United Nations News
UN EXTENDS EMERGENCY FOOD AIRLIFT TO HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF FLOOD
VICTIMS IN ETHIOPIA
New York, Nov 30 2006 11:00AM
The United Nations today extended its emergency airlift of food for
flood victims in the Horn of Africa to Ethiopia, sending in helicopters
with relief supplies for hundreds of thousands of people stranded by the
surging waters that have cut off or severely restricted land contact.
“The situation in [Ethiopia’s] Somali region is absolutely
critical, and thousands upon thousands of men, women and children need our most
urgent help,” UN World Food Programme
(<"http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/LSGZ-6W2E3M?OpenDocument">WFP)
Director in Ethiopia Mohamed Diab said. “Unless emergency relief
supplies reach people very quickly, lives may be lost.
“The Government, UN agencies and humanitarian partners have worked
around the clock to get supplies to those in need. “But many trucks
laden with food and medicine were stranded in mud and have been unable to
reach all communities. The fastest means of reaching some areas now is
by helicopter.”
Last week WFP
<"http://www.wfp.org/english/?ModuleID=137&Key=2293">launched a regional air operation with fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters
to transport humanitarian workers and aid for more than 1 million
people in Somalia and Kenya. Including Ethiopia, up to1.8 million people are
estimated to be endangered by the worst regional flooding in years.
The two agency-chartered Mi-8 helicopters today left Gode,
administrative capital of the Somali region of south-east Ethiopia, for Mustahil,
one of the worst-affected areas that has been largely cut off since the
flooding began more than a month ago. Some 65,000 people in Mustahil
alone are estimated to need urgent aid. The helicopters will go to Kelafo
and East Imi, two other hard-hit areas in the next few days.
The UN Central Emergency Response Fund
(<"http://ochaonline.un.org/webpage.asp?Page=2101">CERF) will cover the
cost of the operation with WFP taking the lead logistical role. The
Government pre-positioned 530 tons of food in Gode for the airlift. To date,
the Government has sent almost 2,000 tons to areas hit by the floods
with trucks that managed to get through after many days of arduous travel
on very treacherous roads.
The flooding has killed 80 people and destroyed roads, bridges and
property across the region. Some 362,000 people have lost their livelihoods
and 122,500 of them have been displaced.
Humanitarian agencies fear that malaria and water-borne diseases such
as acute diarrhoea will spread through flood-affected areas, worsening
an already difficult situation, and UN agencies and the Government have
sent to Gode non-food items, including medical supplies, blankets,
water purification sets, cooking pots, plastic sheeting and seeds, some of
which will also be airlifted by the WFP helicopters.
Earlier this year, Ethiopia’s Somali region was hard hit by a drought
that also struck Kenya, Somalia and Djibouti, leaving 8.2 million
people in need of humanitarian aid. In Ethiopia, 1.6 million people were
affected as their animals died, their watering holes dried up and
malnutrition rates increased.
2006-11-30 00:00:00.000
ANNAN CALLS ON HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL TO STRIVE FOR UNITY AND NOT FAMILIAR FAULT LINES
New York, Nov 29 2006 11:00AM
The members of the United Nations
<"http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil">Human Rights Council
must be careful to avoid becoming divided between developed and developing
countries, Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned today as he urged them
to embrace the universality of rights.
In a <"http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=2333">message to the
third session of the Council, scheduled to begin in Geneva, Mr. Annan
said it was vital that the Council’s 47 members “are willing and able
to build coalitions based on principle.”
He said: “Do not let yourselves be split along the fault line between
North and South… as your colleagues have done in some other parts of
the system, with results inimical to progress.
“States that are truly determined to uphold human rights must be
prepared to take action even when that means, as it sometimes will, giving
offence to other States within their own region.”
Mr. Annan said it is crucial that the Council preserves and strengthens
what he called its “crown jewel” – the system of Special
Procedures, or rapporteurs, independent experts and working groups tasked with
examining a specific area of human rights.
“It has long since been recognized in theory, and increasingly also
in practice, that the rule of law cannot be left to the discretion of
governments, no matter how democratically elected they may be.”
The Secretary-General said the area most in need of innovation is the
organization of the universal periodic review, a peer review mechanism.
“This transformative idea was certainly not intended to impede or
discourage the Council from bringing massive and gross violations of human
rights to the world’s attention as and when they occur,” he said.
“It was intended to give concrete form to our shared principles of
universality, non-selectivity, objectivity and cooperation. The world
looks to the Council to develop a review mechanism that lives up to those
ideals.”
Turning to the Middle East, Mr. Annan noted that the Council – which
replaced the discredited Commission on Human Rights earlier this year
– has held all three of its special sessions so far on the
Arab-Israeli conflict.
“I hope, however, that the Council will take care to handle this
issue in an impartial way, and not allow it to monopolize attention at the
expense of others where there are equally grave or even graver
violations.
“There are surely other situations, besides the one in the Middle East, which would merit scrutiny by a special session of this Council. I
would suggest that Darfur is a glaring case in point.”
The message was delivered on the Secretary-General’s behalf by Louise
Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
2006-11-29 00:00:00.000
REARING CATTLE PRODUCES MORES GREENHOUSE GASES THAN DRIVING CARS, UN
REPORT WARNS
New York, Nov 29 2006 12:00PM
Cattle-rearing generates more global warming greenhouse gases, as
measured in CO2 equivalent, than transportation, and smarter production
methods, including improved animal diets to reduce enteric fermentation and
consequent methane emissions, are urgently needed, <"
http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000448/index.html">according
to a new United Nations report released today.
“Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today’s
most serious environmental problems,” senior UN Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) official Henning Steinfeld said. “Urgent action is
required to remedy the situation.”
Cattle-rearing is also a major source of land and water degradation,
according to the FAO report,
<"http://www.virtualcentre.org/en/library/key_pub/longshad/A0701E00.htm">Livestock’s
Long Shadow–Environmental Issues and Options, of which Mr. Steinfeld
is the senior author.
“The environmental costs per unit of livestock production must be cut
by one half, just to avoid the level of damage worsening beyond its
present level,” it warns.
When emissions from land use and land use change are included, the
livestock sector accounts for 9 per cent of CO2 deriving from human-related
activities, but produces a much larger share of even more harmful
greenhouse gases. It generates 65 per cent of human-related nitrous oxide,
which has 296 times the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of CO2. Most of
this comes from manure.
And it accounts for respectively 37 per cent of all human-induced
methane (23 times as warming as CO2), which is largely produced by the
digestive system of ruminants, and 64 per cent of ammonia, which contributes
significantly to acid rain.
With increased prosperity, people are consuming more meat and dairy
products every year, the report notes. Global meat production is projected
to more than double from 229 million tonnes in 1999/2001 to 465 million
tonnes in 2050, while milk output is set to climb from 580 to 1043
million tonnes.
The global livestock sector is growing faster than any other
agricultural sub-sector. It provides livelihoods to about 1.3 billion people and
contributes about 40 per cent to global agricultural output. For many
poor farmers in developing countries livestock are also a source of
renewable energy for draft and an essential source of organic fertilizer
for their crops.
Livestock now use 30 per cent of the earth’s entire land surface,
mostly permanent pasture but also including 33 per cent of the global
arable land used to producing feed for livestock, the report notes. As
forests are cleared to create new pastures, it is a major driver of
deforestation, especially in Latin America where, for example, some 70 per
cent of former forests in the Amazon have been turned over to grazing.
At the same time herds cause wide-scale land degradation, with about 20
per cent of pastures considered degraded through overgrazing,
compaction and erosion. This figure is even higher in the drylands where
inappropriate policies and inadequate livestock management contribute to
advancing desertification.
The livestock business is among the most damaging sectors to the
earth’s increasingly scarce water resources, contributing among other
things to water pollution from animal wastes, antibiotics and hormones,
chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and the pesticides used to spray feed
crops.
Beyond improving animal diets, proposed remedies to the multiple
problems include soil conservation methods together with controlled livestock
exclusion from sensitive areas; setting up biogas plant initiatives to
recycle manure; improving efficiency of irrigation systems; and
introducing full-cost pricing for water together with taxes to discourage
large-scale livestock concentration close to cities.
2006-11-29 00:00:00.000
IRAQ: SECURITY COUNCIL RENEWS MANDATE OF MULTINATIONAL FORCE FOR
ANOTHER YEAR
New York, Nov 29 2006 12:00PM
At the request of the Iraqi Government, the United Nations Security
Council has
<"http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2006/sc8879.doc.htm">extended the mandate of the three-year-old United States-led multinational
force (MNF) in the war-torn country by another year, until the end of
2007.
The 15-member body unanimously approved the renewal after Prime
Minister Nuri Al-Maliki sent it a letter warning that Iraq could not establish
a peaceful democracy without international help. The Council voted to
review the mandate at the Government’s request, or no later than 15
June, and to terminate it earlier if the Government so desires.
Under resolution 1723 adopted yesterday, the Council also decided to
extend until 31 December 2007 arrangements for depositing proceeds from
export sales of petroleum, petroleum products, and natural gas into the
Development Fund of Iraq (DFI), which was established in May 2003 to
administer them.
In his letter, Mr. Al-Maliki committed his Government to continue
increasing the number of governorates fully under the control of Iraqi
authorities.
“We have agreed on three common goals: first, assumption by Iraq of
recruiting, training, equipping and arming of Iraqi security forces;
second, assumption by Iraq of command and control over Iraqi forces; and
third, transferring responsibility for security to the Government of
Iraq,” he wrote.
“The people of Iraq are determined to establish a stable and peaceful
democracy for themselves and a proper basis for building a vital
economy. This vision for the future of Iraq cannot become a reality without
the help of the international community,” he added.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a letter to the Council
pledged her Government’s support for the goals cited by Mr. Al-Maliki.
“The strong partnership between the Government of Iraq and MNF is a
vital factor in fulfilling these goals,” she wrote. “Together we will
build towards the day when the Iraqi forces assume full responsibility
for the maintenance of security and stability in Iraq.”
2006-11-29 00:00:00.000
KENYA: UN STEPS UP AIRLIFT TO MORE THAN 100,000 FLOOD VICTIMS
New York, Nov 28 2006 1:00PM
The United Nations refugee agency is stepping up its airlift of
emergency supplies for more than 100,000 Somalis made homeless by massive
flooding in Kenya’s Dadaab region, where they had sought shelter from
drought and conflict in their own country.
“Airlifts are now the only viable means of getting relief supplies to
the camps,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson
Jennifer Pagonis <" http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/456c15f42.html">told a
news briefing in Geneva today, noting that three flights had taken off
from Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, since Friday, and two more were scheduled
for today and tomorrow carrying plastic tarpaulins and medical
supplies.
There are concerns about the rise in malaria cases. More mosquito nets
are being sent to hospitals. Diarrhoea and malnutrition are also rising
rapidly in Dadaab. Overall, the worst flooding in years is threatening
up to 1.8 million people in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia.
Dadaab, a three-camp complex for 160,000 refugees, has been especially
affected by heavy rains that washed away parts of the Garissa-Dadaab
road, the only one connecting the remote camp to Nairobi.
UNHCR and other agencies in Dadaab have started developing a new site
in the higher part of Ifo, one of the camps in the complex, in an effort
to find a more permanent solution to the flooding problem. Around 1,000
refugees have already moved to the new site.
Temporary services such as health clinics, communal latrines, water
points and food distribution centres will be constructed in the area. The
distribution of food and supplies is ongoing with priority given to the
most affected.
The Independent UN Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia
Ghanim Alnajjar today <"
http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/(httpNewsByYear_en)/544847D97ECDA7F4C12572340043BD2F?OpenDocument">warned that the
floods there have exacerbated the already serious humanitarian
situation caused by drought and conflict.
“The rising flood waters are causing devastation to the Somali people
and their livelihood and are hampering humanitarian relief efforts,” he
said in a statement, calling on the international community “to
urgently and generously assist strengthened flood relief efforts for Somalia.”
Last week, the UN World Food Programme (<"
http://www.wfp.org/english">WFP) launched a regional air operation with fixed-wing aircraft and
helicopters to transport humanitarian workers and aid to more than 1
million people in flood-stricken areas of Somalia and Kenya.
2006-11-28 00:00:00.000
AS REBELS ADVANCE TO CHADIAN CAPITAL, ANNAN CONDEMNS ATTEMPTS TO SEIZE
POWER BY FORCE
New York, Nov 25 2006 3:00PM
With rebels advancing toward the capital of Chad from the country’s
east, which borders the volatile Darfur region of Sudan, United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan today condemned any attempt to seize power
by force.
A spokesman for Mr. Annan issued a statement in New York expression
concern in response to reports of increasing rebel military activities in
the province of Ouaddai “and that they are advancing in the direction
of N’djamena,” the Chadian capital.
“The Secretary-General reiterates his condemnation of any attempt to
seize power by force,” the spokesman said. “He urges the Chadian
protagonists to engage in dialogue, end armed violence in the country and
foster national reconciliation.”
On Wednesday, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan
Egeland, who last week visited Darfur, warned the Security Council of the
increasing spill-over of violence to Chad, while Under-Secretary-General
for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, also briefed the
Council on a fact-finding mission to Chad and the CAR.
2006-11-25 00:00:00.000
UN HEALTH AGENCY PUBLISHES HANDBOOK TO ENHANCE PHARMACISTS’ ROLE IN
PATIENT CARE
New York, Nov 24 2006 2:00PM
With the pharmacist’s role evolving from that of a maker and supplier
towards that of provider of services and information and ultimately of
patient care, the United Nations health agency is co-sponsoring a
<"http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/new/2006/nw05/en/index.html">handbook
to ensure that a patient’s drug therapy is the most effective
available, the safest possible and properly adhered to.
“Pharmacists have an important role to play in health care, which is
much more than selling medicines,” UN World Health Organization (WHO)
Director of Medicines Policy and Standards Hans V. Hogerzeil said of the
handbook, Developing pharmacy practice - A focus on patient care,
published by his agency and the International Pharmaceutical Federation
(FIP).
An ever-growing and complex range of medicines and poor adherence to
prescribed medicines have forced the evolution of the pharmacist’s role
into a more patient-centred approach, known as pharmaceutical care, WHO
notes. Adherence to long-term therapy for chronic conditions in
developed countries averages 50 per cent, with even lower rates for developing
countries.
“By taking direct responsibility for individual patient’s
medicine-related needs, pharmacists can make a unique contribution to the outcome of
drug therapy and to their patients’ quality of life,” the handbook says
in its introduction.
“The practice of pharmaceutical care is new, in contrast to what
pharmacists have been doing for years. Because pharmacists often fail to
assume responsibility for this care, they may not adequately document,
monitor and review the care given. Accepting such responsibility is
essential to the practice of pharmaceutical care,” it adds.
The number of medicines on the market has increased dramatically over
the last few decades, bringing some real innovations but also
considerable challenges in controlling the quality and rational use of medicines,
the handbook notes.
To reach as wide an audience as possible, it will be available both in
electronic form and print. The aim throughout is to make it interactive
and provide suitable model responses, so that it can also be used for
self-assessment. It contains a wide variety of illustrative case studies
in order to meet the needs of different users.
2006-11-24 00:00:00.000
