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UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICEDAILY NEWS16 June 2006 ==================================================================== UN COUNCIL AUTHORIZES TRIAL OF FORMER LIBERIAN PRESIDENT IN THE NETHERLANDS
the way for the transfer of former Liberian President Charles Taylor to The Hague, Netherlands from Sierra Leone, where he is now awaiting trial under a United Nations-backed tribunal on charges related to his role in that country's bloody civil war.
the 15-Member body requested Secretary-General Kofi Annan “to assist, as a matter of priority, in the conclusion of all necessary legal and practical arrangements,” for Mr. Taylor’s transfer and the provision of the necessary courtroom facilities for the conduct of a trial under the auspices of the Special Court of Sierra Leone. Saying that the ex-Liberian leader’s continued presence in the West African sub-region “is an impediment to stability and a threat to the peace of Liberia and of Sierra Leone,” and that the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was already too busy to handle the case, the Council decided that the Special Court would retain “exclusive jurisdiction over former President Taylor during his transfer to and presence in the Netherlands.”
Council noted in its text, and the International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague, is willing to allow the use of its premises for the detention of Mr. Taylor and the trial proceedings. Mr. Taylor faces an 11-count indictment for crimes against humanity, and other serious violations of international humanitarian law, including sexual slavery and mutilations allegedly committed during Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war. But the Special Court, as well as newly-elected Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, feared that Taylor’s presence in the countries where he allegedly fomented uprisings during the 1990s could shatter the fragile peace that was taking hold in the long-troubled West African region. Shortly after Taylor’s arrest, the Netherlands expressed its willingness to host the Special Court, and just yesterday, the British Government said Taylor could serve his prison sentence in the United Kingdom if he was convicted, a decision immediately hailed by the Secretary-General as “another step forward in our battle against impunity for the most heinous crimes.”
that the proceedings in the case against Mr. Taylor would contribute to achieving truth and reconciliation in Liberia and in wider West Africa. * * *
ahead under good conditions, but technical problems should be expected, equal media access for all parties must be assured and the poll must be followed by speedy development of national institutions, the head of a Security Council delegation just back from the central African country told the 15-member body today. “The train is on the right track and now it needs to pull into the station,” Jean-Marc de la Sablière, France’s ambassador to the UN, said of the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for 30 July, the first in the vast country in 45 years and the largest and most complex electoral-assistance mission undertaken thus far by the UN.
and tasks involved in the election and it should be fairly confident of a positive outcome. Technical problems would likely arise, in view of the sophisticated electoral system chosen by the Assembly and the vast size of the country, but the Congolese people are highly committed and the work done by the electoral commission and the UN mission in the DRC (MONUC) is extremely professional, he said.
and armed groups in the eastern Kivu provinces were not yet fully controlled, but he maintained that neither of those factors are capable of significantly disrupting the elections. He added that police training of some 50,000 officers had been carried out and the role of the army in providing security for the elections will be reduced to a minimum and only in some still unstable areas. In addition, the establishment of a European reserve force on stand-by as authorized by the Security Council is in place and ready to assist MONUC.
that the elections should be free, transparent and fair and that distorted media messages should be avoided, and that that all parties, especially the smaller ones, should have access to the media. The mission, he said, had also stressed to Congolese officials the need to quickly set up vital national institutions following the elections, including an integrated and professional national army and a credible Government administration, which could, among other things, protect the country’s bountiful natural resources for the needs of its people. * * *
Responding to requests by the new Government of Iraq, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has agreed to strongly support the development of a framework for increased international assistance to the violence-torn country.
will be forthcoming, but, according to a statement released by Mr. Annan’s spokesman, the UN will be “working closely in the coming days with the Iraqi Government and the donor community – including UNDP [the UN Development Programme], other UN agencies, and the World Bank – to come up with a joint approach to support the new Government.”
by phone to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki earlier in the week and meeting Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari yesterday, according to the spokesman. Also yesterday, he met US Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt and State Department Counsellor Philip Zelikow, who came with a message from President Bush supporting the Iraqi request for a lead UN role in the process.
as his focal point in New York for this issue, and his Special Representative, Ashraf Qazi, in the same role on the ground in Iraq. * * *
WIDE-RANGING TALKS United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan will be in Europe from Sunday for a host of discussions and meetings, including addressing the inaugural gathering of the new Human Rights Council on 19 June and discussing the troubled state of nuclear non-proliferation at a Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.
Global Meeting on Sunday in Copenhagen, before meeting Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and other members of the Government, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York. “On Monday, he will be in Geneva to speak at the inaugural meeting of the new Human Rights Council. He will say that the eyes of the world, especially those whose human rights have been violated, are turned towards this new Council,” he said. “He will call on the Council to make a clean break with past practices, while preserving the best features of the old system, such as independent special rapporteurs, and will encourage its members not be get caught up in political point-scoring and petty manoeuvres.” From Denmark the Secretary-General will travel to France for a series of meetings on Tuesday with French government officials, including Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Defence Minister Michele Aliot Marie. In Paris, the Secretary-General will also attend the inauguration, with President Jacques Chirac, of France's Musée des Arts Premiers.
about the state of the nuclear non-proliferation regime and the challenges the Conference faces in breaking the impasse that has hindered its work and the Secretary-General will also meet UN staff working in the Swiss city. He will be back in New York on Friday. * * *
VIOLENCE
in Timor-Leste, reaching out to tens of thousands of people who fled violence in Dili, the capital, for surrounding areas in the small South-East Asian nation that the UN shepherded to independence from Indonesia four years ago.
Representative Sukehiro Hasegawa today met with UN and national judges to offer material and personnel help for the trial of those responsible for the violence in which at least 37 people were killed in April and May after the dismissal of nearly 600 soldiers, a third of the armed forcesl.
1,000 tents to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in various locations. Official estimates now indicate there are more IDPs outside Dili (78,000) than those in various settlements in the capital (69,000), totalling about 15 per cent of the entire population.
Dili, we are still concerned for the physical security of people in the makeshift camps and settlements, particularly at night,” UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told a news briefing in Geneva. “We welcome the increased patrolling of foreign troops in areas where displaced people have gathered and are continuing to press for a boosted security presence,” he added, referring to the international forces from Australia, New Zealand Malaysia and Portugal invited in by the Government to help restore order.
families from Dili camping in makeshift shelters of palms, leaves and tarpaulins near a Timorese army base at Metinaro, 40 minutes east of Dili. More tents are in the pipeline for delivery. The families, originally from the eastern districts, have lived in Dili for 10 years or more but fled when their houses were targeted by people originally from the west of the country. The army base houses soldiers from the east. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has pitched 20 tents at Dili National Hospital where women in the final stages of pregnancy can wait for delivery. “Conditions in the camps are difficult, particularly for pregnant women,” UNFPA technical adviser Sevinj Huseyn-Zade said. “Not having adequate transport to specialized medical services provided by the hospital puts woman at a much higher risk of even common maternal health issues becoming critical or life-threatening.”
the UN can provide to carry out the trials effectively and efficiently. “This is a critical first step in restarting the judicial process in Timor–Leste,” he said. “Once the Timorese people see that justice will be served, it will help restore their trust and confidence in the State institutions and the healing process will begin.” At Mr. Annan’s request, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is putting together a commission of inquiry to look into any human rights violations that might have occurred during the violence.
Timor-Leste, stressing that it was obvious that the UN would have to go back there “in a much larger form than we are at the moment.”
Administration (UNTAET) was set up in 1999 after the country voted for independence from Indonesia, which took over after Portugal’s withdrawal in 1974. Once independence was attained in 2002, that mission was replaced with a downsized operation, the UN Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET), which in turn was succeeded by the current, even smaller UN office in Timor-Leste (UNOTIL).
the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today called on the international community to urgently come up with $4 million to fund its vital food aid operation for nearly 400,000 people so that the desert nation can pull through the most difficult months of the year.
way towards helping the poor deal with these difficult times, but this year we face a situation where we simply don’t have the funds to continue our assistance beyond July,” WFP Country Director in Mauritania, Sory Ouane said.
of the approaching lean season when food needs are at their annual peak. In the past decade, the West African country has suffered from a series of natural disasters including floods, droughts and locust infestations, which have left the poorest people living an increasingly fragile existence.
reserves, which allow villagers access to food just when the cost of cereals spirals beyond the reach of many. Should there be a break in supplies, about 350,000 people will have these cereal rations cut by 50 percent.
much as 22 per cent in some areas and recent famine early warning reports have warned that market prices are limiting purchasing power to a worrying extent and damaging household food security. Many rural communities are already deeply in debt – something the cereal reserves are intended to combat.
distribution of suitable food. The nutritional well-being of young children is of particular concern. In some areas of Mauritania, malnutrition rates are already close to the internationally recognised emergency threshold and a particularly difficult lean season will only worsen the situation.
in the world – are relying on WFP, the government and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) to sustain them during this lean season,” Mr. Ouane said. WFP’s relief operation in Mauritania aims to feed a total of 382,400 people in 2006 through support to village food reserves, food-for-work projects and nutritional feeding to children under five and pregnant and breast-feeding women. * * * SRI LANKA: TOP UN RIGHTS CHIEF CALLS ON GOVERNMENT TO INVESTIGATE DEADLY BUS ATTACK United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour has called on the Sri Lankan Government to investigate yesterday’s attack on a bus, which reportedly killed 62 civilians and injured more than 40 others, including school-aged children, in a country wracked by a conflict with Tamil separatists.
of the most fundamental tenets of humanity,” she said in a statement. “The Government must urgently investigate this case, so that those responsible not only face justice, but the full censure of the international community.”
prevent any communal backlash and protect civilian life and property for all communities, including those displaced from their homes.
“wholly irresponsible and unjustifiable for combatants in any cause to plant mines that can have this kind of tragic result.”
recent months in which civilians, including children, are increasingly becoming the targets of escalating violence in Sri Lanka between the Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Just last month she urged the parties to take immediate steps to defuse the violence, resume dialogue and strengthen measures to protect against human rights abuses.
Keyts in Jaffna, including an infant and a young child. On 29 May, 12 Sinhalese construction workers were killed execution-style near Welikanda in Batticaloa. On 9 June, a Tamil family of four including two children, were brutally murdered near Mannar. To date, investigations into these attacks on civilians have yet to produce results, she said. * * * OVER 13 MILLION DEATHS EACH YEAR DUE TO PREVENTABLE ENVIRONMENTAL CAUSES – UN REPORT More than 13 million deaths around the world each year are due to avoidable environmental causes and the lives of as many as 4 million children alone, mostly in developing countries, could be saved by preventing such ecological risks, according to a new United Nations report released today, the most comprehensive yet on the issue.
profoundly, but these estimates are the best to date,” Acting UN World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Anders Nordström said in issuing the study, which shows that as much as 24 per cent of global disease, and 33 per cent of that in children under five, is caused by environmental exposures that can be averted. The four main diseases influenced by poor environments are diarrhoea, lower respiratory infections, various forms of unintentional injuries, and malaria. Preventive measures include safe household water storage and better hygienic measures; cleaner and safer fuels; increased building safety, better management of toxic substances in the home and workplace; and better water resource management. “This will help us to demonstrate that wise investment to create a supportive environment can be a successful strategy in improving health and achieving development that is sustainable,” Dr. Nordström said of the report – ‘Preventing disease through healthy environments – towards an estimate of the environmental burden of disease.’
diseases are influenced by environmental factors, the analysis breaks new ground, reflecting how much death, illness and disability could be realistically avoided every year as a result of better environmental management.
to environmental causes. Over 40 per cent of malaria deaths and an estimated 94 per cent of those from diarrhoeal diseases, two of the world’s biggest childhood killers, could be prevented through better environmental management.
injuries are influenced by environmental risks and by how much,” the Director of WHO’s Department for Public Health and Environment, Maria Neira said.
health and to the general environment by a series of straightforward, coordinated investments. We call on ministries of health, environment and other partners to work together to ensure that these environmental and public health gains become a reality.” The research, involving systematic review of literature as well as surveys of over 100 experts worldwide, identifies specific diseases affected by well-known environmental hazards – and by how much. “In effect, we now have a ‘hit list’ for problems we need to tackle most urgently in terms of health and the environment,” Dr. Neira said.
million from cardiovascular diseases; 1.7 million deaths from diarrhoeal illness; 1.5 million from lower respiratory infections; 1.4 million from cancers; 1.3 million from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; 470,000 from traffic crashes; and 400,000 from unintentional injuries.
launch the Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development, a new initiative aimed at promoting the use of such technologies for development. Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will also take part in the launch, which will be held in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, a UN spokesman told reporters in New York today.
approved its launch back in April as part of the follow-up to last year’s World Summit, which stressed that information and communication technology must be integrated into development activities if internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, are to be achieved in time. Earlier this week, the Alliance announced the members of its Steering Committee and Strategic Council for the first year, in view of the inaugural meeting from 19-20 June, and these include luminaries from a broad range of fields, including the business world, civil society, governments and the media.
Malaysian Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister and meet the UN country team there, the UN spokesman said. He is expected back in New York by mid-week. In a separate development related to Information and Communications Technology (ICT), the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) today opened the world body’s first ICT for Development Training Centre in the Asian and Pacific region, in the city of Incheon, Republic of Korea.
and the Pacific is dynamic, a large number of developing countries lag behind in terms of access to and application of ICT,” said Kim Hak-Su, UN Under Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of UNESCAP. In addition to today’s inauguration of the Centre, Microsoft also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UNESCAP pledging its support for the facility that will be a regional resource for policy-makers, ICT professionals and trainers from developing nations across the region to learn from and share good practices in the area of ICT development, helping in the transition to the “knowledge economy,” the Agency said in a news release. * * *
RECOVERY
children, Actress Mia Farrow, Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told Government and rebel leaders during her trip to the Sudanese province. “Everyone that I spoke to at the camps said the same things – they want to feel safe so that they can go home and rebuild their futures. They want water, health, education and livelihoods,” Farrow said today after visiting schools, health clinics and water points in North and South Darfur from 11-15 June with her son Ronan, a UNICEF Spokesperson for Youth.
to adequate resources, but is dealing with unpredictable security on the ground as well as a need for additional funds to sustain the current services.” Ms. Farrow urged all parties, whether or not they were signers to the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA), to commit to a peaceful resolution of the Darfur crisis and to continue a dialogue to resolve differences in order to bring the misery and suffering of children to an end. The actress, who was afflicted with polio as a child, initially became involved with UNICEF in order to campaign for the eradication of this disease, the agency said.
start of 2006 and more than 1.8 million children continue to face serious survival and protection concerns, UNICEF said.
funding required to maintain basic humanitarian assistance programmes in the region, the agency announced. * * *
SHORTFALL
increasing number of threats and attacks on schools in Afghanistan, where it is involved in on-site and take-home rations, school feeding, construction and de-worming programmes. In the past fortnight alone seven schools were attacked, of which 5 were burned, the Agency reported in its latest update. So far in 2006, 119 schools have been attacked, 72 of them completely or partially burned, and 25 have been subject to threats. With records suggesting that rainfall in April and May was sub-optimal and preliminary reports indicating a shortfall of 1.2 million metric tons in wheat production, WFP is facing a funding crisis, and without additional donations it will cut back aid in the second half of the year, endangering the nutritional status and livelihoods of millions of Afghans.
August. WFP needs approximately 36,000 metric tons of food at an approximate cost of $25 million. * * *
SOUTH, BUT EAST
conflict, tens of thousands of refugees are living on, as they have for years, in a silent crisis largely ignored by the world but sustained by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). “Like other refugees in protracted circumstances, the Eritrean and Ethiopian refugees are often forgotten – and they are living in a region of Sudan that is itself often overlooked,” WFP emergency coordinator Sarah Longford said of the more than 95,000 refugees from Ethiopia and Eritrea who now live in 12 camps in eastern Sudan. “Attention tends to focus on people in Darfur and the south, but people in the east are also in dire need.”
stories the World Should Hear More About” compiled by the UN Department of Public Information (DPI), under the rubric “Protracted refugee situations: Millions caught in limbo, with no solutions in sight.” Though far less numerous than the refugees who have fled into Chad from the western Darfur region, where three years of fighting between the Government, pro-Government militias and rebels have killed scores of thousands, the Ethiopians and Eritreans have sought shelter in eastern Sudan for far longer, some up to 40 years, fleeing the conflict that led to Eritrea’s independence from Ethiopia and then the 1998-2000 war between the two.
have been delivered late or in reduced quantities, leaving families to cut down on meals to stretch out their food stocks,” WFP spokesman Mohamed Amasha said on a visit to the area. “The agency’s support depends on donor funding, but the refugees’ plight competes for attention with a multitude of other crises around the world requiring donations.” Although a few of the camps are land-based, with refugee families allocated a small plot to cultivate, there is not enough land for everyone, and a cycle of poor seasons and droughts have meant low harvests. For new arrivals in particular, making their way in the camps can be a difficult and bewildering business. Many are young people, wanting to avoid military service.
women. Although divorce rates were relatively low, a high proportion of these women were widows, who had lost their husbands to the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. For them, earning an income to supplement food rations is vital. Training programmes and other schemes that boost self-reliance and offer opportunities to access an income are a priority, Ms. Longford said. “Together with our cooperating partners, including the Sudanese Red Crescent, we’re working on linking more of our food assistance to training programmes, and other similar measures, so that we also build self-sufficiency,” she explained. “Otherwise the outlook is extremely bleak for these people.
eastern regions who are displaced or for other reasons can’t meet their families’ food needs.”
decline in rainfall, while sporadic conflict has also uprooted families and communities, leading to a chronic livelihoods crisis while malnutrition rates have soared. WFP is trying to encourage other agencies to focus on eastern Sudan to aid development, Ms. Longford said. * * *
DEVELOPMENT
today called for rich countries to invest in the economic development of Africa’s Great Lakes region to prevent countries emerging from conflict from slipping back into chaos. “Development would ensure that all communities have a better life and are able to give a better life to those who return,” he said in Muyinga, Burundi, on the fourth day of a nine-day tour.
Thursday, he met with Burundians struggling to rebuild their lives back in their own country, and Congolese still uprooted in a refugee camp in north-eastern Burundi. Mr. Guterres came to Tanzania and Burundi to show European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel how European Union (EU) money is being used to support refugees. At the same time, he said wealthy nations can do more to bridge the gap between relief and economic development.
he told residents he had enormous sympathy for their situation. A former Portuguese prime minister, he said he had many close friends who became refugees, fleeing persecution in his own country when Portugal was ruled by dictator Antonio Salazar.
prospects for them to go home voluntarily in the near future. As the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) approaches elections at the end of July, the international community must work for consolidation of peace and democracy there and do more to develop its economy, he said. “Without a Congo at peace, Africa does not have a future,” he told the refugees, who applauded loudly.
where he will celebrate World Refugee Day on 20 June. * * *
YOUNGSTERS Celebrating the Day of the African Child today, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) called on the world to recognize that youngsters are the continent’s greatest resource and rise to the challenge of helping them overcome the many scourges they face, including violence, this year’s theme.
Africa,” UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman said. “But we also recognize and address the considerable problems they face – from extreme poverty and conflict to malaria, malnutrition and HIV/AIDS.” The Day commemorates June 16, 1976, when thousands of black school children in Soweto, South Africa, took to the streets to protest the inferior quality of their education under the apartheid regime and to demand their right to be taught in their own language. Hundreds of boys and girls were shot and in the two weeks of protest that followed, more than 100 people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured. “This landmark event was a demonstration of great courage and conviction by the children of South Africa, who stood up for what they believed,” Veneman said. “It is a powerful reminder of the decisive role that children can have in bringing about change and of the importance of ensuring a quality basic education for all.”
and future well-being of Africa’s youngsters because of the continent’s disproportionate burden of conflict, extreme poverty and HIV/AIDS.
given their limited ability to protect themselves and the disruption of family and community protection. “It is hard to think of an act against girls and young women that can be more damaging or enduring than sexual violence,” Ms. Veneman said.
having a devastating impact on children, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Rape is routinely used as a weapon of war, and the poverty that conflicts bring often leaves girls and young women destitute. For many of them, trading sex for survival becomes the only option.”
dramatically more vulnerable to violence, abuse and exploitation – which in turn heighten their risk of HIV infection. In Darfur, for example, where nearly 2 million people have been displaced by conflict, it is estimated that at least one-third of the victims of rape are children.
– their parents. In sub-Saharan Africa, 12 million children under the age of 18 have lost one or both parents to AIDS. * * *
UN REPORT
first time next year, slum dwellers are as badly if not worse off than their rural cousins in terms of health, literacy and prosperity, contradicting general assumptions, according to a landmark study issued today by the United Nations.
one city – one part of the urban population that has all the benefits of urban living, and the other part, the slums and squatter settlements, where the poor often live under worse conditions than their rural relatives,” said Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT that produced the State of the World’s Cities Report 2006/7. “It is time that donor agencies and national governments recognized the urban penalty and specifically targeted additional resources to improve the living conditions of slum dwellers,” she added, referring to a global population of one billion. The report shows remarkable similarities between slums and rural areas in health, education, employment and mortality, the Agency said in a news release, adding that it also shows how in countries such as Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Haiti and India, child malnutrition in slums is comparable to that of rural areas.
per cent and 49 per cent respectively, compared with 27 per cent in non-slum urban areas, while in Brazil and Côte d’Ivoire, child malnutrition is three to four times higher in slums than in non slum-areas. The report also debunks some commonly-held beliefs about people living in slums, including the fact that contrary to popular perception, young adults living in slums are more likely to have a child, be married or head a household than their counterparts living in non-slum areas. The findings come at a time when the world is entering an “historic urban transition,” the Agency says, noting that in 2007 – for the first time in history – the world’s urban population will exceed the rural population. Most of the world’s urban growth – 95 per cent – in the next two decades will be absorbed by cities of the developing world, which are least equipped to deal with rapid urbanization. Globally, the slum population is set to grow at the rate of 27 million per year in the period 2000-2020 however, UN-HABITAT, which is the agency that aims to achieve sustainable development of human settlements, says in the report that slum formation is “neither inevitable nor acceptable.” * * *
THE WORLD With the ranks of chronically hungry people growing by 4 to 5 million a year since the mid-1990s, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) officials from 80 countries are gathering in the Danish capital of Copenhagen today for five days of brainstorming on the immense challenges facing the world’s largest humanitarian agency.
hungriest people,” WFP Executive Director James Morris said. “Tens of millions of people, especially children, count on us each and every day. Investing in their lives and their futures will render huge dividends for generations to come. The fact that more than 300 million children are chronically hungry is the world’s greatest shame today,” he added.
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) an increasingly remote possibility, WFP’s funding for major emergencies such as Darfur, Afghanistan and Niger fell to an average of only 57 per cent in 2005, one of the lowest levels in its history.
high infant and maternal mortality and lack of access to education and health care, all by 2015.
with the Asian tsunami, continued with the devastating drought and locust invasion in Niger and ended with the earthquake in Pakistan – all of which stretched both donors’ generosity and WFP’s capacity to respond. The task ahead is daunting. Although international development aid has reached record levels in recent years, the amount devoted to food aid for emergency operations is falling far short of needs, it added.
* * *
The top United Nations envoy in Kosovo today postponed municipal elections for up to 12 months so that full attention can be devoted to talks to decide the status of the Albanian-majority Serbian province, which the UN has run ever since Western forces drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 amid grave rights abuses in ethnic fighting.
interests of all communities in Kosovo. The postponement will allow for the political focus on the status talks to be retained,” Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Representative Søren Jessen-Petersen said. In his latest report on Kosovo released just three days ago, Mr. Annan said the parties remained far apart and compromise was crucial in the talks between Kosovo Albanians and Serbs which began in Vienna in February under the auspices of UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari and have been held about twice monthly since.
the province, where Albanians outnumber Serbs and others by 9 to 1. Serbia rejects independence and Kosovo’s Serbs have been boycotting the province’s local government, the so-called ‘Provisional Institutions.’ * * *
with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican where they are expected to discuss human rights issues.
inauguration of the new, strengthened UN Human Rights Council, which replaces the much-criticized UN Human Rights Commission, seen by many as ineffective. Mr. Eliasson will make a keynote address to the Council on Monday, as will Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Ahead of the meeting Mr. Eliasson noted that the Council’s creation showed that Member States can overcome differences and deliver outcomes relevant to the people of the world. “I expect the members of the Council to address the challenges before them with the same constructive spirit and commitment. We must show the world that the Council means a fresh start in the United Nations’ work for human rights,” he said. The inaugural session, set to last until 30 June, will bring together high-level representatives from over 100 countries and see delegates begin concrete work to allow the Council to flesh out features that make it a stronger and more effective human rights body than its much-criticized predecessor.
Assembly, its increased number of meetings throughout the year, equitable geographical representation, and an examination of the human rights records of its own members. * * *
MINORITIES While removing two Roma communities from the list of people considered at risk in Kosovo, the United Nations refugee agency remains concerned for more than 400,000 Serbs, other Roma and Albanians who could face persecution if they returned to places where they are a minority in the multi-ethnic Serbian province.
in exercising their fundamental human rights shows they should continue to be considered at risk of persecution and should continue to benefit from international protection in countries of asylum,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman Ron Redmond told a news briefing in Geneva.
informed individual decisions,” he added of UNHCR’s latest position paper aimed at guiding states and others making decisions about whether people from Kosovo should continue to receive international protection in an asylum country.
to positive developments within the inter-ethnic environment, but the paper says their returns should still be approached in a phased manner due to the limited absorption capacity of Kosovo, where Albanians outnumber Serbs and others by 9 to 1.
from Kosovo in western European and other countries, with an equal number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Serbia, and some 18,000 persons of concern in neighbouring Montenegro. The report notes that although the overall security situation in Kosovo has progressively improved over the past year, it remains fragile and unpredictable. Minorities continue to suffer from ethnically motivated or criminal incidents. Many incidents remain unreported as the victims often fear reprisals from perpetrators.
services in health, education, justice and public administration. Discrimination as well as low representation of minorities in the administrative structures further discourages minorities from exercising their basic rights.
(NATO) forces drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 amid grave rights abuses in ethnic fighting. Talks are now underway to determine its future status and the return of Serb refugees is seen as a crucial factor in reaching a decision. Independence and autonomy are among options that have been mentioned. Serbia rejects independence. * * *
international non-governmental human rights organization alleging that Vietnamese authorities have been detaining, interrogating and torturing Montagnard asylum seekers who have returned to Viet Nam from Cambodia. The report, issued on Wednesday by Human Rights Watch (HRW), also urged the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to review its participation in the return exercise, called the Agency’s monitoring ‘flawed’ and said its public statements appeared to be ‘calculated’ to gain greater access to Viet Nam’s Central Highlands, the Montagnard tribesmen’s place of origin.
allegations do not tally with our first-hand experience of the Montagnard caseload in Cambodia, nor with our 12 monitoring missions to visit returnees in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam,” UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond told reporters in Geneva.
praising Viet Nam’s treatment of returnees in order to gain greater access. We have absolutely no reason to do so. Our public statements have reflected the reality we found on the ground. We will continue to report what we find in an objective manner.”
UNHCR, Viet Nam and Cambodia, Montagnards who had arrived in Cambodia and were recognized as refugees could either be resettled to a third country or return to Viet Nam, which guaranteed they would not be punished, discriminated against or prosecuted for illegal departure.
of them several times, and had also spoken with the two people on whom HRW had relied heavily for their report and Mr. Redmond said the Agency had “found discrepancies between accounts they related to us and to HRW.” “There have been no similar allegations of mistreatment from any other returnees, who now total 102 voluntary returnees and 94 deportees,” he added.
are currently 249 in Phnom Penh. In 2005, 82 Montagnards returned home voluntarily, with a further 20 returning in 2006. A total of 94 persons have been deported. * * *
marine environment amid fears that humankind’s exploitation of the deep seas and open oceans is rapidly passing the point of no return, according to a United Nations-backed report issued today that calls for urgent measures to conserve areas where more than 90 per cent of the planet’s living biomass lives. The new study, ‘Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Deep Waters and High Seas’, which was issued jointly by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN), argues that the many lessons learnt on conserving coastal waters should be adapted and applied right across the marine world, including in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
accelerated rapidly over recent years. It is a pace of change that has outstripped our institutions and conservation efforts whose primary focus have been coastal waters where, until recently, most human activity like fishing and industrial exploration took place,” said Achim Steiner, UNEP’s Executive Director. “We now most urgently need to look beyond the horizon and bring the lessons learnt in coastal water to the wider marine world,” he added at the report’s launch in New York, which took place as countries and experts are holding talks on the law of the sea. With more than 90 per cent of the planet’s living biomass – the weight of life – found in the oceans, the report underlines the value of the deep seas and open oceans and highlights how science is only now just getting to grips with the wealth of life, natural resources and ecosystems existing in the marine world.
beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, is vulnerable and at increasing risk,” said Ibrahim Thiaw, Acting Director General of IUCN.
to bridge this gulf. Otherwise we stand to lose and to irrevocably damage unique wildlife and critical ecosystems many of which moderate our very existence on the planet.” The report, launched at the UN Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS) which feeds into the UN General Assembly, also highlights the way fisheries, pollution and other stresses such as those arising from global climate change are impacting and affecting the marine world.
millionth of the deep sea floor having been subject to biological investigations but the report states that over half – 52 per cent – of the global fish stocks are fully exploited. Overexploited and depleted species have also increased from about 10 per cent in the mid 1970s to 24 per cent in 2002.
activities at sea are expanding rapidly and plunging ever deeper. Deep sea fishing, bioprospecting, energy development and marine scientific research are already taking place at depths of 2,000 m or more,” says the report’s author, Kristina M. Gjerde, High Seas Policy Advisor to IUCN’s Global Marine Program.
also outlines several options aimed at the conservation and sustainable management of the deep seas and open oceans. These include among other things, actions and measures that reflect an integrated approach to oceans management based on ‘ecological boundaries’ rather than just political ones and giving higher levels of protection to vulnerable species like deep sea fish.
protected areas” along with improved impact assessments that reflect the full range of possible human activities across the total marine environment. Electronic versions of the report are available on the home pages of the UNEP Regional Seas Programme and the IUCN Marine Programme). * * * GOAL! GOAL! GOAL! GOAL! GOAL! UNICEF SCORES FOR WORLD’S CHILDREN AT WORLD CUP While the planet’s top soccer players score goals for their national teams in the World Cup on the playing fields of Germany, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today teamed up with the sport’s governing body to score one for the world’s youngsters, kicking off a campaign to promote human values on websites, videos and in print. “Whether they are playing on busy streets, in crowded refugee camps or amidst the chaos of conflict, children find joy through sport,” UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman said. “But sport is more than just a game – it is also one of the best ways for children to learn team work, tolerance and the value of play. UNICEF and FIFA share a common commitment to transforming young athletes into upstanding citizens,” she added, referring to the governing soccer body Fédération Internationale de Football Association. The Unite for Children, Unite for Peace campaign spotlights the power of soccer in promoting values of peace and tolerance within communities and at the international level. It includes public service announcements featuring some of the world’s top players, including UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and England’s captain David Beckham, an interactive website, video profiles of 11 children who have overcome situations of violence, and a manual for players and coaches designed to combat violence and discrimination, particularly against girls. The manual will be published in English, French, Spanish, and German and will be distributed globally. The announcement, produced by MTV International and featuring a 15-man “Team UNICEF” of World Cup players, is being shown before each of the matches. The Team comprises: David Beckham (England), captain; Emmanuel Abedayor (Togo); Christoph Metzelder (Germany); Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire); Thierry Henry (France); Tim Howard (United States); Rafael Marquez (Mexico); Lionel Messi (Argentina); Hidetoshi Nakata (Japan); Ji-Sung Park (Republic of Korea); Eduardo Tenorio (Ecuador); Francesco Totti (Italy); Edwin van der Sar (Netherlands); Paolo Wanchope (Costa Rica); Dwight Yorke (Trinidad and Tobago).
Mr. Matsuura has issued frequent condemnations of the murder of journalists around the world. * * * |