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UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
27 May, 2008 =========================================================================
MYANMAR: BAN KI-MOON ‘REGRETS’ CONTINUED DETENTION OF DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI
The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today said he ‘regretted’ the decision by Myanmar’s Government to extend the detention of pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
In a statement, Mr. Ban said, “I regret the decision of the Government of Myanmar to extend for a sixth consecutive year the detention under house arrest of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the General Secretary of the National League for Democracy.”
Mr. Ban has just returned to New York after a visit to Myanmar in the wake of the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis. During his visit he met with Myanmar’s Senior General Than Shwe.
“The sooner restrictions on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political figures are lifted, the sooner Myanmar will be able to move towards inclusive national reconciliation, the restoration of democracy and full respect for human rights,” Mr. Ban added.
The Secretary-General said he expected his Special Adviser Ibrahim Gambari to continue his efforts to foster political dialogue with both the Myanmar authorities and Nobel laureate Ms. Suu Kyi.
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SECRETARY-GENERAL SEES ‘NEW SPIRIT OF COOPERATION’ IN MYANMAR
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today that he is “much encouraged” by his discussions with Myanmar’s authorities in recent days, citing increased access for international aid workers to the Ayeyarwady delta area and an agreement to open up land, sea and air routes for relief supplies.
“I hope and I believe that this marks a new spirit of cooperation and partnership between Myanmar and the international community as a whole,” he told reporters in New York. “Prompt and full implementation will be the key. I will be fully, continuously and personally engaged.”
The Secretary-General has just returned from a trip to both Myanmar, in the wake of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Nargis, and to China, which is dealing with the aftermath of a massive earthquake. Mr. Ban said he had witnessed “with sadness two terrible tragedies.”
Stressing that almost two million lives were “still at stake” following Cyclone Nargis, Mr. Ban said that Canada has agreed to transport helicopters to Myanmar to support the aid effort, but he added that “much, much more needs to be done.”
Mr. Ban noted that “few countries possess the capacity and the resources to cope on their own with disasters of this magnitude,” and said that was why the UN had co-sponsored an international pledging conference in the country on Sunday with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Meanwhile, the top humanitarian official for the United Nations said today that the world body has raised 60 per cent of the funding it has appealed for, with a total of $233 million either having been contributed or pledged to the overall relief effort following Cyclone Nargis.
Characterizing Sunday’s international pledging conference held in Yangon as a “success,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes told reporters in New York that “there was a strong sense of unity and purpose and a clear determination to scale up the relief effort – to reach all of those in need.”
The UN estimates that aid has reached about one million people, not including the Government’s own emergency response. Mr. Holmes, who also serves as UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, cautioned that “a lot of people have received either nothing or not enough. That’s why we need to step up the aid effort.”
The Under-Secretary-General also said that people who had fled their homes to either official or informal settlements should only return home voluntarily “so that basic services are in place for them. They should not be pushed back before that.”
Speaking to reporters today in Geneva, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Elizabeth Byrs said that between 10 and 15 international flights are coming in every day to Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, and that air-bridge flights from the logistics hub at Bangkok's Don Muang Airport to Yangon, are now fully operational. In total, the UN says that 169 international relief flights have arrived so far in Myanmar.
Ms. Brys said that OCHA hoped that the UN World Food Programme (WFP) would be able to start operating 10 helicopters in Myanmar as soon as possible, after the Government gave the go-ahead to their deployment. So far, WFP and its partners have delivered over 3,000 tons of food aid reaching some 460,000 people.
Meanwhile, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) noted that the highest priority now for affected populations is access to water, sanitation and basic healthcare. The agency has mobilized a specialized team to focus on malaria prevention and control.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is completing an assessment of the needs of children within the country and has been providing health, education and water and sanitation supplies as well as technical assistance.
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CIVILIANS STILL BEAR THE BRUNT OF ARMED CONFLICTS, TOP UN OFFICIAL WARNS
Millions of civilians worldwide are still victims of armed conflicts – losing their lives, being forced to flee their homes and becoming victims of physical and sexual violence – despite recent progress in some countries, the top United Nations humanitarian official told the Security Council today.
In a briefing to the 15-member body, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes cited positive steps taken in places such as Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Nepal, Timor-Leste to prevent war, secure peace or at least protect civilians.
Additionally, he pointed to a meeting of over 100 States currently under way in Dublin which seeks to negotiate a treaty banning deadly cluster munitions.
“Important though this progress is, the stark reality remains that in conflicts throughout the world, countless civilians continue to see their hopes shattered by violence and displacement; their lives blown apart by suicide bombers or ground down by physical and sexual violence, deprivation and neglect,” Mr. Holmes said at the open meeting, which heard from over three dozen speakers.
He pointed to three particularly acute issues regarding current conflicts: the conduct of hostilities, sexual violence and humanitarian access.
Civilians comprise the majority of casualties in armed conflict, often in contravention of international humanitarian law.
The Under-Secretary-General gave the example of the Sudanese region of Darfur, where “civilians remain the principal victims of attacks by Sudanese Armed Forces and the Janjaweed militia.”
Regarding sexual violence, Mr. Holmes – who also serves as UN Emergency Relief Coordinator – called for vigorous measures to both prevent and respond to it.
“Anything less risks condemning current and future generations of women and girls, and boys and men, to indescribable humiliation and cruelty followed by, for those who survive or who are born from such violence, a life defined by pain, stigma and rejection,” he said.
Mr. Holmes also noted the need to boost efforts to make “zero tolerance” of sexual violence a reality by reversing the “continued failure of the police and judiciary to take sexual violence seriously.” He also urged an end to ineffective investigations, minimal prosecutions, and interference by the military and other officials in the administration of justice.
“They are an affront to the rights of victims and serve only to reinforce the culture of impunity on which sexual violence has thrived for so long.”
On humanitarian access, the Emergency Relief Coordinator cited examples of how aid workers have been impeded in providing assistance due to conflict, restrictions on the movement of staff and goods, checkpoints and roadblocks and bureaucratic requirements.
He appealed for the establishment of a Security Council group of experts on the protection of civilians, which would serve as an informal forum bringing together all of the Council’s Member States.
Mr. Holmes told today’s meeting that while the Council has made strides in addressing civilian protection, he believed the body “could go further” if it adopted a more consistent approach to integrating the issue into its work.
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UN FOOD AGENCY RECEIVES FUNDING BOOST TO FEED 750,000 DISPLACED IRAQIS
Thanks to a $40 million funding boost from the Iraqi Government, the United Nations World Food Programme will be able to feed up to 750,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) for the next six months.
Noting that the Iraqi contribution – the largest the Government has contributed to any UN agency – came “at a crucial time,” WFP Iraq Country Director Stefano Porretti said that “the donation shows the Government's commitment to support all Iraqis, particularly those not covered by the Government-run food distribution system.
Iraqi IDPs are not eligible for food rations under that system because they have left the governorate where they are registered.
WFP launched a $133.5 million regional scheme this year to feed 1.2 million Iraqis displaced within their own country and in Syria. As a result of the funds, the Iraqi portion of the programme is now 85 per cent funded, but the Syrian part for 360,000 people still faces a 45 per cent shortfall.
Mr. Porretti said that the agency is considering using some of the cash to purchase food inside Iraq in a bid to curb transport costs and spur the local economy, but this depends on access and security conditions as WFP's ability to operate in Iraq has been severely curtailed.
So far, out of the planned 750,000 beneficiaries, WFP – in collaboration with government and humanitarian partners – has reached nearly 400,000 and is distributing food in 16 of Iraq's 18 governorates.
For the past several days, a ceasefire in Sadr City in Baghdad has generally been holding, and Mr. Porretti said that if this security improvement was reflected across Iraq, the Government's recent funding contribution to WFP would allow the agency to reach all beneficiaries in the next five to six months.
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LEBANESE POLITICAL ACCORD OFFERS ‘A NEW BEGINNING,’ SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS
Lebanon’s political leadership must not lose the momentum created by last week’s agreement ending the protracted stand-off in the country, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, calling the accord “a new beginning” to be grasped by all sides.
Responding to questions from journalists at United Nations Headquarters in New York, Mr. Ban cautioned that last week’s Doha agreement does not mean all outstanding issues in Lebanon have been resolved.
He said that some “social, political and stability issues,” including the armament of the group Hizbollah, still have to be worked out among the parties.
“Therefore, I think this is a new beginning, a new opportunity for the people and Government of Lebanon. They should not lose this momentum… I urge political leaders and people, all factional leaders, to engage in inclusive dialogue for reconciliation and political and social stability.”
On Sunday, as part of the Doha accord, the Lebanese Parliament elected Michel Suleimane as the country’s new President, ending a deadlock over the post that had lasted for six months.
In a statement issued over the weekend, Mr. Ban congratulated the Lebanese people on the election, voicing hope that the “historic event leads to the revitalization of all of Lebanon's constitutional institutions and a return to political dialogue within this framework.”
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BAN KI-MOON VOICES CONCERN OVER REPORT ON CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE BY PEACEKEEPERS
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today expressed his deep concern over a new report issued by the non-governmental organization Save the Children (UK) that spotlights the under-reporting of child sexual exploitation and abuse by aid workers and peacekeepers.
“The abuse of children by those sent to help is a significant and painful issue and one that UN peacekeeping has and will continue to address candidly, comprehensively and robustly,” Mr. Ban said in a statement issued by his spokesperson. “Even one incident is one incident too many.”
He noted that the UN is committed to training and monitoring its civilian staff and working with troop and police contributing countries so that all personnel are trained in and are accountable for the highest standards of conduct.
As the report cited, the UN has already taken several steps to address the problem, including setting up conduct and discipline units in all missions to boost training for all personnel.
“We are determined to redouble our efforts in this regard and to work with all of our partners to implement fully our policy of zero tolerance of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN personnel,” the statement said.
The Secretary-General said that the UN will continue to depend on its troop and police contributing countries to investigate and discipline their national personnel found to have committed acts of misconduct – such as sexual exploitation and abuse – while serving in the world body’s operations.
Despite having 200,000 peacekeepers, military police and civilians rotating through missions in over 20 locations worldwide, “we do not believe that it is plausible for anyone to claim they do not know what the standard is,” Jane Holl Lute, Assistant-Secretary-General for the Department of Field Support (DFS), told reporters in New York today.
She called for an intensification of messaging and boosting the responsibility of leadership in the field, along with improving investigative capacity.
“But we’re not going to run peacekeeping though investigation and fear,” Ms. Holl Lute noted. “We’re going to run it on purpose and pride.”
The Assistant-Secretary-General acknowledged that “a functioning, adequate investigative mechanism” is needed when allegations are brought, as the Save the Children report cited.
Characterizing today’s report as “important,” she said that it not only draws attention to gaps – in particular, the weaknesses in the reporting system – that continue to exist, but also stresses that while some steps have been taken, more needs to be done.
Ms. Holl Lute said that the recommendations made by Save the Children, including the creation of a global watchdog, have merit and will be taken very seriously.
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GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT HOLDS TALKS WITH SENIOR GERMAN OFFICIALS
Climate change, biological diversity and United Nations reform have been high on the agenda during official talks so far on the current three-day visit to Germany by General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim.
Mr. Kerim met today with Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the two men discussed various UN reform initiatives, including proposals to re-shape the size and nature of the Security Council, according to a spokesperson for the Assembly President.
They also talked about efforts to achieve the globally agreed anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Yesterday Mr. Kerim met with Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul to talk about economic development in poor countries, climate change, the current global food crisis, UN relief efforts in Myanmar in the wake of this month’s devastating cyclone and the concept of a “responsibility to protect” vulnerable populations from harm.
The Assembly President is scheduled to give a lecture tonight in Essen to the Policy Forum of the Ruhr Region on the work of the UN to combat and mitigate the effects of climate change.
He travels to Bonn tomorrow to attend a high-level segment of the conference of the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. After leaving Germany, Mr. Kerim will then visit Albania for talks with senior officials in the small European country.
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SUDAN: UN SPEEDS UP AID EFFORTS IN DISPUTED TOWN AHEAD OF EXPECTED RAINS
United Nations officials say they are accelerating relief efforts in the area around the disputed Sudanese town of Abyei, the scene of deadly clashes earlier this month, to help tens of thousands of displaced persons ahead of the expected rainy season and any possible renewal of fighting.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sudan, Ashraf Qazi, and the acting Humanitarian Coordinator to the country, Ted Chaiban, today also urged both the national armed forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) to maintain restraint so that aid can be sent unimpeded.
“We have a window of opportunity now before the onset of the rains,” Mr. Chaiban said. “However, any insecurity could quickly erode all our efforts. We simply cannot afford to have further displacement and we urged both sides to engage in confidence building and restrain from any further hostilities which ultimately affect the most vulnerable people.”
The UN estimates that as many as 50,000 people have been displaced since fighting erupted in and around Abyei on 14 May between Government forces and the SPLA, which in January 2005 signed a comprehensive peace agreement ending the long-running north-south civil war.
An impasse over the boundaries and status of Abyei has been one of the stumbling blocks since then in fully implementing the peace accord as the area is contested by both sides.
Mr. Chaiban and Mr. Qazi saw the devastation first-hand in Abyei during a mission to the affected region and also visited the nearby towns of Agok and Muglad, where many people have fled.
Humanitarian operations are being led from Agok and Mr. Chaiban praised the efforts of both UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for trying to help the locals, who are still struggling to rebuild their lives and communities in the wake of the civil war.
UN aid agencies have so far distributed more than 80 tons of food supplies, while water and sanitation teams have drilled fresh boreholes and installed water pumps at several sites. Health and nutrition clinics have also been set up to assist affected locals.
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UN MARKS 60 YEARS OF PEACEKEEPING BY HONOURING FALLEN STAFF MEMBERS
United Nations officials will commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of peacekeeping by gathering later this week at the world body’s headquarters in New York for a wreath-laying ceremony to honour the more than 2,400 blue helmets – including 90 last year – who have died in service.
Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guéhenno will lead the solemn ceremony on Thursday, the annual International Day of UN Peacekeepers, which is also being marked by a series of activities at UN offices and peacekeeping operations around the world.
A multimedia exhibition entitled “Looking back, moving forward,” chronicling the history of UN peacekeeping, will open at UN Headquarters on Thursday and simultaneously in several other cities, including Buenos Aires, Cairo and Mexico City.
On Friday Mr. Guéhenno will award the Dag Hammarskjöld medal to the military, police and civilian personnel who died last year while serving in UN operations. The medals will be received by representatives of the respective permanent missions.
The Day, which is the exact anniversary of the date in 1948 when the Security Council established the first UN peacekeeping operation, the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), has been marked by the UN since a General Assembly proclamation in 2001.
This year’s anniversary falls at a time of particularly high demand for UN peacekeeping – currently more than 110,000 men and women are deployed in conflict zones worldwide. The uniformed personnel hail from 119 different countries, an all-time record.
Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Nigeria and Nepal are the largest contributors of peacekeepers, together accounting for more than 40 per cent of all blue helmets. The biggest financial contributors are the European Union countries, Japan and the United States, and the total budget is now over $6.5 billion a year.
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GEORGIA: UN SAYS RUSSIAN AIR FORCE SHOT DOWN AIRCRAFT OVER ABKHAZIA
The United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) has concluded in a report that a Georgian reconnaissance drone aircraft that crashed in Abkhazia last month was shot down by the Russian air force.
UNOMIG carried out an investigation after receiving a report on the downing of an unmanned surveillance aircraft on 20 April, and brought together a team of specialists who examined eyewitness, radar and video evidence to establish what had happened, concluding that the drone had been downed by a Russian fighter jet.
The report stresses that, under the Moscow Agreement, only Commonwealth of Independent States peacekeeping forces are permitted to keep Georgian and Abkhaz forces apart.
“From a strict peacekeeping perspective, therefore” the report continues, “the Mission considers that enforcement action by third-parties – in this case the Russian Federation - in the zone of conflict is fundamentally inconsistent with the Moscow Agreement.”
However, the mission reiterated its position that the overflight of the zone of conflict by Georgian surveillance aircraft also constituted a breach of the Moscow Agreement.
Last month, the Security Council, in a resolution extending the mandate of UNOMIG until 15 October, called on “all parties to consider and address seriously each other’s legitimate security concerns, to refrain from any acts of violence or provocation, including political action or rhetoric, and to comply fully with previous agreements regarding ceasefire and non-use of violence.”
UNOMIG was established in 1993 to verify compliance with a cessation of hostilities and separation of forces accord following the armed conflict between the Georgian and Abkhaz sides.
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NEPAL’S PEACE PROCESS NOT YET COMPLETE, SAYS UN ENVOY
On the eve of the first meeting of Nepal’s Constituent Assembly, the top United Nations envoy to the country said that challenges still lie ahead, despite last month’s successful country-wide elections.
Speaking to the press in Kathmandu, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Nepal Ian Martin described the elections for the 601-member Constituent Assembly as a major milestone in the peace process, “but it does not represent the completion of the process,” he said.
Mr. Martin said there were still challenges in forming the new Government and in creating a basis for stable governance and economic development.
At a swearing-in ceremony today, 567 members took their oaths in preparation for tomorrow’s landmark first Assembly session.
Last week, the UN envoy addressed the Security Council, noting afterwards that there are still two armies in the country and that there has been no agreement so far on “what is referred to in the peace agreement as the integration of the Maoist army and the democratization of the Nepal army.” He added that other political parties were insistent that they would not join a Maoist-led Government unless violent attacks from the Maoist Young Communist League were halted.
He also listed a number of important commitments of the peace process that have not yet been implemented: compensation for victims of the conflict, investigation of disappearances and the return of property and of displaced persons to their homes.
* * *
ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU, PROFESSOR TO VISIT GAZA ON UN-BACKED MISSION
An independent United Nations fact-finding mission – by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Professor Christine Chinkin of the London School of Economics – will visit Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.
The High Level Fact-Finding Mission to the area was established by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in November 2006 following an Israeli attack that resulted in 19 people, including 7 children, being killed.
For the two-day mission from 27-28 May, Archbishop Tutu and Professor Chinkin will enter Gaza from Egypt. They are scheduled to hold a range of meetings in Gaza, including with survivors and witnesses of the attack on 8 November 2006.
The mission will submit a final report to the September session of the HRC.
Last June, the mission submitted a report to the Council in which is said that “significant” human rights violations occurred there and called for an independent probe by national authorities.
The report noted that “it is clear that significant human rights violations resulted in Beit Hanoun from the activities of the Israel Defence Force (IDF) on and around 8 November,” and that those events must be investigated by an independent, impartial and transparent process, preferably at the national level.
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FORMER DR CONGO VICE-PRESIDENT ARRESTED BY INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, a former Vice-President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has been arrested by Belgian authorities on a sealed warrant of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in the Central African Republic (CAR).
Mr. Bemba chairs the Mouvement de Libération du Congo (MLC), an armed group that intervened in the 2002-2003 armed conflict in CAR. The Court’s pre-trial chamber has found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the MLC forces, led by Mr. Bemba, carried out a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population during which rape, torture, outrages upon personal dignity and pillaging were committed.
“Mr. Bemba’s arrest is a warning to all those who commit, who encourage, or who tolerate sexual crimes,” the ICC’s Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo stated. “There is a new law called the Rome Statute. Under this new law, they will be prosecuted.” According to an ICC press release, Mr. Bemba – the first person arrested in the context of the ICC investigation in CAR – had already used similar tactics in the past in the DRC.
“This arrest was a complex and well-prepared operation,” Mr. Moreno-Ocampo, voicing his appreciation to all those helped trace Mr. Bemba.
The arrest warrant was issued on 23 May and remained under seal until he was arrested the following day.
“There are no excuses for hundreds of rapes,” the Prosecutor noted. “There are no [excuses] for commanders ordering, authorizing or acquiescing to the commission of rapes and looting by their forces.”
Regarding the victims, he said that “we cannot erase the scars. But we can give them justice.”
The ICC is an independent, permanent court that tries persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern – namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The situation in CAR is one of four situations currently under investigation by the ICC Prosecutor. The others are the Darfur region of Sudan, the DRC and Uganda.
The warrant for Bemba’s arrest was issued under seal just 4 days ago.
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KENYAN RECONCILIATION JEOPARDIZED WITHOUT BOLSTERED EFFORTS, WARNS UN ENVOY
Stepped-up measures are crucial to ensure the sustainable return of those forced to flee their homes by post-electoral violence that swept through Kenya earlier this year, a United Nations envoy cautioned today.
“In the absence of substantially increased efforts, we will jeopardize the fragile process of building and restoring peace in displacement affected countries,” said Walter Kälin, the Secretary-General’s Representative on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, at the end of his 19-23 May visit to Kenya.
He commended the Government, the Kenyan Red Cross, international aid organizations and the people of Kenya for their assistance to those internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in camps.
But the Government faces challenges in its efforts to return the displaced to their homes, including ensuring that the repatriations are safe and voluntary and providing humanitarian assistance in areas of return, the Representative noted.
“While reconciliation efforts are under way and there is an increased police presence in affected areas, more robust reconciliation measures involving returning IDPs and the local communities must be undertaken to address the underlying causes of the displacement,” he said.
Mr. Kälin said that “without true reconciliation and fair transition measures, the risk of renewed violence against returnees remains high.”
While in Kenya, he visited transit sites in the Molo and Uasin Gishu districts, noting that the speed of the repatriations have left some without adequate humanitarian assistance, clean water and sanitation, access to education and basic health services.
“Returns must be better planned and coordinated if we want to avoid regression into a new emergency,” the Representative observed. “We run the risk now that the displaced persons will return to camps and urban areas in increasing numbers because life at transit sites may become unbearable.”
He said he recognizes that converting from an emergency phase to one in which IDPs can resume their lives is difficult, but warned that if this transition is not handled appropriately, there is a chance that a new round of violence could break out.
Mr. Kälin – who during his visit met with Government officials, UN agencies, the Kenyan Red Cross, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and stopped at IDP camps – voiced concern that the lack of funds is impeding the ability of aid agencies in assisting returnees, and called on the Government and donors to provide the necessary support.
He also appealed to authorities to adopt a comprehensive IDP strategy and the laws needed to implant such a plan.
* * *
CHAD, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: UN ENVOY ASSESSES IMPACT OF WAR ON CHILDREN
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict is visiting Chad and Central African Republic (CAR) to see first-hand the situation of war-impacted children in the two countries.
In her mission from 26-31 May at the invitation of the Governments of the two nations, Radhika Coomaraswamy will look into child recruitment by State and non-State actors.
She also intends to focus on key issues including the cross-border recruitment of children; the safety of humanitarian workers; the security of camps for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs); the increase of rapes and other sexual violence; and the culture of impunity that is widespread in the region.
While in the two countries, Ms. Coomaraswamy plans to meet with Government officials, UN country teams, civil society, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and children affected by conflict.
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UNICEF AIDS VICTIMS OF XENOPHOBIC VIOLENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA
After ten days of violent attacks on foreign nationals, migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers living in some of the country’s informal settlements, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is helping the hardest-hit cities of Johannesburg, Ekhuruleni and Tshwane to provide emergency relief supplies to vulnerable women and children.
UNICEF has supplied adult hygiene kits, food, clothing and blankets for victims of the violence, most of whom fled their homes with few or no possessions. The aim is to ensure that babies, young children and mothers are adequately clothed, safely and appropriately fed and that basic hygiene is maintained.
Exact figures vary, but at least 17,000 people have been displaced in Gauteng Province alone, among them a minimum of 6,000 children and women. Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal Provinces are also reporting large numbers of displaced people.
UNICEF says the need for shelter has become more acute with temperatures plummeting to 5 degrees Celsius in Johannesburg and 10 degrees in the capital city of Tshwane, as South Africa heads into its winter season. Since many sites for displaced people are reporting shortages of supplies, the agency has committed to assist with fortified cereals for young children.
Later this week, UNICEF will also help its partners organize play groups and establish on-site crèches to provide traumatized children with a sense of stability in the midst of the current disruption.
Among the supplies delivered by UNICEF to the South African Red Cross and the City of Johannesburg Migration Desk are long-sleeve T-shirts for children, blankets, tins of powdered milk and infant-feeding cups.
* * *
UN REFUGEE AGENCY TRANSFERRING NEARLY 10,000 CENTRAL AFRICANS TO SOUTHERN CHAD
In a bid to outpace the rainy season which kicks off in mid-June, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has started transferring nearly 10,000 newly-arrived refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR) to a new camp in southern Chad.
The agency began moving the refugees – mostly farmers – last Friday from a transit centre some 25 kilometres from the Chad-CAR border to Moula, which is 150 kilometres inland.
Some 1,662 Central Africans have already been moved in two convoys and UNHCR hopes to have 15-truck convoys running every two days until the roads become impassable.
Arriving in southern Chad between January and March this year, this latest wave of refugees fled violence in northern CAR, according to UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis.
“Many reported their villages had been burned and looted, and some people killed,” she noted, adding that smaller groups of Central Africans continue to stream across the border to Chad.
UNHCR had originally planned to send the new refugees to one of its three camps near Goré, but previously, another group of refugees had refused to move there, citing inter-ethnic tensions. The UN refugee agency then constructed the new camp at Moula.
At the better-equipped Moula camp, each family will be given a 2.5 hectare plot of land. Later this year, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will distribute seeds and tools, and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) will provide monthly food rations.
Currently, the Central Africans reside in family tents but will shortly commence building their own homes.
UNHCR operates five camps in southern Chad for more than 56,000 northern CAR refugees, as well as one dozen centres in eastern Chad for 250,000 refugees from Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region.
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