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UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
5 June, 2008 =========================================================================
BAN URGES SUDAN TO COOPERATE WITH PROSECUTORS PROBING DARFUR WAR CRIMES
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged Sudan to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to ensure justice for the victims of crimes committed in the war-torn Darfur region after the Court’s Prosecutor reported that the country is “deliberately” attacking civilians.
In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban said he was “deeply concerned about the reported lack of cooperation” of the Sudanese Government with prosecutors at the ICC, which is based in The Hague.
“There can be no sustainable peace without justice,” the statement said. “Peace and justice go hand in hand. Impunity for the serious crimes committed in Darfur cannot be accepted.”
A Security Council resolution from 2005 requires Sudan to fully cooperate with the ICC and obliges the country to arrest and surrender those indicted by the Court.
In his address to the Council earlier today, ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo issued a strong warning that without increased assistance from the international community people in Darfur will be “eliminated.”
Addressing an open meeting of the 15-member body, he said that “citizens from the Sudan are being deliberately attacked by Sudanese officials…. The entire Darfur region is a crime scene. Despite promises and denials, over the last five years, millions of civilians have been targeted by officials who vowed to protect them. Impunity reigns.”
Despite arrest warrants being issued last April for Ahmad Harun, former Sudanese Minister of State for the Interior and now the Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs, and Ali Kushayb, a leader of a pro-Government Janjaweed militia, the two men – accused of committing war crimes – have yet to be apprehended.
“The Sudanese Government tolerates the firefighters and promotes the arsonists at the same time,” the Prosecutor said, calling on both the international community and the Council to widen efforts to bring the two men to justice.
“The Council must make publicly clear that the two fugitive indictees and those who protect them will not benefit from any lenience, any support from the international committee,” he told the debate, which included more than one dozen speakers.
This year alone, the Janjaweed, who are “integrated into the Sudanese security apparatus and stationed in the vicinity of camps,” have forced over 100,000 people from their homes using “systematic” attacks – including rapes and land usurpation.
He also voiced concern over attacks against peacekeepers and aid workers in Darfur, where more than 2.7 million people have become displaced since 2003 because of the fighting between rebels, Government forces and allied Janjaweed militiamen and another 300,000 people are estimated to have died through combat, disease, malnutrition or reduced life expectancy.
The Prosecutor informed the Council that he will present a second case to the Court next month. It will concern “the use of the entire state apparatus for the past five years to attack the civilian population in Darfur,” he told journalists after the Council meeting.
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UN ANNOUNCES INCREASED FUNDING FOR FOOD CRISIS AT ROME SUMMIT
Delegates to the United Nations food security summit in Rome today announced major funding increases to tackle hunger and long-term agricultural development.
A statement from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said the money will benefit countries hard hit by the current world food crisis, allowing them to grow enough food for themselves in the coming planting seasons, as well as helping them to achieve continuing food security through investment in agriculture and research.
The funding announced today includes $100 million from the UN’s Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) and $1.2 billion from the World Bank.
Other contributors include the Islamic Development Bank, France, the African Development Bank, Spain, the United Kingdom, Japan, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Venezuela and New Zealand.
The three-day forum, which closed today, brought together more than 40 heads of state and government, representatives from 181 countries, and leaders of international organizations and financial institutions, to tackle the current crisis caused by soaring food prices.
Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announced that Spain is willing to host a follow-up conference to the Rome summit this autumn.
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ON WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY, UN OFFICIALS CALL FOR END TO CARBON ADDICTION
Top United Nations officials have marked World Environment Day by urging individuals, companies and governments alike to kick their addiction to carbon dioxide, a main contributor to global warming.
Top United Nations officials have marked World Environment Day by urging individuals, companies and governments alike to kick their addiction to carbon dioxide, a main contributor to global warming.
“Our world is in a grip of a dangerous carbon habit,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message for the Day, which is observed annually on 5 June.
“Addiction is a terrible thing. It consumes and controls us, makes us deny important truths and blinds us to the consequences of our actions,” he added.
The main celebrations for the Day – whose theme this year is “Kick the Habit: Towards a Low Carbon Economy” – are being hosted by New Zealand, one of five countries that has pledged to become “climate neutral.”
Mr. Ban stressed that global warming was becoming the defining issue of the era and will hurt the rich and poor alike. “Mitigating climate change, eradicating poverty and promoting economic and political stability all demand the same solution: we must kick the carbon habit,” he stated.
Earlier today, Mr. Ban joined New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for the launch of the ‘Together’ campaign, an initiative of the Climate Group – an international charity dedicated to working with big business and government to help solve climate change.
Speaking at the event, the Secretary-General said that climate change is too big a challenge for any country, corporation, or community to address alone. He added that initiatives such as the ‘Together’ campaign make it clear that individuals can halve their daily carbon emissions through some very simple measures.
“Each one of us can take steps that will make a difference. And if we all begin to act, our collective actions will make a big difference,” he stated.
Earlier this year, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) launched a climate neutral network of corporations, cities and companies, known as CN Net, to energize the growing trend towards carbon neutrality.
“If we are to move the global economy to a greener and cleaner one, a sharp reduction in the inefficient use of fossil fuels allied to an increased up take of renewable energy must be at the centre of the international response,” said UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.
He noted that the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that greening the global economy might cost as little as a few tenths of global gross domestic product (GDP) annually over the next 30 years.
“It will also be a driving force for innovation, new businesses and industries and employment opportunities across the developed and developing worlds,” he added.
There are promising signs, driven by the existing emissions reduction treaty – the Kyoto Protocol – and even deeper emissions reductions are on the horizon, he noted. For example, close to 60 countries have targets for renewables, including 13 developing countries, while around 80 have market mechanisms in place to encourage renewable energy development.
On the occasion of World Environment Day, UNEP has launched a guide to low-carbon living, entitled “Kick the Habit: The UN Guide to Climate Neutrality,” as well as “Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in the Tourism Sector,” a report prepared in collaboration with the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Adopting a low-carbon lifestyle does not necessarily require drastic changes, according to UNEP. Simple changes such as waking up to a traditional wind-up alarm clock rather than an electronic one, or drying clothes on a washing line versus a tumble dryer can all help to reduce greenhouse gases. Mr. Steiner pointed out that some choices are big – from smart taxes to encourage offshore wind farms as opposed to more coal-fired power stations – while others are small, such as thinking about which appliances to buy and how to travel.
“But multiplied across the world and acted upon by 6.7 billion people, the public have the power to change the future – have the power to personally and collectively influence economies to ‘Kick the CO2 Habit’,” he said.
Meanwhile, UNWTO has also urged the tourism sector to be innovative when seeking long-term climate neutrality. The agency also reports that it is collaborating with the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization to promote a new air travel carbon calculator.
For its part, the International Labour Organization (ILO) is today rolling out its Green Jobs Initiative, aimed at helping governments, employers and workers to overcome the challenges of transitioning to greener enterprises and jobs.
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UN OFFICIALS DEPLORE DEADLY ATTACK BY REBELS AGAINST DISPLACED IN DR CONGO
The United Nations refugee agency and its peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo today condemned an attack by armed Rwandan Hutu rebels on a camp for displaced persons in the eastern DRC that has killed at least six people and left many more injured.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced it was evacuating its staff and temporarily suspending operations in the Rutshuru area of North Kivu province, the scene of yesterday’s raid by members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) on the Kinyandoni camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Media reports say at least six people were killed, possibly including two children, and 20 others – including two aid workers from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who were working with the UN agency – have been wounded.
Some of the injured are being treated at health-care facilities in Rutshuru, while others have been transferred to Goma, the provincial capital, according to UNHCR. All other aid agencies are also withdrawing their services from the area.
Eyewitness reports indicate the FDLR rebels started shooting indiscriminately at people inside the makeshift camp, which is home to about 5,000 IDPs, after robbing aid workers based at Kinyandoni late yesterday morning.
In a separate statement, the head of the UN peacekeeping mission (MONUC) and the Secretary-General’s Special Representative to the DRC, Alan Doss, and representatives of the European Union and the United States condemned what they called a “terrorist act” by the FDLR.
Mr. Doss said the attack was either a war crime or a crime against humanity and called for those responsible to be brought to justice, whether at a Congolese or international level.
He stressed that MONUC would continue to support Congolese authorities’ efforts to restore State authority in the eastern DRC, which has been beset by violent unrest – often based along ethnic lines – in recent years, despite the official end to the country’s long-running civil war.
North Kivu is among the most volatile areas in the entire country, with about 860,000 IDPs living in the province. About a tenth of that group live in UNHCR-managed sites.
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UNITED STATES TALK RADIO COMES TO THE UN FOR A DAY
More than 10 United States talk-show hosts are interviewing over 40 United Nations staffers today to mark the third annual Talk Radio Day at UN Headquarters in New York.
The talk radio presenters, from across the US political spectrum, include the well-known activist Al Sharpton, as well as hosts from Air America, Fox News Radio, ABC Satellite Services, Radio America, Westwood One, the Hispanic network HILTN, and CBS Radio Network.
UN staffers have been giving interviews all day on issues of the moment – from aid in Myanmar and the Darfur conflict in western Sudan to peacekeeping, climate change and the global food crisis.
The interviewees include the permanent representatives of Canada, Grenada and New Zealand and staffers from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).
Jack Rice, who broadcasts out of WCCO Radio in Minneapolis for the CBS Radio Network, told the UN News Centre that many Americans were not well informed about the UN.
“I want people to understand what the UN is designed to do, what it tries to do, what it successfully does, and sometimes what it fails to do, and all of those things are valuable,” he said.
Ahmad Fawzi, Director of the News and Media Division at the UN, said this was the third time the event has been held. “We have been looking for ways to connect with the American public, wherever they are – middle America, east coast, west coast – to reach the American heartland,” he said.
“It’s an opportunity to reach many sectors of the American public with information about what the UN does – what it means to them – information about the issues and the crises they hear so much about, and the role of the United Nations,” he added.
Jack Rice of CBS Radio said that the majority of callers to his shows are sympathetic to the UN, though the negative voices are sometimes louder. “I think there are more people who feel positive because it’s the concept of multilateralism generally but what you will see is some people who are very anti-UN who are extremely vocal about it… who scream from the rooftops.”
Mr. Rice recently travelled to Sudan and met with UN workers in Juba in the south of the country.
“You realize the work that some of these guys do and it really is incredible. There’s nobody around to talk to them, nobody sees this, it doesn’t make headlines, but it’s really quite impressive. They’re risking their own lives, they’re putting themselves in incredibly difficult situations for people, and nobody will ever hear about,” he said.
“There are some really remarkable people who do this job and I think it should be acknowledged.”
Broadcasting from the lobby of the UN Secretariat building in New York, radio shows are scheduled to run all day into the early evening.
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UN WELCOMES NICARAGUAN LAWS PROTECTING REFUGEES
After four years of collaboration between the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Nicaragua, the Central American nation’s Parliament has unanimously passed a new law to support refugees, it was announced today.
The legislation details the need of legal counsel for asylum-seekers, in particular unaccompanied minors and vulnerable adults; the right of asylum-seekers and refugees to work and access state services; and the obligation of immigration officers, police and army to identify and quickly refer asylum-seekers to the country’s eligibility procedure.
This “demonstrates how the refugee experience of a country can translate into a positive step forward in upholding refugees rights as human rights,” said Marion Hoffman, UNHCR’s regional representative, adding that the new legislation “is the expression of the Nicaraguan people to unite in their quest for protecting refugees.”
In the 1980s and 1990s, Nicaragua – situated along a key migration route to the United States and Canada – granted asylum to many refugees from neighbouring countries, while more recently, people from Africa, Asia and other Western Hemisphere nations have sought asylum in the country.
Additionally, Nicaragua was itself a refugee-producing country in past decades.
“This law represents the spirit of the Nicaraguan people; it reflects our tradition of hospitality,” said Salvador Talavera, a former refugee and current National Assembly member.
Recently, asylum-seekers from Angola, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Somalia have arrived on Nicaraguan shores, and the country’s refugee law will help officials identify and assist those in need of international protection.
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BAN CONDEMNS LATEST VIOLENCE IN SOUTHERN ISRAEL AND GAZA STRIP
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today condemned ongoing rocket and mortar attacks by militants inside the Gaza Strip against southern Israeli civilian targets and crossing points that have led to the death of an Israeli civilian and injuries to four others.
In the statement issued by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban also condemned the death of a Palestinian child and the injuries to its mother as a result of Israeli Air Force (IAF) fire.
“While recognizing Israel’s right to self-defence, the Secretary-General calls upon Israel to exercise maximum restraint, and reminds the IAF and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) of their responsibility to protect civilians under international humanitarian law during military operations,” it said.
Mr. Ban called on Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza to stop the rocket and mortar attacks that led to today’s death.
“He also reminds them that these actions, as well as attacks on crossings, have detrimental implications for the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza.”
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UNICEF DEPLORES SPIKE IN NUMBER OF KIDNAPPINGS OF HAITIAN CHILDREN
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has joined a national call across Haiti to halt the surge this year in the number of kidnappings of children in the impoverished country.
“The kidnapping of children has increased exponentially over the past few days and weeks,” UNICEF’s representative in Haiti, Annamaria Laurini, said in a statement issued yesterday in Port-au-Prince, the capital.
At least 50 children have been kidnapped already this year, compared to 31 for the first five months of last year. More than half the victims have been girls.
Yesterday’s nationwide call, which included a public demonstration, follows the recent murder of a 16-year-old hostage and the lynching and rape of other hostages, including infants.
“There is no acceptable motive or rationale for these crimes as there is no acceptable excuse that they should be allowed to continue with flagrant impunity,” Ms. Laurini said.
In 1994 Haiti ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which demands that children be protected and their families allowed to live in an environment free from harm.
The UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti (known as MINUSTAH) has been working with the national police force to dismantle criminal gangs wanted for kidnappings, murders and other crimes.
Last week, in a joint operation in Port-au-Prince, they arrested four men suspected of forming the heart of a criminal gang known as Chochonet.
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BAN CONGRATULATES GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT-ELECT
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today congratulated Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua on his election as President of the 63rd session of the General Assembly.
The 75-year-old former Nicaraguan foreign minister was elected by acclamation by United Nations Member States in the 192-member Assembly yesterday.
Mr. Ban “looks forward to working closely with Mr. d’Escoto throughout the next session of the General Assembly in bringing UN Member States together to respond effectively to the global challenges on its agenda, which are critically important to the lives of people around the world,” his spokesperson said in a statement.
Mr. d’Escoto will take up his post on 16 September, when the Assembly begins its 63rd session. He will succeed Srgjan Kerim.
Yesterday, after being elected, he told the Assembly that it was vital for Member States to work together on goals ranging from the maintenance of peace and security to the battle to eradicate poverty and hunger to ensure that the UN lives up to its name.
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YEAR-LONG UN CAMPAIGN SPOTLIGHTS GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE
The United Nations labour agency is launching a year-long global campaign to highlight how various issues in the workplace affect men and women in different ways, in particular in accessing rights, employment and social protection.
“Although progress is being made, gender equality is still lagging behind in the rapidly changing world of work,” said Juan Somavia, Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
“By increasing overall awareness and understanding of gender equality issues, we can actively contribute to securing decent work for all women and men,” he added.
For the past decade the agency has been working to redress gender-based inequalities in policies, programmes and projects, and to promote women’s empowerment, through its gender-mainstreaming strategy.
The new campaign, built around 12 themes, will lead into a general discussion on gender equality at the heart of decent work at the International Labour Conference in June 2009.
“During the next 12 months we will actively reach out to our constituents and other international partners, provide information on different themes and facilitate access to a body of material that the ILO has developed on gender equality around the world,” said Evy Messell, Director of the agency’s Bureau for Gender Equality.
At the 2009 conference, delegates from governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations of ILO member States will be able to study the issues and draft a plan of action to promote gender equality for the next decade.
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SECURITY COUNCIL DELEGATION TO MEET SUDANESE PRESIDENT
A Security Council mission visiting Africa is expected to meet with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir today in Khartoum, the country’s capital.
Earlier in the day, the team visited the headquarters of the UN-African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission in Darfur, known as UNAMID, in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state.
“The people of Sudan are waiting for UNAMID to fulfil its promises,” Rodolphe Adada, the UN-AU Joint Special Representative for Darfur, told the mission.
“The world has placed its confidence in this mission. It will wither away if we are not able to deliver.”
He appealed to the Council for assistance in speeding up the deployment of forces. At full deployment, UNAMID is expected to have some 26,000 troops and police officers, making it the world’s largest peacekeeping operation, but to date, only 10,000 unformed personnel have been deployed.
“I need your help to come in time,” Mr. Adada told the team, led by Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo of South Africa and Ambassador John Sawers of the United Kingdom. “If we wait longer, we might not be able to maintain the most important capital for any peacekeeper: local trust.”
The Council mission also stopped at Zam Zam camp, where they were greeted by hundreds of internally displaced persons (IDPs) bearing signs that read, “No to War, Yes to Peace.”
Sheikhs, chiefs and other camp residents expressed to the delegation that their main concern is security and protection, urging the Council to do its utmost to allow UNAMID to help Darfurians.
The delegation also visited the Wali of North Darfur, who pledged his Government’s full support in UNAMID’s deployment, but urged the Council mission to take the opinions of all sides into consideration.
“The importance of the work of the UN has come through very strongly and the scale of the challenge and the commitment of the people on the ground has also made a vivid impression on us members of the Security Council,” Mr. Sawers told reporters at the end of the four-day visit to Sudan.
He called on the African nation’s Government to keep airports in Darfur open to the UN at all times to enhance delivery of humanitarian aid.
More than 2.7 million people have been displaced from their homes across Darfur since 2003 because of fighting between rebels, Government forces and allied militiamen, while another 300,000 are estimated to have died, either through direct combat or disease, malnutrition or reduced life expectancy.
Meanwhile, the UN and AU envoys spearheading efforts to reach a lasting political solution in Darfur – Jan Eliasson and Salim Ahmed Salim – today wrapped up two days of talks with regional and global partners, as well as Sudan, in Geneva.
The meeting was part of an effort to reassess the political landscape following recent developments, including the postponement of talks on security between the parties, Mr. Eliasson told reporters.
“The focus now has to be on de-escalation,” he said, stressing that the Security Council, regional countries, Sudan and the parties all had to work together to find a solution.
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PERPETRATORS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN MUST BE HELD TO ACCOUNT – UN OFFICIAL
Governments and other actors in positions of power and influence must make it a priority to bring perpetrators of violence against women to account, the top United Nations human rights official said today.
“History has shown time and again that a failure to do so emboldens perpetrators and encourages others to join their ranks,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said in an address to the Human Rights Council, which is holding its eighth session in Geneva.
Ms. Arbour noted that violence, including sexual violence, has been committed and continues to be perpetrated in the midst of conflict and in post-conflict societies “on a magnitude and level of brutality that defies belief.”
Rape is deliberately used as a weapon of war in many conflicts, and in many cases, family members are forced to watch or actually participate in such crimes. “Such acts of unspeakable savagery are often perpetrated in conjunction with other heinous breaches of the law, and all too often go unpunished,” she pointed out.
The High Commissioner said that whether perpetrated in conflict or in peace, the root causes of violence against women are deep-seated inequalities and discrimination. “Whether in law or in fact, discrimination facing women and girls is still the rule rather than the exception,” she stated. “As a result, full equality for women, in law and practice, has yet to be achieved in any country.”
She pointed to a recent study commissioned by her Office that underscored that laws and customs that make women second-class citizens and expose them to violence and inequality were still common in most countries.
Discriminatory laws and practices are also at the root of many cases of maternal mortality, she added, noting that early marriage, female genital mutilation and the disrespect of women’s safe reproductive rights are key contributors to the millions of deaths and disabilities resulting from pregnancy and childbirth annually.
“There is often nothing inevitable about maternal mortality. Many of these deaths could be prevented by making women’s welfare and the realization of all their rights a matter of priority,” stressed the High Commissioner.
The task now is to translate commitments into concrete steps and priorities to give real effect to women’s rights and dignity, she stated, adding that the Council can play “a ground-breaking role” in clearly defining maternal mortality as a human rights issue.
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UN SAYS PRIVATE UK SECURITY GROUPS WOULD SUPPORT INTERNATIONAL REGULATION
A group of United Nations human rights experts said today that private military and security groups in the United Kingdom have agreed to support the creation of both a national and international system to regulate their activities.
The UN working group on the use of mercenaries said in a statement that it welcomed the private companies’ willingness to agree on a basic set of principles.
However, the UN experts said they were concerned that “criminal accountability of individuals working for UK-registered companies is in most cases not covered by British national laws.”
They were also “deeply concerned that in spite of numerous national efforts, notably the 2002 Government Green Paper on the regulation of such activities, no significant move forward has been initiated since 2005.”
During its visit, the working group met with civil society actors and shared their concerns about the impact of interrogations of detainees and the use of lethal force on human rights.
The group’s mandate is to monitor and study the human rights implications of the activities of private companies offering military assistance, consultancy and security services on the international market.
The UN experts have been tasked with preparing a draft of basic international principles that encourage respect for human rights by private security firms.
The group completed a five-day visit to the UK last week and will present a detailed report to an upcoming session of the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly.
In a report earlier this year, the experts said that a growing number of private security and military companies are operating domestically and internationally without effective oversight or accountability.
The report said that private security companies in such conflict-wracked countries as Iraq, Colombia and Afghanistan are recruiting former policemen and members of the military from developing countries as “security guards” in their operations.
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