Back to newsletter list
UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
23 June, 2008 =========================================================================
ZIMBABWEAN POLLS SHOULD BE POSTPONED, GIVEN CAMPAIGN VIOLENCE – BAN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged authorities in Zimbabwe to postpone the presidential run-off election slated for Friday, in light of ongoing violence and the “understandable decision” by the opposition candidate to withdraw from the polls.
“Conditions do not exist for free and fair elections right now in Zimbabwe,” Mr. Ban told reporters in New York. “There has been too much violence, too much intimidation. A vote held in these conditions would lack all legitimacy.”
Tonight, the Security Council also condemned the political violence engulfing Zimbabwe and called on the Government to stop the attacks, to cease intimidating the opposition and to release political leaders who have been detained.
In a statement read out by Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad of the United States, which holds the rotating Council presidency this month, the 15-member panel said the violence and restrictions on the activities of the opposition “have made it impossible for a free and fair election to take place” this Friday.
“To be legitimate, any government of Zimbabwe must take account of the interest of all its citizens,” the presidential statement said, adding that the results of the first round of elections on 29 March should be respected.
Council members urged international monitors and observers to remain in Zimbabwe until the crisis is resolved and welcomed the recent efforts of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and especially South African President Thabo Mbeki, to find a peaceful settlement “that allows a legitimate government to be formed that reflects the will of the Zimbabwean people.”
They also voiced concern at the grave humanitarian situation and condemned the Government’s decision to suspend the operation of aid organizations.
The Secretary-General, who has been in touch with a number of African leaders on the ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe, added that they all agreed that the elections should be postponed until the right conditions are in place.
“I would strongly discourage the authorities with going ahead with the run-off on Friday. It will only deepen divisions within the country and produce a result that cannot be credible,” he stated.
Yesterday Morgan Tsvangirai, of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), announced he was withdrawing from the 27 June run-off in which he was set to face President Robert Mugabe. The country has been marred by deadly political violence since the first round of the presidential election on 29 March.
“The campaign of threats and intimidation we have seen in Zimbabwe goes against the very spirit of democracy,” said the Secretary-General. “Instead of openness, free competition and transparency, we have witnessed fear, hostility and blatant attacks against Zimbabwean citizens.”
He added that what happens in Zimbabwe has an impact well beyond the country’s borders. “The situation in Zimbabwe represents the single greatest challenge to regional stability in Southern Africa today. The region’s political and economic security are at stake as is the very institution of elections in Africa.”
Last week, Mr. Ban sent senior UN political official Haile Menkerios to Zimbabwe in an attempt reduce political tensions. Mr. Menkerios remains in the region, after having met with officials in both Zimbabwe and neighbouring South Africa.
* * *
UN REFUGEE AGENCY DEMANDS RELEASE OF ABDUCTED SOMALI STAFFER
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has called for the immediate and unconditional release of a Somali staff member who was abducted on Saturday from his home outside the war-torn capital, Mogadishu.
As of last night, the agency had not heard anything from Hassan Mohamed Ali, also known as Keynaan, or from the armed gunmen who took him from his home.
“We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Hassan Mohamed Ali,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said yesterday.
He noted that the abduction was another blow to humanitarian efforts to alleviate the suffering of an estimated 1 million people uprooted people inside Somalia, which has not had a functioning government since 1991.
“He and other Somali staff are absolutely crucial in the provision of life-saving humanitarian aid for tens of thousands of innocent civilian victims of the ongoing conflict in their country,” said Mr. Guterres, who had just returned on Saturday from a mission to neighbouring Kenya during which he visited with Somali refugees in the Dadaab camp near the border of the two countries.
“UNHCR is an impartial and apolitical organization whose sole focus in this extremely difficult situation is to ease the suffering of innocent civilians,” he added. “We ourselves are civilians. We are unarmed. We are humanitarians who are committed to serving those in need. It is unconscionable that those trying to help the victims are themselves targeted.”
Mr. Ali, who is the longest-serving UNHCR staff member in Somalia, is well-known in Mogadishu as a humanitarian and human rights advocate. He and his family had also been displaced last year by the violence in the capital and were living in Ceelasha village, west of Mogadishu on the road to Afgooye.
More than 300,000 internally displaced Somalis are trying to survive along the Afgooye corridor in what High Commissioner Guterres described last week as possibly the worst place in the world to live.
The humanitarian situation in the country has only worsened in recent months, owing to continuing insecurity, soaring food prices and a lingering drought. More than 1 million people are now internally displaced in Somalia while 450,000 more Somalis are living as refugees mainly in neighbouring countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and even in Yemen, across the Gulf of Aden.
* * *
DARFUR FACES POTENTIAL FOOD CRISIS UNLESS ACTION TAKEN NOW, WARN UN AGENCIES
United Nations agencies operating in Darfur are calling for urgent action to avert a potential food crisis this year in the war-wracked Sudanese region resulting from ongoing insecurity, a bad harvest and rising food prices.
“There is a window of opportunity to protect the population of Darfur from the worst effects of this year’s difficult hunger gap but it is closing,” the agencies said in a joint statement issued yesterday.
An estimated 300,000 people have died, either through direct combat or disease, malnutrition or reduced life expectancy, since the fighting between rebels, Government forces and allied Janjaweed militiamen began in 2003, while another 2.7 million people have become displaced.
The agencies said that underlying the potential crisis is the ongoing insecurity in the region, which led to an additional 180,000 people being displaced from their homes in the first five months of this year.
Violence directed against aid agencies have led to eight humanitarian workers being killed this year, and a rising number of hijackings of vehicles – 160 to date in 2008. In addition, attacks on the UN World Food Programme (WFP) convoys have seriously delayed the food aid delivery to the region, resulting in a 40 per cent cut in food rations.
The latest incident occurred yesterday when two WFP trucks were carjacked by nearly a dozen armed men. The two drivers were later rescued by a patrol team sent by the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur, known as UNAMID.
Compounding the situation is the shortfall in cereal due to a lower than expected harvest last year, coupled with rising food prices. “If crops cannot be cultivated due to fighting and displacement, many households will become even more vulnerable,” the agencies said.
With water and sanitation services already over-stretched, diseases such as diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections during the upcoming rainy season could worsen the situation of those already affected by food shortages, they added.
The humanitarian community urged safe access for aid workers to all communities to keep an eye on the situation and respond as needed. “All parties must act now to allow humanitarian agencies to safely monitor the situation and deliver life-saving assistance. Without these conditions in place, specifically the security necessary to deliver full food rations, the situation will deteriorate,” warned the agencies.
They also called for speeding up the deployment of troops for UNAMID, which is tasked with quelling the violence in Darfur. The mission currently has around 10,000 troops and police officers on the ground, far short of the expected total of about 26,000 when it reaches full deployment.
UNAMID reports that a number of confidence-building patrols have been conducted in Darfur, including a night-time patrol in the village of Kineen, where the team spoke with the residents who complained of a lack of adequate schools, food, water and medical facilities.
They also said that children and women were constantly harassed by armed Arab militias when fetching firewood. The team assured them that their concerns would be communicated to appropriate agencies, and that more patrols would be conducted to the area.
The security situations where the patrols took place were relatively calm, the mission added.
* * *
MOBILE PHONE DISPOSAL DISCUSSED AT UN HAZARDOUS WASTE MEETING IN BALI
The safe disposal of old mobile phones, computer equipment and ships are among the topics being discussed at a United Nations meeting on waste management that kicked off today in Bali, Indonesia.
The ninth meeting of parties to the 1989 Basel Convention is considering new guidelines for getting rid of phones and other “e-waste” in a way that protects both the environment and human health.
“The use of mobile phones has grown exponentially from the first few users in the 1970s, to 1.76 billion in 2004, and more than 3 billion in April 2008,” according to a news released issued by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Secretariat of the Basel Convention. “Sooner or later, these phones will be discarded, whole or in parts.”
Participants at the five-day meeting will look at guidelines proposed by the Basel Convention Mobile Phone Partnership Initiative, which was launched in 2002 and brings mobile phone manufacturers and service providers together with the Convention.
The Bali meeting will also see the launch of the Partnership for Action on Computing Equipment (PACE), which will provide a forum for governments, industry leaders, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and academia to tackle the disposal of old computer equipment, including through global recycling schemes.
The gathering also coincides with the recent launch by UNEP of a new project to help Côte d’Ivoire and other countries in the region address hazardous waste management, following a 2006 incident of toxic waste dumping by a vessel in Abidjan.
The Secretariat of the Basel Convention is also involved in the negotiations for a new legally binding treaty on the dismantling of obsolete ships, including the promotion of sustainable ship-recycling practices.
“As we are all too often reminded, hazardous wastes continue to pose serious risks for human health and the environment,” said the Executive Secretary of the Basel Convention, Katharina Kummer Peiry.
“Yet at the same time, waste management is often excluded from development agendas. I hope that this meeting reaffirms the undeniable link between environmentally sound waste management and sustainable development, especially for those who need it the most,” she added.
There are currently 170 parties to the Basel Convention, which regulates the global movements of hazardous and other wastes, and obligates member countries to manage and dispose of such wastes in an environmentally sound manner.
* * *
UN SENDS EXPERTS TO SENEGAL AFTER EXPOSURE TO LEAD BATTERIES KILLS CHILDREN
The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) has dispatched a team of experts to Senegal after the death of a number of children in one of the suburbs of the capital, apparently from exposure to lead batteries.
WHO has deployed a clinical toxicologist, an environmental health specialist and an analytical chemist to Senegal to conduct clinical examinations and further environmental investigations after a request from the Government, the agency said in a statement released today.
Clinical tests so far have revealed “extremely high” blood lead concentrations in the dead children, as well as in their siblings and mothers, most of whom have been involved in the informal recycling of lead batteries in the NGagne Diaw quarter of Thiaroye sur Mer, a suburb of Dakar.
“Many children are showing evidence of neurological damage,” WHO said in the statement. “Environmental investigations have found very high concentrations of lead, both outside and inside peoples’ homes. These have been mapped to an area inhabited by approximately 950 people, who are continuously exposed through ingestion and inhalation of lead-contaminated dust.”
The Geneva-based agency said it had advised Senegalese authorities to take urgent action to terminate exposure of the affected population to lead, and to provide chelation (the administration of agents to remove heavy metals) and other forms of therapy to children with high blood lead concentrations.
“Chelation therapy in children who continue to be exposed to lead is ineffective and may exacerbate toxicity. Plans are in hand to hospitalize the worst-affected cases, but they will then need to be able to return to a lead-free environment. WHO has provided chelating agents, and the clinical toxicologist has started training local medical staff.”
The thorough decontamination of the affected area, including the insides of homes, must be a priority, WHO added, calling for international financial support to help with the environmental and health response.
* * *
BAN CALLS FOR MORE COHERENT UN EFFORTS TO HELP STATES EMERGING FROM CONFLICT
The United Nations must streamline its presence in countries emerging from conflict so that it is better placed to help them make progress on the political, security, developmental or human rights fronts and not lapse back into war or chaos, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Peacebuilding Commission today.
Speaking to the closing meeting of the Commission’s second session, Mr. Ban said “a UN system-wide culture of coordination and coherence” was necessary to ensure that efforts to support struggling States are more integrated and effective.
“It is in this way that the UN can provide effective leadership for global efforts in response to post-conflict situations,” he said, stressing that the UN’s Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) can play a crucial role in this endeavour.
Mr. Ban said it was important that the international community invest generously in national capacities to ensure that peace becomes sustainable.
“Viable States require local institutions capable of delivering basic services and providing security, justice and political stability.”
The Secretary-General said he backed the approach to streamline the Commission’s methodologies so that it can support a large number of countries than it does currently.
The 31-member body, set up at the end of 2005, has four countries on its agenda: Burundi, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau and, as of earlier this month, the Central African Republic (CAR). It is tasked with marshalling resources from around the world and providing strategic advice to post-conflict countries.
* * *
GUINEA-BISSAU NEEDS MORE SUPPORT IN FIGHT TO MAKE ECONOMIC GAINS – UN REPORT
Guinea-Bissau’s economic and financial situation remains dire, despite some signs of possible improvement, a new United Nations report says, calling for greater international support to help the West African country emerge from its predicament and fight drug trafficking and organized crime.
The Secretary-General’s latest report on the UN Peacebuilding Support Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS), released today, warns that “substantial support by the international community” will be necessary if the country is to advance, especially given the ongoing budget deficits and the lack of investment in public services and infrastructure.
Rising prices of fuel and basic foods mean Guinea-Bissau’s overall fiscal situation is very fragile, the report states, noting that the Government has introduced several measures – such as tax exemptions on imports of fuel and rice, a staple food item for many people – to try to mitigate the problems.
Cashew nut exports are forecast to grow by nearly 10,000 tons to 106,000 tons this year, while construction activity and agricultural production are both expected to rise as well. The gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to rise by 3 per cent in 2008.
“I am encouraged by reports of improved prospects for economic recovery and by the determination of the Government of Guinea-Bissau to take strong measures aimed at improving fiscal discipline and economic stability in the country,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon writes.
But he also states that “the economic and financial situation remains dire,” adding that the Government’s inability to pay salary arrears for public servants in the past few months could heighten existing political tensions.
Adequate funding has also not yet been found for legislative elections scheduled for November, with more than $5 million in extra money needed, according to the report.
Mr. Ban also urges the Government to take advantage of international mechanisms to fight drug trafficking and organized crime, and says the international community should also show much greater support in this field.
* * *
UN REFUGEE AGENCY RESTORES DOZENS OF SCHOOLS ACROSS NORTHERN UGANDA
The United Nations refugee agency has restored 134 primary schools in northern Uganda, allowing thousands of children to return to classes, after the damage and destruction caused by two decades of conflict between Government forces and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
UNHCR said some of the restored schools have been rebuilt at their old sites while others have been moved to new sites as peace gradually returns to the north after a series of agreements between the Government and the LRA to end conflict that began in the mid-1980s.
Hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been returning home across northern Uganda since the peace talks began two years ago, and now only a final, wide-ranging accord remains to be signed by the two sides.
The UN envoy on the issue, the former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano, told the Security Council last week that frustration is growing among many Central African countries that the LRA leadership has not been willing to sign the final accord and that the rebels continue to commit some atrocities.
But the violence and unrest has largely subsided in the region, allowing the large-scale return of civilians and a desire to rebuild basic services.
Sisse Kristensen, a community services officer for UNHCR in Uganda, said many local communities had approached the agency for help as they did not have the resources themselves to rebuild or restore the schools.
“When we realized that there were many such requests from the community, we sat down with the district to develop a strategy on how this could be done,” she said.
* * *
UN WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL CHIEF REPORTS SERBIA TO SECURITY COUNCIL
The President of the United Nations tribunal set up to deal with the worst war crimes committed during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s has reported Serbia to the Security Council for failing to cooperate with the court.
Judge Fausto Pocar of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) informed Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad of the United States, which holds the rotating Council presidency this month, that the Serbian Government had been unwilling to cooperate in the so-called ‘Milutinović and others’ case.
The ICTY trial chamber tried on a number of occasions between March and June this year to contact General Aleksander Dimitrijević, former head of the Yugoslav Army’s Security Administration, to have him appear as a witness in the Milutinović case.
Mr. Milutinović is on trial with five other former top Yugoslav political and military figures – Nikola Šainović, Nebojša Pavković, Dragoljub Ojdanić, Vladimir Lazarević and Sreten Lukić – over an alleged campaign of terror and violence directed against Kosovo Albanians and other non-Serbs living in Kosovo in 1999. All six men face charges of murder, deportation, forcible transfer and the persecution of thousands of Kosovo Albanians and other non-Serbs.
As Gen. Dimitrijević’s address in Serbia was not available to the ICTY, both the trial chamber and Judge Pocar urged Rasim Ljajić, the head of Serbia’s National Council for Cooperation, on a number of occasions to ensure the delivery of both the letter inviting the General to testify and the subsequent subpoena.
But the National Council for Cooperation’s response to requests from the tribunal for updates “were often delayed and incomplete,” according to a statement to the media issued today, and Gen. Dimitrijević failed to appear in court as well.
“The Government of Serbia is challenging the authority of the International Tribunal and the Security Council,” Judge Pocar said, adding that Serbia is therefore “in breach of its international legal obligations.”
* * *
UN ENVOY TRAVELS TO GREECE, FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA FOR TALKS
The United Nations mediator in talks between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia will head to the region later this week for another round of consultations on the long-running dispute over the name of the latter country.
Matthew Nimetz, the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy, will be in Athens, where he is expected to meet Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis and other Greek officials, on Thursday.
The envoy is then scheduled to travel to Skopje on Friday for discussions with President Branko Crvenkoski, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and other officials.
Mr. Nimetz has frequently held talks with the two sides in recent months – including a round earlier this month in New York – to try to reach a deal, but he said in March that there has been no progress on the issue, despite an acknowledgement by both sides that a solution was in their best interests.
The Interim Accord of 13 September 1995, which was brokered by the UN, details the difference between Athens and Skopje on the name issue. It obliges the two sides to continue negotiations under the Secretary-General’s auspices in a bid to reach agreement.
* * *
UN CHILDREN’S AND REFUGEE AGENCIES SIGN DEAL TO CUT COSTS OF VACCINES IN PAKISTAN
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the world body’s refugee agency have signed an agreement that will lead to significant savings in the purchase of vaccines for Afghans and locals living in and around Pakistan’s refugee settlements.
Under a memorandum of understanding signed in Islamabad at the weekend, UNICEF will obtain vaccines on behalf of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) based on the current UNICEF supply catalogue and price list or other estimates provided by UNICEF – which are lower than what the other agency pays.
Guenet Guebre-Christos, UNHCR’s representative in Pakistan, said the deal was “a good example of the UN delivering as one. The economies of scale will allow us to be more cost-efficient when procuring vaccines. This in turn will help us to maximize services to the refugees.”
UNHCR spends about $200,000 every year on vaccines for hundreds of thousands of refugee children and pregnant women living in refugee villages and for their host communities. The vaccines are designed to prevent diseases such as polio, measles, tuberculosis, diphtheria, hepatitis B and tetanus.
* * *
UN AGENCIES ASSIST SOUTH AFRICA IN WAKE OF XENOPHOBIC VIOLENCE
An inter-agency United Nations team is helping the South African Government respond to last month’s wave of xenophobic attacks that killed some 60 people and left tens of thousands of foreigners homeless.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has established a telephone hotline for refugees and asylum-seekers and is also assisting the Government with efforts to register displaced people in Gauteng province, scene of much of the recent violence.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is helping with nutrition, education and child protection efforts and has also provided basic recreational materials for school students.
The inter-agency team is also leading training for officials in Cape Town and elsewhere on disaster response and applying humanitarian principles.
Officials across the UN have spoken out against the xenophobic violence in South Africa, which is home to more than 128,000 registered refugees and asylum-seekers.
* * *
UN TEAM BEGINS WORK TO VERIFY SYRIAN NUCLEAR REACTOR CLAIM
A team from the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency has arrived in Syria to probe allegations that an installation destroyed by Israel last September was a nuclear reactor.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is treating the information received with the seriousness it deserves, said Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei, adding that he looks forward to Syria’s full cooperation on the matter.
According to the information, provided to the agency in April by the United States, the reactor was not yet operational and no nuclear material had been introduced into it.
The team arrived in the country on Sunday and is expected to work through tomorrow to determine the veracity of the information received.
Syria is obligated under its comprehensive safeguards agreements to report the planning and construction of any nuclear facility to the Vienna-based IAEA.
Earlier this month, Mr. ElBaradei expressed regret that his agency had not received the information sooner, and that unilateral force was used before the IAEA could establish the facts.
* * *
KENYAN YOUTH TO RECEIVE SKILLS TRAINING FOLLOWING SECRETARY-GENERAL’S DONATION
Young people in two Nairobi slums will be the first beneficiaries of a $100,000 donation by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to assist a United Nations agency working to improve living conditions in the Kenyan capital’s poorest areas.
About 70 youths from Kibera and Mavoko are taking part in a course organized by the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) in which participants will be trained in three techniques – making special bricks, tiles and doors – that they can use in small enterprises, the agency said in a press release today.
“Habitat blocks” are bricks that cost only 20 per cent of the amount of an ordinary brick, glass “bottle window” tiles are unbreakable windows that can be made out of recycled materials, and “ferro cement” doors are virtually fire- and bullet-proof.
The training is being paid for by Mr. Ban, who announced last year that he would donate the $100,000 award he received from the Pony Chung Scholarship Foundation to UN-HABITAT for use in Kibera, Africa’s largest slum, which the Secretary-General visited in his first trip on taking office.
UN-HABITAT Executive Director Anna Tibaijuka, addressing today’s launch at the Youth Empowerment Programme, urged young people in Kenya to move beyond the deadly tensions that erupted at the start of this year after disputed elections.
Linus Sijenti, a youth leader from Kibera, welcomed the donation and the launch of the programme.
“There are over 700,000 people in Kibera, and 60 per cent of them are youth,” he said. “This project is the first step in giving young people skills to lift them out of poverty.”
* * *
UN AWARD WINNERS SHOULD INSPIRE GOVERNMENTS TO EXCEL IN PUBLIC SERVICE – MIGIRO
The winners of this year’s United Nations public service awards should inspire governments around the world to step up their efforts to deliver vital basic services and improve the daily lives of their people, the Deputy Secretary-General said today.
“Governments around the world need to break with ‘business as usual’ and engage in ever more innovative ways of delivering public services and of organizing the way they function,” Asha-Rose Migiro said today at a Headquarters ceremony honouring the winners of the 2008 UN Public Service Awards.
She noted that while the private sector and civil society play a vital role in development, it is governments that have the “main role to steer development efforts and provide the necessary conditions for a stable, peaceful and prosperous society.
“It is governments that can ensure and facilitate access to quality services, such as health, education, sanitation facilities and water,” she added.
However, governments are facing a number of challenges, including the current food crisis, climate change and natural disasters, and are being challenged to do more with less and be more transparent and accountable. That is why the work of public institutions, such as this year’s winners, is so important, the Deputy Secretary-General noted.
“Your innovativeness and your leadership have made a meaningful difference in the lives of ordinary people. In your daily work, you found new and effective ways to deliver vital services to those in need,” she stated.
“Your exemplary initiatives should inspire all governments around the world – at all levels – to strive for excellence in public service,” added Ms. Migiro.
The award was established in 2003 to reward excellence and promote professionalism in the public sector around the world.
This year’s winners include Australia’s Job Access; Brazil’s Projeto Oficina-Escola de Artes e Ofícios de Santana de Parnaíba; India’s Programme of Communitization of Public Institutions and Services; Jordan’s Family Planning; Rwanda’s Common Development Fund; SADAD Payment System of Saudi Arabia; Singapore’s Home Ownership Programme; South Africa’s Transnet-Phelophepa Health Care Train; Spain’s Directorate General for Citizen Participation; Sweden’s Library 2007; Tunisia’s Orientation universitaire en ligne; and Juvenile Delinquency Domestic Violence and Family Violence Court of the United States.
* * *
BRITISH CHILDREN’S AUTHOR PARTNERS WITH UNESCO TO HELP YOUNG PEOPLE IN NEED
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is teaming up with its newly-named Artist for Peace and British writer Lauren Child to support children in need around the world.
Under the partnership which will be launched on 25 June, Ms. Child – an author and illustrator of children’s books – and her publisher Hachette Children’s Books will donate the royalties from her best-selling book “That Pesky Rat” for three years to UNESCO’s Programme for the Education of Children in Need.
The funds will finance different UNESCO-supported projects for children in need, such as the Renacimiento Foundation for street children in Mexico City. An enhanced edition of “That Pesky Rat” to be released this month in the United Kingdom will contain stories of children in the Foundation’s care.
Also part of the initiative is “My Life is a Story,” a campaign begun by Ms. Child to collect stories of children around the world who are participating in projects affiliated with UNESCO’s Programme for the Education of Children in Need. Several of these writings will be made available on line at www.mylifeisastory.org.
Ms. Child’s books have been translated into 30 different languages and have sold millions of copies globally. She was attracted to the quality of the projects the agency has initiated with its Programme for the Education of Children in Need, which encourage children’s artistic and cultural talents.
Since it was created in 1992, UNESCO’s Programme for the Education of Children in Need has formed partnerships with more than 330 innovative projects in 92 countries, helping vulnerable children gain a better future through education and job training.
As an Artist for Peace, Ms. Child will join other world-renowned personalities, such as the Canadian singer Céline Dion and the Spanish flamenco dancer Joaquín Cortés, who lend their voices to help promote UNESCO’s message and programmes.
* * *
-----------------------------------------
Click here for a PDF version of the UN Daily News: http://www.un.org/News/dh/pdf/english/2008/23062008.pdf
For more details go to UN News Centre at: http://www.un.org/news
To listen to news and in-depth programmes from UN Radio go to: http://radio.un.org/
---------------------------------------------------------
To change your profile or *** go to: http://www.un.org/apps/news/email/
