Luxembourg, the UN Capital Development Fund, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor and the Inter-American Development Bank. 2007-03-20 00:00:00.000

HAITI: UN RESTORES PROVINCIAL LIBRARY TO GIVE CHILDREN ALTERNATIVE TO DELINQUENCY

New York, Mar 20 2007 1:00PM A provincial library in north-eastern Haiti has been resurrected thanks to funding by the United Nations peacekeeping mission, just one of the many so-called Quick Impact Projects (QIPs) that it is carrying out to improve community life in the impoverished Caribbean country. “The goal of this project is to encourage young people of the town to undertake cultural projects in this space, joining the useful with the pleasant,” Principal Deputy Special Representative Luiz Carlos da Costa said at the recent inauguration of the library in Fort-Liberté, the main town in the north-east. The library, which once had only seven books, now has more than 1,000 thanks to $3,500 donated by the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). “To open the doors to a library is to close the doors to juvenile delinquency,” library director Mesmin Cape said at the ceremony in the town, which has some 20,000 primary and secondary schoolchildren. “We had tried several ways, but it is MINUSTAH which has responded. Thank you!” QIPs are widely viewed as being among the most effective tools used by UN missions around the world to help local communities at ground level and at low cost, from repairing leaking roofs in schools in Georgia to opening a vocational centre in Liberia to refurbishing sanitation facilities in Burundi. Mr. da Costa stressed that re-commissioning the library would build lasting links between the local authorities, MINUSTAH and the people. Renovation of the roof, painting and building a toilet were carried out by MINUSTAH’s Uruguayan contingent. The books are mainly in Creole and French, but there are also some in English and Spanish. MINUSTAH, set up in 2004 to help re-establish peace in the impoverished Caribbean country after an insurgency forced President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to go into exile, has recently been concentrating on ridding some of the violence-ridden country’s most dangerous areas, such as the Cité Soleil neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince, the capital, of armed criminal gangs. But at the same time it has not forgotten its humanitarian and social programmes in Cité Soleil in connection with the clean-up of the gangs, restoring schools, organizing children’s sports, and providing meals, water, first aid and school supplies. 2007-03-20 00:00:00.000

THAILAND: UN-BACKED SURVEY SHOWS IMPRESSIVE SOCIAL PROGRESS, BUT CHALLENGES REMAIN

New York, Mar 20 2007 11:00AM Thailand has made significant progress in improving the situation of children and women in recent years, including nutrition, school attendance, access to safe water and sanitation, and coverage of essential health services, but remaining disparities need to be addressed, according a United Nations-backed survey. “These are very impressive achievements that Thailand can be proud of,” UN Children’s Fund country representative Tomoo Hozumi said of the survey launched earlier this month. “At the same time, the results show that there are some remaining challenges in reaching the international goals, and that the country can definitely make further progress towards them given its capacity, resources and wonderful track record so far,” he added, citing low infant breastfeeding, iodized salt consumption and knowledge about HIV/AIDS. The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), carried out by the National Statistical Office (NSO) with support from UNICEF, confirmed that Thailand’s rapid economic development and social development policies have led to significant social benefits for its people. It covered some 43,000 households and is the largest and most in-depth assessment of the situation of children and women ever undertaken in Thailand. It found that at the national level the percentage of underweight children fell from 19 per cent in 1990 to 9 per cent in 2006; 98 per cent of children of primary school age were attending school; 83 per cent of one-year-old children were fully immunized against the six preventable childhood diseases; and the percentage of the population with access to safe water and sanitation was 94 per cent and 99 per cent, respectively. One challenge clearly highlighted was the country’s low rate of exclusive breastfeeding. The percentage of infants exclusively breastfed during the first six months was only 5.4 per cent, one of the lowest rates in the world. Exclusive breastfeeding is the best way to guarantee that infants get all the nutrients they need during critical early development, and Mr. Hozumi urged steps to ensure that the marketing of breast milk substitutes to mothers follow internationally agreed standards and guidelines. He also noted that Thailand trails many other countries in iodized salt consumption, the best and most economical way to ensure an adequate amount of this essential nutrient in the daily diet. Severe deficiencies can lead to mental retardation and even a mild lack can restrict children’s mental capacity, hurting their performance in school. Nationally, only 58 per cent of households consume iodized salt, with coverage falling to as low as 35 per cent in the northeast. “This is an area where more effort is needed,” Mr. Hozumi said. “It requires the introduction of legislation that would make it legally compulsory to add iodine to all edible salt for human and animal consumption.” The survey also showed that much more needs to be done to educate the public about HIV/AIDS. Less than half of 15- to 49-year-old women had comprehensive knowledge about HIV/AIDS, measured by knowing at least two ways to prevent transmission. Negative attitudes still persist, with 29 per cent of respondents replying that an HIV-positive teacher should not be allowed to teach, and 65 per cent saying they would not buy food from a vendor with HIV/AIDS. 2007-03-20 00:00:00.000

Mar 19

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY MUST HELP AFGHANISTAN CONSOLIDATE PEACE – UN REPORT

New York, Mar 19 2007 4:00PM While progress has been made in Afghanistan in coordinating national and international efforts for development and countering the insurgency in the south, mounting violence from an emboldened insurgency, popular alienation and human rights issues put the country and its partners at “a critical juncture,” according to a new United Nations report. “It is time for the international community to reconfirm its commitment to Afghanistan and to move expeditiously to consolidate the accomplishments of the last six years,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon writes in his report to the Security Council covering the past six months, proposing a 12-month extension of UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). “UNAMA, together with its Afghan and international counterparts, is well positioned to assist in meeting some of the challenges,” he adds, calling for the Mission to focus in the coming months on promoting a more coherent international engagement in support of development, human rights and regional cooperation. Mr. Ban notes that insurgency-related violent incidents for January were more than double those in January 2006, and that a record 77 suicide attacks occurred during the reporting period, up from 53 over the previous six months. A September agreement between Pakistan and the local Taliban of North Waziristan did not prevent the use of the tribal area as a staging ground for attacks on Afghanistan, which had been one of the accord’s central stipulations. Security incidents involving insurgents instead rose by 50 per cent in Khost province and 70 per cent in Paktika. “Coordinated efforts by the Governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan to curb incursions into Afghanistan of opposition forces will therefore continue to be vital,” Mr. Ban says. Popular alienation remains a key factor behind the revitalized insurgency, and stems from inappropriate Government appointments, tribal nepotism and the marginalization of those outside the dominant social and political groups. “The central Government’s frequent tolerance of weak governance has diminished public confidence in its responsiveness and its readiness to hold officials accountable for their transgressions,” he writes. “In those cases where the centre has appointed capable governors, such as in Party, Cruzan and Kabul, it has failed to provide them with the resources necessary to maintain the goodwill that they have generated.” Mr. Ban says lack of security remained the greatest challenge to the enjoyment of human rights, with teachers killed, education facilities attacked and civilians caught in crossfire. Curbs to media freedom continued to be reported, the ratio of detainees to sentenced prisoners rose while the Government continues to face “enormous challenges” in delivering economic and social rights such as sufficient food, water, health care and educational facilities, particularly for girls and women. “Progress towards the realization of gender equality continued to be held back by discrimination, insecurity and the persistence of customary practices,” Mr. Ban says. “Honour killings of females by family members continue to be reported. Reasons included having been raped and elopement.” In Afghanistan’s largest prison in Kabul, the capital, almost 30 per cent of female detainees are in prison for acts that do not constitute criminal offences, while a further 30 per cent are detained for adultery in breach of national due process standards. Widespread corruption in the justice system also remains a serious concern. Mr. Ban stresses that the successful completion of the ongoing reforms of the Ministry of the Interior is a precondition for achieving a sustainable peace, not only through creating a more capable and motivated force to prevent insurgency and cross-border infiltration, but also to reverse the growth of narcotics trafficking and build public confidence in the rule of law. “The narcotics economy, linked both to the insurgency and failures of governance and rule of law, poses a grave threat to reconstruction and nation-building,” he writes of the country which supplies more than 90 per cent of the world’s heroin. “An urgent concerted effort by all stakeholders is needed to improve implementation of the national drug control strategy.” And he repeats UN concerns that the adoption in both houses of Parliament of a resolution on national reconciliation could lead to amnesty for those prosecutable for human rights violations in a country that has known little but occupation by Soviet forces and then internecine factional fighting and brutality for nearly three decades. “I welcome President [Humid] Kara’s launch of the Action Plan on Peace, Justice and Reconciliation in December, which states that no amnesty should be provided for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other gross violations of human rights, and outlines a clear road map for the future. I urge the Afghan Government to maintain this momentum,” he says. 2007-03-19 00:00:00.000

ON ITS INAUGURAL MISSION, UN PEACEBUILDING COMMISSION TO VISIT SIERRA LEONE

New York, Mar 19 2007 3:00PM A delegation from the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission – the body created in 2005 to focus on reconstruction, institution-building and the promotion of sustainable development in post-conflict countries – kicked off its first-ever mission to a country on its agenda today when a team arrived in Sierra Leone. On the trip, which runs until 25 March, the group intends to evaluate the situation in the country and identify obstacles to peacebuilding, the Secretary-General’s spokesperson, Michele Montas, told reporters. The seven-member delegation will also aim to see how the Commission “can best support national peacebuilding efforts” and “bring increased attention to ongoing peacebuilding efforts in Sierra Leone,” she added. Ambassador Frank Majoor of the Netherlands is leading the delegation, and its other members include Alpha Ibrahima Sow, Ambassador of Guinea; Leslie Christian, Deputy Permanent Representative of Ghana; Amir Muharemi, Deputy Permanent Representative of Croatia; Piragibe dos Santos Tarrago, Deputy Permanent Representative of Brazil. Representatives from India, China and the European Commission will be joining the delegation in Freetown, the capital. Earlier this month, Sierra Leone, ravaged by an 11-year civil war, received $35 million from the UN Peacebuilding Fund, established from voluntary contributions to aid countries which have recently emerged from war from slipping back into conflict. In another development, Lovelore Munlo, the Registrar for the Special Court for Sierra Leone, announced last week that he is leaving his position, saying “the time has come to move on.” Mr. Munlo became interim Registrar October 2005, and was appointed Registrar last February by the Secretary-General. During his tenure, the Special Court concluded an agreement with the Government of the Netherlands and the International Criminal Court (ICC) to allow the Special Court to try former Liberian President Charles Taylor in The Hague. 2007-03-19 00:00:00.000

BAN KI-MOON CONFERS WITH KEY MIDDLE EAST PEACE BROKERS ON PALESTINIAN UNITY CABINET

New York, Mar 19 2007 2:00PM United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon held a conference call today with his key international partners in efforts to broker a Middle East peace to discuss a joint approach to the new Palestinian unity government between the Fatah and Hamas movements. United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany, current president of the European Union (EU), High Representative for European Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana and European Commissioner for External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner took part in the consultations of the Quartet, which come ahead of Mr. Ban’s own visit to the region. Ever since Hamas won elections early last year and formed a Government, Israel stopped handing over tax and customs revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestine Authority, and international donors suspended direct aid, calling on Hamas, which rejects Israel’s right to exist, to commit to non-violence, recognize Israel and accept previously signed agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. The Quartet, which champions the Road Map peace plan of a two-State solution to the conflict, has reiterated these three principles several times since Palestinians reached an agreement in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, last month to form a unity government of both Hamas and Fatah, which led the government when previous accords with Israel were signed. On his trip to the region beginning this week, Mr. Ban will visit Egypt, the Occupied Palestinian territory, Israel and Jordan, and attend the Arab League Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 28 March, before going on to Lebanon. He will be back at UN Headquarters in New York on 2 April. “The Secretary-General believes that we are seeing a renewed dynamism in diplomacy in the Arab world,” Mr. Ban’s spokesperson, Michele Montas, told a new briefing today, adding that his main priorities for the trip will be the Middle East Peace process, stability in Lebanon, the Darfur and the UN role within the Iraq Compact. “The UN has had crucial political and operational roles in the Middle East for over 60 years,” she said, stressing that the region is high on Mr. Ban’s agenda. “The Secretary General wants to see first hand the UN peace operations and presences in the region. He also wants to hear first hand from the people in the region the problems and challenges they face,” she added. At the Riyadh summit, he wants to express his support to ongoing efforts to re-energize the Middle East peace process and bring about peace and stability in Lebanon, Iraq, and in the broader Middle East context, she said. 2007-03-19 00:00:00.000

BAN KI-MOON CONFERS WITH KEY MIDDLE EAST PEACE BROKERS ON PALESTINIAN UNITY CABINET

SECRETARY-GENERAL CONDEMNS TERRORIST CHLORINE BOMBINGS IN IRAQ New York, Mar 19 2007 2:00PM United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today strongly condemned the recent multiple terrorist bombings using chlorine gas in Iraq which wounded or sickened more than 350 people. “The Secretary-General is appalled by these attacks which are clearly intended to cause panic and instability in the country,” his spokesperson, Michelle Montas, said in condemning the blasts in the Al Anbar province. She added that Mr. Ban “is confident that firm action will be taken to prevent such attacks in the future.” In his latest report to the Security Council on Iraq, released earlier this month, the Secretary-General warned that “new tactics involving the use of chlorine gas in their weapons systems [are] worrisome.” On Thursday, Mr. Ban’s chief envoy to Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, told the Council that “chlorine has been used to terrorize the population.” Up until that time the actual additional casualties sustained had been “relatively low.” 2007-03-19 00:00:00.000

Mar 16

UN REFUGEE CHIEF WRAPS UP VISIT TO COLOMBIA, ONE OF HIS AGENCY’S MAJOR CONCERNS

New York, Mar 16 2007 12:00PM United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres today wraps up a four-day visit to Colombia, which has one of the largest populations of concern to his agency with some 3 million people uprooted by more than 40 years of fighting between the Government, leftist rebels, right-wing paramilitaries and criminal gangs. Mr. Guterres, who has already met with President Álvaro Uribe and yesterday visited displaced Afro-Colombians in Chocó in the north-west of the country, was today chairing a conference on displacement in Bogota, the capital, bringing together high-ranking government officials, civil society and displaced people. The meeting has two main objectives: to draw attention to the humanitarian consequences of displacement and encourage the full implementation of the law so that all displaced people have equal access to their rights, UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told a news briefing in Geneva. “Colombia has some of the most advanced legislation in the world for internally displaced people, thanks to a national law passed 10 years ago. It covers the rights to protection by the State, documentation and access to services such as health, education and housing,” he said. “However, practical delivery of the law remains patchy in some areas and not all IDPs [internally displaced persons] have equal access to their rights.” In his meeting with President Uribe, Mr. Guterres pledged continuing UNHCR support for Government efforts on behalf of the displaced, stressing the importance of applying the law in a concrete way and carrying it out equally for everyone. In his visit to Chocó, where most of the Afro-Colombian community has been displaced due to the volatile security situation and many are still frightened they may have to flee again, he told them security and peace were their first rights, without which no other rights could be adequately enforced. Throughout his visit to a country where IDPs represent some 8 per cent of the total population of over 40 million, he stressed the importance of addressing the root causes of displacement, adding that, while the international community is there to help, the problems can only be solved by the Colombian people and their Government. Today’s conference coincides with the release of a UNHCR study that evaluates changes and displacement trends and in the Government’s response in Colombia over the past three years. Before arriving here, Mr. Guterres visited Ecuador, which hosts some 250,000 Colombians, and called for more international support for the refugees there. 2007-03-16 00:00:00.000

MADAGASCAR: UN LAUNCHES $9.6-MILLION EMERGENCY APPEAL FOR FLOOD, HURRICANE VICTIMS

New York, Mar 16 2007 11:00AM The United Nations and its humanitarian partners today launched a $9.6-million six-month Flash Appeal for Madagascar to aid nearly 300,000 people affected by heavy flooding and cyclones. “Urgent assistance is needed to provide for the many thousands of people affected by this overwhelming series of natural hazards,” UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said. Immediate needs include food to prevent acute malnutrition; drugs, water and sanitation to treat and prevent waterborne diseases; and agricultural input such as seeds and fertilizer to restore agricultural production. Additional needs include shelter and non food items, child protection, health, education, logistics and coordination. Since December, a series of cyclones, with accompanying heavy rainfall, has lashed several regions of the Indian Ocean island nation, damaging large swathes of land. Some 293,000 people are expected to require assistance in the coming months, including 33,000 displaced persons and 260,000 others affected by the loss of up to 80 per cent of crops in south-eastern areas of the country. “Madagascar has been hit by a series of cyclones this year, which has drained in-country supplies,” UN Resident Coordinator Bouri Sanhouidi said. “We need to replenish relief supplies to ensure that we are prepared, as more rains are expected along with possible cyclones.” Last month, the Government launched a $242-million appeal for help in responding to needs created by the severe floods that started in December, as well as an existing drought situation prevailing in the south, which has affected 582,000 people. Madagascar, with a population of some 18 million, is prone to a wide range of natural disasters, which regularly cause damage to the local communities as well as set-backs to economic growth. The country ranks 143 out of 177 countries on the 2006 Human Development Index. 2007-03-16 00:00:00.000

UN REFUGEE AGENCY ‘DEEPLY DISTURBED’ BY NEW SECURITY RAID ON PALESTINIANS IN IRAQ

New York, Mar 16 2007 10:00AM In the latest of a long series of expressions of alarm over the fate of Palestinian refugees in Iraq after the ouster of Saddam Hussein, the United Nations refugee agency today voiced deep concern over a raid by Iraqi security forces this week in Baghdad, which left at least one Palestinian dead and nine others reportedly still in detention. “The violence reportedly broke out when the Palestinians tried to resist the raid,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Ron Redmond told a news briefing in Geneva. “They said they were frightened following months of being targeted by various groups. Several have been kidnapped, arrested and killed. They have often expressed concern about the lack of protection by the Iraqi security forces.” Over the past year UNHCR has repeatedly called on the Iraqi authorities and the United States-led multinational forces to protect the Palestinians, who fled to Iraq after the creation of Israel in 1948. Some received preferential treatment under Saddam Hussein and have become targets for attack since his overthrow in 2003. Nearly 20,000 of them have already fled but an estimated 15,000 still remain in the country, mostly in Baghdad. Mr. Redmond repeated that call today and urgently appealed to countries in the region and outside to offer temporary relocation for Palestinians from Iraq, noting that at least 186 of them had been confirmed murdered in Baghdad between April 2004 and January 2007. “UNHCR believes the number may be significantly higher. Their enclaves in Baghdad have been the target of many militia attacks. Hundreds of Palestinian families have been evicted from their homes with nowhere to go, prevented from seeking refuge in neighbouring countries,” he said. “Recently, UNHCR has received reports that the families of several detained Palestinians have been forced to pay thousands of US dollars to some members of the Iraqi security forces, allegedly for protection from torture and mutilation of their family members while in detention. Higher sums have reportedly been demanded to ensure their release.” In the latest incident, 51 Palestinians were reportedly detained initially, but released later. The raid prompted at least 41 more to flee and join 850 others who have been stranded at the Iraq-Syria border since last May. More are expected to be on their way. Police forces and multinational forces said the raid took place as part of the Baghdad security plan. The dead man was a guard at one of the Baghdad mosques and reportedly suffered at least one gunshot to the head. UNHCR and other organizations have also received allegations of physical abuse and possibly torture carried out in detention, an allegation denied by the Iraqi authorities. One ex-detainee reported he was beaten on his back and suffered a broken hand. He believed that others had been subjected to worse treatment. The Palestinians who arrived at the border claimed that their houses had been raided by the special forces, their furniture thrown out of their homes and that they were told they had two days to leave. Others claimed they had been detained and maltreated before being released. “UNHCR is also very much concerned about the safety of NGOs [non-governmental organizations] working with the Palestinians,” Mr. Redmond said, noting that a NGO staff member dealing with the Palestinian community was abducted in front of his son by unknown men on Tuesday and found dead the next day. 2007-03-16 00:00:00.000

Mar 15

1 MILLION YEMENIS TO BENEFIT UNDER UN FIVE-YEAR FOOD PROGRAMME

New York, Mar 15 2007 11:00AM One million Yemenis will benefit from a new five-year $48-million programme signed with the United Nations World Food Programme to help reduce poverty, cut malnutrition and narrow the gender gap in education. “Food insecurity has reached crisis proportions in Yemen and over 50 per cent of children under five are malnourished,” WFP Representative Mohamed El-Kouhene said at the signing ceremony yesterday in Sana’a. “WFP, in partnership with the Yemeni government and other UN agencies, will do its utmost effort to reduce these levels.” The new Country Programme for the period 2007-2011 will focus on expanding girls’ access to education and improving the health and nutritional status of malnourished children under five, pregnant and lactating women, and tuberculosis and leprosy patients. Scarce natural resources, combined with one of the highest population growth rates in the world, have contributed to Yemen’s economic difficulties. Over 40 per cent of the population of some 21 million live on less than $2 per day and over 70 per cent live in rural areas, where stagnating agricultural production has led to severe poverty and high unemployment. One of WFP’s activities under the project will be providing food rations as an incentive to encourage families to enrol their children, especially girls, in primary schools. It will also be expanded to include girls in secondary education. “Girls’ education is as essential as it is for boys. They are at least half the future of this country as active members of the society who will ensure that the country can move forward,” Mr. El-Kouhene said. Gender inequality in education is a problem especially evident in primary schools where the enrolment rate for girls is 61 per cent compared to 86 per cent for boys. The illiteracy rate for girls over 15 has peaked at 71.5 per cent. “Donors have been supportive to WFP’s operations in Yemen,” Mr. El-Kouhene said. “With a new project focusing exclusively on women and girls, adequate resources would help us work with the government to make a real change in the lives of hundreds of thousands of Yemenis.” WFP has provided $400 million of food aid to Yemen since 1967, when the country was split into the Yemen Arab Republic and the South People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen. Planning and International Cooperation Minister Abdulkarim Al-Arhabi signed the agreement for the Yemeni Government. 2007-03-15 00:00:00.000

DARFUR: DISPLACED PEOPLE’S CAMPS CRAMMED TO CAPACITY, UNICEF WARNS

New York, Mar 15 2007 11:00AM With camps for displaced persons in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region bursting at the seams, sometimes with 50,000 to 100,000 people apiece, it is more vital than ever to reach a settlement to a conflict that has already killed over 200,000 people and uprooted 2.5 million more, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund “It’s absolutely critical that this happens now because we simply cannot absorb any more displaced,” UNICEF country representative Ted Chaiban said on his return from a visit to the region. “The solution is for the peace process to get back on track. “It’s been very difficult for humanitarian workers in Darfur. I think we should be very proud that we’ve held the line, that we’ve kept malnutrition levels down and mortality levels down, that we’ve been able to vaccinate so many children and that we’ve been able to get children in to school in the camps.” Humanitarian work has been stopped in some camps recently due to security concerns and Mr. Chaiban noted that people in the camps live in fear, especially at night, and spend their days engaged in basic survival activities such as collecting water, gathering wood, and trying to keep their families together. But as the camps become more settled, people don’t want to feel disempowered, he added. They want to be able to better their lives and the lives of their children, and this too is a challenge. The idea of schooling for children in the camps may seem like a luxury in a situation where food, water and shelter are hard to come by, but for the young people displaced in Darfur, UNICEF is trying to turn a tragedy into an opportunity. “There are more children in school now than ever before,” even more than in the period before the conflict, Mr. Chaiban said. Through the efforts of UNICEF and its partners, many of these children are finishing eighth grade, the last year of their primary education. They attend basic schools made of thatch around a steel frame, but they are schools that work. Many children are now looking forward to taking their exams for secondary school. While Darfur, where the Government, allied militias and rebels seeking greater autonomy have been fighting since 2003, is the story in the headlines, there are positive developments in Southern Sudan, where a separate two-decades-long civil war ended with a peace accord in 2005, and these should not go unrecognized, Mr. Chaiban noted. “One of the most beautiful things I’ve seen is a displaced family coming back from their displacement in the north of Sudan. When they arrive, they have their belongings on their back, and it’s like having a family reunion. It’s a beautiful sight. And that’s an opportunity arising out of the peace process – and we’re part of that story,” he said. “We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity for people who’ve been in conflict for 20 years and have been in underdevelopment for 50 years, to say, hey, enough is enough. We’re going to move forward for a better future.” The civil war uprooted some 4.5 million people overall, most of them within the country, but some 500,000 are estimated to have taken refuge in neighbouring countries. 2007-03-15 00:00:00.000

DPR KOREA TO CONSIDER RESUMING NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION SAFEGUARDS – UN ATOMIC CHIEF

New York, Mar 15 2007 10:00AM The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has promised to consider returning to the United Nations system of safeguards against nuclear weapons proliferation, which they abandoned in 2002, following its commitment last month to dismantle its nuclear arms programme in return for international energy and other aid. “We are moving forward,” UN International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei told a news conference in Beijing on his return from talks in Pyongyang, the DPRK capital, calling his visit at the Government’s invitation an “overall door opener” that improved a “rocky relationship.” But “after years before we got back on the right track,” this is “not going to happen over night,” he warned. The DPRK ordered IAEA inspectors out at the end of 2002 and withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its agency-monitored safeguards against fuel diversion from energy generation to weapons production. Last October the UN Security Council imposed sanctions after it carried out a nuclear test. Mr. ElBaradei’s talks with the General Bureau of Atomic Energy Chairman Ri Je Son, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hyong Jun and Vice President of the Standing Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly Kim Yong Dae, focused on initial IAEA monitoring and verification for the shut down of the DPRK’s nuclear facilities. He said the DPRK was “fully committed” to the Six-Party agreement reached in Beijing last month and would allow IAEA personnel in once other parties met their commitments under the “Initial Actions.” The DPRK “was very clear they are ready to implement the February 13 agreement once the other parties implement their part of the deal,” he added. The “Initial Actions” agreed by the six parties – the DPRK, the Republic of Korea (ROK), China, Japan, Russia and the United States – foresee that within 60 days “the DPRK will shut down and seal for the purpose of eventual abandonment the Yongbyon nuclear facility, including the reprocessing facility and invite back IAEA personnel to conduct all necessary monitoring and verifications as agreed between IAEA and DPRK.” The next step for IAEA will be to reach an agreement with the DPRK on specific technical arrangements for monitoring and verification. These terms would be subject to approval by the IAEA Board of Governors. “They are ready to work with the Agency to make sure that we monitor and verify the shutdown of the Yongbyon facility,” Mr. ElBaradei said, adding that DPRK officials “reiterated they are committed to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.” Today and tomorrow he is scheduled to hold meetings in Beijing with Six-party representatives. “I hope in the next few weeks, months and years, we will continue to work with the DPRK with the objective we all share, which is the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” he said. 2007-03-15 00:00:00.000

Mar 14

UN AGENCY LEADS FIGHT FOR BINDING INTERNATIONAL TREATY TO FIGHT ILLEGAL FISHING

New York, Mar 14 2007 10:00AM Stepping up the fight against illegal fishing, which is depleting world stocks, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization is leading efforts for the adoption by 2009 of a final draft for a legally binding international agreement establishing control measures in ports where fish is landed, transhipped or processed. The proposed agreement will be based on a voluntary FAO model scheme which outlines recommended “Port State” control measures, which include running background checks on boats prior to granting docking privileges and undertaking inspections in port to check documentation, cargos and equipment. These are widely viewed as one of the best ways to fight illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing. Fishing without permission, catching protected species, using outlawed types of gear or disregarding catch quotas are among the most common offences. At a meeting in Rome last week of FAO’s Committee on Fisheries (COFI), 131 governments and the European Commission agreed to start a process leading to such a pact. Additional consultations will be held in this year and next to produce a draft version for final approval at COFI’s next meeting in 2009. Illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing undermines good management of world fisheries, has negative impacts on fish stocks, including those upon which poor fishers depend, and implies significant costs both in terms of lost fishing revenue and money spent combating it. FAO’s model scheme recommends training inspectors to increase their effectiveness and improving international information-sharing about vessels with a history of such activities to help authorities turn away repeat offenders. Last week’s meeting also entrusted FAO with drafting technical guidelines on recommended best practices in deep sea fisheries; producing guidelines on the use of protected areas for better management; undertaking a study on the probable impacts of climate change in order to evaluate management and policy responses; and convening a conference on the needs of small-scale fisheries that employ some 34 million people in the developing world. In addition to delegations from FAO Members, 41 intergovernmental organizations and 29 nongovernmental organizations also participate in COFI. 2007-03-14 00:00:00.000

FUGITIVE HAITIAN GANG LEADER SOUGHT IN UN-BACKED CRACKDOWN ON CRIME IS CAPTURED

New York, Mar 14 2007 10:00AM A notorious Haitian armed gang leader who has been a principal target of a weeks-long United Nations-backed crackdown on violent crime in Port-au-Prince, the capital, has been captured in a southern town and transferred back to the city with UN logistical assistance. Evens, also known as Ti Kouto, who had been dislodged by the anti-gang operations in the capital’s Cité Soleil neighbourhood, one of the violence-ridden country’s most dangerous areas, in which many of his suspected underlings and weapons caches were seized, was captured by Haitian national police in the commune of Les Cayes. UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (<"http://www.minustah.org/articles/226/1/Transfert-a-Port-au-Prince-du-recherche-Evens-arrete-aux-Cayes-par-la-PNH/13-mars-2007.html">MINUSTAH) “warmly welcomed” the development and congratulated the national police for its determination in tracking down Evens after he eluded several sweeps by UN peacekeepers and police, sometimes 600-strong, and their Haitian colleagues in Cité Soleil, including his home turf in the Boston quarter, since the beginning of the year. “MINUSTAH also congratulates the Haitian people for the continuous contribution in the struggle against crime and to the re-establishment of security in the country,” the mission added in a statement. MINUSTAH, set up in 2004 to help re-establish peace in the impoverished Caribbean country after an insurgency forced President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to go into exile, together with local police, captured scores of suspects during the crackdown, seized arsenals of weapons and ammunition, and restored badly needed health, medical and water services to the local population. The peacekeepers rehabilitated schools that the gangs used as their headquarters, turned their lairs into social service centres and built fields and other facilities for a population that has suffered from years of gun violence and extortion. 2007-03-14 00:00:00.000

UN AGENCY VOICES CONCERN OVER ‘XENOPHOBIC ATTACKS’ ON SOMALIS IN SOUTH AFRICA

New York, Mar 14 2007 11:00AM The United Nations refugee agency is concerned about the increase in the number of xenophobic attacks on Somalis who have fled from their war-ravaged homeland to South Africa, which the Somali Association in the country claims have left more than 400 dead in the past decade. “Skilled traders by nature, many Somali refugees and asylum seekers have in the last three years set up businesses in townships and informal settlements characterised by grinding poverty and growing crime,” the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said in a news release. “But this appears to have caused resentment in some of the townships and settlements, which have erupted in xenophobia-fuelled animosity towards Somali refugees. Uneasy with their presence, marauding residents appear to be bent on expelling them from these communities by looting and destroying their businesses.” As a result, Somalis are moving away from the traditional areas of refugee residence in Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Port Elizabeth for more remote towns and villages in the interior which have had no previous interaction with foreigners. Some Somalis suspect that local businessmen, angered at being undercut and alarmed at the competition, are behind recent attacks on their shops in some areas and the rising tension with locals. Somali leaders have also accused the police of helping themselves to their goods during attacks. The police firmly deny such charges and say any goods they are able to salvage during the looting are taken to the local police station for safe keeping. The residents of one area, Motherwell, believe the Somali community also has questions to answer. They want proof that Somali businesses are registered and pay tax. They also want to know if Somali businesses that hire South African nationals are complying with unemployment insurance regulations and if the goods they sell are sourced legitimately and meet quality standards set by the government. “A level of transparency and forthrightness is required in responding to these questions,” UNHCR protection officer Monique Ekoko. “The issue of pricing is a major concern to local business communities. A commitment to resolving what appears to be an impasse is required of both local and Somali refugee traders if they are to live together harmoniously. “Similarly, while keeping the South African population informed of the causes and other factors that give rise to refugee outflows, Somali refugees have to be encouraged to coexist more productively with their hosts. Unfortunately, it appears as though refugees don’t make the effort to be part of the community they work in and that is just a recipe for conflict,” she added. The South African government is taking the matter very seriously. Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said the Refugees Act of 1996 would be amended this year to provide more efficient refugee management. “UNHCR hopes that as the government becomes increasingly vocal on this matter, the people of South Africa will take its concerns to heart,” the agency said. 2007-03-14 00:00:00.000

SECURITY COUNCIL STRESSES NEED FOR POLITICAL DIALOGUE IN VIOLENCE-WRACKED SOMALIA

New York, Mar 13 2007 7:00PM Deploring the recent wave of deadly violence in Somalia, especially in the capital, Mogadishu, Security Council members today underlined the need for the political process in the war-torn country to be as representative and inclusive as possible. In a press statement read out by Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo of South Africa, which holds this month’s rotating Council presidency, the 15-member panel also voiced concern at the deteriorating humanitarian situation inside Somalia. They expressed particular concern also at attacks against African Union (AU) stabilization forces inside Somalia and at leaders of the country’s Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs). The statement added that the Council backed the need for the rapid deployment of troops to an AU protection force and urged donors to provide greater financial and logistical support to that operation. The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, François Lonsény Fall, who briefed the Council today during closed-door consultations, later <"http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs//2007/070313_Fall.doc.htm">told journalists that the security situation inside Mogadishu remained the biggest problem. The Transitional Federal Government (TFG), backed by Ethiopian forces, dislodged the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) from Mogadishu and much of the rest of the country at the end of last year, but the fall of the UIC has brought to the fore some of the inter- and intra-clan rivalries that had been suppressed and the TFG has yet to establish effective authority or law and order in Mogadishu and other main population centres. Somalia has not had a functioning national government since 1991, when the regime of Muhammad Siad Barre was toppled. Mr. Fall noted there had been another mortar attack today in Mogadishu, this time aimed at the presidential palace only hours after the government was transferred to the city from Baidoa, where it had been based during the UIC’s rule. Today’s briefing by Mr. Fall follows the most recent report on Somalia by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who found that although the nation’s challenges are enormous, it still has the best chance in years to reaching a solution to the conflicts that have left it without a government for so long. 2007-03-13 00:00:00.000

UN MISSION IN GEORGIA ASSISTS FACT-FINDING TEAM AFTER RECENT ATTACK ON GOVERNMENT POST

New York, Mar 13 2007 6:00PM A fact-finding team involving the United Nations has begun looking into reports of a weekend attack on a Georgian Government position in the Upper Kodori valley in the north-west of the country, the region where Government and Abkhaz separatists fought a war 13 years ago that forced nearly 300,000 refugees to flee. Members of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) are working alongside representatives from the Government and Abkhaz sides, as well as with those from the Commonwealth of Independent States peacekeeping force, a UN spokesperson told reporters today. Michele Montas said the joint team had already gone to the Upper Kodori Valley, adding that the UN was taking the reports of Sunday’s attack with “utmost seriousness.” After the reports surfaced, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Georgia, Jean Arnault, immediately contacted the Georgian and Abkhaz sides in order to form the joint fact-finding group, she said. Last month, a UN-backed group of countries involved in the peace process between the Government and Abkhaz separatists called on both sides to immediately tackle security issues in the north-west. The Group of Friends referred to the zone of conflict and also to the Upper Kodori valley, which has in the past been the scene of clashes. Last October, a rocket attack occurred in the valley, while in January UNOMIG, which had stopped patrols in the upper part of the valley in 2003 when four mission members were held hostage for a few days by unknown armed elements, resumed them after a break of three years. UNOMIG was set up in 1993 and expanded following the signing by the parties of the 1994 Agreement on a Ceasefire and Separation of Forces to verify compliance, with patrols of the Kodori valley a specific part of its mandate. The Mission currently has some 140 uniformed personnel, including 127 military observers and 12 police, supported by 100 international civilian personnel and 178 local civilian staff. 2007-03-13 00:00:00.000

Mar 13

UN ATOMIC CHIEF HOLDS TALKS WITH DPR KOREA THIS WEEK ON DENUCLEARIZATION

New York, Mar 13 2007 10:00AM The head of the United Nations atomic watchdog agency is holding talks this week with officials of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on plans to rid it of nuclear weapons in what he calls “the first step in a long process” toward normalizing relations with a country that ordered UN inspectors out more than four years ago. UN International Atomic Energy Agency ) Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei is scheduled to meet with the officials in Pyongyang, the DPRK capital, tomorrow and Thursday at the invitation from the DPRK after it committed in Six-Party talks in Beijing last month to eventually dismantle all nuclear weapon facilities and materials in return for energy and other aid. “I would like to focus on how to bring the DPRK closer to the Agency,” Mr. ElBaradei said in Vienna on Sunday before leaving for Beijing on his way to the DPRK. “I would like also to discuss the broad framework for how to implement the Beijing Agreement among the Six-Party talks which foresees that the Agency will monitor and verify the freeze of the Yongbyon nuclear facility including the reprocessing facility.” He is meeting with Chinese officials in Beijing both before and after the visit. China played a major role in the Six-Party talks which also brought together the DPRK and the Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan, Russia and the United States. When he received the DPRK invitation last month, Mr. ElBaradei said he saw it as a step toward the denuclearization of the Korean peninsular. Ever since the DPRK ordered the 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 carried out a nuclear test. 2007-03-13 00:00:00.000

ZIMBABWE: UN RIGHTS CHIEF WELCOMES COURT INTERVENTION IN FAVOUR OF OPPOSITION LEADER

New York, Mar 13 2007 10:00AM United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour today welcomed the Zimbabwean High Court’s order that an opposition leader be provided immediately with all necessary medical treatment and brought before the Court or released after reports that he was seriously injured in police custody. “I welcome the speed and firmness with which Zimbabwe’s courts have acted in the face of shocking reports of police abuse,” she said in a statement on Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). According to consistent reports, excessive use of force at a rally last Sunday resulted in one death and many casualties, including women and children. Several people, including five senior members of the MDC are in police custody. Mr. Tsvangirai was reportedly seriously injured as a result of beatings sustained in custody. “This form of repression and intimidation of a peaceful assembly is unacceptable, and the loss of life makes this even more disturbing,” Ms. Arbour said. “I urge the Zimbabwean authorities to ensure an immediate, impartial and comprehensive investigation into these events. I encourage the courts to continue to discharge their responsibilities as guardians of the rights of all Zimbabweans.” Yesterday Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the Government to release opposition leaders being held by police and condemned the reported beatings they suffered in custody. 2007-03-13 00:00:00.000

UN REFUGEE CHIEF URGES MORE INTERNATIONAL AID FOR COLOMBIANS WHO HAVE FLED TO ECUADOR

New York, Mar 13 2007 11:00AM United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres has called for more international cooperation to help hundreds of thousands of Colombian refugees in Ecuador who have fled more than 40 years of fighting between the Colombian Government, leftist rebels, right-wing paramilitaries and criminal gangs. Mr. Guterres, on a week-long visit to Ecuador and Colombia, the country with the largest population of concern to UNHCR with some 3 million people uprooted by the conflict, met yesterday with Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa in the capital, Quito, and was today visiting a refugee shelter and border communities in the north to discuss the challenges they face. Thanking the Ecuadorean people for their exceptional generosity, he said the international community had an obligation to help Ecuador, which is home to the largest refugee population in the region, fulfil its international responsibilities. UNHCR and the Government estimate that up to 250,000 Colombians have fled to Ecuador and the numbers keep growing, with an average of 700 people a month asking for asylum. Many others who cross the border do not register but are still able to enjoy Ecuador’s hospitality and protection. Later yesterday, Mr. Guterres travelled to Lago Agrio near the northern border with Colombia, one of the poorest and least developed regions in Ecuador. Many refugees live there among local communities that often lack basic infrastructure and access to services. Mr. Guterres visited several UNHCR projects that benefit both refugees and the local population, including a health centre and a primary school. He stayed overnight at the border and was leaving tonight for Colombia, where he is scheduled to hold a series of meetings with high-ranking government officials tomorrow. Later in the week, he will visit Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities in the west of Colombia. Both have suffered greatly as a result of the armed conflict there. During a conference in Bogota on Friday, Mr. Guterres will present the main findings of a UNHCR study of the changes in displacement trends and the Government’s response to the crisis in the past three years. He will also launch the 2007 ‘Year for the Rights of Displaced People Campaign’ to highlight and lobby for the rights of the displaced. According to the Government, some 170,000 Colombians were forcibly displaced last year alone. The authorities have significantly stepped up their aid efforts but the displaced are not always able to enjoy their rights to material help, long-term solutions and above all to a life free of violence and persecution. The 2007 campaign aims to encourage the search for practical solutions. 2007-03-13 00:00:00.000

Mar 12

TORTURE WIDESPREAD IN POLICE CUSTODY IN NIGERIA, UN RIGHTS EXPERT SAYS

New York, Mar 12 2007 12:00PM Torture, ill-treatment and impunity for the perpetrators are widespread in police custody in Nigeria, though apparently not in the prison system, and the Government should take decisive steps to implement its obligations under international law to criminalize these practices, an independent United Nations human rights expert said today, while welcoming progress in other areas. “Torture is an intrinsic part of how law enforcement services operate within the country,” UN Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on torture Manfred Nowak said in a statement at the end of a weeklong visit, detailing floggings and shootings in the foot among the practices used to obtain confessions or other information. At the same time, he thanked top police and prison officials for opening up their facilities to unannounced visits and for enabling him to conduct private interviews with detainees, although this was not the case with State Security Service, leading him to “strongly suspect that the authorities wished to conceal evidence.” He welcomed the adoption of a number of State laws prohibiting discrimination against women in critical areas, such as female genital mutilation and early marriage, but said he remained concerned that these practices and social acceptance of them persisted. He also noted that the Government’s invitation to him to visit was yet another example of Nigeria’s willingness to open itself up to independent scrutiny of its human rights situation, and a reaffirmation of its commitment to cooperate with the international community in the area of human rights. While officials said torture, prohibited by law, might occur “in an unfortunate isolated circumstance” and the sternest measures were taken against perpetrators, “these observations appear divorced from the realities prevailing in criminal investigation departments and police stations in the country,” Mr. Nowak said. “The high number of consistent and credible allegations received from speaking with various detainees, corroborated by forensic medical evidence, in facilities visited in different parts of the country and obtained within the span of a one-week mission, speaks volumes,” the statement added. Despite the existence of safeguards for arrest and detention, they are regularly ignored. Torture was frequently cited to the Special Rapporteur as being used for the purpose of extracting confessions or to obtain further information in relation to alleged crimes. “Methods of torture included: flogging with whips; beating with batons and machetes; shooting suspects in the foot; threatening a suspect with death and then shooting him with powder cartridges; suspension from the ceiling or metal rods in various positions; and being denied food, water and medical treatment,” the statement said. Mr. Nowak stressed that there was no question of accountability because there are no functioning complaint mechanisms and victims feel powerless, resigned to accept that impunity is the natural order of things in a system marked by endemic corruption. He said that conditions of detention in police cells he were “appalling,” with detainees held in unsanitary overcrowded cells and forced to sleep on the concrete floor with minimum food and water supply. “Medical care is non-existent and seriously ill detainees are left to languish until they die,” he added, noting that he met at least three detainees with life-threatening injuries who would die without prompt medical attention. Mr. Nowak also noted that corporal punishment, such as caning, remains lawful in Nigeria, as do Muslim Sharia penal code punishments, particularly in northern states, such as amputation, flogging and stoning to death, while Sharia-related provisions for adultery and sodomy, discriminate, respectively, against women and same-sex couples. He stressed that any form of corporal punishment is contrary to the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is not allowed under international law, and violates international human rights treaties to which Nigeria is a party. He recommended that the Government, with the help of the international community such as the UN, take “decisive steps” to criminalize torture as defined by international conventions, fight impunity by establishing an independent investigation mechanism, and introduce measures for complaints in detention centres as well as medical documentation of torture allegations, access to free legal aid and monitoring of interrogation methods. The expert, who is unpaid and serves in an individual capacity, also called for abolition of all forms of corporal punishment and take further steps towards the abolition of capital punishment, and for effective mechanisms to enforce the prohibition of violence against women including traditional practices such as female genital mutilation, including awareness-raising campaigns. 2007-03-12 00:00:00.000

UN RIGHTS EXPERT URGES IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ITALIAN JOURNALIST HELD IN AFGHANISTAN

New York, Mar 12 2007 4:00PM A United Nations human rights expert today issued a strong appeal for the release of Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo and his aides, who are reportedly being held captive by the Taliban in Afghanistan. “Mr. Mastrogiacomo, who works for the daily ‘La Repubblica,’ is a distinguished journalist known for his reports from different areas torn by fighting, in which he has chronicled the tragedy of war, its root causes and dire consequences with impartiality, compassion and a great sense of professional responsibility,” said Ambeyi Ligabo, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, in a statement. “I call for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Mastrogiacomo and his aides, as well as the release of all media professionals unlawfully detained around the world,” he said. The Special Rapporteur, who serves in an individual, unpaid capacity, said the kidnapping underscores the importance of intensifying efforts to ensure the safety of journalists, especially in conflict areas. “The role of the media in exposing abuses of human rights and disregard for the rule of law is beyond question. Attacks on journalists prevent them from fulfilling that function. They also undermine the enjoyment of the right to freedom of expression, and of all the rights that flow from it, of whole societies,” he said. 2007-03-12 00:00:00.000

CÔTE D’IVOIRE: BAN KI-MOON CALLS ON WORLD TO BE READY TO HELP CONSOLIDATE PEACE ACCORD

New York, Mar 12 2007 3:00PM Following the signing of a peace agreement between the rival leaders in Côte d’Ivoire, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling on the international community to be ready to provide key help in such fields as disarmament, security sector reform and preparations for elections in the divided West African country. “The United Nations stands ready, and continues to prepare and assist Ivorian parties in implementing rapidly and in a comprehensive manner the many key tasks related to those processes,” he adds in his latest report on the UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire “The support of the international community for the political process should be complemented by commensurate efforts to address the humanitarian situation in the country,” he writes, urging donors to contribute generously to the 2007 UN appeal for Côte d’Ivoire. Earlier this month, Mr. Ban welcomed the agreement signed in Ouagadougou, capital of neighbouring Burkina Faso, by President Laurent Gbagbo, whose forces control the south of a country that was the world’s top cocoa producer, and Forces Nouvelles Secretary-General Guillaume Soro, who has held the north since fighting broke out in 2002. The Secretary-General noted at the time that the agreement builds upon Security Council resolution 1721 of last November, which underlined previous agreements calling for free, open, fair and transparent elections by 31 October this year at the latest. UNOCI has nearly 9,000 total uniformed personnel in the country, including 7,850 troops and nearly, 1,000 police with a mandate to monitor the cessation of hostilities and movements of armed groups, help in disarmament and dismantling of militias and contribute to the security of the operations of identification of the population and registration of voters. The mandate also includes reform of the security sector, monitoring an arms embargo, providing humanitarian assistance, facilitating the re-establishment by the Government of the authority of the State throughout Côte d’Ivoire, and support for the organization of open, free, fair and transparent elections. 2007-03-12 00:00:00.000

UN RIGHTS EXPERT CALLS ON PHILIPPINES TO AMEND OR REPEAL ANTI-TERRORISM LAW

New York, Mar 12 2007 2:00PM While acknowledging that the Philippines needs to take effective measures to prevent and counter terrorism, an independent United Nations expert today called on the new congress to be elected this Spring to amend or repeal entirely a recently signed anti-terrorism law which could adversely affect human rights. “There are some positive aspects of the definition of terrorist acts in the Human Security Act but the end result is an overly broad definition which is seen to be at variance with the principle of legality and thus incompatible with Article 15 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),” the UN Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Martin Scheinin, said in a statement. “Further, the strict application of a penalty of 40 years’ imprisonment undermines judicial discretion in individual cases and may result in a disproportionate punishment due to the broad definition of terrorist acts,” he added. The Special Rapporteur, an unpaid expert serving in an independent personal capacity, cited further concern at the competence of various bodies authorized to review detention of an individual since some of these are members of the executive rather than an independent judicial body. Another area of concern is that the Act provides for restrictions on movement including the imposition of house arrest where the legal basis is simply “in cases where evidence of guilt is not strong” rather than positive suspicion or a higher evidentiary threshold, he added. “The Philippines is a country facing many challenging issues and I wish to reaffirm that I am fully conscious of the need to take effective measures to prevent and counter terrorism, and of the difficulties of States in doing so without compromising the freedoms of a civil society,” the expert said. “However, I am concerned that many provisions of the Human Security Act are not in accordance with international human rights standards.” 2007-03-12 00:00:00.000

UN AGENCY TO RESUME EMERGENCY AID TO STRICKEN CAMBODIANS AFTER DUBAI DONATION

New York, Mar 12 2007 2:00PM Emergency United Nations food aid to almost 100,000 Cambodians suffering from HIV/AIDS and TB can now resume, the World Food Programme (WFP) said today, after the agency received $1 million from the Government of Dubai, but it warned that more donations were urgently needed to fully restart operations in the impoverished country. In January, key WFP activities affecting 700,000 poor Cambodians were suspended due to lack of funding, but thanks to the Dubai donation, food aid to 70,000 people affected by HIV/AIDS and 18,000 TB patients, will resume earlier than originally expected, the agency said in a press release. “At stake are the lives of thousands of HIV/AIDS patients receiving anti-retroviral drugs whose effectiveness depends upon proper nourishment,” said WFP Executive Director James Morris. “And then there are the TB patients whose incentive to complete their treatment is often the food aid they receive at treatment centres. All these people are desperately poor – this helping hand from Dubai is truly lifesaving.” In a poor country like Cambodia where 35 per cent of the population live below the poverty line, hundreds of thousands of children are dependent on WFP meals provided by the agency’s food for education programme. WFP was already starting to see the negative effects of the suspension of its activities: declines in school attendance rates; reduced attention spans of children in class and worsening health of HIV/AIDS and TB patients as well as, in some cases, a drop in treatment adherence. The donation by the Government of Dubai will be used to prioritise HIV/AIDS and TB patients but more donations are needed to resume the food for education programme, the agency said. “We are extremely grateful to the Government of Dubai for their valuable and timely support, which is part of a growing commitment to development aid from the governments in the Gulf region,” said Mr. Morris. “We appeal to others to follow.” High population growth, low agricultural productivity and poor access to health services in Cambodia continue to hamper progress and the country ranks 129th out of 177 countries in the 2006 UN Development Programme (<"http://www.undp.org/dpa/journalists/">UNDP) Human Development Index. 2007-03-12 00:00:00.000

Mar 11

COUNTERFEIT MEDICINES ENDANGERING LIVES WORLDWIDE, UN-BACKED PANEL WARNS

New York, Mar 7 2007 5:00PM Unregulated sales of pharmaceutical drugs, including counterfeit medicines, are undermining national drug laws and regulatory authorities while threatening the lives of patients taking them due to lack of safety or efficacy, the head of a United Nations-backed narcotics body said today. “The factors that drive the unregulated markets is the limited access to health care facilities in a number of countries, particularly developing countries, and the lack of public awareness and ignorance of people,” International Narcotics Control Board President Philip O. Emafo told a news conference at UN Headquarters in New York, presenting his organization’s annual report. According to the report of the Vienna-based INCB, an independent quasi-judicial control organ monitoring the implementation of UN drug control conventions, unregulated sales in places such as street markets and the Internet of both internationally controlled and counterfeit drugs endanger the lives of people worldwide. The Board warns that unofficial drug sales, due to a lack of standards, result in substandard and even lethal medications going to unsuspecting customers. The drugs sold on the black market are often stolen from legitimate health-care centres or retailers, illicitly manufactured or sold illegally on the Internet. The INCB urged UN agencies, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), to help Member States better understand the ramifications of illicit drug sales on the unregulated market and to prevent the trafficking of these drugs. The report also highlights developments in illicit drugs in specific regions of the world, noting that cultivation and production of cannabis and trafficking in cocaine is on the rise in Africa. 2007-03-07 00:00:00.000

DISASTER PREPAREDNESS TRAINING SAVED LIVES IN AFTERMATH OF INDONESIAN QUAKE

– UN New York, Mar 7 2007 7:00PM United Nations-backed disaster preparedness training reportedly prepared local communities in minimizing casualties following yesterday’s 6.3 magnitude earthquake on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, where the Government is currently revising the death toll downwards from 73 to 52 people, the world body’s main humanitarian office said today. The UN Technical Working Group, in conjunction with the National Coordinating Board for the Management of Disaster (BAKORNAS PB), carried out contingency planning activities in the impacted area last year, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement today, citing local media as reporting that this helped local communities in reacting to the disaster. The first UN inter-agency assessment team, comprising staff from OCHA, UN Children’s Fund UN World Food Programme UN World Health Organization and the International Organization for Migration arrived in the affected areas on Sumatra island, which was devastated by an earthquake and ensuing tsunami in December 2004. Indonesia, through various Government ministries and regional health offices, is spearheading the emergency response effort, with help from several UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement and other Governments. In conjunction with the Ministry of Health, WHO is keeping close watch on the public health situation, with emergency trauma kits and health professions on standby. UNICEF will distribute school tents, hygiene kits, cooking sets, water purification tablets and jerry cans. Almost than 200 people and rising have been reported injured, and more than 3,600 homes and 20 schools have been damaged. Although the Government said that it appreciates the assistance it is receiving from international organizations, it has not requested international assistance. OCHA reported that the UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team was informed that its services were not required. 2007-03-07 00:00:00.000

UN-BACKED PROGRAMME TO CURTAIL SPREAD OF HIV AMONG WOMEN IN BRAZIL KICKS OFF

New York, Mar 7 2007 6:00PM United Nations agencies and the Brazilian Government today launched a ground-breaking programme aimed at stemming the ‘feminization of HIV,’ raising awareness about the disease and helping women become less vulnerable to it. This initiative, run in concert by the Government, the UN Population Fund UN Development Fund for Women UN Children’s Fund and other partners, is the first of its kind in Latin America. “Only by addressing the specific needs, as well as the human rights of women, will we change the course of the epidemic,” said Alanna Armitage, UNFPA’s Representative in Brazil, asserting that the programme will “make a real difference in women’s lives.” The scheme aims to expand voluntary counselling and testing to double the number of women being tested, including pregnant women; reduce mother-to-child HIV transmissions from 4 to less than 1 per cent by 2008; eliminate congenital syphilis; and increase investment in HIV research. It is estimated that as of last year, 17.7 million women are infected with HIV worldwide, and since 1985, the percentage of women among adults living with HIV/AIDS has globally increased from 35 per cent to 48 per cent. In Brazil, HIV infection has surged 44 per cent among women between 1996 and 2005, and women represent over 40 per cent of all registered cases of HIV as of 2005. The initiative, being launched on the eve of International Women’s Day, is widely viewed as critical. “The rise in the number of infections among women is a global phenomenon, which reflects the inequalities in power relations between women and men, and it demands specific attention,” said Ana Falú, UNIFEM Regional Programme Director for Brazil and the Southern Cone. “That’s why the Brazilian plan is so important.” 2007-03-07 00:00:00.000

UNICEF SEEKS ENTRIES FOR CHILDREN’S TELEVISION AWARD ON AIDS AWARENESS

New York, Mar 8 2007 2:00PM The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences called for entries for the 2007 International Children’s Day of Broadcasting (ICDB) award honoring broadcasters for programming best reflecting the theme Unite for Children, United against AIDS. Submissions will be judged on not only the quality of work, but also for broadcasters’ dedication to bolstering participation by youth in media, in connection with the theme Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS, which is the name of a campaign launched in 2005 by UNICEF, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and other partners to alert the world to the fact that children are missing from the global AIDS agenda. “Children have the right to voice their opinions and broadcasters around the world are making that happen by getting youth voices on the air,” Stephen Cassidy, chief of UNICEF’s Internet, Broadcast and Image Section, said yesterday. “We want to reward them for their dedication and commitment.” To be eligible for this year’s ICDB award, these broadcasts must have aired on or around Sunday, 10 December 2006, in conjunction with last year’s International Children’s Day of Broadcasting. UNICEF is also calling for radio entries for the 2007 IDCB Award for Radio Excellence. The submission deadline is 18 May, and entry forms can be found at <" http://www.unicef.org/videoaudio/video_icdb.html">www.unicef.org/icdb. Judges will select the best television entries in eight regions across the world, which will then go on to compete for the IDCB Award to be presented at the International Emmy Awards Gala on 19 November in New York. Last year’s television winner was Teleradio Moldova for their “Let’s Play!” programme, beating out five other regional IDCB winners to take the top prize. UNICEF also announced the 2007 ICDB theme, The World We Want. In 2002, youth from the world over convened in New York to discuss their hopes for the future, and on the fifth anniversary of this meeting, UNICEF wants to know how far we have come. The agency invites radio and television broadcasters to participate in the International Children’s Day of Broadcasting on 9 December and create programming which draws attention to children’s opinions of the state of the world, as they will then be eligible for the 2008 ICDB Award. 2007-03-08 00:00:00.000

BANGLADESH: UN AGENCY SEEKS SOLUTION FOR 6,000 MYANMAR REFUGEES FACING EVICTION

New York, Mar 8 2007 1:00PM The United Nations refugee agency is working with the Bangladeshi government, donors and partners to find more permanent housing for some 6,000 Muslim refugees from Myanmar whose riverbed settlement is threatened by a crackdown on illegal structures. “These people are of concern to us and we want to help them,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) country representative Pia Prytz Phiri said of the settlement, which perches perilously beside a busy road in Teknaf, 75 kilometres south of Cox’s Bazar in south-east Bangladesh. “It is hard to imagine human beings living in much more deplorable conditions than those in Teknaf. We understand why the government doesn’t want them living there, but to move them without having prepared any solution in advance is not very humane,” she added. The refugees, regarded by the Government as illegal migrants rather than legitimate refugees, set up the camp in October 2004, nearly two years after they had been evicted from rented homes in nearby villages in an earlier crackdown, “simply because we are Myanmarese,” according to one camp dweller. UNHCR has not been allowed to help them, except to distribute some plastic sheeting last year. The medical non-governmental organization (NGO), Médecins Sans Frontières-Holland, was recently allowed to open a health clinic there. The refugees’ homes are flimsy structures of bamboo, plastic sheets and flattened cement bags on muddy ground, where as many as 16 people crowd together in a room slightly larger than a garden shed. For fully half of each month, the refugees said, high tides flood nearly all shacks, bring disease, and some children have even drowned. Women spend much of their time repairing the mud foundations of the huts. Ms. Phiri said a solution needed to be found but “what we don't want to do is to set up a formal camp.” UNHCR agency already runs two official camps south of Cox’s Bazar housing some 26,000 refugees and UNHCR sub-office head Jim Worrall suggested that the simplest step would be to allow the Teknaf refugees “just to go back to the villages where they were living peacefully with local people before 2004.” 2007-03-08 00:00:00.000

IN NUCLEAR DISPUTE WITH IRAN UN ATOMIC WATCHDOG SUSPENDS 22 TECHNICAL AID PROJECTS

New York, Mar 8 2007 2:00PM The Board of Governors of the United Nations atomic watchdog agency today suspended 22 technical aid projects in Iran in conformity with sanctions imposed by the Security Council over a programme that Tehran says is for producing energy but which critics maintain is for making nuclear weapons. The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board’s decision followed a <"http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Board/2007/gov2007-08.pdf">report by IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei that Iran had continued uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for generating electricity or, at a much higher level, make nuclear bombs, despite the Council’s call in December that it suspend such activities. In his report Mr. ElBaradei said that because of the lack of “the necessary level of transparency and cooperation” from Iran, the IAEA could not provide assurances that the Iranian programme was solely for peaceful purposes and stressed that the issue was in a class of its own because of Tehran’s two decades of undeclared activities in breach of its obligations under Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (<"http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Treaties/npt.html">NPT). While the IAEA has been able to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran, it continues to be unable to reconstruct fully the history of Iran’s nuclear programme and some of its components, and “quite a few uncertainties still remain about experiments, procurements and other activities relevant to our understanding of the scope and nature of Iran’s programme,” he added. It was the discovery in 2003 of Iran’s hidden activities that gave rise to the current crisis and he stressed that “the IAEA’s confidence about the nature of Iran’s programme has been shaken because of two decades of undeclared activities.” Mr. ElBaradei has suggested a “timeout” to allow for talks, with Iran suspending uranium enrichment and the international community suspending sanctions. Meanwhile, the Council’s five permanent members – China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and United States – together with Germany are now considering what further action to take. The talk among them is “about how to continue with the negotiated process, while at the same time being ready to increase the pressure should that be necessary,” Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo of South Africa, which holds the 15-member body’s rotating presidency, told reporters on Tuesday. “Right now we understand they are discussing the elements of what would be in the draft [resolution] if it comes before us,” he said, naming four elements under consideration: a travel ban; greater movement restrictions on either entities or persons; arms exports; and financial arrangements. 2007-03-08 00:00:00.000

Mar 7

AS KOSOVO NEARS FINAL STATUS DECISION, UN MISSION ORGANIZES OUTREACH MEETINGS

New York, Mar 7 2007 11:00AM The United Nations mission in Kosovo is arranging dozens of outreach meetings focused on the integration of minorities and good governance as the Albanian-majority Serbian province which the world body has run since Western forces drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 amid ethnic fighting nears a decision on its final status. The activities, including town hall and youth meetings, public gatherings and round table discussions have been organized and facilitated by the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (<"http://www.unmikonline.org">UNMIK) Multi-Ethnicity and Outreach Unit as part of the Office of the Strategy Coordinator (STRATCO) in its efforts to help Kosovo society attain a better life in line with European and international standards. This includes bringing to the forefront the role the majority population plays in integrating minorities in the province where Albanians outnumber Serbs and others by 9 to 1, with an emphasis on the so-called Standards, eight targets that include building democratic institutions, enforcing minority rights, creating a functioning economy and setting up an impartial legal system. “By coordinating the efforts to promote Standards implementation and in the outreach process for minorities, UNMIK has analyzed, evaluated and offered guidance on ways to ensure that Kosovo becomes a vibrant multiethnic society,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Joachim Rücker said. The meetings come as Mr. Ban’s Special Envoy for the status process Martti Ahtisaari continues discussions with Serbia and the province’s ethnic Albanian-led government on a plan he presented earlier this year, which would give Kosovo the right to govern itself and conclude international agreements, including membership in international bodies, under international civilian and military supervision to help to ensure peace and stability. The plan does not specifically mention independence, which Serbia rejects but which many ethnic Albanians seek, and Mr. Ahtisaari reported last week that the sides remain “diametrically opposed” on his proposals. Following further talks he plans to present a further version to the <"http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/index.html">Security Council by the end of the month. Asked last month whether he would characterize his proposals as independence in all but name, he said both sides were interpreting them as meaning independence supervised by the international community, but he would make “a very clear statement on that” when he presents the final version. 2007-03-07 00:00:00.000

UGANDA: UN HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE CONDEMNS INVASION OF HIGH COURT BY ARMED POLICE

New York, Mar 7 2007 10:00AM The United Nations human rights office in Uganda has called on the Government to fully respect the independence of the judiciary after the intrusion of armed police at the High Court in Kampala, the capital, condemning it as a “blatant interference with the independence of the administration of justice by the executive branch.” The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Uganda (OHCHR Uganda) “reaffirms that an independent judiciary is key to upholding the rule of law in a democratic and free society,” it said in a statement on the incident, which prompted the judiciary to suspend all court activities nationwide. According to reports, after the adjournment of the bail application by the High Court of alleged members of a group known as the People’s Redemption Army, armed men in police uniform surrounded the Registry, prevented those released on bail from leaving and re-arrested them. Some of the defendants, a journalist and one counsel, who subsequently required medical treatment, were reported to have been mistreated. In November 2005, a group of armed security operatives reportedly belonging to a specialized anti-terrorist unit invaded the High Court during proceedings related to the same case, also in an attempt to intimidate and threaten judges and lawyers, and to disrupt judicial proceedings, OHCHR Uganda said. The office “unequivocally condemns the interference by armed security forces with the independence of the Judiciary, contrary to the Constitution and international human rights principles, which undermines the rule of law and administration of justice in Uganda,” the statement added. It called on Government authorities to take all necessary measures to prevent any further interference with the independence of the judiciary, to respect judicial decisions taken by the judiciary, and ensure that all individuals responsible for the violations of human rights and national law by undermining the independence of the judiciary be held fully accountable. The office also welcomed the announcement by President Yoweri Museveni that an investigation into the incident is to be undertaken, and it urged that the results be made public without delay. 2007-03-07 00:00:00.000

Mar 6

UN NUCLEAR WATCHDOG AGAIN URGES ‘TIMEOUT’ BY BOTH SIDES ON IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAMME

New York, Mar 6 2007 11:00AM The head of the United Nations atomic watchdog agency has again called for a “timeout” on the Iranian nuclear issue to allow for talks, with Iran suspending uranium enrichment and the international community suspending sanctions over a programme that Tehran says is for producing energy but which critics maintain is for making nuclear weapons. “That’s the only way in my view to achieve a durable solution to the issue,” UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei told a news conference in Vienna after delivering a report yesterday to his agency’s Board of Governors that noted that Iran had continued enrichment despite a Security Council call that it suspend such activities and the imposition of sanctions. The Council’s five permanent members – China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and United States – together with Germany are now considering what further action to take. Mr. Mr. ElBaradei first issued a call for a timeout in January, with the parties going “immediately to the negotiating table.” In his report, Mr. ElBaradei said that because of the lack of “the necessary level of transparency and cooperation” from Iran, his agency could not provide assurances that the Iranian nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes, stressing that the issue was in a class of its own because of Tehran’s two decades of undeclared activities in breach of its obligations under Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty At the news conference he repeated his calls for Iran to cooperate fully with IAEA. “This would help a lot in diffusing the emerging crisis about Iran’s programme,” he said. “It would enable a comprehensive solution that on the one hand guarantees Iran’s right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes but at the same time provides the international community with the confidence that is needed after many years of undeclared nuclear activities in Iran about its programme and future direction.” On his forthcoming visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Mr. ElBaradei said the focus was twofold. “One, to see how we can normalize relationship between the IAEA and DPRK. The second is to begin to start the modalities for the Agency going back to start the verification process foreseen under the Beijing agreement,” he added. At the Beijing six-party talks with key partners on the issue, the DPRK last month agreed to shut down and eventually abandon its Yongbyon nuclear facility. The accord envisions the return of IAEA personnel, who were ordered out four years ago when the country withdrew from the NPT. 2007-03-06 00:00:00.000

UN REFUGEE AGENCY LAUNCHES $56 MILLION APPEAL TO HELP SOUTHERN SUDANESE RETURN HOME

New York, Mar 6 2007 11:00AM The United Nations refugee agency today launched a $56.1-million appeal to help more than 125,000 southern Sudanese refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) return home this year and reintegrate into their communities in a region where two decades of civil war uprooted some 4.5 million people. Since a peace deal was signed in January 2005 between the Sudanese Government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLA), an estimated 102,000 refugees have already returned home, including 32,400 under the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) voluntary repatriation programme. An estimated 850,000 IDPs have also returned to south Sudan, mostly using their own means. “Against a backdrop of landmines, human rights abuses and the almost total destruction of infrastructure and services, ensuring return and reintegration in safety and dignity and contributing to rebuilding economic, social, civil and political life are major undertakings, not just for UNHCR but for all partners involved,” the agency in launching the appeal. “Despite considerable achievements during the past two years, many receiving communities are still struggling to absorb returnees.” This year’s appeal aims to assist the return from nearby countries of 102,000 refugees and 25,000 IDPs, providing returnees with reintegration packages, rehabilitating health clinics and schools, and improving shelter and sanitation. Along with partners and humanitarian organizations and working closely with the Sudanese government, UNHCR will also help to monitor the human rights situation of some 1.8 million IDPs around Khartoum, the capital, and Kassala state, providing accurate information on areas of origin so they can make informed decisions about returning. Conditions in return areas, including security, water, health and education are major factors for refugees and IDPs deciding to go home. As part of the joint UN work programme for 2007, UNHCR plans to rehabilitate and construct 65 boreholes, and rehabilitate 60 health clinics and 30 schools in areas of high refugee return. Last year, UNHCR received more than $63 million for its south Sudan operations. In a related development today, the agency today resumed the voluntary repatriation of Sudanese refugees living in north-west Uganda after it was halted in mid-January because of an outbreak of meningitis. The disease has now been contained. When the peace agreement for southern Sudan was signed, there were an estimated 6.7 million IDPs in Africa’s largest country, including 2 million from the separate conflict in the western Darfur region, and some 550,000 refugees in neighbouring countries. 2007-03-06 00:00:00.000

WITHOUT NEW FUNDS 68,000 HUNGRY MAURITANIAN CHILDREN FACE CUT IN UN FOOD RATIONS

New York, Mar 6 2007 11:00AM Up to 68,000 young children in Mauritania, already threatened by malnutrition, will have their rations reduced or cut completely at the most critical time of the year unless substantial new contributions are forthcoming, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today. “We are raising the flag early,” WFP Country Director Gian Carlo Cirri said, noting that the agency requires a further $14.4 million for its Mauritania operation this year amid concerns that funding has largely dried up in recent months despite the imminent onset of the annual ‘lean season,’ when poor families routinely struggle to find enough to eat. “We need these funds urgently to ensure there is no break in deliveries to hundreds of feeding centres across the worst affected parts of the country. The system is in place; we absolutely have to keep it supplied.” Any break in WFP operations will threaten a reversal of the significant gains made in the battle against malnutrition in the largely desert north-west African country in recent years. If urgent funding is not received, WFP faces a break in supplies as early as April, exactly when the ‘lean season’ begins to bite. A recent food security survey revealed a precarious situation with total cereal production per capita 7.7 per cent lower than the average over the past five years and a consequent rise in prices that has further eroded the already weak purchasing power of subsistence farmers. Earlier aid has had a positive impact, with the national global acute malnutrition rate dropping to 8.2 per cent from 13.3 percent in 2001, according to a UN Children’s Fund . Over the same period, global chronic malnutrition rates dipped from 38.2 percent to 24.5 percent. “These considerable and hard won gains in the battle against hunger are at risk,” Mr. Cirri said. “At a time when experts are calling for the treatment of malnutrition in Mauritania to be stepped up and strengthened, WFP has its hands tied by a lack of resources.” According to a WFP study, 165,000 people – 9 per cent of the population – are highly vulnerable and depend on humanitarian aid to survive through the toughest months of the year. Another 180,000 struggle to feed themselves adequately. “We might not yet be confronted by a major humanitarian crisis, but thousands of Mauritanians depend on WFP to get them through the toughest time of the year,” Mr. Cirri stressed. “We cannot even consider the possibility that we will let them down – and to get the job done we need the support of the international community.” 2007-03-06 00:00:00.000

Mar 5

UN ATOMIC WATCHDOG AGENCY REPORTS STALEMATE OVER IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAMME

New York, Mar 5 2007 11:00AM Lacking “the necessary level of transparency and cooperation,” the United Nations atomic watchdog agency reiterated yet again today that it could not provide assurances that Iran’s nuclear programme is solely for the peaceful purpose of generating energy and not for producing nuclear bombs. “The current situation remains somewhat of a stalemate,” UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei told the agency’s Board of Governors in presenting his latest report on Iran’s nuclear programme, noting that the case was in a class of its own because of Tehran’s two decades of undeclared activities in breach of its obligations under Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty “The Agency has been able to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran. However, we continue to be unable to reconstruct fully the history of Iran’s nuclear programme and some of its components, because we have not been provided with the necessary level of transparency and cooperation on the part of Iran,” he said. “We have not seen concrete proof of the diversion of nuclear material, nor the industrial capacity to produce weapon-usable nuclear material, which is an important consideration in assessing the risk. However, quite a few uncertainties still remain about experiments, procurements and other activities relevant to our understanding of the scope and nature of Iran’s programme. This renders the Agency unable to provide the required assurance about the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme,” he added. He termed Iran’s insistence on linking its readiness to resolve IAEA concerns to actions by the Security Council, which has already imposed sanctions and is considering further measures “difficult to understand,” and called for the resumption of negotiations between Tehran and all relevant parties. “I remain convinced that only through negotiation can a comprehensive and durable solution be attained to the Iranian nuclear question and other issues related to it,” he said. Iran insists its programme is purely for energy production but many other countries maintain it is for making weapons, and in December the Council imposed limited sanctions and called on Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment. In the IAEA report, Mr. ElBaradei noted that despite this Iran had continued enrichment, which can produce fuel for generating electricity or, at a much higher level, making nuclear bombs. It was the discovery in 2003 of Iran’s hidden activities that gave rise to the current crisis, as Mr. ElBaradei stressed today. “The IAEA’s confidence about the nature of Iran’s programme has been shaken because of two decades of undeclared activities,” he said. “This confidence will only be restored when Iran takes the long overdue decision to explain and answer all the Agency’s questions and concerns about its past nuclear activities in an open and transparent manner. Until that time, the Agency will have no option but to reserve its judgment about Iran’s nuclear programme, and as a result the international community will continue to express concern.” Mr. ElBaradei painted a more positive picture on another area of major IAEA concern, the nuclear programme of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), noting the DPRK’s agreement at diplomatic talks in Beijing last month to shut down and eventually abandon its Yongbyon nuclear facility. The agreement envisions the return of IAEA personnel to conduct necessary monitoring and verification after they were ordered out four years ago when the DPRK withdrew from the NPT. The DPRK also invited Mr. ElBaradei to visit. “I welcome the Beijing agreement, and the invitation to visit the DPRK, as positive steps towards the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and towards the normalization of the DPRK’s relationship with the Agency,” he said. 2007-03-05 00:00:00.000

AFTER RECORD AFGHAN CROP IN 2006, OPIUM PRODUCTION COULD RISE YET AGAIN, UN REPORTS

New York, Mar 5 2007 11:00AM Opium production in Afghanistan, a $3-billion-a-year trade accounting for more than 90 per cent of the world’s illegal output, could rise again this year after a nearly 60 per cent increase in 2006, due to the ousted Taliban using the trade in the raw material for heroin to fund their war, according to a new United Nations survey released today. “In the south, the vicious circle of drugs funding terrorism and terrorists supporting drug traffickers is stronger than ever,” UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said, noting “a pronounced divide” between the war-torn south and the more stable centre and north. “In other words, opium cultivation in the south of the country is less a narcotic issue and more a matter of insurgency, so it is vital to fight them both together,” he added. UNODC’s Afghanistan Opium Winter Assessment, drafted together with the Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics, highlights the regional divisions, suggesting that cultivation is likely to decrease in seven of the country's 34 provinces, with no change expected in six. Another six are opium-free and likely to remain so but increases are expected in the remaining 15, mainly in the south, east and west. On balance, the increase in the south may be greater than the decline elsewhere, causing a possible further rise in the country’s aggregate supply, but the survey also notes that a strong eradication campaign is underway and this could have an impact on the situation in some provinces, including in the south. “The trend towards more and more provinces in Afghanistan cultivating opium may be broken,” Mr. Costa said. “We are witnessing divergent trends. This is a moderately good sign.” The survey, conducted in December and January, shows a clear link between poor security conditions and opium poppy cultivation in the southern provinces. While only 20 per cent of farmers in areas with good security grow opium, 80 per cent do so in areas where security is poor. Significant decreases in cultivation are expected in the centre and the north from projects providing farmers with incentives to switch to licit livelihoods, with only 6 per cent of villages that have received external aid such as medical care, schools, roads, electricity or irrigation engaged in opium cultivation. “Farmers are speaking loud and clear. They respond to real incentives to stop growing opium,” Mr. Costa said. “It is possible to claw Afghanistan back into legality province by province, as was done in Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, all of which were once characterized by large scale opium cultivation,” he added. But he voiced concern that only 1 per cent of the $100 million available through the projects such as the Good Performance Initiative and Counter-Narcotics Trust Fund had so far been disbursed. “This money is vital for the future of Afghanistan. I appeal to both the national and international bureaucracies to get it moving,” he said. A record 165,000 hectares were under opium poppy cultivation in 2006, an increase of 59 per cent compared to 2005, mainly due to large-scale cultivation in the southern province of Helmand. Further increases there and in Uruzgan and Kandahar provinces, are likely this year. In all cases, permanent Taliban settlements have provided sanctuary for cultivation, heroin processing and trafficking to Pakistan and Iran. The revenue received in return is used to fund Taliban activities. The Survey shows that 80 per cent of farmers in poppy-growing areas in the south are involved in cultivation. Nationally, the proportion is only 13 per cent. The high price is the main reason given by farmers for growing opium, especially when there is little risk of their crops being eradicated. “At the moment, none of Afghanistan’s legitimate agricultural products can match the income available from opium poppy, which is estimated at $4,900 per hectare, about 10 times the income from licit crops,” Mr. Costa stressed. “We need to change the risk/reward balance for farmers, increasing both the attractiveness of licit activity and the retribution for not complying with the law.” 2007-03-05 00:00:00.000

Mar 4

GIRLS SPEAK OUT FOR THEIR RIGHTS AT UN-BACKED FORUM

New York, Mar 3 2007 2:00PM Girls from around the world -- including a former child soldier from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), an HIV-positive rape victim from Zambia, and a child-labourer from Nepal -- have come together to share the experiences that made them activists at an event at United Nations Headquarters. The poignant voices of these and other girls at Friday's event, called "Girls Speak Out" and moderated by CBS News anchor Katie Couric of the United States, drew an emotional response from those attending, including delegates to the UN Commission on the Status of Women, whose two-week session ends on 9 March. Madeleine, a 15-year-old former soldier from the DRC, recounted her experiences in the jungles of Eastern Congo, where she fought on the front lines of the civil war. She joined the Mai-Mai armed group in 2002 when she was only 11 years old without having completed primary schooling. After receiving military training, she spent two years with the group in the Uvira region before being demobilized as a soldier in 2004. "Girls who have been demobilized now live in local communities. And I must say that 7 or 8 out of 10 of us have children -- children that are being rejected by our communities," the former girl soldier told her fellow delegates. "Some of us are suffering from diseases like HIV/AIDS, and yet we don't have access to treatment. What have we done wrong to suffer like this? What will be our future?" she asked, before she broke down in tears. The audience gave her a standing ovation. The event was organized as part of a debate on how to curb the discrimination and violence that girls face in all regions, which is the priority theme of this year's Commission session. Over 2,000 women and girls have come from around the world to join government delegates in seeking solutions to these problems. The impact of discrimination and violence against girls is staggering: 55 million girls are not in school; millions of school- in domestic service; an estimated 40 per cent of child soldiers are girls; and more than 60 per cent of young people aged 15-25 living with HIV and AIDS are female. "We are not only the subject of the conference, but we are also the voice of this conference," said 16-year-old Jordana Alter Confino from New Jersey, who was a co-moderator of the special event. Ms. Confino is one of the founders of Girls Learn International, a service initiative engaging middle and high school students from the United States in the campaign to achieve universal girls' education. Katie Couric, a mother of two girls, told delegates that there was so much to learn from this discussion, observing: "To change the world, you have to learn the world." 2007-03-03 00:00:00.000

IRAN, DARFUR AND OTHER HOTSPOTS TO DOMINATE SECURITY COUNCIL IN MARCH: PRESIDENT

New York, Mar 2 2007 6:00PM The Security Council expects to adopt a resolution on Iran’s nuclear programme early next week, while the continuing conflict in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region, the role of women across the world, and possible visits to Nepal, Lebanon and other global hotspots will dominate the 15-member body’s work throughout March, its new president said today. Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo of South Africa, which this month holds the Council’s revolving presidency, also said the situation in Kosovo and a thematic debate on links with regional organizations, particularly the African Union (AU), will be key events discussed over the next four weeks. “We expect that anytime starting on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we would have a resolution on Iran. There is nothing in place now…[but] the political directors will speak again tomorrow…and then early next week there will be a document,” he told reporters at UN Headquarters. Ambassador Kumalo said the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Darfur Jan Eliasson will brief the Council on 6 March following his recent visit to the region. South Africa has also proposed a Presidential Statement on the global role of women in peace and security, which will coincide with International Women’s Day on Thursday. “We want to look at the totality of women, women as legislators, women as business people and of course also women as victims of the tragedy,” the President said. “We think it’s time for the Security Council to focus on women in their totality.” He said the Council would also discuss Lebanon, including a possible visit there by its members, as well as possible visits to Ethiopia, Nepal, Israel and Palestine, Timor-Leste, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Côte d’Ivoire. 2007-03-02 00:00:00.000

ERITREA IMPOSES MORE RESTRICTIONS ON UN FURTHER REDUCING ITS MONITORING ABILITY

New York, Mar 2 2007 6:00PM Eritrea recently imposed more restrictions on the United Nations peacekeeping mission monitoring the ceasefire that ended its border war with Ethiopia in 2000, further reducing the world body’s effectiveness in the area, a UN spokesperson said today. Both countries have long been in stalemate along the frontier, with Ethiopia refusing to implement the binding decisions of a Boundary Commission and Eritrea maintaining troops in the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) along the border, in addition to its ban on UN helicopter flights. “The UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea has confirmed that Eritrean authorities recently imposed additional restrictions on the movements of UN peacekeepers in the Mission’s area of responsibility,” UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters. “The Mission says that as a result of the new restrictions, UN peacekeepers’ ability to monitor the ceasefire has been reduced in these areas.” In January, the Security Council extended UNMEE’s mandate by six months until the end of July, but also cut the number of blue helmets as it voiced frustration with the lack of progress made by either country in resolving their differences. The number of peacekeeping troops will be reduced from the current 2,300 to 1,700, including 230 military observers – one of four options for the Mission proposed by the Secretary-General in the face of the ongoing intransigence by Ethiopia and Eritrea. 2007-03-02 00:00:00.000

Mar 3

EXODUS FROM SOMALIA’S CAPITAL ESCALATES IN FACE OF VIOLENCE, NEARING 20,000: UN

New York, Mar 2 2007 4:00PM The flight of civilians from Somalia’s strife-torn capital, Mogadishu, has escalated over the past week, bringing the total number of those displaced from the city to nearly 20,000, sparking mounting concerns for their health and sanitation, the United Nations reported today. “Available social services, particularly water supply systems, are limited,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. “That is leading to an increase in diarrhoea cases.” The UN World Health Organization and the UN Children’s Fund are working to address the problem, OCHA added, noting that on the positive side the number of malaria cases are decreasing as flood-hit areas dry out. Meanwhile, 25 trucks contracted by the UN World Food Programme crossed into Somalia today from Kenya with nearly 800 tons of food aid. Mogadishu has been suffering from increased violence since the Transitional Government ousted Islamist groups with Ethiopian help two months ago. The whole country has been riven by factional fighting among rival warlords and has had no functioning central government ever since the regime of Muhammad Siad Barre was toppled in 1991. 2007-03-02 00:00:00.000

IBRAHIM GAMBARI NAMED NEW UN ADVISOR ON INTERNATIONAL COMPACT WITH IRAQ

New York, Mar 2 2007 4:00PM Ibrahim Gambari of Nigeria, the former head of the United Nations Department for Political Affairs, was today named Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Advisor on the International Compact with Iraq and Other Political Issues. “The Secretary-General values Mr. Gambari’s recent service to the Organization as Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs and he looks forward to working with him in this new capacity,” Mr. Ban’s spokesperson, Michele Montas, said in a ">statement announcing the appointment. “Based at Headquarters, the Special Adviser’s role with regard to the International Compact with Iraq will be to ensure coordinated support from the United Nations System to the implementation of commitments made, through the Compact, toward a peaceful, secure and prosperous Iraq,” she said. Launched in July, 2006, the Compact aims to help Iraq consolidate peace and pursue political, economic and social development over the next five years. Mr. Gambari was previously named chief of the Political Affairs Department in July, 2005. Before that he served as Special Adviser on Africa and headed the UN Mission in Angola. He was Nigeria’s Ambassador to the UN from 1999 until 2002. The new Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, B. Lynn Pascoe, took office yesterday along with the new Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, and the new Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management Services, Muhammad Shaaban. Taking their oath of office in a special ceremony in the Secretary General’s conference room today, they signed a declaration promising to “exercise in all loyalty, discretion and conscience the functions entrusted to them as international civil servants.” 2007-03-02 00:00:00.000

TAJIKISTAN MUST BALANCE FREEDOM OF RELIGIOUS BODIES AGAINST COERCION BY THEM-UN EXPERT

New York, Mar 2 2007 12:00PM Largely Muslim Tajikistan should take a balanced approach to religion, ensuring that legislation and policies respect the right to freedom of belief while also protecting the population, especially vulnerable individuals, from harassment by non-State entities in the name of religion, (httpNewsByYear_en)/DDF5B26D6C01DB0BC1257292003D221C?OpenDocument">according to an independent United Nations rights expert. Special Raporteur on freedom of religion or belief Asma Jahangir said at the end of a visit to the former Soviet Central Asian republic, where the UN helped rebuild peace after a civil war with religious factions in the 1990s, that the Government by and large respected the freedoms of all religious communities and individuals. “However, there are challenges they face and some contentious issues are in the process of being resolved,” she noted in a statement. “The Special Rapporteur was deeply impressed by the cooperation extended to her by the Government of Tajikistan,” the statement said, adding that she met with various ministers and officials as well as members of various religious associations including the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and lawyers. She said she trusted that the Government is engaged in seeking the most appropriate approach in dealing with the complex issues. “She hopes that the Government will adopt creative and delicate means to address the pressing matters,” the statement added. Special Rapporteurs are unpaid experts serving in an independent personal capacity who report to the Geneva-based UN <" Human Rights Council. The UN maintains a peacebuilding office in Tajikistan known by its acronym UNTOP. 2007-03-02 00:00:00.000

Mar 2

UN REPATRIATION PROGRAMME FOR AFGHANS IN PAKISTAN RESUMES AFTER WINTER BREAK

New York, Mar 2 2007 11:00AM The United Nations refugee agency has resumed the voluntary repatriation of Afghans in Pakistan after a winter break, the sixth year of the largest such operation in the agency’s history that has already seen over 2.87 million Afghans return from Pakistan, and another 1.5 million from Iran. The resumption yesterday follows a recently-concluded registration that counted over 2.1 million Afghans still living in Pakistan, many of whom fled their homeland decades ago in the face of the Soviet invasion and subsequent factional fighting as well as the more recent Taliban regime that was ousted by a United States-led invasion in 2001. UNHCR expects some 250,000 Afghans to return from Pakistan and Iran during this year’s repatriation season which will extend until 15 November. The operation is largely funded by the European Commission. After passing the standard iris-verification test to ensure they have not previously received UNHCR assistance, they will receive the package of travel and reintegration assistance at an encashment centre in Afghanistan. Last year, each returning Afghan family received between $4 and $37 in travel grant depending on the distance home. Each individual received $12 in reintegration assistance. 2007-03-02 00:00:00.000

200 YEARS AFTER ABOLITION OF SLAVE TRADE, SLAVE-LIKE PRACTICES PERSIST – BAN KI-MOON

New York, Mar 2 2007 11:00AM Two hundred years after the United States and the British Empire banned the slave trade, many millions of people are still subjected to slavery-like practices, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned. “These include debt bondage and the use of children in armed conflict,” he told the inaugural ceremony yesterday evening of an exhibition at UN Headquarters in New York marking the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. “The victims are typically too scared to speak out. For all that has been accomplished in our campaign for human rights, we still have much to do.” The month-long exhibition in the United Nations Visitors’ Lobby – “Lest We Forget – The Triumph Over Slavery” – illustrates the cultural, political, economic and social practices of enslaved Africans while enduring the dehumanizing conditions of slavery. Organized by the UN Department of Public Information (DPI) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States in association with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the exhibition will coincide with the International Day for the Commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade which the General Assembly has proclaimed for 25 March. “This exhibition tells more than the story of the triumph over the slave trade,” Mr. Ban said. “We also see men and women striving to maintain dignity and their culture in a world without mercy. Let us be inspired by their struggle. And let us finish the job that is still before us.” Two hundred years ago today US President Thomas Jefferson signed legislation abolishing the slave trade. Later that same month, the British Parliament banned the slave trade throughout the British Empire. 2007-03-02 00:00:00.000

March 1

UN REFUGEE AGENCY SEEKS TO ERASE RACIAL STEREOTYPING IN ITALIAN MEDIA

New York, Mar 1 2007 11:00AM The United Nations refugee agency is seeking to solve a number of thorny issues in Europe, ranging from thousands of people who suddenly found themselves declared illegal in Slovenia to racial stereotyping by the Italian media. Stung by the Italian media’s demonising of a Tunisian linked to a recent gruesome murder case, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has worked with the industry on drawing up a code of conduct for coverage of refugee and immigration issues. “Strong and rather unexpected evidence of xenophobic sentiments emerged, as did a media system ready to act as the sounding board for the worst manifestations of hate,” UNHCR senior regional public information officer Laura Boldrini said. When the bodies of Raffaella Castagna, her two-year-old son, her mother and a friend were found in the northern town of Erba - the three women stabbed while the infant's throat was cut ¬– some sections of the press swiftly blamed Castagna’s Tunisian husband, who had served prison time on drug charges. But it soon emerged that Azouz Marzouk had been in Tunisia at the time and the police arrested Castagna’s two middle-aged neighbours on charges of murdering her and the others, apparently due to a feud over noise. UNHCR argued that the media’s attitude needed to change and Ms. Boldrini wrote to the editors-in-chief of major media organizations calling for serious dialogue on the role and behaviour of the press in such cases and on coverage of refugee and immigration issues, which she said was often characterized by alarmist and warlike language and had influenced public opinion. Since then, UNHCR, working with academics, two press bodies and other experts, has proposed a draft code of conduct modelled on a 1990 charter that provides protection for minors who are subjects of press stories. The aim is to produce “a sort of code of ethics that, without prejudice to the right to information, treats immigrants as persons, regardless of their origin, and which leads to a correct use of language and adequate protection for all those who have requested and obtained protection in Italy,” Ms. Boldrini said. A small working group is preparing an initial draft. In Slovenia the agency is trying to the issue of some 4,000 people who were deprived of legal residency status and its benefits, including facilitated access to nationality, housing, employment, health insurance, pensions and access to higher education, after Slovenia broke away from Yugoslavia, apparently due to the short window of opportunity when non-Slovenian residents could apply for citizenship. “They speak Slovene, they have professional qualifications,” UNHCR regional representative Lloyd Dakin said. “Many of them grew up in Slovenia. With sufficient political will, the whole issue could be resolved quickly.” Meanwhile UNHCR has welcomed draft legislation in Ireland that will, for the first time, allow refugees who are qualified medical doctors to register and practise. The agency estimates that from 100 to 200 doctors have gone through the asylum system in Ireland over the past decade, but most have not been able to practise. UNHCR country representative Manuel Jordão urged support for the draft as it moves through its various stages in the Dáil, or parliament. “Integration of its migrant and refugees will be a number one priority for Ireland in the next few years,” he said. “Although only one of many initiatives, the proposal to help refugee doctors to practise will be of immense benefit for their integration prospects and of great benefit to Ireland too.” 2007-03-01 00:00:00.000

Feb 28

BAN KI-MOON SUPPORTS MEETING ON IRAQ BRINGING TOGETHER US, IRAN AND SYRIA

New York, Feb 28 2007 5:00PM A spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today voiced support for the new diplomatic initiative that will bring together Iraq’s neighbours and the five permanent members of the Security Council in a meeting in Baghdad. Responding to press questions, Michele Montas noted that the United States, Syria and Iran would be represented and said Mr. Ban would be sending his Special Representative for Iraq, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, to attend the meeting as an observer. “The Secretary-General hopes that the participants in the preparatory meeting will focus on urgently needed steps to reduce violence in Iraq and help stabilize the situation in the region,” Ms. Montas added, noting that he had discussed this idea with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari during their recent meeting in Berlin. “It is in keeping with the call the UN has been making for a convergence of national, regional and international efforts in support of the people and Government of Iraq,” she said. 2007-02-28 00:00:00.000

HAITI NEEDS INTERNATIONAL AID AT CURRENT CRUCIAL JUNCTURE, SAYS UN OFFICIAL

New York, Feb 28 2007 5:00PM Immediate urgent action and increased aid, especially financial support, from the international community are necessary to improve the humanitarian situation in Haiti which is at a “crossroads in its history,” a United Nations envoy to the country said today in New York. “We’ve seen statistically that countries that are coming out of a long period of tension or conflict have a strong tendency to relapse” without “strong and coherent support from the international community,” Joel Boutroue, the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative for Haiti, told reporters at a press briefing. He called for an intensification of actions such as those currently underway to reform the police and justice system in Haiti. Mr. Boutroue cited positive gains the country has made recently, pointing out that recent presidential, legislative and local elections have given the Government much-needed credibility, while Haiti’s investment in development projects reflects its commitment to stability. The envoy also lauded the efforts to rid the capital Port-au-Prince of gangs, allowing the residents of notorious slum areas such as Cité Soleil to regain freedom and a sense of security. However, without a large infusion of cash into the neighbourhoods, the population will remain mired in poverty and will “rapidly lose confidence or trust in its Government and in the international community as a whole,” he warned. Haitians must be made aware that there is a marked difference between when gangs operated with impunity and now, when the Government, with the strong support of the world, “runs the show.” The UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, known as MINUSTAH, has been conducting sweeps to rid Port-au-Prince of violence crime. Blue helmets have arrested almost 60 suspected gangsters since a crack-down was launched on armed marauders earlier this month. 2007-02-28 00:00:00.000

UN OFFICIAL DISCUSSES LATEST SITUATION IN SOUTHERN LEBANON WITH OFFICIALS IN BEIRUT

New York, Feb 28 2007 4:00PM A senior United Nations official today discussed with Lebanese officials full implementation of the Security Council resolution that ended last summer’s war between Israel and Hizbollah, following similar talks earlier this week with Israeli authorities. “We discussed many issues from the question of prisoners, Israeli prisoners in Lebanon, Lebanese prisoners in Israel – we would like to see more progress on that,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Advisor on the situation in the Middle East Michael Williams told reporters after meeting with officials in Beirut, the Lebanese capital, in preparation for Mr. Ban’s next report to the Council on the situation. “We also discussed the issue of Israeli overflights which are a violation of Lebanese sovereignty and occur on a regular and indeed a daily basis. We discussed the issue of munitions in the south, both landmines and the far more difficult issue of cluster bombs.” Mr. Williams noted that there had been some progress on landmines with Israel providing military maps that have helped with their destruction, but the issue of the far more deadly cluster bombs used by Israel last summer has been far more difficult. UN officials have frequently cited the dangers to civilians in their villages and fields from unexploded cluster bombs. Last month, a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report stressed the importance of rapidly removing them, especially in southern Lebanon where large areas of economically important agricultural land have become “out of bounds” for farmers, noting that de-mining could take up to 15 months. Council resolution 1701 adopted in August mandated the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon together with Lebanese army deployment in the area. It also enhanced the UN Interim Force in Lebanon first created in 1978 to confirm an Israeli withdrawal after an earlier incursion, to monitor the cessation of hostilities. UNIFIL now fields more than 12,000 troops out of its new ceiling of 15,000. Israel has withdrawn from all Lebanese territory except for the northern part of the village of Ghajar which straddles the line separating the two sides. 2007-02-28 00:00:00.000

IRAN CONTINUES NUCLEAR ENRICHMENT IN BREACH OF SECURITY COUNCIL CALL, UN REPORTS

New York, Feb 28 2007 4:00PM Iran has continued uranium enrichment despite a Security Council call that it suspend such activities, the United Nations atomic watchdog says in a new report, adding that without greater transparency and spot checks it cannot affirm that Tehran’s nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes to produce energy and not weapons. “Iran has not agreed to any of the required transparency measures, which are essential for the clarification of certain aspects of the scope and nature of its nuclear programme,” UN International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei says in the report, which was released by the Security Council today. As announced by Iran itself, the report notes that the country has continued uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for providing electricity or, at a much higher level, making nuclear bombs. Iran insists its programme is purely for energy production but many other countries maintain it is for making weapons, and in December the Council imposed limited sanctions and called on Tehran to suspend all enrichment related and reprocessing activities. Mr. ElBaradei reports that Iran continued to feed uranium into enrichment machines at the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP). Between 2 November and 17 February it declared enriching some 66 kilos of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) to levels below 5 per cent, consistent with fuel production, in two 164-cascade machines. A much higher level of enrichment is required for bombs. The report stresses that Iran had for nearly 20 years concealed its nuclear activities in breach of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and it was this discovery in 2003 that gave rise to the current crisis over its nuclear programme. Given this history, “it is necessary for Iran to enable the Agency, through maximum cooperation and transparency, to fully reconstruct the history of Iran’s nuclear programme,” Mr. ElBaradei states. “Without such cooperation and transparency, the Agency will not be able to provide assurances about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran or about the exclusively peaceful nature of that programme.” The Security Council called on Iran to promptly ratify the Additional Protocol to the NPT, which in effect which guarantees the IAEA access on short notice to all declared – and, if necessary, undeclared – facilities in order to assure the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities, but Tehran has not done so. “The Agency is able to verify the [current] non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran,” Mr. ElBaradei declares. “The Agency remains unable, however, to make further progress in its efforts to verify fully the past development of Iran’s nuclear programme and certain aspects relevant to its scope and nature. “Hence, the Agency is unable to verify the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran unless Iran addresses the long outstanding verification issues through the implementation of the Additional Protocol (which it signed on 18 December 2003, but has not yet brought into force) and the required transparency measures.” 2007-02-28 00:00:00.000

UN GOODWILL AMBASSADOR ANGELINA JOLIE VISITS DARFUR REFUGEES IN CHAD

New York, Feb 28 2007 1:00PM Actress and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie wrapped up a two-day trip to a refugee camp in eastern Chad housing refugees from Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region, praising humanitarian workers for their tireless efforts in providing assistance while calling for more aid to those in need. “Years into this situation, now finding themselves coming under attack, humanitarian workers’ spirits are unbroken,” she said, on her first trip to the region since visiting both Chad and Darfur three years ago. At the same time, Ms. Jolie called for greater support to aid refugees, such as those she met in the Oure-Cassoni camp, which is home to 26,000 refugees and is less than five kilometres from Chad’s border with Sudan. “It’s always hard to see decent people, families, living in such difficult conditions,” she said. “What is most upsetting is how long it is taking the international community to answer this crisis.” After travelling through a sandstorm to the Oure-Cassoni camp, the northernmost of 12 camps run by UNCHR in eastern Chad sheltering more 230,000 refugees from Darfur, Ms. Jolie was welcomed by singing schoolchildren. At one of the camp’s many schools, she spoke with students about their wishes to return to their homes in Sudan one day. Yesterday, she met with a group of women who told her that they want to engage in income-generating activities and one day return home to Darfur, yet they acknowledged they cannot repatriate given the precarious security situation, the agency said in a news release. Many of the refugees Ms. Jolie spoke to declared their wishes for an international peacekeeping force in Chad to protect civilians and prevent attacks from across the border in Sudan. They also said they were relieved after hearing radio reports that the International Criminal Court (ICC) had named a Sudanese Government Minister and a militia leader as suspects wanted for war crimes. “The decisions of the ICC could make a big difference in the lives of these women and their children,” and “many refugees seemed to have a new sense of hope” upon hearing the news, Ms. Jolie said. “In order to feel safe enough to return home, these people said they would need to know that the men who attacked them had been stripped of their weapons.” Yesterday, UNHCR launched a $6.2 million supplementary appeal to help Chad manage up to 150,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) expected to be forced from their homes this year. In addition to the over 200,000 refugees from Darfur, Chad also hosts 46,000 people from the Central African Republic (CAR). 2007-02-28 00:00:00.000

CHAD: UN LAUNCHES SUPPLEMENTARY APPEAL FOR UP TO 150,000 INTERNALLY DISPLACED THIS YEAR

New York, Feb 27 2007 5:00PM Amid increasing insecurity and violence in eastern Chad, partly driven by killings in the neighbouring Sudanese region of Darfur, the United Nations refugee agency today launched a $6.2 million supplementary appeal to cope with up to 150,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) expected to be made homeless this year. This latest appeal by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees comes in addition to $69.3 million already budgeted this year for some 220,000 refugees from Darfur in 12 camps in eastern Chad, and another 46,000 from the Central African Republic (CAR) in the south of the country. “Chad is already struggling to cope with the refugees from Darfur and CAR. And it is now faced with the internal displacement of up to 120,000 of its own citizens amid spreading regional insecurity,” UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis told reporters in Geneva, adding that the new appeal aims to cover up to 150,000 IDPs by the end of 2007. The money will be used to fund assistance and protection programmes in eastern Chad, including the transfer of up to 20,000 IDPs from makeshift spontaneous settlements to more organized sites, as well as provision of emergency shelter and other non-food relief supplies. The displacement began in late 2005 and worsened in 2006 with a series of bloody inter-ethnic attacks, exacerbated by competition for scarce water, grazing land and other resources – mostly in the south-east of Chad. The attacks mirror the violence in Darfur, with armed, mainly Arab men on horseback and camels attacking and burning African villages, destroying crops, stealing cattle, terrorizing villagers and killing people. “The attacks allegedly involve mostly Chadian groups, with some degree of cooperation from the Sudanese Janjaweed militia,” said Ms. Pagonis. Currently, there are at least 25 settlements of internally displaced people in south-eastern Chad, but this supplementary appeal notes that the real extent of the displacement in the region remains difficult to assess because of the growing insecurity. Last week, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon proposed to the Security Council sending a nearly 11,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission to eastern Chad to protect civilians and deter cross-border attacks, as he painted a very grim picture of the humanitarian situation. “Eastern Chad is facing a multifaceted security and humanitarian crisis, which includes ongoing clashes between Government forces and Sudan-based Chadian rebels, cross-border attacks on civilians by Sudan-based militia, the presence of Sudanese rebels on Chadian territory, ethnic violence, internal displacement, inter-communal tensions and banditry,” he said in his latest report to the 15-member body. He also proposed “a modest deployment” of UN military and police personnel in the north-east of the CAR. 2007-02-27 00:00:00.000

UN ATOMIC WATCHDOG: NUCLEAR DETECTIVE NOT ONLY FOR WEAPONS BUT ON DAMAGED ART,

TOO New York, Feb 27 2007 5:00PM The United Nations atomic watchdog agency, better known around the world for its efforts to curb nuclear proliferation and stop weapons of mass destruction from falling into the hands of terrorists, is helping an Austrian museum assess damage and identify ways to preserve a stolen Renaissance sculptural masterpiece that was recently recovered. Acting as a nuclear detective in a little known sphere, the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has loaned Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches (Art History) Museum an instrument known as X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (or XRF) to examine and uncover hidden truths about a golden salt and pepper cellar sculpted by Benvenuto Cellini, which was found buried deep in a forest after being stolen in 2003. Just under 30 centimetres high, the Saliera – sculpted in the 16th century to hold spices for royal feasts – shows the graceful bodies of a man and woman symbolizing the god of the sea and goddess of earth. Its value exceeds $60 million. Not many people know that nuclear-based techniques like XRF are used for studying works of art, from Cellini’s Saliera to Michelangelo’s David. But they have proved their worth in fields ranging from art restoration to archaeology and the preservation of cultural artifacts. The best feature is that the invisible rays do not destroy or harm the treasured art. Another is its portability. Since any movement to a work of art is potentially catastrophic, the goal of art restorers is to minimize disturbance. And XRF, about the size of an overhead projector mounted on a moveable chassis, can be brought right to the source. As it was to unlock the secrets of Cellini’s Saliera. Initial findings show that the gold is very pure, about 90 per cent. The composition of the sensitive, partly flaking enamel that covers the masterpiece is still being examined. Martina Griesser, who heads the museum’s conservation science department, said the enamel had been degrading over time but “the theft certainly did not help things.” Having the sculpture exposed to harsh elements is a horrifying scenario for museum conservators. “The theft damaged the Saliera but fortunately not so much as we were expecting,” Ms. Griesser said. Most obvious is a deep scratch at the breast of the female figure, probably caused by the crowbar the thief used to smash the showcase it was stored in. The information obtained from the XRF gives conservators like Helene Hanzer the best chance to restore the piece and protect it for the future. With the help of XRF, it is hoped that the Saliera will be fully restored and back on public display in 2008. Apart from its nuclear weapons remit, the IAEA has a multi-dimensional mission that crosses a host of fields from medical diagnosis and cancer treatment to isotope tracking of underground water to weather and climate studies. 2007-02-27 00:00:00.000

SCIENCE PANEL’S REPORT FOR UN OUTLINES PLAN FOR CUTTING RISKS FROM CLIMATE CHANGE

New York, Feb 27 2007 6:00PM Improved transportation systems, tighter building codes and financing for energy-efficiency investments are among the measures recommended in a new scientific report on coping with climate change that was prepared at the request of the United Nations. The UN Foundation and Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, presented the report “Confronting Climate Change: Avoiding the Unmanageable and Managing the Unavoidable” to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has called climate change one of his priority concerns. The report notes that the technology exists to “seize significant opportunities around the globe” to reduce emissions and provide other economic, environmental and social benefits. It calls on policy makers to improve efficiency in the area of transportation through measures such as vehicle efficiency standards, fuel taxes, and registration fees or rebates that favour purchase of efficient and alternative fuel vehicles. They should also improve design and efficiency of commercial and residential buildings through building codes, standards for equipment and appliances, incentives for property developers and landlords to build and manage properties efficiently, and financing for energy-efficiency investments, the report states. It also recommends expanding the use of biofuels through energy portfolio standards and incentives to growers and consumers. The report outlines a role for the international community, through the UN and related multilateral institutions, including helping countries in need to finance and deploy energy efficient and new energy technologies while accelerating negotiations to develop a new international framework for addressing climate change and sustainable development. The report is “an attempt to define the beginnings of a course through the scientific impact, what we know about the impact of climate change and what we will know about possible measures of what we will do,” UN Foundation President Timothy E. Wirth told a press briefing in New York. He called the report “a very handy basis for how the climate issue is handled.” Prepared as input for the upcoming meeting of the UN’s Commission on Sustainable Development, the report warns of “two starkly different futures” facing humanity: one marked by increasingly serious climate-related impacts and the other aiming to “reduce dangerous emissions, create economic opportunity, help to reduce global poverty, reduce degradation and carbon emissions from ecosystems, and contribute to sustainability.” “Humanity must act collectively and urgently to change course through leadership at all levels of society,” it warns. “There is no more time for delay.” 2007-02-27 00:00:00.000

‘ABANDONED’ PEOPLE IN CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC, CHAD NEED AID: UNICEF AMBASSADOR

New York, Feb 27 2007 7:00PM Humanitarian assistance is crucial to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of “utterly neglected” and “desperate” people affected by conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR) and Chad, actress and Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Mia Farrow said today, upon returning from a visit to the area. “I don’t see how this extremely fragile and completely abandoned population can possibly survive” without a rapid injection of international aid, Ms. Farrow told reporters at a press briefing at UN Headquarters. “The enormity of the humanitarian situation and the fact that it has scarcely been addressed…is incomprehensible to me.” Ms. Farrow recalled, in vivid detail, an encounter while on the road in northwest CAR. After seeing “burnt village after burnt village after burnt village,” the UN convoy she was riding in paused because she had heard that hundreds of thousands of people, forced out of their homes by fighting, lived in the bush, she said. “I had heard that maybe if we paused people might come out, and sure enough, after 15 minutes, two people, ten people, 50, 100, 300 souls came out of the bush like spectres just caked in dust, emaciated,” she continued, saying that they came forward after seeing that their convoy was not armed with machine guns. After talking to them, she found that they were “too terrified to return to rebuild their villages and they were going to stay in the bush until they felt secure.” However, another non-UN vehicle approached, and “you could hear the pounding of the feet on the hard clay ground as 300 people vanished into the bush in sheer terror” in case the oncoming car carried armed soldiers, she said. The dire humanitarian situation in CAR has been called the “forgotten crisis, but that implies that it was once remembered,” Ms. Farrow said. “I don’t know that it has been in the consciousness of the international community.” She compared the current situation in eastern Chad to her experience in the country last November. While on her last visit, she saw 60 villages burned in one week as well as a “tremendous displaced and wounded population,” this time she noticed these people had been moved to makeshift camps. However, they have insufficient water and food supplies, and with the rainy season impending, more lives are at stake. Both countries need an immediate boost of aid, Ms. Farrow said, while acknowledging that humanitarian workers must work in extremely precarious and dangerous environments. Aid agencies, including UNICEF, “are resolved to do more there and we are going to follow through on that, but I cannot underline how dangerous, how volatile, difficult the situation is for the aid workers to live there.” Ms. Farrow also called on the UN to send in an international peacekeeping force to protect these people, especially those living close to both countries’ borders with Sudan, and allow them to rebuild their lives. Earlier today, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees launched a $6.2 million supplementary appeal to cope with up to 150,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) expected to be made homeless this year in eastern Chad because of increasing violence and insecurity, partly driven by killings in the neighbouring Sudanese region of Darfur. 2007-02-27 00:00:00.000

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PLAYS KEY ROLE IN FOSTERING DEVELOPMENT, BAN KI-MOON SAYS

New York, Feb 27 2007 7:00PM Information and communications technologies (ICT) are crucial in spurring “development, dignity and peace,” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today told a gathering of technology experts, activists, corporate leaders and government officials. “Let us turn the digital divide into digital opportunity,” Mr. Ban said in a video message at the opening of the Steering Committee’s meeting of the Global Alliance for Information and Communications Technologies and Development, a UN initiative. Governments, civil society, the private sector, academia and others must join forces to “promote new business models, public policies and technology solutions in the global approach to development,” he added. Members of the Alliance will brainstorm with Silicon Valley leaders tomorrow to determine how the UN and the business world can work in tandem to bring the benefits of ICT to developing countries. “Increasing access to technology will be a critical driver of economic growth in emerging economies,” said Craig Barrett, Global Alliance Chair and Intel Corporation Chairman. “It’s time to focus on actions with results, not protocol. Our focus can improve people’s lives.” The Alliance was formed last year, and is “well placed to promote the use of ICT in fighting poverty, illiteracy and disease, in protecting the environment and empowering women and girls,” Mr. Ban said, underscoring how technology can be utilized to meet the Millennium Development Goals, a set of globally agreed targets that aim to deal with a host of social ills – including eradicating extreme poverty – by 2015. This session held in Santa Clara, California, is the third since the Alliance’s creation last year and will span two days. At least 250 people are expected to attend. 2007-02-27 00:00:00.000

Feb 27

SOMALIA: FOUR MEN ARRESTED BUT UN-CHARTERED FOOD AID SHIP REMAINS IN PIRATES’ HANDS

New York, Feb 27 2007 11:00AM Authorities in northern Somalia today arrested four men alleged to be part of a group that hijacked a United Nations-contracted food aid ship, but the vessel itself and its 12-member crew still remained in the hands of the pirates six miles off the coast. “The arrest is welcome news, but the safe release of the crew and the vessel remains our chief concern,” UN World Food Programme (WFP) Country Director Peter Goossens said. “We very much hope this ordeal will finish soon.” The four men were arrested when they went ashore to buy supplies in the town of Bargal in Puntland, but four other hijackers remain in control of the MV Rozen, which was seized by the pirates on Sunday shortly after it unloaded 1,800 metric tonnes of food aid and equipment - the fourth such attack on UN supply vessels off the strife-ridden East African country in 20 months. The ship, with its crew of six Sri Lankans, including the captain, and six Kenyans, is now reported to be surrounded by five of the Puntland authorities’ police and sailing southward. “We are appealing for the safe return of the crew and the vessel as soon as possible, and for people to respect the need for humanitarian delivery corridors,” Mr. Goossens said. “Somalia is one of the poorest countries in the world, and there are families whose lives depend on our ability to get food aid through.” In 2005, after two earlier hijackings, WFP temporarily suspended deliveries of food aid by sea for some weeks, but since then sea deliveries have been uninterrupted, even during the worst days of the conflict between the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) at the end of last year. The MV Rozen itself escaped an attempted hijack in southern Somali waters last year. In 2006, WFP delivered some 78,000 metric tonnes of relief food to 1.4 million people affected by drought and floods in southern Somalia. 2007-02-27 00:00:00.000

UN ENVOY TO NEPAL CALLS INTO QUESTION JUNE POLLS UNLESS POLITICAL CONSENSUS REACHED SOON

New York, Feb 26 2007 6:00PM Amid violence in the Terai region of southern Nepal, Maoist combatants leaving their cantonment sites and a continuing lack of agreement among the country’s political parties, the United Nations envoy to the Himalayan country today warned that June’s scheduled elections may have to be postponed unless some form of consensus is reached “very soon.” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative, Ian Martin, who heads the UN Political Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), also acknowledged the “striking difference” between the relatively small number of Maoist arms given up for registration and the large number of combatants in the seven main cantonment sites. “Unless a consensus can be reached very soon on the electoral arrangements for the constituent assembly election then the intention to hold that election by mid-June will be called into question,” he told a press conference at UN Headquarters in New York, adding that Nepal’s eight main political parties are currently discussing the issue of the electoral system. “The chief election commissioner has stated publicly and for the political parties that the legislative basis for the elections needs to be in place very soon if the time-table is to go forward. Now already the process has begun, the updating of voter rolls has already taken place in much of the country but there isn’t yet a final decision on the electoral system.” Turning to the issue of the registration of Maoist arms and combatants, as stipulated under the November peace agreement that also calls for Government troops to be confined to their barracks, Mr. Martin acknowledged the discrepancy between over 30,000 combatants but less than 3,500 weapons registered. “There hasn’t yet been a definitive statement on the part of the Government…there certainly is a striking difference between the number of weapons registered, a little less than 3,500 and the number of combatants, over 30,000,” he said. “There’s undoubtedly going to be a continuing argument as to whether the numbers do or do not show that the Maoists have complied with their commitments to register all their weapons. The UN can’t make a definitive judgment, we can only make available the information as to what has been registered to the Government for it to scrutinize and…that’s what they’re doing now.” Last week, Mr. Martin announced that the first stage of registration of Maoist arms and weapons had been completed at seven main cantonment sites, but he also expressed “grave concern” because some combatants had left these areas. UNMIN has also called on the Government and the Maoists to cooperate in improving conditions at these sites. The Security Council established UNMIN late last month to assist with the follow-up to the landmark Nepalese peace deal, reached between the Government and the Maoists, and also to support this year’s planned elections in the impoverished country where 10 years of civil war killed around 15,000 people and displaced over 100,000 others. 2007-02-26 00:00:00.000

GLOBAL WARMING AT NORTH, SOUTH POLES COMES UNDER MICROSCOPE IN UN-BACKED RESEARCH

New York, Feb 26 2007 5:00PM The largest polar research programme in 50 years, with a major focus on global warming, gets under way this week with United Nations support as thousands of scientists from over 60 countries prepare to carry out 220 science and outreach projects in both the north and south polar regions. The International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008, a programme of the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the UN World Meteorological Organization officially beginning on 1 March, will be the fourth such event. The previous IPYs of 1882-83, 1932-33, and 1957-58, also known as the International Geophysical Year, all produced major increases in understanding the Earth system. “IPY comes at a crossroads for the planet’s future; February’s first phase of the Fourth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has shown that these regions are highly vulnerable to rising temperatures,” WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said. “However, meteorological and other regular environmental in-situ observation facilities at the poles are few and it is essential to install more and increase satellite coverage to gain a better overall picture of how rapidly these areas are changing, and of the global impact of these changes,” he added. The IPY projects will focus on learning about the past, present and future environmental status of the polar regions, while advancing understanding about the interactions between those regions and the rest of the globe. They will also investigate the frontiers of science in the polar regions, and use the unique vantage point of the polar regions and develop observatories from the interior of the Earth to the Sun and the cosmos beyond. In addition, the projects will investigate the cultural, historical and social processes that shape the sustainability of circumpolar human societies. In order to ensure full and equal coverage of both the Arctic and the Antarctic, IPY will span two full annual cycles, from March 2007 to March 2009. Many national and regional IPY launch events are being organized over the next few weeks. The official international launch ceremony will take place on 1 March at the Palais de la Découverte in Paris. “We face many challenges as we start: funding, data sharing, and, most importantly, the surprising and rapidly changing nature of the polar regions,” IPY International Programme Office Director David Carlson said. But we have an enormous strength: international enthusiasm and cooperation, at a higher level and across a wider range of science than most of us will see at any other time in our careers. IPY will succeed because of this scientific urgency and energy.” 2007-02-26 00:00:00.000

CONDEMNING RECENT ATTACKS ON SCHOOL AND MOSQUE, UN ENVOY CALLS FOR JUSTICE

New York, Feb 26 2007 5:00PM Strongly condemning this weekend’s bombings of a university and a mosque which killed and injured hundreds of innocent civilians in Iraq, the top United Nations envoy to the country today called for those responsible for the criminal attacks to be brought to justice. The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, decried the bombings of Mustansiriya University in Baghdad and the Hay al-Umma Mosque outside the capital, saying that they are “intended to tear apart the Iraqi sense of community and national denominators that are essential for maintaining national unity.” Mr. Qazi also said that “the targeting of higher education centres and places of worship by violent groups seeks to exacerbate sectarian tensions, and undermine the prospect for a better future together for all Iraqis.” These bombings are the latest in a wave of attacks targeting civilians. Less than two weeks ago, more than 100 people were killed in a series of attacks, including the coordinated bombing of a crowded market in Baghdad. The envoy urged the Government to apprehend those behind the attacks, and also advised Iraq’s political, religious and civil society leaders to ensure the sanctity of educational institutions and places of worship. 2007-02-26 00:00:00.000

Feb 26

UN WORLD COURT ACQUITS SERBIA OF GENOCIDE IN BOSNIA; FINDS IT GUILTY OF INACTION

New York, Feb 26 2007 11:00AM The International Court of Justice ICJ), the main United Nations judicial organ, today overwhelmingly acquitted Serbia of committing genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Balkan war of the 1990s, but found it guilty of failing to prevent genocide in the massacre of more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslims in the town of Srebrenica. At the same time the ICJ, also known as the World Court, rejected Bosnia’s request for payment of reparations from Serbia, successor to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) of the 1990s, for the worst massacre in Europe since World War II. The judgment, which is binding and not open to appeal, called on Serbia to transfer Ratko Mladic and others indicted for genocide to the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia a separate judicial body with a mandate to try individuals. “The Court observes that the FRY was in a position of influence over the Bosnian Serbs who devised and implemented the genocide in Srebrenica, owing to the strength of the political, military and financial links between the FRY on the one hand and the Republika Srpska (the Serb component of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and the VRS (Republika Srpska’s army) on the other,” the Court ruled by 12 votes to 3. “The Court further recalls that although it has not found that the information available to the Belgrade authorities indicated, as a matter of certainty, that genocide was imminent, they could hardly have been unaware of the serious risk of it. “In the view of the Court, the Yugoslav federal authorities should have made the best efforts within their power to try and prevent the tragic events then taking shape, whose scale might have been surmised. Yet the Respondent has not shown that it took any initiative to prevent what happened, or any action on its part to avert the atrocities which were committed” as required by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The court also found, by 14 to 1, that Serbia violated its obligations under the Convention by having failed to transfer Mr. Mladic, indicted for genocide and complicity in genocide in Srebrenica, for trial by the ICTY. But on the overall charges brought by Bosnia, the Court ruled by 13 to 2 that Serbia had not committed genocide, nor had it conspired, through its organs or persons whose acts engage its responsibility under customary international law, in violation of its obligations under the Convention. It found by 11 votes to 4 that Serbia had not been complicit in genocide. While there is overwhelming evidence that massive killings throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina were perpetrated during the conflict, the Court said it was not convinced that these were accompanied by “the specific intent on the part of the perpetrators to destroy, in whole or in part, the group of Bosnian Muslims,” although they may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. But with regard to Srebrenica, the Court concluded that the Main Staff of the VRS had “the necessary specific intent to destroy in part the group of Bosnian Muslims (specifically the Bosnian Muslims of Srebrenica) and that accordingly acts of genocide were committed by the VRS.” It noted that while there is little doubt that the atrocities in Srebrenica were committed, at least in part, with the resources which the perpetrators possessed as a result of the general policy of aid and assistance by the FRY, one of the very specific conditions for Serbia’s legal responsibility was not met since “it has not been conclusively established that, at the crucial time, the FRY supplied aid to the perpetrators of the genocide in full awareness that the aid supplied would be used to commit genocide.” But the FRY was in a position of influence over the Bosnian Serbs who devised and implemented the genocide in Srebrenica, owing to the strength of the political, military and financial links between the FRY on the one hand and the Republika Srpska and the VRS on the other. On the issue of reparations the court determined that its findings “constitute appropriate satisfaction, and that the case is not one in which an order for payment of compensation… would be appropriate.” Since it had not been shown that the genocide would in fact have been averted if the FRY had tried to prevent it, “financial compensation for the failure to prevent the genocide at Srebrenica is not the appropriate form of reparation,” the judgment said. “The Court considers that the most appropriate form of satisfaction would be a declaration in the operative clause of the Judgment that the Respondent has failed to comply with the obligation to prevent the crime of genocide.” 2007-02-26 00:00:00.000

Feb 24

BAN KI-MOON WELCOMES PROGRESS ON CLUSTER MUNITIONS

New York, Feb 24 2007 11:00AM Reacting to a new declaration on cluster munitions, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed all progress to reduce the devastating humanitarian impact of these arms. The Declaration signed on Friday by a group of nations attending the Oslo conference on Cluster Munitions envisages the conclusion next year of a new agreement banning cluster munitions that cause "unacceptable harm to civilians," a spokesperson for Mr. Ban said in a statement. "The Secretary-General welcomes all progress to reduce and ultimately eliminate the horrendous humanitarian effects of these weapons," the statement said. The Oslo process supplements intense efforts under way to address the "cruel impact of these weapons on civilians under the broad multilateral forum of States parties to the Inhumane Weapons Convention (CCW)," the spokesperson noted, adding that this forum will soon examine the reliability and the technical and design characteristics of cluster munitions with a view to minimizing their humanitarian impact. "Both processes have the same humanitarian objective. In these circumstances they should not be seen as in competition with one another but as complementary and mutually reinforcing," the statement stressed. 2007-02-24 00:00:00.000

Feb 23

CHAD: BAN KI-MOON PROPOSES PEACEKEEPING FORCE WITH SOME 11,000 PERSONNEL

New York, Feb 23 2007 3:00PM With eastern Chad facing major turmoil sparked by clashes between Government and Sudan-based rebel forces, foray by Sudan-based militia and ethnic violence, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is proposing to send an 11,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping mission to protect civilians and deter cross-border attacks. “Eastern Chad is facing a multifaceted security and humanitarian crisis, which includes ongoing clashes between Government forces and Sudan-based Chadian rebels, cross-border attacks on civilians by Sudan-based militia, the presence of Sudanese rebels on Chadian territory, ethnic violence, internal displacement, inter-communal tensions and banditry,” Mr. Ban says in his latest report to the Security Council. “The result is an environment of uncertainty, vulnerability and victimization of the local communities and the 232,000 Sudanese refugees in the region, and, above all, of the 120,000 internally displaced persons in eastern Chad.” At the same time he proposes “a modest deployment “of UN military and police personnel in north-eastern Central African Republic (CAR), which is also suffering in part from a spill-over of the war in Sudan’s Darfur region but where the situation is less acute after a Government-rebel accord to negotiate an end to their conflict, although there is continued risk that violence may erupt again. Mr. Ban’s report stems from a technical assessment mission which visited both countries at the Council’s request and found that armed rebel movements seeking to overthrow the Government continue to destabilize eastern Chad. But in discussions with representatives of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees it was also made clear that militia groups based in the Sudan and characterized as Janjaweed, who cross into Chad to attack civilians, were seen as the foremost threat to their safety. Chadian civilians seemed to be the most frequent target of those attacks, which resulted in the partial destruction of an IDP site. Mr. Ban mentions two options, preferring the second. The first with a total force of some 6,000 would depend more heavily on aviation for flexibility. The second would comprise a military force of some 10,900, relying more on infantry troops being in place to meet operational requirements. Both would also include some 260 international UN police overseeing approximately 800 Chadian gendarmes and police seconded to the UN. The mission would have a multidimensional mandate ranging from ensuring the security of civilians, maintaining law and order in refugee camps and towns housing humanitarian field offices, and border deployment, to facilitating free movement of aid, improving relations between Chad, Sudan and CAR, and supporting dialogue between both governments and unarmed opposition groups. Its purview would also include an internal advisory capacity on justice and prisons, human rights investigations, reporting and training activities, and “gender mainstreaming strategies” paying particular attention to women and girls directly affected by conflict, documenting violence against women, and playing an advocacy role with local and national authorities to protect civilians and most vulnerable groups. In collaboration with UN agencies and civil society organizations, the mission would support national authorities in both countries such as the armed forces, the gendarmes and police to implement policies and programmes to advance gender equality. A gender action plan would focus on prevention and responses to the high rate of reported incidents of sexual and gender-based violence against refugees, IDPs and civilians. Mr. Ban does not underestimate “the distinct and serious risks” entailed by an open-ended UN deployment in the challenging environment, chiefly the possibility that armed groups may view a UN force as interfering with their military agenda and decide to attack. “It would be imperative therefore to obtain assurances from Chadian rebel groups that they would recognize the impartial character of a United Nations presence,” he writes. There is also the possibility that a United Nations force, while carrying out its protection functions in such a fluid environment, could find itself caught in the cross-fire between belligerents.” Therefore the force should be clearly focused on two principal objectives: protecting civilians at risk, particularly IDPs and refugees, and deterring cross-border attacks through its presence. It could also contribute to efforts to settle the crisis in Darfur, where fighting between the Sudanese Government, allied militias and rebels has displaced more than 2 million people, and help to developing a political climate conducive to reconciliation in eastern Chad. “I would like to reiterate that responsibility for achieving a lasting solution to the crisis in Darfur, eastern Chad and north-eastern Central African Republic rests, first and foremost, with the leaders of these countries,” Mr. Ban concludes. “I call on their Governments to move forward rapidly and to muster the political will to establish peace and stability in their countries and in the region.” 2007-02-23 00:00:00.000

UN AGENCY REPATRIATES LIBERIAN REFUGEES IN GUINEA IN FACE OF GROWING INSTABILITY

New York, Feb 23 2007 1:00PM Despite rapidly increasing instability in Guinea due to a general strike and the resulting declaration of a state of emergency, the United Nations refugee agency is pressing forward in its efforts to assist those who have fled to the country and today repatriated 200 Liberians to their homeland. The latest group brings to 600 the total number refugees returning to Liberia this week. At present, there are no others volunteering go home, Ron Redmond, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a press briefing in Geneva today. UNHCR, without incident, was able to distribute food to two camps, one hosting 7,000 Liberian refugees and another housing 3,000 from Côte d’Ivoire, this week, he said. Of the more than 31,000 refugees residing in Guinea, nearly 22,000 are Liberian. There area also 5,000 Sierra Leonean refugees and 4,500 from Côte d’Ivoire. Most refugee camps are situated along Guinea’s border with Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire. The agency also reports that there have been no unusual population movements into Guinea from its neighbouring countries of late. More than 100 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since 10 January, when a general strike began, and the majority of those deaths have occurred amid popular protests over President Lansana Conté’s choice of Eugene Camara as Prime Minister. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour condemned the reported killing of civilians and called on the Government to adhere strictly to its human rights obligations. UNHCR has helped 90,000 Liberian refugees, more than half of whom were in exile in Guinea, return home since starting a voluntary refugee programme in October 2004. 2007-02-23 00:00:00.000

AIDS: UN AGENCIES CONVENE MEETING TO STUDY MALE CIRCUMCISION AS CURB TO INFECTION

New York, Feb 23 2007 10:00AM United Nations health agencies have convened an international meeting of AIDS experts for early March to examine the latest findings that male circumcision cuts the risk of HIV infection in men in heterosexual relations by up to 60 per cent. “The consultation will address a range of policy, operational and ethical issues that will help guide decisions about where and how male circumcision can be best implemented, promoted and safely performed,” the UN World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said in a statement today. “Male circumcision has major potential for the prevention of HIV infection,” WHO HIV/AIDS Department Director Kevin De Cock added. “These findings are a very important contribution to HIV prevention science.” The detailed findings of two trials undertaken in Kenya and Uganda to determine whether male circumcision has a protective effect against acquiring HIV infection were published today in the British medical journal The Lancet. Funded by the United States National Institutes of Health, the trials support the results of the South Africa Orange Farm Intervention Trial, funded by the French National Agency for Research on AIDS (ANRS), published in late 2005. Together the three studies, which enrolled more than 10,000 participants, provide compelling evidence of a 50 to 60 per cent reduction in heterosexual HIV transmission to men, the statement said. When preliminary results were published in December showing a 50 per cent reduction, UN agencies gave a guarded welcome, warning that circumcision should never pre-empt other preventive measures such as the use of condoms. Proper guidelines “will be necessary to prevent people from developing a false sense of security and, as a result, engaging in high-risk behaviours which could negate the protective effect of male circumcision,” they said then, noting that circumcision does not provide complete protection, and circumcised men can still become infected and, if HIV-positive, infect their sexual partners. They also stressed that any recommendations would have to take into account cultural and human rights considerations; the risk of complications from the procedure performed in various settings; the potential to undermine existing protective behaviours and strategies; and the fact that the ideal and well-resourced conditions of a randomized trial are often not replicated in other settings. 2007-02-23 00:00:00.000

Feb 21

GROWING POVERTY, UNEMPLOYMENT THREATEN PALESTINIANS’ ABILITY TO FEED THEIR FAMILIES – UN

New York, Feb 22 2007 11:00AM Rising unemployment, poverty and “economic suffocation” in the occupied Palestinian territory are posing acute challenges to food security, leaving many families entirely dependent on outside aid as well as threatening vital sectors of the Palestinian economy, United Nations agencies warned today. “The poorest families are now living a meagre existence totally reliant on assistance, with no electricity or heating and eating food prepared with water from bad sources. This is putting their long-term health at risk,” UN World Food Programme territory Director Arnold Vercken said. The warning comes in a report by the WFP and UN the Food and Agriculture Organization due to be released this month, reviewing and analyzing 2006 statistics and assessing food security and socio-economic conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The report illustrates how restrictions on trade and movement last year led to the progressive fragmentation of the economy, dragging previously self-reliant sectors of society such as farmers, workers, fishermen, traders and small shop owners into poverty and debt. Ever since Hamas, which refuses to recognize Israel, won elections early last year and formed a Government, Israel stopped handing over tax and customs revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestine Authority, and international donors suspended direct aid, calling on Hamas to commit to non-violence, recognize its neighbour and accept previously signed agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. Gaza relies almost entirely on imported food, thus any closure of the Karni commercial crossing, which Israel has often imposed for security reasons, has a direct impact on the availability and price of basic commodities. The stagnation of trade last year drastically affected employment and income opportunities throughout the Gaza Strip, leading to a serious rise in poverty. While food security levels in the territory have been maintained through regular humanitarian aid and strong social solidarity among Palestinians, almost half the population of some 4 million remains food insecure or is at risk of becoming food insecure, according to the report. The weakening economy is leading to a marked decline in living standards, with 84 per cent of Gazans and 60 per cent of West Bankers reducing their living expenditures by the end of 2006. Many people, who cannot afford to buy food, have been forced to sell off valuable livelihood assets such as land or tools. One particularly disturbing factor noted by the report is the growing proportion of urban dwellers suffering food insecurity, alongside the more traditionally vulnerable rural and refugee populations. All Palestinians are to a greater or lesser extent caught between rising food prices and declining purchasing power. “In recent years, Palestinians have shared the burden of rising poverty, but without sustainable economic recovery, the humanitarian caseload will only increase over time,” FAO Food Security Advisor Erminio Sacco said. “Food assistance alone cannot prevent this decline. There also has to be economic growth which requires political dialogue and stability.” WFP originally planned to provide 154,000 tons of food to 480,000 Palestinians, but since various restrictions were placed on international funding to the Palestinian Authority in January 2006, the agency has responded to growing needs by raising the total to 600,000. 2007-02-22 00:00:00.000

PHILIPPINES: ‘HUGE AMOUNT’ NEEDS TO BE DONE TO CURB EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS – UN EXPERT

New York, Feb 22 2007 11:00AM With a significant number of extrajudicial killings “convincingly attributed” to its armed forces, a culture of virtual impunity and “the rampant problem of witness vulnerability,” the Philippines’ Government faces the “enduring and large challenge” of restoring accountability, an independent United Nations human rights expert warned today. “There is a huge amount that remains to be done,” UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Philip Alston said in a statement at the end of a 10-day visit to the South-East Asian country, during which he said he enjoyed the Government’s “unqualified cooperation.” He noted that he had met with virtually all relevant senior officials, including President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. “The Government’s invitation to visit reflects a clear recognition of the gravity of the problem, a willingness to permit outside scrutiny, and a very welcome preparedness to engage” on the issue of extrajudicial killings, he added. Mr. Alston, who also met with civil society groups, victims and witnesses of killings, declined to join in the country’s heated debate over how many people had been killed. “The numbers game is especially unproductive but I am certain that the number is high enough to be distressing,” he said. “Even more importantly, numbers are not what count. The impact of even a limited number of killings of the type alleged is corrosive in many ways. It intimidates vast numbers of civil society actors, it sends a message of vulnerability to all but the most well connected, and it severely undermines the political discourse which is central to a resolution of the problems confronting this country.” He dismissed the army’s claim that the recent rise in killings lies in internal purges by the communist insurgency as “especially unconvincing,” saying it “remains in a state of almost total denial … of its need to respond effectively and authentically” to allegations that military personnel are involved in unlawful killings. “The President needs to persuade the military that its reputation and effectiveness will be considerably enhanced, rather than undermined, by acknowledging the facts and taking genuine steps to investigate,” Mr. Alston added, stating that he did “not in any way underestimate the challenges of waging counter-insurgency operations on a range of fronts.” Mr. Alston stressed that the independent commission created by the president to investigate the killings was losing its “political capital” due to the refusal to publish its report while the judicial system was undermined by “the virtual impunity” prevailing and the risks faced by witnesses. “The present message is that if you want to preserve your life expectancy, don’t act as a witness in a criminal prosecution for killing. Witnesses are systematically intimidated and harassed,” he said, noting that the Witness Protection Program is impressive on paper but deeply flawed in practice. Turning to the larger political context, Mr. Alston noted that the strategy of reconciliation with the leftist groups had been abandoned and the increase in extrajudicial executions in recent years was attributable at least in part to a shift in counterinsurgency strategy. The attempt to vilify left-leaning organizations and to intimidate their leaders had in some instances escalated into extrajudicial execution, he said. “The Philippines remain an example to all of us in terms of the peaceful ending of martial law by the People’s Revolution [in 1986] and the adoption of a Constitution reflecting a powerful commitment to ensure respect for human rights,” he concluded in remarks that were broadcast live on Philippines television. The various measures ordered by the President in response to the independent commission report “constitute important first steps, but there is a huge amount that remains to be done,” he declared. Mr. Alston, who serves in an unpaid, independent capacity, will present a short preliminary report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on 27 March 2007, with the full report with specific recommendations being made public in the following months. 2007-02-22 00:00:00.000

UN-BACKED SIERRA LEONE COURT SAYS WAR CRIMES SUSPECT’S DEATH MEANS JUSTICE DENIED

New York, Feb 22 2007 3:00PM The death of a former militia leader suspected of war crimes in Sierra Leone has deprived the West African country’s people of their right to see justice done, the prosecutor of a United Nations-backed court there said today, while pledging to press forward on their behalf. The Prosecutor of the ">Special Court for Sierra Leone, Stephen Rapp, issued a statement in Freetown voicing deep regret at the death today of the West African country’s former Internal Affairs Minister and militia leader Sam Hinga Norman, who has been on trial for war crimes since the summer of 2004. Mr. Norman’s death signals an end to the case mounted against him in the Special Court, where, as one of the leaders of the now-defunct Civil Defence Forces (CDF), he was being tried on eight counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including unlawful killing, physical violence, mental suffering, terrorizing civilians and using child soldiers during the brutal 10-year civil war. “Hinga Norman’s death means that the people of Sierra Leone are deprived of their right to see justice done in an important and high-profile case before the Special Court,” Mr. Rapp said. “When an Accused dies before judgment, then justice is denied.” Mr. Norman died this morning at a military hospital in Dakar, Senegal, and initial reports indicate that he suffered heart failure during post-operative care. He was transferred to the hospital on 17 January for medical procedures generally considered routine but which are not available in Sierra Leone. He received treatment on 8 February with no complications. The Court’s Registrar, Lovemore Munlo, has ordered an independent investigation by international medical experts to determine the exact cause of death. Mr. Rapp said, “While we profoundly regret the death of Hinga Norman, we will continue our work to see that justice is done in the name of and on behalf of the people of Sierra Leone.” The Court is the world’s first hybrid international war crimes tribunal, and was established by an agreement in January 2002 between the United Nations and the Republic of Sierra Leone. It is mandated to bring to justice those who bear greatest responsibility for atrocities committed in the country after 30 November 1996. 2007-02-22 00:00:00.000

SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN URGES IRAN TO COMPLY WITH SECURITY COUNCIL AND NEGOTIATE

New York, Feb 21 2007 4:00PM Describing the Iranian nuclear issue as a “very serious concern” to the international community, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged Iran’s Government to fully comply with the Security Council and continue to negotiate with the world community. Last December the 15-member Council imposed sanctions on Tehran, maintaining that Iran’s nuclear programme was aimed at weapons production, a claim the Government consistently denies. “The Iranian nuclear issue is another very serious concern to the international community. As the Secretary-General of the UN, I also have been trying to be a help in resolving this issue as much as I can,” Mr. Ban reporters in Germany, before the high-level Quartet meeting on the Middle East. “Again, taking this opportunity, I would strongly urge the Iranian authorities to comply, first of all fully with the Security Council resolution, and continue to negotiate with the international community.” Last month, the head of the UN atomic watchdog agency called for a “timeout” on the nuclear issue, with Iran suspending uranium enrichment and the international community suspending sanctions. A key to resolving the issue is a direct engagement between Iran and the United States similar to that with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei stressed in several interviews in Davos, Switzerland, where he was attending the World Economic Forum. The crisis began with the discovery in 2003 that Iran had concealed its nuclear activities for 18 years in breach of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). 2007-02-21 00:00:00.000

DR CONGO: ARMY AND POLICE CONTINUE TO VIOLATE CIVILIANS’ HUMAN RIGHTS, SAYS UN MISSION

New York, Feb 21 2007 4:00PM The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) reported that the human rights situation in the country continues to deteriorate, as the army and police perpetrate acts of violence against civilians and the number of reported rapes surges. A monthly assessment of the human rights situation in the DRC released yesterday by the UN Mission, known as MONUC, stated that there have been numerous cases in which Congolese soldiers and police have summarily executed and raped civilians, in some cases with apparent impunity. Late last December, troops from the Armed Forces of DRC (FARDC) allegedly arbitrarily executed 13 civilians, wounded many others and set fire to portions of the villages of Laudjo and Ladhejo close to Bunia in the northeast portion of the country. Although MONUC has not been able to confirm this account due to ongoing military violence in the area, it does give credence to the reliable sources who informed the Mission of this incident. In western Bandundu Province, a policeman with the National Congolese Police (PNC) reportedly shot a 60-year-old woman when delivering a summons to her daughter who had been raped by another policeman. There have also been reports of a marked rise in armed robberies and other human rights violations committed by people wearing PNC uniforms, with several civilians being killed in apparent robbery attempts. The number of rape cases climbed significantly in January in Ituri and South Kivu, both located in eastern DRC. In Muguma in Ituri, a soldier allegedly raped a woman three times who had been accused of witchcraft, and two young women, one a minor, in Aru in the northeast claimed to have been raped by a FARDC deputy commander on 31 December. In South Kivu, there have been reports of sexual violence directed against both men and women. Four women, one a Rwandan Hutu, allegedly were raped on 21 January by armed men in uniform when they tried to run away from them. On 8 January, a 21-year-old male civilian was reportedly sexually attacked by an FARDC soldier in Ihusi. Despite the formal end in 1999 of the brutal civil war which cost 4 million lives through fighting, hunger and disease, the DRC has been beset by unrest. This month saw violent clashes in the western Bas-Congo province which killed more than 130 people, according to the report. The UN Security Council established MONUC to help carry out the 1999 Lusaka Accord. The mission has some 17,500 uniformed personnel, 3,140 civilian staff and 585 UN volunteers. 2007-02-21 00:00:00.000

HAITI: 17 MORE SUSPECTED GANG LEADERS ARRESTED IN NEW SWEEP BY UN PEACEKEEPERS

New York, Feb 21 2007 3:00PM Seventeen more presumed gang members have been arrested in one of Haiti’s most dangerous areas, the Cité Soleil quarter of Port-au-Prince, the capital, in the latest sweep by hundreds of United Nations peacekeepers to rid the city of violent crime. The operation yesterday by some 700 UN blue helmets, which also led to the seizure of a number of illegal weapons, was planned and executed in collaboration with the Haitian National Police, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti said in a statement. “It marks an intensification of recent efforts to stabilize and secure the crime-ridden parts of the Haitian capital,” the mission added. Over the weekend, UN peacekeepers picked up gang leader named Johnny Pierre Louis, also known as Ti Bazil, the presumed perpetrator of numerous murders and other bloody crimes, during a sweep through the Key Boyle residential section of Cité Soleil. He often acted under the orders of an ex-gang chief named Evens, whom MINUSTAH recently ousted from the Boston area of Cité Soleil. MINUSTAH, set up in 2004 to help re-establish peace in the impoverished Caribbean country after an insurgency forced President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to go into exile, has launched several anti-gang operations in recent weeks. The mission recently has transformed Evens’ former headquarters into a free medical clinic. 2007-02-21 00:00:00.000

LEBANON: UN REPORTS ISRAELI AIR VIOLATIONS; LEBANESE FIRE ANTI-AIRCRAFT ROUND

New York, Feb 21 2007 3:00PM The Lebanese Army fired a round of anti-aircraft weapons today and there were a number of Israeli air violations over the United Nations peacekeepers’ area of operation in the southern part of the country, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reported. UNIFIL continues to monitor the situation in its area of operation and will release more details of this and other reported incidents as they become available, the mission said in a statement. The incidents followed an exchange of fire between Israeli and Lebanese forces earlier this month when Lebanon violated Security Council resolution 1701 that ended last summer’s war between Israel and Hizbollah by opening fire on a bulldozer on the Israeli side of the Blue Lien separating the two countries. Israel then breached the resolution by crossing the Blue Line. UNIFIL Commander Major General Claudio Graziano last week met with senior Lebanese and Israeli military officers on steps to prevent any such recurrence. Under resolution 1701 UNIFIL, first created in 1978 to confirm an Israeli withdrawal after an earlier incursion, was greatly enhanced to monitor the ceasefire after Israel’s 34-day war against Hizbollah last summer; support the Lebanese army as it deployed throughout south Lebanon; and extend assistance to help ensure humanitarian access to civilian populations and the voluntary and safe return of displaced persons. 2007-02-21 00:00:00.000

Feb 20

INDONESIA TO RESUME SUPPLYING UN HEALTH AGENCY WITH BIRD FLU VIRUS SAMPLES

New York, Feb 20 2007 11:00AM Indonesia has agreed to resume supplying the United Nations health agency with viruses from its bird flu outbreak, a vital tool in tracking possible mutations into a deadly human pandemic and producing vaccines, while the agency will seek to ensure equitable distribution and availability in developing countries of any such vaccines. To this end, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) and the Indonesian Ministry of Health have jointly decided to convene a meeting of selected countries in the Asia and Pacific region to identify mechanisms for equitable access to influenza vaccine and production. Indonesia has suffered more human bird flu fatalities, 63 out of 81 cases, than any other country. “Indonesia’s leadership alerted the international community to the needs of developing countries to benefit from sharing virus samples, including access to quality pandemic vaccines at affordable prices,” WHO said in a statement on a meeting on Friday between the agency’s Acting Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases David Heymann and Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari. Mr. Heymann said WHO fully supported both Indonesia’s short-term discussions with vaccine production companies to meet its vaccine needs and its long-term goal to develop its local vaccine production capacity through technology transfer. “The Minister agrees that the responsible, free and rapid sharing of influenza viruses with WHO, including [the current virus] H5N1, is necessary for global public health security and will resume sharing viruses for this purpose,” the statement said. “WHO will continue discussions and work with the Ministry of Health and other countries to assess and develop potential mechanisms, including Material Transfer Agreements, that could promote equitable distribution and availability of pandemic influenza vaccines developed and produced from these viruses,” it added. Just last week, WHO reported “encouraging progress” in producing a vaccine against human bird flu, which in a worst case scenario could cause a deadly pandemic killing millions, but warned that the world still lacked the manufacturing capacity to meet potential global demand. To counter this, WHO last year launched the Global pandemic influenza action plan to increase vaccine supply, a $10-billion effort over a decade. One of its aims is to transfer technology to developing countries so they can set up their own vaccine production units. There have so far been 274 confirmed human cases worldwide, 167 of them fatal, the vast majority in South-East Asia. UN health officials have been on constant alert to detect any mutation that could make the disease more easily transmissible in humans. Nearly all human cases so far have been traced to contact with infected birds. The so-called Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1920 is estimated to have killed from 20 million to 40 million people worldwide. More than 200 million birds have died from either the virus or preventive culling in the current outbreak. 2007-02-20 00:00:00.000

CONTINUING EFFORTS TO FOSTER STABILITY IN IRAQ, UN ENVOY VISITS IRAN

New York, Feb 20 2007 11:00AM The top United Nations envoy to Iraq is paying a two-day visit to Iran as part of his ongoing efforts to muster regional support to bring stability to the war-torn country, the fourth such visit he has made in as many weeks. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Ashraf Qazi, who at the end of last month conferred with Syrian officials in Damascus and Saudi leaders in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, and last week met with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul in Ankara, held talks yesterday with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouschehr Mottaki. “Mr. Qazi discussed with Mr. Mottakki recent developments in Iraq and the important role the neighbouring states can play in reducing violence and promoting stability in the country,” the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said in a statement. Today he held further discussions with Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Araghchi. “The Iranian authorities raised their concern for the need to identify constructive solutions to Iraq’s current difficulties. In this context they also raised the issue pertaining to the detention of Iranian diplomats in Iraq,” the statement added. “Mr. Qazi stressed the need for greater regional engagement to bolster efforts aimed at promoting dialogue, reconciliation and consensus building in Iraq.” The meeting in Teheran is part of Mr. Qazi’s regional tour intended to learn the views and perceptions of the governments of the region and explore the different options available for these governments through which they can enhance Iraq’s stability and regional reintegration, UNAMI noted. 2007-02-20 00:00:00.000

COLOMBIA: UN APPEALS FOR $14 MILLION FOR HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS DISPLACED BY CONFLICT

New York, Feb 20 2007 11:00AM The United Nations refugee agency today launched a $14-million appeal to aid hundreds of thousands of people this year in Colombia where the more than four decades of fighting between the Government, leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries have uprooted some 3 million people, killing over 40,000 people in the last 16 years alone. “In Colombia, human rights violations, including extra-judicial killings and disappearances, are common. Illegal armed groups recruit children – often forcibly – in many areas of the country,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Director for the Americas Philippe Lavanchy said. “More than 1 million children do not go to school, while 77 per cent of previously enrolled children are unable to continue their studies, mostly for financial reasons. It is likely that the displaced population will continue to increase in 2007, with indigenous people and Afro-Colombian groups under the biggest threat, he added. Last year alone, more than 170,000 people were forced to flee their homes. Colombia’s internally displaced people (IDPs) make up about 8 per cent of the country’s total population and represent the largest single group of concern to UNHCR anywhere in the world. UNHCR is seeking $14,436,364 for its 2007 protection and aid programmes, directly benefiting some 350,000 and indirectly helping millions more. This is $1.6 million more than last year. UNHCR’s overall objective in Colombia is to promote a collaborative and comprehensive response to what has been described as one of the world’s most serious humanitarian crises, preventing displacement, ensuring protection and humanitarian aid for IDPs and fostering durable solutions, bearing in mind the special needs of specific groups. The way to achieve this is by promoting a more effective response by the state and civil society. In some parts of Colombia, the armed conflict makes it difficult for humanitarian agencies to reach affected communities. The presence of armed groups has reportedly increased in border areas, while the presence of landmines is another serious constraint. The agency has repeatedly called international attention to the desperate plight of those caught up in fighting or forced to flee, warning that some indigenous communities, displaced from land to which they are tied by their culture and traditions, are in danger of disappearing altogether. 2007-02-20 00:00:00.000