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UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
27 February, 2008 =========================================================================
UN AGENCIES RALLY TO END TO FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION WITHIN A GENERATION
Ten United Nations agencies have banded together to help eliminate the harmful practice of female genital mutilation within a generation, stressing the need for strong leadership and greater resources to protect the health and lives of millions of women and girls.
An estimated 3 million girls are at risk of undergoing the procedure – which involves the partial or total removal of external female genital organs – that some 140 million women, mostly in Asia, the Middle East and in Africa, have already endured.
In a statement issued today, the agencies pledged to support governments and communities to abandon female genital mutilation, which remains widespread in many parts of the world, highlighting the damaging effects of the practice on the health of women, girls and newborn babies.
The agencies expressed their concern about the “medicalization” of the practice, whereby it is performed by health professionals in health facilities, and the belief that it enhances a girl’s chastity and chances of marriage by controlling her sexuality.
“We recognize that traditions are often stronger than law, and legal action by itself is not enough,” they said. “Change must also come from within. This is why it is critical for us to join hands and work closely with communities and their leaders so that they can bring about sustainable social change.”
The aim is to have a major reduction in female genital mutilation in many countries by 2015, the target date for the achievement of the global anti-poverty objectives known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
“If we can come together for a sustained push, female genital mutilation can vanish within a generation,” said Deputy Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro, adding her voice to the pledge made today. “But this goal demands both increased resources and strengthened coordination and cooperation among all of us.”
She called on countries to join the UN as full partners in the fight against female genital mutilation, which “clashes with our core universal values and constitutes a challenge to human dignity and health.”
Pledging their commitment to end the practice are the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), The UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
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UN ENVOY DEPLORES ‘APPALLING’ ATTACKS ON PILGRIMS EN ROUTE TO IRAQI HOLY CITY
The top United Nations official in Iraq has strongly condemned the suicide attacks which earlier this week left dozens of people dead and wounded as they headed to the holy city of Karbala.
The Secretary-General's Special Representative, Staffan de Mistura, described the 24 and 25 February attacks as “appalling crimes against humanity in targeting innocent believers practicing their religion.
“These acts deserve universal condemnation,” he declared.
The Special Representative expressed his solidarity with the people of Iraq and extended his condolences to the families of the victims.
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BAN KI-MOON URGES ACCELERATED PROGRESS IN KENYAN TALKS
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today strongly urged the parties to Kenya’s national dialogue and reconciliation talks, who are locked in a dispute over the outcome of December’s presidential elections, to take the necessary steps to reach an immediate solution to the ongoing crisis. “It is critical that the two sides maintain the positive momentum,” Mr. Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement. “It is also critical that the two leaders exercise their responsibility to the people of Kenya who continue to suffer amid this volatile situation.” In the statement the Secretary-General also expressed gratitude for the “continuing and tireless” facilitation efforts of the mediation panel, led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Some 1,000 people have already lost their lives and more than 300,000 others have been driven from their homes since disputed elections in which President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner over opposition leader Raila Odinga.
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INSECURITY HINDERING RETURN OF AFGHAN REFUGEES TO THEIR HOMELAND, SAYS UN AGENCY
Many Afghan refugees living in neighbouring Iran and Pakistan are reluctant to return to their homeland due to the deteriorating security situation there and difficulty in sustaining their new lives, a senior official with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today.
Erika Feller, UNHCR’s top protection official, has been meeting with refugees and the authorities in Iran, which is currently hosting some 920,000 Afghans who have fled violence in their country over the course of the past 20 years.
“What has struck me during this visit is the variety of situations Afghan refugees are living in and the fact that the lack of security in Afghanistan is topmost in influencing their decisions to return home,” Ms. Feller said, as she wrapped up her five-day mission.
During the peak of the refugee returns in 2004, there were up to 5,000 people going back to Afghanistan every day; that was the same number of returnees in all of 2007.
“So, we are at a turning point and have to reflect on the way forward with the Iranian authorities for those remaining here,” noted Ms. Feller.
The refugees Ms. Feller met with cited lack of security, employment, education, health clinics and access to land in Afghanistan as some of the main concerns associated with returning home. Female Afghan refugees, who can work informally and move around freely in Iran, fear they would face restrictions in Afghanistan.
“Investing in education, the skills and capacity of the refugees is really important so they can make a real contribution back home in Afghanistan to rebuilding their country, or – if they go to a new country – in restarting their lives,” she stated.
The Assistant High Commissioner for Protection lauded Iran’s “very solid track record” in providing assistance to Afghan refugees, who generally have access to basic health care and education and have not been forced to return to the war-torn nation. “I heard many times how refugees feel part of this culture with a number being born here and knowing no other life,” she said.
Ms. Feller discussed the situation of the refugees and their concerns with the Government’s Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigration Affairs. She hopes to conduct similar visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan in the months ahead.
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COMMENDING INDIA’S CONTROL OF BIRD FLU OUTBREAK, UN SAYS VIGILANCE STILL NEEDED
The recent, worst-ever outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza in the Indian state of West Bengal seems to have been brought under control by the swift and comprehensive measures taken by the country’s authorities, though continued vigilance was crucial, the United Nations agricultural agency said today.
“Intensive culling in the predominantly backyard poultry sector appears to have stopped the disease in its tracks,” Mohinder Oberoi, a veterinary expert of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said after a recent field trip to the affected areas, where no new outbreaks have been seen since 2 February.
FAO’s Chief Veterinary Officer Joseph Domenech, however, urged the country to maintain intensive surveillance in high-risk areas as the possibility of new occurrences remains high. “The virus could still be present in the environment despite heavy slaughtering and extensive disinfection of affected areas, or it could be reintroduced from other countries,” he said.
The FAO officials praised the national and state governments’ political and financial commitment to stamp out the disease. They said public awareness campaigns, a strong command chain from districts to villages, compensation payments and an effective collaboration between animal and human health departments at field level, have been the key factors for the success.
To achieve rapid control, prevent the spread of the virus to other states and to avoid the risk of human infection, the Indian Government had to cull over 3.9 million chickens and ducks, mainly belonging to poor backyard poultry farmers.
“Public awareness campaigns should continue over the next months introducing rural communities to safe poultry production and basic biosecurity measures with the ultimate goal of reducing the risk of human infections,” the agency said in a press release.
In addition, it recommended that the socio-economic impact of the control campaign be urgently assessed to better define and apply measures to mitigate the impact of massive culling on poor small holders. Live bird markets, migration of wild birds and transportation routes of birds and poultry products should be mapped to better understand and control the spread of the disease, it said.
FAO, in collaboration with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), has also invited India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar to meet to better coordinate regional avian influenza control campaigns.
The Nepalese Government has agreed to host the meeting in Kathmandu, the agency said.
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MOLDOVA: UN AGENCIES MAINTAIN EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE IN WAKE OF DROUGHT
United Nations humanitarian agencies are continuing to provide emergency assistance to families in Europe’s poorest country, Moldova, which last year experienced its worst drought in six decades.
Enough seed corn is being distributed so that more than 30,000 farming households can start their spring season planting in the coming months, while some 9,000 tons of livestock fodder has already been delivered to over 20,000 households, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said in a press release issued today.
Kaarina Immonen, the UN Resident Coordinator in Moldova, told reporters that the provision of livestock fodder and corn is only the latest phase of a multi-step programme to help Moldovans get back on their feet after the drought. So far, more than 135,000 people have received assistance.
The relief and recovery programmes are being organized by UNDP, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Food Programme (WFP), who responded to an appeal for help by the Moldovan Government last July.
Rainfall was so sparse last year that some regions of the small Eastern European nation experienced no rain for four consecutive months, and the overall totals for the year were 50 to 75 per cent below average.
The drought – considered the worst since 1946 – hit Moldova particularly hard because its economy is so dependent on agriculture, which provides a livelihood for two-thirds of the population of roughly 4.5 million. About 84 per cent of arable land was affected.
Ms. Immonen said a study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated that the agricultural sector lost 100,000 jobs, while inflation caused the price of many basic goods and services – including gas and petrol – to soar.
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AFTER YESTERDAY’S ROADBLOCKS, NO NEW RESTRICTIONS REPORTED BY UN IN ERITREA
No new restrictions have been reported today from Eritrea on the regrouping of the United Nations peacekeepers there in preparation for their temporary relocation to Ethiopia, though the vehicles blocked yesterday were unable to complete their tasks.
According to the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), the majority of peacekeepers from the Jordanian, Indian and Kenyan battalions, along with most military observers, have now relocated to Eritrea’s capital, Asmara, from the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) that separates the two countries, which fought a bloody border war that ended in 2000.
The remaining troops in the TSZ are actively engaged in packing and moving equipment and supplies destined for Asmara, the mission said.
The eight UNMEE vehicles that were stopped by soldiers of the Eritrean Defence Force at a checkpoint yesterday were unable to load supplies as they had planned. They returned to Asmara empty.
The blue helmets were ordered to relocate temporarily to Ethiopia after Eritrean authorities cut off their fuel supplies. UN officials and the Security Council have urged them to end their restrictions amid growing concern over rapidly dwindling supplies.
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BANGLADESHI POLICE UNIT WITH UN FORCE IN DARFUR HOLDS FIRST LONG-DISTANCE PATROL
A Bangladeshi formed police unit (FPU) with the hybrid United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur (UNAMID) has conducted its first long-distance patrol, aiming to both test its operational capacity and enhance the visibility of the UN Police in the war-wracked region of western Sudan.
The patrol covered about 200 kilometres during the journey from its base in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, to El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur and the headquarters of UNAMID, UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters today.
UNAMID Police Commissioner Michael Fryer said the patrol also provided an opportunity to assess the public response in Darfur to a UN Police presence in the region, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and at least 2.2 million others displaced because of fighting between rebels, Government forces and allied militia since 2003.
“We have a long way to go, but the officers are prepared to do their work and to make a difference,” Commissioner Fryer said, referring to the operations of UN Police in Darfur since the start of the year, when UNAMID took over from an earlier African Union peacekeeping force.
FPUs are comprised of police officers who have received specialized training in high-risk operations, and the Bangladeshi unit operating in Darfur is the only FPU contingent currently in the region out of the 19 such contingents recommended for UNAMID.
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MADAGASCAR: UN FOOD AGENCY BEGINS PROVIDING AID TO CYCLONE VICTIMS
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has started distributing emergency food assistance to tens of thousands of people in Madagascar, where at least 73 people have died and almost 150,000 others have been left homeless after Cyclone Ivan battered the island nation last week.
WFP has already handed out three-day rations of high-energy biscuits to 2,000 Malagasy living in tents in the capital, Antananarivo, after their homes were destroyed by the cyclonic winds, which reached speeds of about 190 kilometres per hour when it struck the country on 17 February.
Later this week it expects to distribute corn-soya blend porridge to some of the tent camps, the agency said in a press statement, adding that general food distributions and food-for-work activities will also start in the coming days.
WFP has also provided 500 kilograms of the biscuits along the east coast and on the small island of St. Marie, the regions worst affected by Cyclone Ivan, the latest in a series of storms this season to strike Madagascar.
In anticipation of the annual cyclone season in the Indian Ocean country, WFP pre-positioned food in strategic locations, and it currently has about 3,000 tons of food – including rice, pulses, oil and biscuits – in its warehouse in the north-eastern port city of Toamasina.
But with about 140,000 people estimated to need 2,000 tons of immediate food assistance, WFP said it expects to face a shortage of rice and vegetable oil by April.
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SECRETARY-GENERAL TO ADDRESS GENEVA-BASED HUMAN RIGHTS, TRADE BODIES NEXT WEEK
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel on Monday to Geneva, where he will address the seventh session of the Human Rights Council as well as the executive session of the board of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
“The Secretary-General is putting particular emphasis this year on human rights issues, as we mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights,” his spokesperson, Michele Montas, told journalists today.
“He looks to the Human Rights Council to make every effort to meet the expectations of the international community, and to strengthen and make effective the Universal Periodic Review to the fullest extent possible,” she added, referring to a new mechanism which allows the human rights records of every country to be scrutinized.
Before leaving for Geneva, Mr. Ban will travel on Friday to the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas, where he has been invited by former United States President George Herbert Walker Bush to give a lecture on US-UN relations.
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BOSNIAN SERB SOLDIER CONVICTED BY UN TRIBUNAL TO SERVE JAIL TERM IN BELGIUM
A former Bosnian Serb soldier and military policeman convicted by a United Nations war crimes tribunal of torturing and raping Muslim women and girls during the Balkan wars of the 1990s will serve the remainder of his 15-year jail term in Belgium.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which sits in The Hague in the Netherlands, announced today that Dragan Zelenovi ć has been transferred to detention in Belgium.
Mr. Zelenovi ć pleaded guilty last year before the ICTY to seven counts of rape – including gang rape – and torture for his actions in the town of Foca in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992.
After Bosnian Serb forces took over Foca municipality in April 1992, they took local women and girls to detention facilities, where they were interrogated and subject to brutal beatings, sexual assaults and humiliating and degrading conditions. Other women were detained in houses and apartments used as brothels by the mainly paramilitary soldiers.
In his statement of guilt to the Tribunal, Mr. Zelenovi ć said: “I feel sorry for all the victims who were victimized by anything that I did, and that is why I express from this forum my deepest remorse and regret.”
In October last year the ICTY’s appeals chamber rejected Mr. Zelenovi ć’s appeal against the length of his prison sentence.
Belgium is one of 14 European countries that have signed an agreement with the ICTY to enforce sentences imposed by the Tribunal on convicted individuals, and nearly 40 people either have served or are currently serving their sentence in one of those countries.
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