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UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
16 March, 2007 =========================================================================
UN HOSTS WIDE-RANGING INTERNATIONAL MEETING ON LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT FOR IRAQ
Nearly 100 delegations from Member States, humanitarian agencies and regional organizations gathered at United Nations Headquarters in New York for a long-term initiative for Iraq that aims to consolidate peace and pursue political, economic and social development over the next five years in the violence-torn country.
It was the first time that the International Compact with Iraq (ICI), a joint UN-Iraqi Government plan, has met in New York since it was initiated last July, and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called it “a tool for unlocking Iraq’s own potential” in public sector resource management, institution building and human development, and in achieving a more holistic approach to energy management.
“Unlike the other initiatives, the Compact focuses on Iraq’s long-term economic development, while also stressing progress in the political and security fields, through a mutually re-enforcing relationship,” he said in opening the meeting, noting that Iraqis have to agree on needed security and political steps as prerequisites for normalization and revitalization of the economy.
“Above all, it is essential that all Iraqi communities come together in a spirit of dialogue to find lasting solutions. As they do so, they should be able to count on the active support of Iraq’s neighbours and the international community,” he added, calling the Compact an important framework for fulfilling those shared responsibilities towards Iraq and its people.
“It is heart-wrenching to see almost daily attacks on innocent civilians, which have left immense suffering and pain in their wake. Beyond the political violence and sectarian strife, a humanitarian crisis is stretching the patience and ability of ordinary people to cope with everyday life,” he declared.
Mr. Ban’s Special Adviser on the Compact, Ibrahim Gambari, told reporters afterwards that the world community could not wait till the end of all violence to help Iraq.
Mr. Ban recalled that the UN is now strengthening its humanitarian efforts and working with countries in the region to address the increasing needs of those who have left Iraq temporarily, those displaced inside the country and those suffering from diminishing access to basic public services.
“The challenges ahead are immense. I am sure you will all agree that we cannot leave Iraq on its own to cope with them. The International Compact is intended to help the Government to build a secure, unified, federal and democratic nation, founded on the principles of freedom and equality, capable of providing peace and prosperity for all its people,” he said, pleading with all sides to end the violence.
Today’s session was technically a preparatory meeting prior to the formal launch, building on previous meetings in the region, and Mr. Ban urged the Iraqi Government to agree on the date and venue for this launch.
The Iraqi delegation, led by Vice President Adil Abdal Mahdi, formally presented the Compact document, committing the Government to a slew of benchmarks from fighting corruption and ensuring human rights to taking concrete security steps and instituting economic reform. He said the formal launch would take place by the end of April.
“We had a very successful conference,” he told reporters, adding that the conference heard “a very important engagement” from the international community and recognized that Iraq had validated its commitment. “We are looking forward to taking Iraq out of its crisis with the help of the international community,” he added.
Mr. Gambari said the Compact has a framework to address precisely those issues that will contribute to the normalizing the situation. “We cannot wait until every situation is settled on the security aspect before we move to support the Government of Iraq in their commitment to economic reform, to the enactment of the hydro-carbon law, the investment law and the fully funded budget for 2007,” he added.
“So to the extent that they are doing the right thing according to their own commitment, then … the international community has to honour its own commitment.”
International organizations attending included the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Arab League and the European Commission.
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CHILLING ABUSES CHRONICLED AS UN HUMAN RIGHTS MISSION TO DARFUR PRESENTS REPORT
Sudanese Government forces, allied Janjaweed militias and rebel groups are guilty of serious human rights abuses and violations of international law in Darfur, where murders, rapes, acts of torture and arbitrary arrest occur with chilling frequency, the head of the United Nations High-Level Mission said today as she presented her report to the Human Rights Council.
Jody Williams, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, told the Council that ineffective justice mechanisms, the free flow of weapons and a climate of impunity meant Darfur had become a stranger to the rule of law.
She said civilians had become the main target in the conflict, which has also exacerbated the underlying social and economic deprivation in Darfur.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and at least 2 million others forced from their homes since 2003 when rebel forces first took up arms against the Sudanese Government. The conflict is threatening to spill over into neighbouring Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR).
The High-Level Mission’s report, published on Monday, calls on the Sudanese Government to cooperate with the deployment of the proposed hybrid UN-African Union (AU) force without delay and to give its full cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC), which may hold war crimes trials.
It also urges the international community to step up pressure, as individual Member States and through mechanisms such as the UN Human Rights Council, to ensure that the conflict ends, civilians are protected and the victims receive justice.
An independent national human rights commission should be created and the Sudanese Government should also immediately remove all obstacles to humanitarian assistance from the UN and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Ms. Williams said today.
The five-member mission was unable to get into Darfur because of visa restrictions, but still met hundreds of people and reviewed countless documents relating to the issue during its month of work that finished on 5 March. The mission visited Geneva, Addis Ababa and several cities and refugee camps in Chad.
Speaking after Ms. Williams presented the report to the Council in Geneva, Sudan’s representative Mohamed Ali Emardi said the report lacked impartiality and was part of a conspiracy against his country.
He said the international community had remained silent against those rebel groups which did not sign last year’s peace agreement that was supposed to end the fighting in Darfur, a vast region roughly the size of France.
Speaking to reporters later today, Ms. Williams said the mission’s members had known that their work would be challenged, and that the team had therefore been very careful to ensure that it operated entirely legally under its mandate, as well as in good faith, “always keeping in mind the needs of the people of Darfur.”
She added that the “responsibility to protect” principle had emerged because of the international community’s shame about its failure to act during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
“Many of the people that we met with in Chad, in the refugee camps, are giving up hope in the belief that the responsibility to protect doesn’t seem to have any meaning or relevance in their lives and in addressing the situation in Darfur.
“Responsibility to protect is supposed to be [about] protecting the people, not protecting the Government to retain its power to continue abusing those people.”
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MASKED GUNMEN ATTACK UN CONVOY IN GAZA STRIP
Masked gunmen ambushed and opened fire on a three-vehicle United Nations convoy in the Gaza Strip today shortly after it left the crossing point with Israel carrying a senior official of the main UN agency for Palestinian refugees, but all the passengers and drivers escaped injury.
The director of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Field Office in Gaza, John Ging, was leaving the Erez crossing point for Gaza City when a vehicle blocked the convoy about one kilometre to the south in what agency Commissioner-General Karen Koning AbuZayd called “this unprecedented attack on UN staff in Gaza.”
Three armed men jumped out and attempted to open the doors of the middle car in the convoy. When it became clear that the doors were locked, they opened fire directly on the car, leaving 11 bullet holes in the side. Nobody was hurt and the passengers and drivers were able to travel safely to UNRWA’s headquarters in Gaza City.
Ms. AbuZayd condemned the attack in the strongest possible terms and urged that those responsible be identified and brought to justice.
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MURDER OF SOMALIA HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS PROMPTS UN CONDEMNATION
United Nations human rights and humanitarian officials today deplored the assassination of a leading human rights activist in Somalia, saying such attacks were all too common in the strife-torn Horn of Africa nation.
Isse Abdi Isse, the chairman of KISIMA, a non-governmental organization (NGO), was shot dead yesterday in a hotel in the capital, Mogadishu, where he had been participating in a workshop.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour stressed that human rights defenders must be allowed to carry out their work in safety and without fear of retaliation, her spokesperson José Luis Díaz told reporters in Geneva.
Ms. Arbour urged Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) to conduct a prompt and impartial investigation into the murder and into all other attacks on rights defenders.
Ghanim Alnajjar, the UN Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia, issued a statement expressing his deep sadness at the killing and offering his condolences to Mr. Isse’s family, friends and colleagues.
“The killing of Mr. Isse starkly highlights the absence of human rights protection mechanisms for human rights defenders as well as other civilians, and the atmosphere of impunity in which Somalis live,” Mr. Alnajjar said.
“After 16 years of conflict, Somalia is at a critical juncture. I wish to remind all that the work carried out by human rights defenders is crucial to building the foundation for security and a lasting peace.”
UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia Eric Laroche described Mr. Isse as a dedicated human rights defender in the country’s Lower Juba region.
“Isse championed human rights causes in the region for many years and his death is undoubtedly a loss to all Somalis who at this time are seeking peace and reconciliation,” Mr. Laroche said.
“Civil society organizations, such as KISIMA, that continue to operate in Somalia under very difficult conditions are increasingly becoming the target of attacks as a result of the work they do.”
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CITING FLAWED PROCESS, UN EXPERT SAYS IRAQ SHOULD NOT EXECUTE EX-VICE PRESIDENT
After this week’s dismissal of Iraqi former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan’s appeal against the death penalty imposed by the country’s High Tribunal, an independent United Nations legal expert called on the Government to not carry out the execution, citing the “procedurally flawed legal process” that lead to the sentence.
Leandro Despouy, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, issued a statement today saying that the High Tribunal “has violated international standards on due process” and “therefore is not in a position to sentence Taha Yassin Ramadan to death.”
The Appeals Chamber of the High Tribunal, in its 12 February decision, did not address the “grave shortcomings” of the original trial which sentenced Mr. Ramadan to a life sentence. The Chamber described this decision as being “too lenient,” and sent the case back to the trial court for his sentence to be increased to death.
On Wednesday, all nine members of the appeals court ratified Mr. Ramadan’s death sentence.
The trial violated international human rights standards and principles, according to the Representative, “in particular the right to be tried by an independent and impartial tribunal and the right to adequate defence,” as laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Mr. Despouy, who has issued two previous press statements on this matter, is an unpaid expert serving in an independent personal capacity, reporting to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council.
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CONQUERING HUNGER KEY TO PEACE, UN FOOD AGENCY CHIEF TELLS WASHINGTON OFFICIALS
Conquering hunger is critical to peace and prosperity, the head of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has told United States officials, urging stepped-up efforts to address the global problem.
“Today and every day for the foreseeable future, 18,000 children will die of hunger and hunger-related ailments – one every five seconds,” WFP Executive Director James T. Morris told a US Senate hearing on food aid yesterday.
“The number of hungry people – now estimated at 852 million worldwide – is growing by some 4 million a year. In spite of record contributions from our donors – led by the United States – the resources available to fight hunger are simply not keeping pace. We are not winning this war.”
Mr. Morris said the problem was “not only an affront to conscience in an era of plenty, but an untenable situation we ignore at our own risk.”
Investing in good nutrition for the youngest children and their mothers would break the cycle of “inherited hunger” that handicaps economic development in poor countries, he said. “This is the single best investment you can make in a better future for the poorest countries, indeed for all of us.”
The WFP chief, who was addressing the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, steps down in April from his post running the world’s largest provider of food aid. He said his five-year tenure was one of unprecedented challenge for WFP, citing huge disasters that ranged from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami to the explosion of violence in the Darfur region of Sudan.
He also singled out the devastating impact of climate change and HIV/AIDS on food security, and the fact that both commodity and transport costs had risen sharply over that same period.
Mr. Morris said the US, the single-largest donor to WFP, could lead the world in making that extra investment, which he said could help reverse the negative global trends fuelling the continued rise in the numbers of hungry poor.
“President Eisenhower once said you can change the world with wheat, and not weapons. I believe that’s true,” he said.
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UN BANS TWO VENDORS FOLLOWING INTERNAL INVESTIGATION
Two vendors registered to sell goods to the United Nations – Cogim, S.p.A. and Avicos Insurance Company – have been removed from the Organization’s roster following an internal investigation, a spokesperson for the world body said today.
Responding to press questions, Michele Montas said the decision was made following consideration on Wednesday of several cases related to the conclusions reached through internal investigations by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) Procurement Task Force into the relationships between several vendors and a former UN official indicted by the US Southern District Attorney's Office.
Ms. Montas said that in light of the conclusions reached by the Procurement Task Force, the UN has decided to remove Cogim, S.p.A. and Avicos Insurance Company from the Vendor Database. She added that the UN has also prohibited the two companies from doing business with it as a result of inappropriate relationships between them and the indicted former UN official.
Ms. Montas also said that based on a related investigation by the Procurement Task Force, the UN has decided to suspend the registered vendors Corimec Italiana S.p.A and Volga Dnepr Airlines and its subsidiary, Volga-Dnepr (Ireland) Ltd. from the Vendor Database in light of alleged inappropriate relationships between them and a former UN official.
In September 2005, Vladimir Kuznetsov, the chairman of the UN’s Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), was arrested by US officials. The Secretary-General waived his immunity and the UN cooperated with the US in connection with its inquiry.
That case stemmed from another investigation by OIOS into then-UN Procurement Officer Alexander Yakovlev, who was accused of soliciting kickbacks by the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC), which probed mismanagement in the UN’s Iraq Oil-for-Food programme.
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THERE IS NO CURE FOR AIDS, UN AGENCIES SAY, URGING ‘EVIDENCE-BASED’ TREATMENT
Responding to the emergence of a claimed new cure for AIDS in the Gambia, the main United Nations agencies dealing with the pandemic today issued a call for ‘evidence-based’ responses to the disease.
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) “strongly encourage the Gambia to collaborate with international experts on efforts to assess the safety, efficacy and quality of the therapeutic intervention, according to standard practices in any product development.”
The statement reiterated the importance of evidence-based approaches to AIDS treatment as part of a comprehensive response to the epidemic, and emphasized that no cure for AIDS exists. “Once a person has been infected with HIV, he or she remains infected for life.”
It further warned against substituting untested remedies for proven treatments. “Herbal remedies cannot take the place of comprehensive treatment and care for people living with HIV (including prophylaxis and treatment for opportunistic infections, and highly active antiretroviral therapy where indicated),” UNAIDS and WHO said. “These treatments should not be stopped in favour of any such remedy.”
They cautioned that discontinuing antiretroviral therapy “will lead to very serious adverse effects, and even death.”
UNAIDS and WHO are promoting the use of combination antiretroviral therapy, which can both prolong life and improve quality of life. With increased resources and global commitment to scale up access to antiretroviral treatment, coverage increased in sub-Saharan Africa from less than 2 per cent in 2003 to 23 per cent in June 2006. “These gains must be sustained,” the agencies said.
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BAN KI-MOON RECOMMENDS ONE-YEAR EXTENSION OF UN PEACEKEEPING MISSION IN LIBERIA
Despite numerous successes made in Liberia to bolster peace and further economic progress, the impoverished West African country still faces many obstacles including poverty, high unemployment and incapacitated public services, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in a new report, calling on the Security Council to extend the UN peacekeeping mission there for another year.
Although “Liberia continues to make steady progress in consolidating peace, stability and democracy, as well as in promoting economic recovery,” Mr. Ban says in his latest report to the Council on the situation in Liberia, the country “still faces significant reconstruction and development challenges arising from 14 years of civil strife.”
In response, Mr. Ban recommends that the mandate of the mission, known as UNMIL, which is set to expire at the end of this month, be extended until 31 March 2008.
The report also points to the threat to stability stemming from high unemployment, including among former combatants and deactivated security personnel. The threat must be addressed, Mr. Ban says, through labour-intensive employment opportunities in the short term, with sustainable jobs being created by a revitalized economy in the long term.
The country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission is being hindered in its progress by management, personnel and budgetary difficulties, and “these problems need to be resolved on an urgent basis so that the Commission can continue its valuable work of ensuring lasting peace in Liberia,” Mr. Ban writes.
The Secretary-General warns that the “unpredictable situations” in Liberia’s neighbours such as Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea also threatened the country’s stability. He recommends continued cooperation among UNMIL, the UN Mission in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) and the Sierra Leonean and Guinean armed forces to patrol border areas as well as urging relevant Governments to promote peaceful relations among them.
Mr. Ban calls on the international community to continue its support of Liberia, which is seeking to rebuild after the civil war that killed almost 150,000 people and sent 850,000 more fleeing across its borders.
He lauds the enthusiasm international partners displayed at the Liberia Partners’ Forum, a consortium of donors, which met last month, and stresses the importance of assisting the Government in institution and capacity building. Mr. Ban also says that international help is crucial in helping the State reassert control over its natural resources, including its rubber plantations which are among the world’s largest.
UNMIL was established in 2003 to support Liberia’s ceasefire and peace process, and currently has over 15,200 uniformed personnel, along with around 500 international civilian personnel, almost 1,000 local staff and 220 UN Volunteers.
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HAITI: UN MISSION REPORTS MORE SUCCESSES IN ANTI-CRIME OFFENSIVE
Close on the heals of the capture of one of Haiti’s most notorious criminal armed gang leaders, United Nations peacekeepers and Haitian police have reported new successes in their crackdown on violent crime in Port-au-Prince, the capital, dismantling one group, arresting three dozen more suspects and seizing weapons caches.
In one of the latest operations, 32 suspects were arrested in the Linteau 1 and Ti Ayiti quarters of the capital’s Cité Soleil neighbourhood, one of the violence-ridden country’s most dangerous areas, leading to the dismantling of the Blade Nazon and the seizure of arms and ammunition. The operation was launched after UN troops on patrol came under fire.
In a second operation in Ti Ayiti on Wednesday based on a tip-off, another gang member was captured and more weapons seized. The same day, five people were arrested in a sweep in Martissant.
Noting that local tip-offs led to the capture of notorious gang leader Even Jeune, who terrorized Cité Soleil and was for months being pursued by UN and Haitian police, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) has appealed to local communities for information on any criminals who may have sought refuge in their region.
“We ask the people of the provinces to be vigilant and to continue to give us information on any person, any act or any behaviour that may be suspect,” UN police spokesman Fred Blaise told a news conference in Port-au-Prince yesterday.
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 humanitarian and social programmes in Cité Soleil in connection with the clean-up of the gangs, organizing children’s sports in Linteau 1, and providing meals, water, first aid and school supplies.
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FEE DISPUTE MAY DELAY START OF KHMER ROUGE TRIALS AT UN-AIDED CAMBODIAN COURT
The United Nations-assisted Cambodian court may not be able to proceed with the long-awaited trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders, accused of mass killings and other horrific crimes during the late 1970s, until a dispute is resolved over proposed registration fees for foreign lawyers, the court’s review committee said today.
In a statement issued after a 10-day session in the capital Phnom Penh, the review committee of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), which is comprised of national and international judges, said all remaining disagreements over the internal court rules had been hammered out.
But the decision of Cambodia’s Bar Association (BAKC) to impose fees on the participation of foreign lawyers “is unacceptable to the international judges, who consider that it severely limits the rights of accused and victims to select counsel of their choice,” according to today’s statement.
The international judges consider this dispute “places an obstacle to adopting” the rules, which are necessary for the trials to proceed, although the national judges regard the issue as outside the scope of the internal rules and therefore no obstacle to their adoption.
The review committee called on the BAKC to re-consider its decision as soon as possible so that a planned plenary session of judges can take place on 30 April to adopt the internal rules.
The statement called on the ECCC Defence Support Section to work closely with the BAKC in this process.
“All members of the Committee remain dedicated to completing this complex effort of successfully harmonizing international and national law so that the ECCC can discharge its historic responsibility to find justice for the Cambodian people,” the statement added.
Judges and prosecutors for the ECCC trials were sworn in last July. Under an agreement signed by the UN and Cambodia, the trial court and a Supreme Court within the Cambodian legal system will investigate those most responsible for crimes and serious violations of Cambodian and international law between 17 April 1975 and 6 January 1979.
The UN will pay $43 million of the $56.3 million budget for the trials, with the Cambodian Government providing the remaining $13.3 million.
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TIMOR-LESTE: UN MISSION WELCOMES CODE OF CONDUCT FOR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
The United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) today welcomed the signing of a code of conduct for next month’s presidential election, saying it will help with efforts to ensure that the polls are free and fair.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Atul Khare, said the code – which was signed by all eight presidential candidates in the capital, Dili – is a clear commitment by all candidates to free and fair elections.
The code commits candidates, 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, and was approved by the National Electoral Commission.
Mr. Khare also signed the code as a witness, along with State, church and civil society representatives.
“Today’s signing signifies a formal acknowledgement of the guiding principles and rules that will help to ensure that the 2007 presidential elections are free, fair, transparent and peaceful,” he said.
UNMIT’s mandate includes the provision of support to Timor-Leste to carry out presidential and parliamentary elections this year.
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UN REFUGEE AGENCY URGES SRI LANKA NOT TO FORCIBLY RETURN DISPLACED PERSONS
After reports that the Sri Lankan authorities have forcibly returned many internally displaced people (IDPs) who fled fighting, the United Nations refugee agency today said that it had received the Government’s assurances that the agency will be “fully engaged” in any future returns to ensure that they are both voluntary and safe.
Yesterday, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) received disturbing reports of increased police presence around displacement sites in the eastern Batticaloa district, where more than 150,000 IDPs reside, spokesperson Ron Redmond told a press briefing in Geneva.
The highest number of IDPs in the country are sheltered in the district, where many continue to flee the fighting between the Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which has been going on for over 20 years despite a ceasefire signed in 2002.
“According to one of the reports, women and children at one site were forced to board buses despite pleas that they couldn’t leave while their husbands were still at work and children at school,” Mr. Redmond said.
The UNHCR office in Colombo, the capital, conveyed its concerns over the alleged returns to the Government, which responded positively this morning, Mr. Redmond said.
These reports come on the heels of earlier Government assurances that UNHCR would be able to participate in returns, all of which would be voluntary, he noted.
“However, reports indicate that this has not been the case and we also are disturbed by statements attributed to local authorities that all assistance may be stopped if internally displaced people remain in Batticaloa and that the Government would not be able to guarantee their safety,” he added.
Many returnees interviewed by UNHCR, which advocates only voluntary return movements, has voiced serious concern over the security situation in their places of origin, and the agency believes returnees are currently not armed with the necessary information to make decisions on whether to make the journey home.
To this end, Mr. Redmond said that UNHCR will shortly launch a campaign to inform people of the rights of IDPs as set forth in the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, including the right to be protected against forcible return to any place where their life, safety, liberty or health would be at risk.
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UN-SUPPORTED PROJECT TO BOLSTER INCOMES OF 20,000 HOUSEHOLDS IN BURKINA FASO
Some 20,000 households in Burkina Faso will receive a boost in income thanks to a new $16.9 million project backed by the United Nations International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) which will help the rural poor produce, process and sell different food commodities.
The Agricultural Commodity Chain Support Project will focus on a range of activities involving cowpea, sesame, goats, sheep, poultry and onions in the north of the West African country. Farmers, pastoralists and local entrepreneurs will learn how to process these products and make them more marketable so they can be sold at a higher price.
About 1,000 economic interest groups, 800 farmer initiatives and 200 trader and processor groups will be involved in the Project’s activities.
An agreement was signed yesterday at IFAD headquarters in Rome by IFAD President Lennart Båge and Burkina Faso’s Ambassador Mamadou Sissoko cementing the programme’s financing. IFAD will contribute $13.8 million in loans, the Government of Burkina Faso and local participants together will put more than $3 million towards the project.
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UN REFUGEE AGENCY HAILS GREEK DECISION TO ALLOW STOWAWAYS TO DISEMBARK
The United Nations refugee agency today welcomed the decision by Greek authorities to allow 16 mostly Iraqi stowaways aboard a cargo ship to disembark in the port of Piraeus and to be granted access to the country’s asylum system.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Ron Redmond told a news briefing in Geneva that the stowaways are now in a reception centre awaiting processing after disembarking yesterday morning.
“UNHCR stands ready to help the Greek authorities in any appropriate way,” Mr. Redmond said. On Tuesday the agency had called on Greece to let the stowaways disembark and claim asylum.
The stowaways, who include five children and two people with serious health conditions, apparently boarded the Antigua-flagged Rita, a cargo vessel, in Turkey. The ship arrived in Piraeus, near the Greek capital Athens, on 7 March. Late last week UNHCR and the Greek Refugee Council had access to the stowaways, most of whom expressed a desire to claim asylum.
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UN REFUGEE CHIEF WRAPS UP VISIT TO COLOMBIA, ONE OF HIS AGENCY’S MAJOR CONCERNS
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.
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MADAGASCAR: UN LAUNCHES $9.6-MILLION EMERGENCY APPEAL FOR FLOOD, HURRICANE VICTIMS
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.
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UN AGENCY COORDINATES MASS CAMPAIGN TO FIGHT MENINGITIS IN FOUR AFRICAN COUNTRIES
The United Nations health agency is coordinating a mass vaccination and treatment campaign to combat meningitis outbreaks in four African countries that have already killed 1,670 people and infected nearly 16,000 others with a disease which can result in brain damage, hearing loss or learning disability in 10 to 20 per cent of survivors.
Of the four countries affected – Burkina Faso, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda – the two last are at the extreme south of the so-called Meningitis Belt stretching from Senegal in the West to Ethiopia in the East, an area with an estimated population of 300 million people, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said in a news release today.
“WHO and partners recommend reactive mass vaccinations targeted at the highest risk groups, usually people between the ages of 2-30 years,” it added. “Every district that is in an epidemic phase, as well as adjoining districts that are in the alert phase, should be targeted for vaccination. It is estimated that a mass immunization campaign, promptly implemented, can prevent 70 per cent of cases.”
Meningitis bacteria, which affect the lining surrounding the brain and spinal cord, are transmitted from person to person through droplets of respiratory or throat secretions. Close and prolonged contact such as kissing, sneezing and coughing, and sharing eating or drinking utensils, facilitates the spread. Symptoms include stiff neck, high fever, sensitivity to light, confusion, headaches and vomiting.
WHO and the non-governmental organization (NGO) Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) are working together to contain the outbreak and the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision for Epidemic Meningitis, comprising UN agencies and their partners, has so far released more than 1.6 million doses of vaccine.
Some 1.5 million people in the affected counties have been targeted in mass vaccination campaign organized by the national authorities, WHO, MSF and other NGOs. The affected areas are known to host large numbers of returnees, as well as displaced populations living in areas not easily accessible and dispersed population settlements.
The ICG has secured some 8 million doses as an emergency stockpile, of which 5.5 million are currently available. Despite concerns about a shortage of vaccine, WHO estimates that some 15 million doses are still available on the market, which countries can buy. To rapidly address a potential shortage, WHO has identified which manufacturers can quickly scale up supply in the short and medium term.
WHO and its partners are also providing drugs for case management. Prompt treatment with oily chloramphenicol helps control epidemics.
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FACING HUGE SHORTFALL IN FUNDS, UN AGENCY FORCED TO SLASH FOOD FOR 1.5 MILLION UGANDANS
Facing a critical lack of funds, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today it would be forced to halve food rations for nearly 1.5 million displaced people and refugees in Uganda as of the beginning of next month.
“If we don’t cut them by 50 per cent in the next few weeks, the relief operation would grind to a halt in May,” WFP Country Director Tesema Negash said.
The agency has so far received only $37 million of the $127 million it has sought from donors and the Government to provide for relief and recovery support this year for 1.2 million displaced people, 182,000 refugees and 500,000 drought victims. In 2007, some 170,000 metric tons of food worth $90 million are needed for these programmes.
Since 2005, WFP has reduced rations to as low as 40 per cent of the minimum daily requirement per person in some areas. This month it removed nutritious corn soya blend for children’s porridge from the general relief package for families.
If the shortage of funds continues, WFP will be forced in May to make further cuts in maize and beans for 600,000 school children assisted by an emergency food for education programme, as well as for some 240,000 people affected by HIV/AIDS. Mr. Negash noted that it costs about $11 million a month to sustain the relief and recovery operation in Uganda.
“Even though the security situation in northern Uganda has improved and the peace process with the [rebel] Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is moving ahead, the humanitarian needs of the people remain considerable,” he said of the conflict which has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.
“It is vital that we do not abandon the displaced at this critical stage in the peace process. Even after they have returned home, we expect them to require humanitarian support until they are able to harvest sufficient amounts of food for their families.”
If the security situation remains stable and the Government reaches a peace agreement with the LRA, WFP foresees a massive return of people to their homes in Acholiland.
To help displaced people voluntarily returning home, WFP provides a three-month package until they can plant sufficient food. “We cannot provide that assistance without some buffer stock,” Mr. Negash said.
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UN REFUGEE AGENCY ‘DEEPLY DISTURBED’ BY NEW SECURITY RAID ON PALESTINIANS IN IRAQ
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 (UNHCR) 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.
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