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UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
28 September, 2007 =========================================================================
UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL TO HOLD SPECIAL SESSION ON MYANMAR NEXT WEEK
The United Nations Human Rights Council has announced it will hold a special meeting on 2 October to discuss the situation in Myanmar, amid growing calls for authorities in the Southeast Asian nation to exercise restraint in dealing with ongoing protests.
Myanmar has recently witnessed a wave of peaceful demonstrations, which began last month in protest against a surge in fuel prices and more recently have included many of the country’s monks.
The 47-member Council, which today suspended its sixth session until 10 December, decided to hold the emergency meeting following a request by a number of countries.
This will be the fifth special session convened by the Geneva-based Council since it was set up in June 2006 to replace the former Commission on Human Rights.
The deteriorating situation in the country prompted Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to dispatch his Special Envoy to the region earlier this week. Ibrahim Gambari held meetings at Singapore’s Foreign Ministry today and is expected to arrive in Myanmar tomorrow.
Mr. Ban’s call for restraint by Myanmar authorities in responding to the demonstrations has been echoed by a number of the world body’s officials.
Today the head of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) condemned the killing of Japanese photojournalist Kenji Nagai, who was shot dead on 27 September while covering a demonstration in Rangoon.
Decrying the use of violence against journalists and protesters in Myanmar, Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura called on the authorities to respect the professional work of reporters regardless of their country of origin.
“Freedom of expression and press freedom are basic human rights and allowing the media to express different views can only help achieve the national reconciliation we all wish for Myanmar,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today it was deeply concerned about the situation in the country, especially the effects of the violence on women and children.
UNICEF’s Veronique Taveau told reporters in Geneva today that with much of the Myanmar’s population already struggling to survive – with a significant number of children malnourished – the current violence could only lead to a further deterioration and restrictions on UNICEF’s ability to reach the most vulnerable.
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SECURITY COUNCIL EXTENDS MANDATE OF PANEL OF EXPERTS ON DARFUR ARMS EMBARGO
The Security Council today decided to extend the mandate of the panel of experts set up to monitor an arms embargo in the strife-torn Darfur region of Sudan.
The 15-member body unanimously adopted a resolution to lengthen until 15 October 2008 the mandate of the group, which was established in March 2005 to help monitor the implementation of the arms embargo imposed by Council resolutions, and inform the sanctions committee about individuals who impede the peace process, violate international law or are responsible for offensive military overflights.
The panel was also tasked with monitoring the implementation of targeted individual financial and travel sanctions, and developing new recommendations to present to the Council.
Today’s resolution requested that the panel coordinate its activities with the UN–African Union (AU) hybrid peacekeeping force – to be known as UNAMID – scheduled to take over from the existing AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS) by the end of this year. At full deployment, UNAMID will be the world’s largest peacekeeping operation, with some 26,000 troops and police officers.
Since fighting erupted between rebel groups, Government forces and allied Janjaweed militias in 2003, UN officials have repeatedly described Darfur as the scene of one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. More than 200,000 people have been killed and the conflict has spilled into neighbouring Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR).
Also today, Council members were briefed by the chairman-in-office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos Cuyaubé, who underscored the importance of the ties between his organization and the UN.
He pointed out that the OSCE and the UN work together in such areas as conflict prevention, crisis management, reconstruction, the fight against terrorism, protection of minorities and environmental security.
“The United Nations and the OSCE are linked by their determination to strengthen a rules-based international order based on the respect for human rights and on cooperation on matters pertaining to security among States,” Mr. Moratinos noted.
Regarding Kosovo, he said that the OSCE has remained neutral regarding the future status of the Serbian province which has been administered by the UN since 1999.
“Impartiality, however, does not mean being non-committal,” he stated. Despite the fact that the OSCE is not directly participating in the status negotiations, it does contribute in the field “in order to create necessary conditions for the implementation” of the coming settlement.
He also lauded the UN Alliance of Civilizations – created to bridge the divide between Islam and the West – as a “good instrument for managing and addressing diversity in the areas of youth, education, migration and the media,” as the OSCE is also dedicated to promoting “diverse and pluralistic societies” as part of its commitment to bolster democracy in all societies and States.
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MULTILATERALISM ONLY VIABLE WAY TO TACKLE TODAY’S GLOBAL CONCERNS – BAN KI-MOON
Whether it is resolving conflicts, protecting human rights, achieving development goals or safeguarding the environment, the only viable way to effectively tackle today’s complex global challenges is through multilateral cooperation, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.
“To effectively tackle the full range of challenges coming our way, we need to all work together – Member States, the UN system, civil society, the private sector, and other stakeholders,” Mr. Ban said in his address to the annual meeting of foreign ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which comprises 118 UN Member States.
He called for strengthening partnerships to achieve the set of internationally agreed anti-poverty targets, known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and pursuing collective action to respond to emerging crises.
“And we must strengthen the capacities of the United Nations to meet all the challenges before us,” he added, stating his intention to continue the reform process with a proposal to significantly strengthen the Department of Political Affairs in order to boost the world body’s capacity in the field of peace and security.
“We must invest more in conflict prevention and mediation, so that disagreements both between and within States do not develop into violence or give rise to conflict,” he stated.
At the same time, Mr. Ban stressed that issues of economic and social development cannot take a backseat to issues of peace and security, noting “the two go hand in hand.”
“There can be no security without development, and vice versa. There can be no more important mission for the United Nations than reducing poverty and helping the people of the poorest nations share to a greater measure in the world's prosperity,” he said.
Stating that “the tides of globalization have left too many nations behind,” he noted that the gap between the richest nations of the world and the poorest has grown far too large.
“We have a moral duty to work toward a more equitable balance,” he said. “As with climate change, so too with the problems of global poverty: we are all in this together.”
In confronting the complex challenges of the 21st century, the Secretary-General said he counted on the support and active participation of the Movement, which once sought primarily to counter the confrontations of the Cold War but today is “the voice of a new and more powerful South.”
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UNREST IN MYANMAR COULD BLOCK FOOD AID FOR 500,000 PEOPLE, UN FOOD AGENCY WARNS
The restrictions Myanmar has placed on the movement of food due to the current unrest are an obstacle to feeding half a million people, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today.
“We appeal to the authorities for access to all parts of the country,” WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said. “We have to protect the most vulnerable people in the country,” most of whom are young children and HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis patients in desperate need of assistance.
Buddhist monks have been leading civil protests in the South-East Asian nation for 11 consecutive days. While the unrest has been concentrated mostly in the main cities of Yangon and Mandalay, the demonstrators’ stand-off with the Government and its response are having consequences in other areas where WFP distributes food assistance.
All movements of food out of the Mandalay Division have been halted by local authorities, and this will impede WFP operations in northern Shan and the Central Dry Zone, both of which depend on food deliveries from Mandalay.
Disturbances in the port town of Sittwe have also thwarted food movement to the agency’s operational areas in north Rakhine State.
Over a three-year period, WFP, which partners on the ground in Myanmar with nearly two dozen UN and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), aims to feed 1.6 million people at a cost of over $50 million. Its operations rely on the Government to facilitate the movement of both food supplies and personnel.
However, the agency currently faces funding shortages – to date, it has only received $12.5 million or just under one quarter of its needs – and thus must scale back its planned assistance to primary school students and vulnerable families.
In its operational areas, WFP’s food assistance is crucial to sustain lives and livelihoods, and without the agency’s support, it is expected that vulnerable families will face acute food shortages while food prices could potentially soar, especially in the post-monsoon season.
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AT UN DEBATE, SINGAPORE CALLS FOR ‘GRADUAL EVOLUTION’ OF KEY GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS
A gradual evolution in global governance is necessary to make the world’s leading institutions, including the United Nations Security Council, mirror today’s “multi-polar reality,” Singapore’s Foreign Minister has told the General Assembly.
Addressing the annual high-level debate, George Yeo said it was time for the key institutions to reflect the world of the current era and not that prevailing at the end of World War II, when so many were established.
“The reform of the UN, including the UN Security Council, should take into account the weight of India, Japan, Germany and Brazil, and the growing importance of regional organizations,” Mr. Yeo said.
“Selection for heads of the IMF [International Monetary Fund] and the World Bank should be widened. Membership of the G8 should be enlarged to include countries like China and India.”
At the same time, Mr. Yeo stressed that it was important to still work with these institutions as they are, as not as States might wish them to be.
“Unless there is another global conflagration, the improvement of global governance can only be achieved through gradual evolution, not revolution.”
Brunei’s Foreign Minister, Prince Mohamed Bolkiah, said civil society, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), also deserved a much greater say in world affairs.
“This means giving ordinary people a place in the consensus,” he said, adding he was encouraged by the statements so far of General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim regarding the need for multilateral solutions to the world’s most intractable problems.
“We certainly agree with the need for the United Nations to strengthen its central position in the multilateral system.”
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EUROPEAN NATIONS SPOTLIGHT VALUE OF PARTNERSHIPS DURING GENERAL ASSEMBLY DEBATE
European countries addressing the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate today stressed the value of multilateralism and called for international relations to be based more on partnerships, whether among individual States or with regional groups or the United Nations and other organizations.
Austria’s Federal Minister for European and International Affairs Ursula Plassnik said the major global problems and challenges of the current era are so complex that partnerships are the only feasible option.
“In the age of globalization, unilateralism and nationalism are dead-end streets,” she said. “They simply do not achieve effective and durable results.”
Ms. Plassnik said effective partnerships starts with regional cooperation, citing the closer relationship between the European Union and the African Union and the example of a conference on sustainable peace that Austria and Burkina Faso are co-hosting in Ouagadougou in November.
“Austria believes in the power of partnership where equality, mutual trust and respect for diversity overcome the crude logic of power,” she said.
Calling on nations to work more closely together, Sergei Martynov, the Foreign Minister of Belarus, questioned the “imposed myths” of a clash of civilizations or a confrontation between North and South.
“The international community should through its actions today build a practical partnership that will form the foundation of a new world order,” he said.
Mr. Martynov said problems such as human trafficking, the search for renewable energy sources and climate change transcended borders and required coordinated international efforts, with countries and regional groups and the UN teaming up to devise common strategies and actions.
Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ivaïlo Kalfin hailed the recent efforts of the UN to work more closely with the EU, the AU and NATO.
Mr. Kalfin said the planned hybrid UN-AU peacekeeping force (to be known as UNAMID) in the war-wracked Sudanese region of Darfur indicated how multilateralism can be made even more effective.
Icelandic Foreign Minister Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir said prosperous nations had a duty to work in partnership with poorer States to help the latter achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the set of anti-poverty goals which world leaders agreed at a UN summit in 2000 to strive to achieve by 2015.
“Donors need to deliver on their promises and accelerate their efforts in increasing development assistance,” she said, adding that increased aid “is, of course, not a panacea. We need to make progress in international trade negotiations.”
The Foreign Minister said Iceland’s own example, transforming within living memory from one of Europe’s poorest members to one of its richest, testified “to the fact that it through civilized coexistence with the community of nations that societies prosper.”
Željko Šturanovi ć, Prime Minister of Montenegro, the newest UN Member State, was one of several European speakers today to also emphasize the need for the Organization to continue its programme of reform.
The General Assembly must remain the primary decision-making organ of the world body, he said, while any change to the composition of Security Council membership should not be at the expense of the “equitable representation of the Eastern European Group,” to which it is a member.
Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn warned that failure to maintain the pace of reform could marginalize the UN system in the long-term.
“The choice before us is clear,” Mr. Asselborn said, adding that system-wide coherence is particularly crucial to ensuring the success of development operations in poor nations.
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JAPAN URGES ‘TOTAL ELIMINATION’ OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS, TOP OFFICIAL TELLS UN
Japan is committed to bolstering global efforts for the elimination of nuclear weapons, the country’s newly-appointed foreign minister told the United Nations General Assembly’s annual high-level debate today.
Japan, as the only country ever to suffer nuclear devastation, “will again submit a draft resolution at this session of the General Assembly to map out concrete measures toward the total elimination of nuclear weapons,” said Foreign Minister Masahiko Koumura.
He welcomed the Security Council’s adoption by consensus of several resolutions regarding the nuclear programmes of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Iran.
“It is up to all of us to translate the will of the international community into concrete action through full implementation of the relevant resolutions,” Mr. Koumura said, adding that the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction “requires the undivided attention of humankind.”
Japan will continue its efforts both to realize the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through the Six-Party Talks and to appeal to Iran to “heed the international community and suspend its enrichment-related activities,” he noted.
Mr. Koumura also pledged Japan’s ongoing support for African development, since “without peace in Africa, the world at large will not enjoy peace and prosperity.”
In Darfur, the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, the country has to date provided assistance worth $85 million. The Foreign Minister voiced hope that the new African Union-UN hybrid peacekeeping mission, or UNAMID, will be deployed as soon as possible.
Elsewhere, Japan is dedicated to assisting other countries consolidate peace and stability, he said.
In Iraq, Japan has been aiding reconstruction efforts through is provision of $5 billion in Official Development Assistance (ODA) and through its dispatching of Self-Defence Forces.
In concert with the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Japan has played a leading role in disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) and in disbanding illegal armed groups in the war-torn South Asian nation.
As Chair of the UN Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) – established last year to help prevent countries emerging from conflict from slipping back into violence – Japan “is resolved to make a significant contribution to international efforts” through such means as the launch of the Hiroshima Peacebuilders Centre to increase Asian civilian experts’ abilities to respond to events on the ground.
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PLANNED SUMMIT OFFERS CHANCE FOR PROGRESS ON KOREAN PENINSULA, OFFICIAL TELLS UN
A planned summit meeting next week bringing together leaders of the two Koreas offers the chance to take relations between them to a new level and consolidate peace on their shared peninsula, the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea told the United Nations General Assembly today.
Addressing the Assembly’s annual high-level debate, Song Min-soon said the leaders “will explore ways to increase mutual trust through political and military confidence-building measures, as well as ways to lay the groundwork for an eventual Inter-Korean Economic Community.”
Anticipating progress in the denuclearization of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), he said this would lead to a new peace regime replacing the half-century-old armistice on the peninsula.
He pointed out that this would have a beneficial effect far beyond the two countries. “A peace process on the Korean Peninsula will open the path to a regional security dialogue, and the resultant improvement in North-East Asian security will further strengthen regional and global cooperation for peace and security,” he said.
The ongoing Six-Party Talks, which bring together the two Koreas, the United States, the Russian Federation, China and Japan, offer “a real opportunity for change,” he added.
“We hope that our partners in this process will help us transform today’s uncertainty into tomorrow’s stability and prosperity.”
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ROMANIA SAYS UN BEST PLACED TO OVERCOME CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS DIVIDES
No other organization is better placed than the United Nations to overcome differences between peoples, cultures and religions, Romania’s Foreign Minister told the General Assembly tonight, calling for greater dialogue to overcome what divides humankind.
Adrian Mihai Cioroianu said the Alliance of Civilizations – launched by the UN in 2005 at the initiative of Spain and Turkey to reduce tensions between religions and cultures – “had the great potential to construct a real dialogue between the West and Islam.”
The Alliance brings together leaders, institutions and civil society to try to reduce fear and suspicion and overcome prejudices and polarizations that have emerged between Islam and the West, especially in recent years.
In April, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Jorge Sampaio, a former president of Portugal, as the first UN High Representative for the Alliance.
Mr. Cioroianu told the Assembly’s annual high-level debate that “Romania attaches particular importance to dialogue between cultures and religions. We believe this is essential to meeting today’s global challenges.”
Echoing that call, San Marino’s Foreign Minister and Head of Government Fiorenzo Stolfi described intercultural and interreligious dialogue as a “fundamental instrument to prevent tensions and conflicts arising from intolerance and to promote peace based on the principles of respect for fundamental human rights, justice and international cooperation.”
Mr. Stolfi said San Marino had used its recent six-month chairmanship of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers to organize a series of high-level debates and meetings on promoting tolerance.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos said the “Group of Friends” network – a growing community of over 70 States and international organizations that support the objectives of the Alliance of Civilizations – has already helped set up a trust fund for voluntary contributions, while Dr. Sampaio has also presented a programme of work to further the Alliance’s goals.
Turning to the wider issue of international relations, Mr. Moratinos added that there was a small but distinct trend towards greater cooperation within regional groups and other organizations and an enhanced appreciation of the value of political consensus.
“There exists a global political consciousness regarding the challenges that affect demography, sustainable human and economic development, as well as its link with climate change,” Mr. Moratinos said.
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WORLD LEADERS REALIZE URGENCY OF COMBATING CLIMATE CHANGE – BAN KI-MOON
This week’s historic high-level meeting on climate change has galvanized world leaders to take urgent action to stem global warning, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.
The discussion convened by Mr. Ban at UN Headquarters in New York drew more than 80 heads of State or government, making it the largest-ever gathering on the issue, which he has identified as one of his top priorities.
“I sensed something remarkable happening, something transformative – a sea-change, whereby leaders showed themselves willing to put aside blame for the past and pose to themselves more forward-looking questions,” he wrote in an op-ed published in yesterday’s International Herald Tribune. “Where do we go from here? What can we do, together, in the future?”
As it stands today, climate change has two main facets, the Secretary-General noted. On the one hand, science has proven that human activity is at the root of the increased severity of extreme weather, while on the other, the world has realized the magnitude of the problem and has finally taken a firm stand to fight it.
With climate change expected to be responsible for devastation ranging from dramatic water shortages for half a billion people to the desertification of most of northern China, Mr. Ban noted the fear voiced by the Micronesian leader that his country will sink under the rising seas.
“How do we explain this to our people, to future generations, that we have nothing for them,” President Emanuel Mori asked.
Looking on the bright side, the Secretary-General pointed out that Brazil told participants at the meeting in New York that it has slashed Amazon basin deforestation by half, that India is dedicating two per cent of its annual GDP to controlling floods and food security programmes and that California is blazing the trail in both the political and business realms to tackle climate change.
Countries will seek their own methods to combat climate change, but “the important thing is that all agree: national policies should be coordinated within the United Nations, so that our work together is complimentary and mutually enforcing,” he said.
Additionally, Mr. Ban said there is a shared sense of the necessity to address climate change now. It is no longer purely an environmental concern, but a political one. “This represents a turning point, with enormous implications,” he noted.
The gathering has generated international momentum for the major climate change summit to be held in December in Bali, Indonesia, the Secretary-General said.
That meeting seeks to determine future action on mitigation, adaptation, the global carbon market and financing responses to climate change for the period after the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol – the current global framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions – in 2012.
“We need a breakthrough – an agreement to launch negotiations for a comprehensive climate change deal that all nations can embrace. It will be difficult but I am optimistic. We are in a different place, today, than yesterday,” Mr. Ban stated.
“Our job is to translate the spirit of New York into deeds in Bali.”
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GLOBAL PACT NEEDED AGAINST DEPLOYING WEAPONS IN SPACE, RUSSIA SAYS AT UN DEBATE
Russia’s Foreign Minister told national leaders attending the General Assembly today that it is time to establish a global agreement outlawing the deployment of weapons in space, warning they endanger the existence of all States.
Sergey Lavrov said urgent steps are needed to strengthen the overall non-proliferation regime, ranging from nuclear weapons to strategic missile defence.
“The possibility of deploying weapons in space brings about a serious threat,” he told the Assembly’s annual high-level debate. “Its threat is determined by the global coverage, which can endanger all States without exception. We are consistently opposing deploying in space weapons of any type and call upon the international community to conclude an agreement to that effect.”
Peace must be based on a collective approach, Mr. Lavrov said, criticizing “unilateral plans in the area of missile defence” and praising the “constructive alternative” of Russian President Vladimir Putin on this issue.
“Such work could lead to a genuinely strategic alliance within the entire Euro-Atlantic region, which would allow [us] to move forward in setting up an open system of collective security.”
Turning to the wider context, Mr. Lavrov said “the developments over the past year provide convincing proof that an essentially new geopolitical situation has been developing in the world, one that is primarily defined by emerging multi-polarity.”
No one nation can cope with global challenges on its own, he added.
“What is needed is collective leadership of major States that should represent the geographical and civilizational dimensions. The basis for such an informal mechanism can only be provided by the United Nations with its unique legitimacy.”
The Foreign Minister called for the UN system to be strengthened to meet these changing realities, and stressed that decisions must be based on the broadest possible consensus of Member States.
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UN-BACKED SUMMIT SUPPORTS GREATER INVESTMENTS TO STAMP OUT CERVICAL CANCER
Participants at a United Nations-sponsored conference in Brussels have called for increased investment in vaccination, screening and treatment to eliminate cervical cancer, a preventable disease that kills 250,000 women annually – 80 per cent of them in developing countries.
The International Conference on the Fight against Cervical Cancer, convened by the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the European Commission, brought together women leaders, policymakers, pharmaceutical companies, private sector representatives and health professionals to discuss the prevention of cervical cancer.
Participants at the two-day meeting called on the pharmaceutical industry, donors and Governments to explore innovative partnerships to increase investment in vaccines and screening programmes.
Vaccine manufacturers at the conference committed to tiered pricing schemes, aimed at making vaccines affordable and available in developing countries.
“The low priority accorded the health of women and girls is a manifestation of gender inequality,” Acting UNIFEM Executive Director Joanne Sandler said. “We have a huge chance here, to demonstrate that the health of women and girls matters.”
Cervical cancer is caused by the Human Pappillioma Virus (HPV) – a common sexually transmitted disease – and primarily strikes women between the ages of 35 and 50.
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DEVELOPING COUNTRIES MERIT INCREASED REPRESENTATION ON SECURITY COUNCIL – CHINA
Developing countries deserve greater representation on the United Nations Security Council, the Foreign Minister of China, one of five permanent members on that body, said today.
Yang Jiechi told the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate that reform proposals should be based on the widest possible consensus.
“Security Council reform should prioritize increasing the representation of developing countries and give small- and medium-sized countries more opportunities to participate in decision-making,” he said.
He also called for the UN Human Rights Council to build on its recent reforms “and become a platform for dialogue and cooperation rather than an arena of political confrontation.”
On the issue of climate change, he said China is “adopting a series of laws and regulations and setting goals of reducing energy intensity and increasing forest cover.”
He pledged that China would “take an active part in international cooperation in climate change and play its part in protecting the global climate.”
The Foreign Minister also said China is committed to “a proper settlement of the Darfur issue” and would send a military engineering unit to join the peacekeeping effort there.
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MIGIRO URGES BOOST IN DONOR FUNDING TO IMPROVE MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH
Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro has called on donor nations to keep their development aid promises, citing the lack of funding as a major reason for the slow progress in reducing maternal and child mortality.
“That in the last two decades little progress has been made on maternal and newborn health in many developing countries is a sombre commentary on the global village we live in,” Ms. Migiro told a gathering in New York on Wednesday in support of a new global push to achieve the internationally agreed development targets related to health.
Noting that 300 children and 5 mothers in labour will die in the time it took her to address the event, she stressed that achieving Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 – which call for a reduction in child deaths of two thirds compared to 1990 and a reduction in maternal mortality of three quarters, both by 2015 – “is without any doubts one of the most urgent tasks before us.”
Lack of funding, along with inadequate health systems, is a main reason for the slow progress in improving maternal and child health, she said. “It is a simple fact that the poorest countries, especially African and least developed countries, are not in a position to pay for their healthcare costs.”
While using existing resources more efficiently and improving health delivery systems are important, she stressed increased donor funding and improved aid effectiveness as key to successfully fighting maternal and child mortality.
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USE OF FORCE, NOT RELIGION, AT ROOT OF CONFLICTS, MALAYSIAN LEADER TELLS UN
The use of force, and not religious difference, lies at the root of conflicts between Islamic and Western countries, the Prime Minister of Malaysia told the United Nations General Assembly today, emphasizing that all genuine religions advocate peace.
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi rejected those who would blame religion for disputes between nations. “All genuine religions advocate peace and harmony among peoples as well as acceptance of others,” he said.
“This is certainly the case with Islam, which teaches its believers to practice tolerance, forgiveness, peace, fraternity and coexistence.”
He said the cause of conflicts between Islamic and Western countries “is the repeated use of force by the powerful over the weak to secure strategic or territorial gains.”
Voicing support for efforts to foster interfaith and intercultural dialogue, he said these initiatives can help to “establish the truth that Islam is a religion which espouses universalism, not exclusivity; tolerance, not bigotry.”
Malaysia, he said, has adopted a successful approach called “Islam Hadhari,” whereby the Government “uses the progressive teachings of Islam as the basis for good governance to deliver benefits to all sectors of its multi-ethnic and multi-religious society without discrimination.”
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the President of the Philippines, spoke about the UN’s role in interfaith dialogue. “I have personally advanced the process of peace in Muslim and Christian Mindanao to a new level of engagement, focused on interfaith dialogue, economic development and mutual security,” she said.
“We have done so with the largest possible international involvement, including the UN,” she said.
Emphasizing the link between peace and respect for rights, she expressed support for efforts to focus the work of the UN in the field of human rights.
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TURKISH LEADER SAYS UN OFFERS SOLE PLATFORM FOR ENDING CYPRUS PROBLEM
The United Nations remains the only platform for resolving the Cyprus problem, Turkey’s Prime Minister told the General Assembly today as he called on the members of the international community to remove all of their restrictions on Turkish Cypriots as soon as possible.
Recep Tayyíp Erdogan said there has been no recent progress towards a settlement of the Cyprus problem “due to the intransigence of the Greek Cypriot side. This clearly attests to the need to urgently resume comprehensive negotiations under an expedited process within a given timeframe.”
Mr. Erdogan said that at a meeting on 5 September, “President Talat of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus proposed to resume without further delay substantial negotiations to reach a comprehensive settlement by the end of 2008. This proposal, however, was rejected by the Greek Cypriot side. Should a solution be genuinely sought on the island, this proposal merits serious consideration.
“The international community should not only support the will displayed by the Turkish side to reach a comprehensive settlement, but also encourage the Greek Cypriot side to be more forthcoming in this regard.”
The Prime Minister said a comprehensive settlement is only possible “under the good offices mission of the UN Secretary-General on the basis of the well established UN parameters.”
On 8 July last year, the leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities signed an accord setting out the necessary framework for a political process designed to lead to the resumption of full-fledged negotiations under the auspices of the Secretary-General’s good offices, but the negotiations have not yet begun.
Mr. Erdogan also noted that, in a May 2004 report, the previous UN Secretary-General called for the lifting of all restrictions imposed on the Turkish Cypriots, and that the current UN chief, Ban Ki-moon, has since stood by those conclusions.
Yet, “the unjust restrictions… which have no legal or moral premise continue with no end in sight,” he said, calling for their immediate removal.
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PALESTINIANS READY FOR UPCOMING MIDDLE EAST PEACE MEETING, LEADER TELLS UN
The Palestinian Authority is committed to the success of an upcoming Middle East peace meeting, its President, Mahmoud Abbas, told the United Nations General Assembly today.
“There is not the slightest obstacle to promoting the holding of a peace meeting, which will take place shortly,” President Abbas said as the Assembly continued its annual high-level debate.
He voiced hope that all parties would be able to negotiate, and declared that the basis for a solution lies with the many UN resolutions and decisions that have been taken on the matter.
President Abbas said he had recently met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to discuss pressing issues, adding that the upcoming conference offers an opportunity to be able to settle all matters, including those having to do with Jerusalem, the return of refugees, water and security.
“I reaffirm the full readiness of our people to truly come on board a peace process which will lead to a comprehensive full agreement with respect to all of the issues related to a final settlement,” he said.
He said the Palestinian Authority would put the proposals to a popular referendum “involving the entire Palestinian people so that they can give their view with respect to the outcomes of the conference.”
Experience showed that the policy of trying “half-solutions” only further complicates matters to the point where today the threat is a real one: “there could be an explosion of civil war, of regional war, and the creation of a climate conducive to terrorism,” he said.
He also spoke about Islam, saying it is a humane religion and objecting to any attempt to portray Islam in an unfair manner. “Islam is a religion that opposes killing, terrorism and murder. It is against extremism; it is against closing inward. Attempts to create a conflict among religions is one of the methods of terrorists today.”
To counteract this trend, he emphasized the importance of the dialogue among civilizations.
The Foreign Minister of Egypt, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, agreed that the planned meeting could spark progress. “If well-prepared, the meeting called for by President Bush [of the United States] this fall may, if well-prepared, provide an important opportunity for long-awaited progress.”
Addressing the problem “requires leadership. It requires courage from all parties. It also requires a clear and correct vision that the lack of a peaceful settlement to this conflict not only denies the right of a whole people to freedom and dignity, but it also feeds directly the calls for violence, extremism and the relinquishing of peaceful and political negotiation as a means to achieve the objective,” he said.
He said Egypt would work unsparingly for a peaceful solution. “Our purpose is to achieve the resumption of serious political dialogue which would lead to a settlement within a specific timeframe.”
Egypt, he added, would work for “the liberation of the rest of the occupied Arab territories in Syria and Lebanon because we are committed to the objective of achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.”
Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Abdelelah Al-Khatib, said the meeting being convened by the US “may be the last chance to achieve progress, which makes it imperative to be well prepared by the US and by members of the Quartet” – which also includes the UN, the Russian Federation and the European Union – as well as regional parties.
It must “ensure that the real issues, involving final status between Palestine and Israel, are seriously discussed, leading to real progress on these issues, allowing for reaching a lasting agreement on them during a short period of time and implementing it within a timeframe agreed to by the two parties,” he added.
“The situation in being experienced by Palestinian territories is not at all in harmony with a wish to achieve peace,” he said, calling for an end to settlement activities, the tampering with the status of East Jerusalem, excavations in the Jerusalem Holy Mosque area and all other practices which contradict international law.
He also spoke about the situation in Iraq and its impact on Jordan. “While we call on the international community to stand by us in confronting this huge burden, we believe that the lasting solution to this problem is to restore stability in Iraq, so that its citizen can return to their country and contribute to its reconstruction.”
The Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Abdulla Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, called on the UN and the Security Council in particular to play a more active role in the Middle East peace process.
“As we await the Middle East peace conference this autumn, we look forward to a comprehensive, balanced and fair management of the peace process as well as putting an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict in all spheres based on the engagement of all concerned parties in serious negotiations founded on the Arab Peace Initiative, the Road Map [outlines a peace plan for a two-State solution] and UN Security Council resolutions, as well as international rules and legitimacy.”
He also called on the UN to put pressure on Israel to comply with resolution 1701, which ended last year’s war in Lebanon.
Tunisia’s Foreign Minister, Abdelwaheb Abdallah, welcomed the initiatives of “certain parties” to revive the peace process. Stressing the importance of an international peace conference, he said it should “yield concrete proposals for achieving a lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East that ensures the restitution of all occupied Arab territories and guarantees security and stability to the countries and peoples of the region.”
He also called for concerted international efforts to address the situation in Iraq, emphasizing the need to achieve a “consensual political settlement among all segments that preserves the unity and sovereignty” of the country.
On Lebanon, he emphasized that dialogue is “the sole way to prevent the scourge of dissention among the Lebanese people.”
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister, Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Bin Mohamed Al-Khalifa, joined others in welcoming the initiative of President Bush to convene a Middle East peace conference this year, voicing hope that it would usher in “a new stage in dealing with the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict in a fair and just manner that would put an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people and to the occupation of Palestinian and other Arab territories from 1967, and the establishment of an independent, contiguous and viable Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital.”
He also decried the situation in Iraq and urged support for the country’s leadership. “In order to enable the Iraqi people to succeed, there must be no interference in Iraq’s internal affairs, and its borders must be respected,” he said.
“We stress here the importance of continuing the assistance and support of neighbouring States, the Arab League and the United Nations for the legitimate Iraqi Government in its efforts to maintain security and stability in Iraq, and to preserve its Arab and Islamic identity.”
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AT UN, FIJIAN LEADER DEFENDS COUP AND VOWS TO OVERHAUL ‘RACE-BASED’ POLITICS
Fiji needs the help of the international community to become a nation with a truly democratic, non-racial and equitable governing system, its interim Prime Minister told the General Assembly today, defending his decision to launch a coup last year and promising to stage free and fair elections as soon as possible.
Commodore Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, who is also commander of Fiji’s military forces, said the Pacific island chain faces deep-rooted, structural problems that will not be solved quickly or easily.
“The country now is at a very critical crossroad; its situation could escalate into more serious deterioration and instability,” he told the annual high-level debate at UN Headquarters in New York. “It is imperative that any such greater disaster or civil strife is disaster.”
Noting that some countries, “including the closest of our neighbours in the Pacific,” have introduced punitive measures following the coup last December, the Prime Minister said it was important to realize that many Fijians, especially in villages and rural areas, “live in a democracy with a mentality that belongs to the chiefly system,” voting for candidates selected by their chiefs, provincial councils and church ministers.
“This leads me to ask the question whether or not the countries which are demanding Fiji to immediately return to democracy really understand how distorted and unfair our system is both legally and culturally.
“This must change: every person will be given the right to vote for only one candidate, irrespective or race or religion. This will send a message out to our people that Fiji’s leadership no longer tolerates racial divisions and race-based politics.”
Mr. Bainimarama said the interim Government is preparing to launch the Peoples Charter for Change and Progress to engage and involve the population in the planned reforms and to promote better relations between the country’s indigenous Fijian and Indo-Fijian communities.
He said he undertook the coup last year “with extreme reluctance,” but that his country had suffered setback after setback, particularly after a brief coup in May 2000, and is now “in a deep rut.”
“In the past years, Fiji’s overall governance took a dramatic turn for the worse. In particular this was characterized by the politicization of the prison services and the criminal justice system,” the Prime Minister said.
“There was also a significant weakening of the key institutions of governance; a pervasive increase in corruption; serious economic decline combined with fiscal mismanagement; a sharp deterioration in the law and order situation; and a deepening of the racial divide in the country.
“The convicted coup perpetrators [from May 2000] were prematurely discharged from prison, and certain coup perpetrators and sympathizers were appointed as senior Government ministers and officials. There were also a series of legislations that were deeply divisive and overtly racist.
“The 2006 general election was not credible. It was characterized by massive rigging of votes with the incumbent government using the State’s resources to buy support.”
As head of the military forces, Mr. Bainimarama said he was responsible for Fiji’s “national security, defence and also the well-being of Fiji’s people” and therefore had no choice but to step in. He said he had also made fruitless attempts to engage with the previous government.
Promising to convene free and fair elections “as soon as practically possible,” he said steady progress has already been made into strengthening the independence of the judiciary and investigating allegations of human rights abuses, both as preparation for an eventual return to parliamentary democracy.
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ISLAND NATIONS TELL UN POWERFUL STATES MUST SHOW LEADERSHIP ON CLIMATE CHANGE
The greatest burden in the global fight against climate change should be borne by the world’s powerful countries, which are also often the leading producers of greenhouse gas emissions, the leaders of several island nations told the General Assembly today.
Addressing the Assembly’s annual high-level debate, the representatives also called on affluent nations to increase their level of spending towards an adaptation fund to help the most vulnerable States adjust their economies and infrastructure to cope with the impact of global warming.
“Obviously we have failed badly as custodians of the p***t and its future,” Samoa’s Prime Minister Tuila’epa Sailele Malielegaoi said, adding it was imperative that a successor pact to the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions be devised “that is effective, binding, capable of swift implementation and universally owned and respected by the 192 UN Member States.”
Mr. Malielegaoi called on “those Member States of our Organization in position of world leadership to lead the charge in finding and implementing solutions.”
Winston Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, said the collective response to climate change “represents a monumental test of the political will and courage of humanity in general, but especially of the political leaders of the most powerful countries.”
He also urged greater spending on the adaptation fund, noting that small island States were among the most vulnerable in the world – to natural disasters as much as climate change.
“Because of our size and the nature of our primary economic activity, the infrastructure of an entire country can be destroyed by, for example, the passage of a single hurricane,” he said.
Marshall Islands’ President Kessai H. Note echoed the call for increased spending to help small and poor nations adapt.
“While we are committed to playing our part, strong leadership is required by the major industrialized countries,” the President of the Pacific island nation said.
Mr. Note called on the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases to ratify the Kyoto Protocol immediately, warning that his country faced dire consequences unless urgent action was taken.
“I find no pride in having coined the term ‘ecological refugee’ – it is my deepest hope that no one – and certainly no one in the Marshall Islands, will have to bear that title,” he added.
Stephenson King, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, said it was important to work within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) when devising solutions.
Mr. King stressed “that the large producers of greenhouse gases must bear the responsibility for the damage being caused to the global environment, and in particular to the vulnerable countries whose sustainability and very existence are increasingly threatened by their actions.”
The Prime Minister of Mauritius, Navinchandra Ramgoolam, warned that small island States are limited by their lack of resources, institutional capacity and technological know-how in responding to climate change, natural disasters or external economic shocks.
Dr. Ramgoolam said he was confident that the high-level global warming event convened by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would serve as a catalyst for the major summit on the issue in Bali, Indonesia, in December.
At the same time, he cautioned that responsibilities must be differentiated. “In our approach to finding a global solution to climate change, we should avoid making those who bear the least responsibilities in the greenhouse gas emissions and who are yet the hardest hit, pay the price on the same scale as others who have led to the accentuation in global warming as early as the beginning of the eighteenth century,” he said.
“Mauritius on its part remains committed to the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’.”
Jose Maria Pereria Neves, the Prime Minister of Cape Verde, said climate change has its greatest impact on small island developing States, which are ill-equipped to cope. “If the projections of sea-level rise prove to be true, we will be facing a disaster of unimaginable proportions,” he warned.
Cape Verde, a small archipelago, has been confronted with drought, desertification and “almost uninterrupted dramatic water shortages” for three decades, he said.
He cautioned against excessive talk, advocating instead decisive action. “Most likely, we will have wasted too much time in discussions that had the result of delaying the global acceptance of the problem and, consequently, the formulation of strategies for adaptation and mitigation.”
Although not an island nation, Benin’s Foreign Minister joined in calling for attention to the impact of climate change, particularly desertification.
Moussa Okanla urged efforts to transform patterns of consumption, pointing out that, for example, using solar energy instead of firewood would serve to save numerous hectares of forests that are destroyed annually.
“We must foster a change in mentality in order to achieve a change in behaviour,” he said.
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UNAIDS PLEDGES TO ‘MAKE THE MONEY WORK’ FOR GLOBAL FUND TO COMBAT DISEASE
Stressing the world body’s commitment to “make the money work” to ensure the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is as effective and beneficial as possible, the head of the lead United Nations agency tasked with responding to the pandemic called for a large-scale AIDS response now.
“There are so many challenges facing the developing world that some may ask why fighting HIV is a priority,” Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said at the Fund’s pledging conference in Berlin, Germany, where world leaders have announced their contributions for the next three years.
The answer is three-fold, he said. “The cost in lives has been tremendous, the cost of saving lives will only increase as time goes on without an adequate response, and, finally, responding to AIDS is essential in order to address every other development issue worldwide.”
He drew attention to the role the Organization can play in the fight against AIDS. “The United Nations’ technical expertise, its experience coordinating with countries, and its understanding of working with civil society are key contributors to the work of the Global Fund.”
At the meeting, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan praised the past efforts of the Global Fund, which has received contributions of over $11 billion from more than 60 Governments, private foundations, corporations and individuals.
After five years, “we have a fund that is highly successful in spending money to save lives,” he said, adding that “money channelled through the Global Fund is money invested wisely.”
Also addressing participants, German Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed to countries worldwide to make the battle against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria a priority, underscoring the need to boost coordination between bilateral and multilateral programmes.
The Fund needs between $12 billion to 18 billion for the period 2008-2010 to support existing grants and finance urgently needed programmes to tackle AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
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UN ACTIONS TO END DARFUR ‘GENOCIDE’ TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE – SAINT VINCENT LEADER
The killings and violence that have engulfed the Sudanese region of Darfur for the past four years constitute genocide, the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines told the General Assembly today, calling the planned hybrid United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force insufficient and too late.
Ralph Gonsalves told the Assembly’s annual high-level debate that the actions of the UN in recent years “have caused the world to wonder about the relative worth of a Sudanese or Rwandan life, versus an Israeli, Chinese, American or European life.”
He accused the UN of showing “heartless neglect, in practical terms, of the genocidal campaign being waged in Darfur.”
More than 200,000 people have been killed across Darfur, and at least 2.2 million others forced to flee their homes, since rebels began fighting Government forces and allied Janjaweed militia in 2003.
Mr. Gonsalves said today that “what is happening in Darfur is genocide – let us call it what it is. The United Nations must remain committed to alleviating the suffering of the men, women and children of Darfur.”
A commission of inquiry appointed by the UN found in early 2005 that the Sudanese Government had not pursued a policy of genocide, but that its forces and the Janjaweed had “conducted indiscriminate attacks, including killing of civilians, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape and other forms of sexual violence, pillaging and forced displacement.”
The commission also found credible evidence that rebel forces were responsible for possible war crimes, including murder of civilians and pillage.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for two suspects: Ahmad Muhammad Harun, who is currently Sudan’s Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs, and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (also known as Ali Kushayb). But Sudan has not moved to arrest the two men, who are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Mr. Gonsalves said recent developments, particularly the authorization of the hybrid peacekeeping force (to be known as UNAMID), and the appointment of its civilian and military leaders, were “somewhat encouraging, let us not delude ourselves: the force on the ground is still insufficient, its mandate ambiguous, and its emerging presence is years too late.”
At full deployment UNAMID will have about 26,000 troops and civilian police officers and some 5,000 civilian staff.
The mission is tasked with acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter to support the “early and effective implementation” of last year’s Darfur Peace Agreement between the Government and the rebels, and it is also mandated to protect civilians, prevent armed attacks and ensure the security of aid workers and its own personnel and facilities.
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SUSPICIOUS MATERIAL FOUND IN UN OFFICE NOT HARMFUL, US AUTHORITIES CONCLUDE
United States authorities have determined that the potentially hazardous substances removed from the New York office of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) last month pose no threat.
They have concluded the analysis of substances removed from the UNMOVIC premises and determined that these “did not contain any harmful materials,” UN Spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters in New York.
The UN handed the materials – two small plastic packages with metal and glass containers, ranging in size from small vials to tubes the length of a pen holding liquid substances – to US authorities after they were discovered by UNMOVIC staff who were archiving their offices as the Commission was winding down after the Security Council terminated its mandate in June.
“The United Nations would like to thank the host country authorities for resolving this issue,” Mr. Haq added.
The world body earlier this month appointed a three-member panel to investigate the circumstances surrounding the discovery and report to the Secretary-General by the end of October.
The panel is tasked with ascertaining the circumstances under which the substances were brought to UN Headquarters, the reasons why the items were discovered only recently and safety procedures in place and the extent to which they were followed.
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UN AGENCIES AND PARTNERS DISTRIBUTE VITAL AID TO UGANDAN FLOOD VICTIMS
United Nations agencies and their partners are providing food and health care to tens of thousands of people in Uganda, one of several African countries reeling from the aftermath of the worst flooding the Continent has seen in decades.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and its partners have distributed more than 1,000 metric tons of food to nearly 82,000 Ugandans, with plans to provide food to an additional 25,000 people.
The agency has warned that a major crisis could develop in Uganda, where widespread flooding is worsening road access to key regions in the north and in some places air deliveries are WFP’s only option.
Last week the UN launched a $41 million flash appeal for Uganda, of which WFP needs $26.3 million to feed 300,000 flood victims, as well as provide for helicopters, boats and road and bridge repairs.
Meanwhile, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has distributed emergency health kits to treat 11,000 people for three months, and is providing health care for 48,000 children for one month.
The agency is also providing measles and polio vaccines, as well as insecticide-treated nets and water purification tablets. In addition, it has cholera supplies standing by for up to 10,000 cases.
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UN BOLSTERS TIES WITH EUROPEAN NETWORK TO PROTECT REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), a network of 76 organizations in 31 countries, agreed to enhance their collaboration to promote better treatment of refugees and asylum-seekers.
The memorandum of understanding signed between UNHCR and ECRE earlier this week “establishes an important strategic partnership in support of efforts to ensure fair and humane policies for the treatment of refugees and asylum-seekers in Europe,” UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis told reporters in Geneva.
The new partnership aims to enhance existing cooperation in the fields of advocacy, monitoring and capacity-building initiatives between the two organizations, as well as efforts to increase Europe’s role in sharing responsibility for protecting refugees worldwide, she added.
UNHCR seeks to encourage civil society to increase its participation in shaping and implementing protection principles in Europe. “In this respect, ECRE is a trusted partner serving as an independent monitor of protections systems,” Ms. Pagonis noted.
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UN LAUNCHES NEW ‘E-AGRICULTURE’ PLATFORM TO SUPPORT RURAL DEVELOPMENT
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today launched a new interactive web-based site, underscoring the important role information and communication technology (ICT) can play in promoting agriculture and rural development.
Users can exchange experiences, opinions and good practices on the platform, www.e-agriculture.org, which was developed by the FAO and its partners.
The platform is part of the Community of Expertise – a global initiative to boost sustainable agricultural development and food security through increased use of ICT –that includes policymakers, rural service providers, development practitioners, farmers, researchers and ICT specialists.
“We are confident that the e-agriculture Community of Expertise will help facilitate further global discussions and decisions facing farmers, Governments and the international community at large related to the role that ICT can have in agriculture and rural development,” said the Director of FAO’s Knowledge Exchange and Capacity Building Division, Anton Mangstl.
More than 3,400 people from 135 countries participated in an online survey and in virtual forums to help develop the platform.
Although the digital divide is shrinking, only 18 per cent of the global population has access to the Internet. The UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) estimates that one billion people worldwide – most of whom depend in some way on agriculture for their livelihoods – still lack connection of any kind to ICT.
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GLOBAL SEAFOOD INDUSTRY MUST ADAPT TO DEMAND FOR ‘GREENER’ FISH, UN OFFICIAL SAYS
The $400-billion global seafood industry has no choice but to adapt to intensifying demand from retailers and consumers for environmentally friendly ‘greener’ fish that are not taken from overexploited stocks, farmed in ponds where mangroves once stood or caught in nets that also snag endangered turtles, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
“The push towards sustainable fisheries is not just coming from government or environmental groups, but from the market itself,” FAO Fishing Industries Division Director Grimur Valdimarsson told a three-day Seafood Industry Congress which ended in Dublin, Ireland, yesterday, noting that major seafood retailers like Unilever, Tesco, Walmart and Asda have already committed to putting on their shelves only fish that was harvested or raised sustainably.
“In recent years the seafood industry has been uncertain as to whether these trends represent a momentary fad. Today, there’s no question: it’s real, it’s a sea change, and it’s the way of the future,” he said.
In broad terms, this means that producers will need to be able to assure retailers and consumers that their catch complies with the demands of sustainable development and doing so requires monitoring fishing activities via tracking systems, labels and similar mechanisms.
Resource-strapped developing countries will have a particularly hard time making the transition to fully certifying their fisheries. “They've already been struggling mightily to comply with health and safety regulations on fish imports put into place by importing countries in the developed world,” Mr. Valdimarsson explained.
Helping resolve this problem is an issue of particular importance to FAO and retailers shaping market trends have a responsibility to help suppliers in the developing world cope, he said, adding that FAO and other international development organizations working on fisheries and aquaculture will need new resources to help the developing world’s fisheries sector adapt.
This year’s Congress was co-organized by FAO, the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the UN World Health Organization (WHO), the International Food Quality Certification Group, and Ireland's Sea Fisheries Protection Authority in collaboration with the International Association of Fish Inspectors and with the support of the Irish Sea Fisheries Board, Enterprise Ireland, and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.
The congress has traditionally focused on seafood safety and quality issues, but environmental concerns have risen higher on its agenda in recent years.
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UN EXPERT VOICES DEEP CONCERN AT EXTREME VIOLENCE IN SOMALIA
Extreme violence in Somalia, attacks and threats against the media and a lack of humanitarian access in the strife-torn country, where more than 700,000 civilians have been forced to flee their homes, remain matters of deep concern, according to an independent United Nations expert.
Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia Ghanim Alnajjar, who visited the Horn of Africa country last week, said his meetings UN staff, representatives of the international community, Somali civil society, clan and tribal leaders, and senior officials of the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFI) underscored the continued deterioration in the human rights situation.
Civilians faced severe violations by all parties to the conflict including of the right to life, disappearance, torture, recruitment as child combatants and sexual and gender-based violence, as well as continued obstacles to the right to food, health and education.
Mr. Alnajjar discussed the humanitarian needs of the civilian population, including the more than 700,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), and threats and attacks on aid workers, underlining once again the importance of preserving “humanitarian space.”
Journalists and human rights defenders continue to live in an increasing climate of fear and intimidation, he noted. Since January, seven journalists have been killed and dozens more threatened into silence for their work. Several have fled Mogadishu, the capital, he said.
Citing the lack of separation of powers in the TFI, he condemned the arrest of the President of the Supreme Court, Yusuf Ali Harun, and another judge as well as the dismissals of Attorney-General Abdullahi Dahir and his deputy, saying these steps disregarded rules and procedures and clearly violated the independence of the judiciary.
Mr. Alnajjar also voiced concern at the potential negative effects of a conflict between neighbouring countries and highlighted new calls for the Security Council to establish a UN peacekeeping operation to further stabilize the country and allow for a phased withdrawal of Ethiopian forces.
He was briefed about the intense violence and allegations of serious violations of human rights in Mogadishu over the past nine months since the TFI, backed by Ethiopian troops, expelled Islamist groups from the capital.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR reported today that it had begun distributing much-needed relief supplies 24,000 people in Afgooye, 30 kilometres west of Mogadishu, many of whom had fled intensified violence over the last two weeks. Plastic sheeting, blankets and jerry cans are being distributed over a three-day period.
Nearly 65,000 people have fled the volatile capital since the beginning of June, 11,000 of them in September. Although the TFI said in May insurgents had been ousted after three months of fighting which uprooted almost 400,000 civilians, ongoing violence sparked a second wave in June. Only 125,000 people have returned to Mogadishu.
More than 40,000 residents of Mogadishu have been displaced in Afgooye since February, and the 22 IDP settlements are feeling the pressure of the new arrivals.
“Our staff report that families are still fleeing Mogadishu every day due to an increase in violence,” UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis told a news briefing in Geneva today, reporting a new exodus after the TFI ordered residents of three northern districts to vacate their homes, claiming that they were backing insurgents after several soldiers and their commander were killed in a fight with insurgents there.
Mogadishu is now divided into two parts, she said. The northern part is becoming deserted as residents flee clashes between the Ethiopian-backed TFI forces and insurgents, whereas the southern part is calm.
The streets of northern Mogadishu are so empty during the day that only a handful of people can be seen, a UNHCR staff member reported. The Bakara market, once one of the biggest in East Africa, is barely functioning as it is regularly closed to vehicles because of insecurity such as fighting, assassinations and killings linked to robbery.
“People are scared to walk close to the market with only the most desperate still going, risking their lives to sell a few vegetables as they have no other way of keeping their children from starving,” the staffer said.
Somalia has been riven by factional fighting and has had no functioning central government since Muhammad Siad Barre’s regime was toppled in 1991.
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ADDRESSING UN, LEBANESE PRESIDENT URGES OPEN HEARING ON PLANNED HARIRI TRIBUNAL
Open hearings on the proposed Special Tribunal to try those suspected of involvement in the February 2005 assassination of Lebanon’s Prime Minister Rafik Hariri could help quell controversy, the country’s President told the United Nations General Assembly today.
“To enable all to overcome the controversy caused by the international tribunal, I believe the best way would be by having an impartial, transparent and just hearing that seeks to determine the whole truth,” said Emile Lahoud. “Only then would the Lebanese be assured that this tribunal is just.”
The President said since the adoption of resolution 1701 which ended last year’s war in Lebanon, “we are still in the phase of cessation of hostilities and have not yet moved to the phase of a ceasefire.”
He said Israel continues “up to this very moment” to violate Lebanon’s territory, with 500 breaches of the resolution having been recorded.
“I call upon the world community to remain vigilant against any malignant intent harboured by Israel towards Lebanon as this could lead to another conflagration in the area,” he said.
Full implementation of resolution 1701, he said, requires that Lebanon “regains its occupied Shebaa Farms, the Kfarshouba Hills and some northern parts of the Ghajar village.” It would also require the release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israeli jails, a restoration of Lebanon’s legitimate rights over its water resources, and a handover to Lebanon of maps of landmines and sites of cluster bombs, he added.
Looking to Lebanon’s upcoming presidential elections, he spoke out against outside interference. “Unfortunately there have been attempts by international parties to intervene in Lebanon’s domestic affairs in a way that contradicts international norms,” he said. “Such interference could instigate hatred and increase tension on the Lebanese scene – a thing which not only might have negative repercussions on upcoming presidential elections but on the safety of Lebanese as well,” he said.
He urged the international community to stop foreign intervention in domestic matters. “Consecutive events in Lebanon showed that the Lebanese are capable of making their own decisions and their own choices, and could live side by side and interact peacefully within institutional framework set by their civic bodies and protected by their security institutions, namely their national army.”
The army, he said, had recently confronted “an extremely dangerous terrorist organization that was equipped with updated weapons and believed in destructive objectives that target Lebanon and many other States in the region as well.”
He also called for greater assistance to the Lebanese army to enable it to confront and curb terrorism.
President Lahoud cautioned against allowing Lebanon to fail, warning that this “would mean a collapse of moderation and a victory for those who favour the use of force.”
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MORE PALESTINIANS DIE AFTER BEING DENIED ACCESS THROUGH ISRAELI CHECKPOINTS, UN REPORTS
An increasing number of Palestinians have died after being denied passage through Israeli checkpoints, according to the latest United Nations humanitarian report on the occupied Palestinian territory.
The latest incident occurred in August when a 76-year-old woman from Barta’a a-Sharqiya in Jenin district with heart problems died after Israeli soldiers refused to allow her to pass a gate in order to reach the hospital in Jenin, the Humanitarian Monitor Report for August said.
The Monitor, a monthly report of key humanitarian indicators and field observations collected by UN agencies, noted that July and August witnessed the highest total number of Israeli settler incidents against Palestinians in the occupied Territory in 2007, 37 and 30 respectively, a significant increase over the previous two months and considerably higher than the 2006 monthly average of 20.
Children under 18 also continued to be victims of Israeli-Palestinian violence and of conflict within the Palestinian community, with a three-fold increase in deaths in August compared to July.
Since the beginning of the second Intifada (Palestinian uprising) in 2000, 48 people have died after they were denied passage through an Israeli checkpoint. The vast majority of those deaths, 34, occurred during 2001 and 2002. After international condemnation, the number of deaths then dropped dramatically to an average of 2 or 3 per year, but from 1 January to 31 August this year five people have died because they were unable to access medical attention, the Monitor said.
“The figure also corresponds to a disturbing increase in the number of delays and denials of ambulances at checkpoints,” it added, noting that while in 2006 there was a monthly average of 10 delays or denials of ambulance access, the monthly average for 2007 is 53.
“Under international humanitarian law there is an obligation to ensure that the sick, aged, feeble, and expectant mothers be accorded particular protection and respect,” the Monitor said. “The IDF (Israeli army) claims that soldiers are informed of a special procedure related to persons requiring medical treatment, which is intended to expedite their crossing at checkpoints.
“By obstructing ambulances and denying people medical care in emergency situations, soldiers not only violate those procedures, but also contribute to the unnecessary deaths of the sick and wounded,” it added.
On settler incidents the Monitor noted that on 2 August, two Israeli settlers from Mitzpe Ya’ir outpost in southern Hebron district attacked a UN vehicle carrying three UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) employees and two Israeli journalists. One settler broke the windshield of the vehicle, injuring one OCHA employee in the eye. Israeli soldiers and police intervened and detained the two settlers.
“The issue of settler violence against Palestinian civilians will be an issue of particular concern in the coming months as Palestinians throughout the West Bank attempt to harvest their olive crop,” it said.
On Palestinian children, the Monitor reported a three-fold increase in those killed in August compared to July – 11 to four – bringing the 2007 total to 70, 47 per cent of whom were killed by the Israeli armed forces, 44 per cent by Palestinians and 9 percent by unexploded ordnance.
In August, eight were killed by the IDF, two by a Palestinian Qassam rocket that exploded in Palestinian territory and one in internal violence. Of those killed by the IDF, two, aged 9 and 12 years, were allegedly present near a rocket launcher and were hit by a surface-to-surface missile fired by Israeli soldiers.
As previous reports have noted, the Monitor stressed that the continued closure of the principle Gaza crossing points at Karni and Rafah have had a significant impact on the daily lives of Gaza’s 1.4 million residents. The closure has been effective since June following the defeat of Fatah forces by Hamas, which resulted in a break down in Israeli-Palestinian coordination mechanisms at the crossings.
On the West Bank, Bethlehem and Hebron-area farmers have been severely affect by the inability to effectively market their grape harvest due to tightened Israeli internal closures, including denial of access to their lands especially around Israeli settlements, and the loss of markets in Israel, abroad, Gaza and the northern West Bank.
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TOGOLESE REPATRIATION FROM GHANA KICKS OFF WITH HELP OF UN REFUGEE AGENCY
A group of 176 men, women and children are the first Togolese refugees to return home from Ghana by road convoy with the assistance of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
They are among 1,700 Togolese refugees in eastern Ghana’s Volta region who have registered with the agency to seize on easing tensions and return to their home country.
UNHCR is giving priority to those refugees who wish to return in time for Togo’s parliamentary election on 14 October.
Among those in the first group of returnees, Akoko, 32, said he hopes to fight for freedom and democracy in Togo, while Ametipe, a mother of two, plans to establish a small business.
The refugees will travel to Danyi prefecture in Togo’s Plateau region before continuing their journeys to their respective home villages or towns.
“Today marks a new beginning,” said UNHCR’s Ghana chief Aida Haile Mariam at this week’s departure ceremony. “While Togo is still in the process of political reform, these 176 Togolese refugees have decided to avail themselves of the opportunity to return to their home country in the context of the voluntary repatriation exercise organized by UNHCR and the Ghana Refugee Board.”
UNHCR and its partners will provide a return package, which includes a $120 cash grant per adult and $60 per child, clothing, mosquito nets, mats, buckets, soap, hygiene kits and food rations for two months.
Following the eruption of violence after the April 2005 installation of the son of the late Gnassingbe Eyadema as Togo’s president, tens of thousands of Togolese fled to neighbouring Ghana and Benin. UNHCR provides assistance to 13,300 remaining Togolese refugees in the two countries.
Thousands have already returned on their own from Ghana, which hosts over 42,000 refugees from numerous countries, including some 8,500 from Togo.
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ANGOLANS STILL SUBJECT TO ARBITRARY DETENTION, OTHER ABUSES, SAYS UN EXPERT GROUP
A United Nations human rights team has reported that Angolans are still being arbitrarily detained, tortured and often denied access to lawyers, following a 10-day visit to the southern African nation.
“There is still no effective system in place which can prevent instances of arbitrary detention from occurring,” concluded the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, in a statement issued yesterday by its Chairperson Leila Zerrougui.
The Group, composed of independent experts, interviewed some 400 detainees during its visits to the capital, Luanda, as well as the cities of Cabinda and Dundo, which were carried out at the invitation of the Government.
“The Working Group has received credible allegations in Cabinda that civilians are or were detained incommunicado at military institutions and never produced before a judge,” Ms. Zerrougui stated.
“It would like to stress that secret detention puts the persons concerned at risk of ill-treatment, disappearance and other serious human rights violations.”
The Group found that a number of detainees at Cacuaco and Viana Prisons in Luanda “showed visible signs of torture.”
Among the team’s other findings, Ms. Zerrougui noted that “the right to access to a lawyer and a corresponding legal aid system as guaranteed by the Constitution exists only in theory.”
Also, while Angolan law stipulates that those arrested must be presented to a prosecutor within 24 hours, “this rule is virtually never adhered to,” according to information received by the Group.
Another issue of concern is the lack of a special system for minors, who according to the country’s laws are criminally liable from the age of 16. “They are treated like adults during the criminal proceedings, and merely receive a lighter sentence than an adult.” In addition, they are regularly detained together with adults at police stations and prisons.
The Group also found that prisoners are facing “harsh conditions” in prisons and other detention facilities, citing overcrowded cells and a food and water supply problem.
Angola is the third African country visited by the Group, which reports to the UN Human Rights Council, since its creation by the former Commission on Human Rights in 1992. It visited South Africa in 2005 and just concluded a mission to Equatorial Guinea in July.
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MANY THOUSANDS FLEE MORE FIGHTING IN EASTERN DR CONGO, UN REPORTS
Fresh fighting between Government forces, renegade troops and rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has uprooted yet more people, with new waves in the coming days expected to add to the over 100,000 who have already fled the latest conflict, United Nations agencies said today as they mobilized to face the crisis.
“Hundreds of knee-high children with heavy loads and women with bundles on their heads and babies on their backs stream along the pot-holed road,” UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) official Sarah Crowe reported from outside the emptied ghost villages around the town of Sake in North Kivu province.
Some 65,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are sheltering in the larger Mugunga area close to Goma, the provincial capital, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis told a news briefing in Geneva.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said humanitarian agencies are stretched to the limit.
“Continuing attacks and populations displacements are robbing already extremely poor people of all their survival strategies, and making them vulnerable to armed elements, especially to sexual violence,” WFP reported in another dispatch from North Kivu.
A recent inter-agency mission to villages in Masisi district estimated that as many as 16,000 new IDPs were sheltering along the road and a humanitarian response is being planned for the area where IDP sites have already reached maximum capacity.
“We are extremely concerned that an intensification of fighting in North Kivu will lead to tens of thousands of newly displaced flooding already over-crowded displacement sites,” Ms. Pagonis said, noting that this would be in addition to the over 300,000 displaced in North Kivu since December last year, which has already brought the cumulative total to over 700,000 IDPs there.
“All the people left this village,” said Pastor Safari Maywono of Sake, which has been newly secured by the UN Mission in DR Congo (MONUC) and Congolese forces. “The military came to the village and the people got scared and left,” he told UNICEF’s Ms. Crowe.
In and around the Mugunga UNICEF and the non-governmental organization (NGO) Solidarites have already provided 120,000 people with cooking utensils, blankets, plastic sheeting, soap, water bottles and mosquito nets.
“As fast as supplies are handed out, however, the displaced keep coming. Children separated from their families, and now alone, get priority treatment. They are the most vulnerable to being recruited by the many armed forces in the region,” Ms. Crowe said.
Evidence has emerged, via MONUC and from schools, that hundreds of children are being re-recruited, taken from both secondary and primary schools and marketplaces. “In the camps for the displaced, the process of tracing the families of these unaccompanied minors has to kick in urgently,” she added.
Earlier this week UNICEF took delivery of some 290 tonnes of emergency household kits in Goma, comprising BP5 high protein biscuits and emergency shelter supplies.
As of today, WFP reported that it had started distributions to nearly 65,000 IDPs in Masisi which had until recently been no-go area for humanitarian operations for security reasons.
“Despite this progress in reaching the affected, reports of clashes continue, jeopardizing deliveries to those who need them most,” the agency said. “Getting vital assistance into Masisi continues to be problematic as armed groups are currently blocking the movement of trucks in and out of the area. An armed escort from MONUC is needed in almost all areas outside Goma.
“WFP is concerned at the lack of humanitarian capacity in North Kivu as NGO partners are already stretched to their limit,” it added. Food needs in eastern DRC have already tripled in the past year and WFP still requires an additional $12 million for its existing operations until the end of the year.
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UN STANDING POLICE CAPACITY UNIT TO TRAIN IN UNITED KINGDOM AHEAD OF FIRST MISSION
Officers from the United Nations Standing Police Capacity will undergo two weeks of training in transitional justice and other aspects of peacekeeping at the top police leadership centre in the United Kingdom from 8-19 October ahead of deployment to their first mission, senior UN Police officers said today.
“This is a key stage of the unit’s training and will focus on all aspects of global policing, peacekeeping and team building. We are especially grateful to the UK, Germany and Sweden for partnering the Department of Peacekeeping Operations in running this course,” Police Adviser Andrew Hughes told the UN News Service.
Between 12 to 17 Standing Police Capacity (SPC) officers will attend the course, which will mark the last stage of their training before they leave for their first mission which is expected to be in Chad sometime later this year, said SPC Chief Walter Wolf.
“SPC officers come from all parts of the world and so the objective of this course is to build on the policing expertise already in the group by providing everyone with the key concepts and latest thinking on peacekeeping and building institutional capacity among the police in post-conflict countries. This will put us in good stead for upcoming missions,” said Mr. Wolf.
The Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) Police Division has been working since last year to put together an initial team of 25 SPC officers, chosen for their skills in all aspects of policing and law enforcement and recruited based on merit, geographic diversity and gender balance.
The initiative was first called for in 2004 by a blue-ribbon group of experts brought together by the UN to examine security threats in the 21st century. Member States endorsed the concept of the SPC during their World Summit in September 2005 as a way to deal with the unprecedented demand for peacekeepers in general and police officers in particular.
Mr. Wolf said that once operational the SPC will have two main roles. Firstly, to provide immediate start-up capability on the ground for the police components of new UN peacekeeping missions, and secondly to provide rapid support and technical assistance to existing UN operations.
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DEADLY SEA EXODUS FROM SOMALIA TO YEMEN GAINS MOMENTUM, UN REPORTS
The deadly drama involving people-smuggling across the Gulf of Aden continues apace, with at least 89 confirmed deaths and 154 missing and presumed dead so far this month as traffickers reportedly stabbed passengers, beat them with iron bars and plastic tubes and threw some overboard, the United Nations refugee agency said today.
Between 1 and 26 September, 50 smuggling boats, nearly two a day, arrived on Yemeni shores from Somalia with 4,741 people, mostly Somalis and Ethiopians fleeing conflict and drought – an increase of 70 per cent over last year when 30 boats arrived with 2,961 people for the whole of the month, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis told a news briefing in Geneva.
UNHCR is strengthening its operations to deal with the crisis with plans to open a second reception centre along the Yemeni coast to provide medical care and other support.
Several new arrivals reported that Yemeni armed forces opened fire when they spotted the boats, shooting a 70-year-old Somali man in the heart and killing him, she said.
Since the beginning of the year, 13,897 people have arrived in Yemen after making the perilous voyage across the gulf, while at least 356 have died and 272 remain missing and are presumed dead. The exodus eased off in the summer due to rough seas but resumed again at the beginning of September.
Five boats arrived on Wednesday alone with 600 migrants. Four Ethiopians died in the hold of one of the boats due to asphyxiation, while 18 people were thrown overboard while still at sea, passengers said.
“Survivors told us that they had been violently treated by the smugglers, who beat them with iron bars, belts and plastic tubes and stabbed them with daggers,” Ms. Pagonis said.
Two boats arrived last Sunday with 98 Somalis and 135 Ethiopians, she added. Two Somalis died during the voyage in the hold of one boat from asphyxiation and two drowned while trying to reach shore from deep water.
UNHCR is discussing the shooting incidents with Yemeni authorities, who have expressed their concern that some smugglers arrive with weapons and drugs, and later this month will provide training to Yemeni coast guards and immigration officials on refugee law, humanitarian law and rescue at sea.
The second reception and registration centre UNHCR is planning along the Yemeni coast will include a health post run by the non-governmental organization Medecins sans Frontiers (MSF) and more staff and vehicles from the agency and its partners to speed up support for new arrivals. MSF has also set up three out of four planned health posts along the coast and UNHCR also intends to have two registration centres in Sana’a, the Yemeni capital, and Aden.
The agency at present has 61 staff in Yemen and plans to bring in reinforcements in the months to come.
Somalis registered at the UNHCR’s reception centre say they left due to conflict, arbitrary killings, threat of detention, drought and lack of work. Somalis account for half the migrant flow and most have fled conflict in southern and central parts of the country, including Mogadishu, the capital. There are nearly 90,000 registered refugees in Yemen, almost all of them Somalis.
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