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UN DAILY NEWS from the
UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE
23 September, 2008 =========================================================================
GLOBAL LEADERSHIP MORE VITAL THAN EVER TO SOLVE TODAY’S CRISES – BAN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today opened the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate by urging world leaders to rise to the “challenge of global leadership” and work together to solve the most pressing and intractable problems, from climate change and the energy crisis to entrenched poverty and the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region.
In these two weeks when world leaders flock to the UN, Mr. Ban meets presidents and prime ministers, kings and king-makers – he cajoles, exhorts and advocates tirelessly. He is armed with the power of persuasion, moral authority and a document that is his Magna Carta, the UN Charter.
“Our challenges are increasingly those of collaboration rather than confrontation,” Mr. Ban declared in a wide-ranging speech before dozens of heads of State and government gathered at UN Headquarters in New York. “Nations can no longer protect their interests, or advance the well-being of their people, without the partnership of the rest.”
But he warned there were signs that many leaders and countries were unwilling to take up the mantle of doing more, not less, to help those around the world who need support, despite the scale of some of the crises.
“I see a danger of nations looking more inward, rather than towards a shared future. I see a danger of retreating from the progress we have made, particularly in the realm of development and more equitably sharing the fruits of global growth.”
As new centres of power and leadership are emerging in Asia, Latin America and elsewhere in the newly developed world, “we are on the eve of a great transition,” he said.
Wise leadership, Mr. Ban said, is vital if the world is to regain the momentum on climate change produced by negotiations in Bali last year, combat malaria and HIV/AIDS or ensure that human rights are upheld and the principle of “responsibility to protect” is extended to all vulnerable populations.
“It takes leadership to honour our pledges and our promises in the face of fiscal constraints and political opposition. It takes leadership to commit our soldiers to a cause of peace in faraway places.
“It takes leadership to speak out for justice; to act on climate change despite powerful voices against you; to stand against protectionism and make trade concessions, even in our enlightened self-interest. Yet… that is why we are here.”
On Thursday, world leaders will discuss how to accelerate progress towards the eight globally agreed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which aim to slash a host of social and economic ills – by their target date of 2015.
Mr. Ban said leaders should be “bold and specific” in spelling out what they will do to achieve the MDGs, given that his most recent report on the issue shows that sub-Saharan Africa is especially lagging in the race to meet the Goals.
“We must galvanize global awareness and global action, with a special focus on Africa. As you know, progress has been uneven. Pledges have not been fully honoured. Yet we have achieved enough to know the Goals are within reach.”
Mr. Ban stressed that the UN was at the forefront of international efforts to resolve or reduce all of the world’s biggest problems.
“The United Nations is the champion of the most vulnerable. When disaster strikes, we act,” he said, citing the recent series of deadly hurricanes in Haiti and the wider Caribbean, relief efforts in Myanmar in the wake of Cyclone Nargis and ongoing aid operations in the Horn of Africa, where millions of people have been hit by drought.
The Organization led the way this year on responding to the global food crisis, he added, establishing a task force to devise long-term solutions and at the same time ensuring that seeds and fertilizers reach the hands of small farmers in struggling countries.
In addition, the power of the UN’s good offices has been put to diplomatic use, bearing fruit already in Nepal and Kenya and helping to defuse other conflicts and crises, such as in Cyprus, Côte d’Ivoire and Zimbabwe.
The Secretary-General’s appeal for global leadership echoed one of the key themes of the recent meeting of top UN aides in Turin, Italy, where he noted that the UN is being sought out more than ever before to deal with the world’s biggest problems. “We can no longer do business as usual,” in his words.
He has reiterated that if the UN is to carry out its mandated tasks, it needs to be given the necessary resources – especially in peacekeeping operations. And, above all, he has made internal reform of the Organization a personal priority.
The Secretary-General, who is holding bilateral discussions with numerous world leaders on the sidelines of the Assembly general debate this week, flagged that in the weeks ahead he will seek their support for a new human resources framework at the UN.
“We need to replace our current system of contracts and conditions of service. It is dysfunctional. It is demoralizing. It discourages mobility between UN departments and the field. It promotes stagnation, rather than creativity. It undercuts our most precious resource – the global, dedicated corps of international civil servants that is the backbone of the UN.”
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GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT CALLS FOR SOLIDARITY TO DEFEAT CULTURE OF SELFISHNESS
The President of the United Nations General Assembly today opened its annual high-level debate with a call for the 192 Member States to “choose the path of solidarity” to overturn what he described as a culture of selfishness that allowed millions of people worldwide to suffer in poverty or as a result of other man-made problems.
Miguel D’Escoto told dozens of world leaders gathered at UN Headquarters in New York that “a confluence of large-scale, interrelated crises” – including climate change, high food prices, natural disasters and the current global financial troubles – highlighted that it was time to change the way peoples and countries interacted with each other.
“If we are to seize the opportunities, we must move beyond lamentations, speech-making and statements of good intentions and take concrete action based on a firm resolve to replace the individualism and selfishness of the dominant culture with human solidarity as the golden rule that guides our behaviour,” he said.
Mr. D’Escoto warned that the world was in danger of drowning in a “morass of maniacal, suicidal selfishness,” causing problems as diverse as a lack of access to clean water, human trafficking, the arms build-up and gender inequalities.
These problems are hampering progress towards the internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the series of targets to slash a host of social and economic ills by 2015, he said.
“More than half the world’s people languish in hunger and poverty, while at the same time more and more money is spent on weapons, wars, luxuries and totally superfluous and unnecessary things.
“We must resist the temptation to bury our heads in the sand in an attempt to deny reality. Let us be brave enough to acknowledge the vast inequities that exist in the world and within most of our countries, even in many of the most developed countries. These inequities are time-bombs that will not simply go away if we ignore them.”
The President said the world’s most pressing problems were all man-made and could be largely traced back “to the lack of democracy at the United Nations. A small group of States take decisions based on selfish motives, and the world’s poor are the ones who suffer the consequences.”
He added that too many important decisions on key issues did not go through the General Assembly, even though it is supposed to represent the peoples of the world, and that the Assembly’s decisions were often casually ignored.
While the UN “has done many laudable things” since its inception in 1945, “we must admit that in terms of eliminating war, achieving disarmament and ensuring international security, we have failed.”
But Mr. D’Escoto spoke out against the attitude that this culture of selfishness was irreversible.
“The world has reached a point at which we have no alternative – either we love one another or we all perish; either we treat each other as brothers and sisters or we witness the beginning of the end of our human species. If we choose the path of solidarity, recognizing each other as brothers and sisters, we will open up new horizons of life and hope for everyone.”
Mr. D’Escoto urged countries to commit themselves to respecting and defending two principles: the sovereign equality of all UN Member States, and the obligations of all members to meet their obligations under the UN Charter.
Nearly 120 heads of State or government are in attendance for today’s opening of the high-level segment of the General Assembly, and representatives of all 192 Member States are expected to address the segment before it concludes next week.
Last Friday the Assembly adopted a work programme for the current session, its sixty-third, in which Member States will consider more than 150 separate agenda items. These included a request to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legality of Kosovo’s declaration of independence in February.
Today’s opening of the high-level segment follows a day-long meeting yesterday at UN Headquarters on Africa’s development needs, while on Thursday Member States will meet to discuss progress towards the MDGs.
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HAITI: UN URGES URGENT AID FOR HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF CHILD HURRICANE VICTIMS
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is calling for urgent action to bring life-saving help to hundreds of thousands of youngsters in Haiti suffering from four successive hurricanes since August.
“Relief operations are moving towards the post-disaster recovery activities, but pressing humanitarian needs are yet to be met,” UNICEF said in an update on the situation in the impoverished Caribbean country, where an estimated 300,000 children are in need of aid, according to the Government.
“Entire parts of the country remain inaccessible by road due to landslides and collapsed bridges,” it added, noting that the dispatch of humanitarian supplies relies on costly sea and air transportation.
Over 400 schools were damaged and many more are being used as shelter. Children are expected to return to school on 6 October, and UNICEF aid will contribute towards creating favourable conditions for the displaced population to return to their homes and vacate the schools.
“The people here need more food and water,” said UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, actress Mia Farrow, on a recent visit to shelters in the devastated city of Gonaives where she talked with families whose houses and livelihoods were washed away with the rains.
“The children and the families I have spoken with are hungry and thirsty. They need so much more help from the international community and they need it now.”
An inter-agency appeal for $107 million was launched on 10 September, but only a little over 3 per cent has so far been raised. UNICEF has already provided over 120,000 litres of water, water purification tablets, hygiene kits, blankets, therapeutic milk, high energy food supplement, and other relief supplies.
“The devastation in Gonaives reminds me of the (2004 Indian Ocean) tsunami when I was in Aceh (Indonesia), except that this time there is so much mud everywhere that it is hard to see how the people will get rid of it,” said Nigel Fisher, President of UNICEF Canada, accompanying Ms. Farrow in Gonaives.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP), which has already supplied enough food for 373,000 people since the relief operation was launched, some 226,000 of them in Gonaives, has now received two chartered helicopters for air transport. They will serve WFP and other humanitarian agencies and the first deployment will likely be to transport a portable hospital and water purification for the Spanish Red Cross.
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‘PRECARIOUS CALM’ RETURNS TO SCENE OF RECENT CONGOLESE CLASHES, REPORTS UN
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) reports that “a precarious calm” has returned to North Kivu, especially the town of Sake, the scene of recent fighting between Government troops and rebel forces.
The Congolese armed forces (FARDC) and the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) have engaged in some intense clashes in Sake, which is about 20 kilometres from Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.
“The guns have fallen silent, and no clash has been reported during the day,” according to a news release issued by the UN mission, known as MONUC.
The recent fighting in the country’s eastern region has been some of the worst in more than a year and a violation of the Actes d’engagement signed by the parties in January.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on the CNDP to accept the global disengagement plans provided for in the Actes, which was prepared by MONUC and accepted by the Government last week.
The UN humanitarian office said today that the fighting and insecurity in the eastern DRC has seriously impeded the delivery of aid to vulnerable populations. The hostilities have led to the displacement of civilians in North Kivu, with most of those forced to flee having already been displaced in the past year in previous waves of fighting.
At the same time, all parties to the fighting appear to be engaging in widespread looting of civilian infrastructure, including health centres and houses, in conflict-affected areas.
“Poor families in eastern Congo are not only being deprived of life-saving humanitarian assistance due to simple insecurity but are also being subjected to looting and common banditry,” said Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes.
He stressed that all parties to the conflict should recall their obligations to guarantee unconditional and safe access to humanitarian organizations.
“Despite the conflict, they are also responsible for respecting civilian infrastructure and private property. Humanitarian aid is independent, impartial and neutral, and its disruption or manipulation by any of the parties to the conflict is quite simply contrary to international humanitarian law, for which those concerned should and can be held accountable,” Mr. Holmes added.
Meanwhile, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of MONUC, Alan Doss, and Force Commander General Babacar Gaye took part in a meeting of the Steering Committee of the Amani Programme, set up to implement the January peace deal.
Today’s meeting, held in the South Kivu capital of Bukavu, focused on how to consolidate the ceasefire and the implementation of the disengagement plan.
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BAN HONOURS BRAVE GRANDMOTHERS OF DISAPPEARED ARGENTINES
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today paid tribute to the relatives of those who disappeared between 1976 and 1983 under the military dictatorship in Argentina, where tens of thousands of people became victims, for speaking out about their plight.
“These brave grandmothers were robbed of their precious loved ones under unspeakable circumstances,” Mr. Ban said at the opening of the Abuelas of the Plaza de Maya exhibition at UN Headquarters.
“Anyone would have forgiven them for shrinking in fear of the merciless forces that were inflicting such suffering on innocent families,” he added. “But they courageously stood up.”
The women, armed with nothing but their courage, have been able to restore almost 100 children to their families thus far. “These grandmothers, unlike the dictatorship, had no guns and ammunition – only a burning passion for truth and justice,” the Secretary-General said.
Also speaking at the exhibition’s opening, General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto hailed the persistence of the women, noting that they inspired others in the region to stand up for justice.
“By using the names and by remembering their identities through photos, letters and memoirs, they move us to remember and document the crimes that were committed against their loved ones,” he said.
“They remind us so clearly that their daughters and sons are also our brothers and sisters. By acknowledging this fundamental truth, we can muster the confidence and courage to do like las abuelas, the grandmothers, to defend what is right and to protect those who are vulnerable.”
At the General Assembly’s high-level annual debate today, Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner appealed for universal ratification of the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which outlaws enforced disappearances and allows victims’ families the right to learn the truth about what happened.
So far, only four of the 74 countries that have signed have also ratified the Convention, which contains an absolute prohibition on the practice and calls on all States Parties to ensure that it is an offence under their domestic laws.
The treaty will enter into force once 20 countries have ratified it. Its monitoring body will be entitled to receive requests for urgent action on individual cases, to conduct visits with the agreement of States parties concerned, and, in the situation of suspected widespread or systematic cases being practised in the territory under the jurisdiction of a State party, to urgently bring the matter before the General Assembly.
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FOOD CRISIS OFFERS ECONOMIC BENEFITS FOR SOME STATES, UGANDA INFORMS UN DEBATE
The global crisis sparked by soaring food prices offers an economic opportunity for some countries, especially those in Equatorial Africa, to take advantage by boosting their agricultural production, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni told world leaders gathered for the General Assembly today.
Speaking at United Nations Headquarters on the opening day of the Assembly’s annual high-level debate, Mr. Museveni said the technological and economic advances made by his country in the past two decades meant Ugandans were not necessarily disturbed by the recent spike in the prices of many staple crops.
“It is an opportunity as far as we are concerned,” he said. “It is not a bottleneck. In fact, farmers in Uganda are reaping high. That is why our economy last year grew by 9 per cent per annum.”
Mr. Museveni said the “so-called ‘food crisis’ is actually good for Equatorial Africa,” given its climatic conditions and common crops.
“Over the years we have been growing a lot of food – maize, bananas, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, rice, wheat; and producing animal products like milk, beef, etc.”
But he added that the greatest problem for countries such as Uganda has been reaching major markets for the foods it produces.
Protectionism in the European Union and countries such as the United States and Japan and a lack of factories within Uganda to process the foods so they could reach distant markets had combined to hold back the country’s economic growth, the President said.
“It is good that the USA, EU, India, Japan and China have opened their markets to African products – tariff-free, quota-free. However, there is still the issue of subsidies. These should be removed. We farm in Uganda without subsidies.
“Why shouldn’t the farmers in these countries with better infrastructure, lower interest rates, abundant electricity, etc, do the same? Why do they need protection? Protectionism interferes with those that can produce food easily, such as Uganda. This is not correct.”
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RUSSIAN ‘INVASION’ CHALLENGES UN CHARTER, GEORGIAN PRESIDENT SAYS
Last month’s “invasion” by Russia flouted principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter, the President of Georgia said today, expressing the Caucasus nation’s determination to rebuild and further consolidate democracy.
Mikheil Saakashvili told the General Assembly’s high-level segment that his country, with a population of less than 5 million people, was “trampled” in August by Russia.
“Despite our small size, the legal, moral, political and security implications raised by that invasion could not be larger in consequence,” he said, referring to principles protected by the Charter, including state sovereignty, human rights and international law.
“All of these principles were put to the test by the invasion, and now hang in the balance.”
Mr. Saakashvili said that he welcomes a comprehensive and independent investigation into the causes of the conflict, calling on Russia to fully cooperate with such an assessment.
He stressed the need for another Rose Revolution, the first having been held in Georgia in 2003 to battle domestic corruption. “Our second revolution must be even more focused, as now we face an even greater challenge, one that comes from outside.”
Thanking the international community for its support for Georgians in need, the President vowed that resources contributed to the country’s reconstruction efforts will be spent “wisely, well and with full transparency.”
He added that the “Georgia we rebuild will contribute to the prosperity and security of all our citizens, and to the entire international community” by acting as a beacon of stability and model of democracy.
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ANNUAL UN TREATY EVENT KICKS OFF WITH ENDORSEMENTS OF DISABILITY RIGHTS PACT
Eight Member States today signed or ratified 11 separate conventions, agreements and treaties on issues ranging from migrant workers’ rights to the protection of tropical timber during the annual United Nations event designed to increase participation in global pacts.
The Solomon Islands signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which is designed to protect the rights of the estimated 650 million people worldwide who have disabilities. France signed its Optional Protocol while Togo signed both the convention and its protocol.
France also ratified the Convention on Enforced Disappearances, Guatemala ratified the Convention on the Safety of UN and Associated Personnel and Paraguay ratified the Migrant Workers Convention as well as depositing three instruments of accession to other treaties.
Meanwhile, Tunisia ratified the Convention against Corruption and acceded to the Optional Protocol on the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women as well as withdrew reservations to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Spain and the Czech Republic signed the International Tropical Timber Agreement on the first day of this year’s treaty event, which centres on the theme “Universal Participation and Implementation – Dignity and Justice for All of Us.”
The annual treaty event, held at UN Headquarters in New York since 2000, seeks to promote the increased participation of countries in the more than 500 multilateral treaties deposited with the Secretary-General, and by so doing, to strengthen the rule of law.
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PANAMA URGES UN TO DECLARE GLOBAL STATE OF EMERGENCY TO CONFRONT FOOD CRISIS
Panamanian President Martín Torrijos Espino today called on the United Nations General Assembly to declare a global state of emergency to confront the crisis of soaring food prices by mobilizing all governmental forces, private initiative and international organizations to save millions of people from the jaws of poverty.
“In the constitution of nearly every State, the declaration of a state of emergency exists as a mechanism to confront imminent dangers to national security,” he told the Assembly’s annual debate. “I am convinced that in light of food prices we are now face to face with a threat to social peace and the General Assembly could declare it as such.”
He noted that in the past few days hundreds of billions of dollars have been put forward to save commercial enterprises while indifference surrounds the deaths each year of 5.6 million children under five as a direct or indirect result of malnutrition.
“They have not died because of terrorist acts which we all abhor, nor because of acts of nature which we all lament,” he said. “They died for a reason as simple as it is tragic: they were poor.”
Mr. Torrijos added that the food crisis could not be separated from climate change and he called for the development of more efficient alternatives to fossil fuels, such as wind and solar power.
“So that the response should be a lasting and sustainable solution and not a temporary palliative, we must tackle both problems without any more delay, the food crisis and climate change, in an integral, comprehensive and coherent manner,” he declared.
Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo said the food crisis posed grave problems for the poorest inhabitants of developing countries and threatened to undermine recent improvements in nutrition and health indicators in those nations.
The international community must urgently introduce new measures, including an increase in agricultural production, if it is to stave off widespread starvation, he said, adding that agriculture has to be central to poverty reduction strategies.
Mr. Jagdeo stressed the need for stronger safety nets to be developed so that the poor continue to have access to food and maintain basic nutrition levels through the current crisis.
“It is also urgently necessary for large developed countries to re-examine ways in which current inefficient and distortionary trade policies, particularly subsidies that support inefficient domestic production and tariffs that protect against more competitive imports, can be restructured to reduce distortions in the global marketplace,” he said.
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OBSTRUCTIONIST STATES PARALYZE UN IN FACE OF MAJOR CRISES, LITHUANIAN LEADER SAYS
United Nations efforts to resolve conflicts and crises around the world are being blocked by States that avoid punishment by claiming national sovereignty, Lithuania’s President told the annual high-level debate of the General Assembly today.
Valdas Adamkus said the UN did not responded sufficiently or quickly enough to recent crises in various hotspots, such as Myanmar, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
“The world needed UN leadership,” he said. “But the Organization has not acted accordingly. It is because some States hide behind the technicalities or the shield of national sovereignty, thus paralyzing the UN.”
Mr. Adamkus cited the recent outbreak of deadly fighting in Georgia that involved Georgian, Russian and South Ossetian forces as an example of the UN having “largely failed to react to an act of aggression against a small nation.”
He said: “Perhaps we have failed to react because one of the interested sides to the conflict is a permanent member of the Security Council, which has the responsibility to adhere strictly to the letter and the spirit of the UN Charter and United Nations resolutions.”
The Lithuanian President reminded world leaders attending the high-level debate that it is the mission of the UN to protect human life and human rights.
“The United Nations cannot be a mere passive observer if and when universal values and international law are under threat. Still, too often we remain observers in the face of mounting security crises.”
The President said it was clear that the UN needs to reform so that it is more focused on the issues “that will determine the future of the 21st century, such as energy, information security, [the] fight against terrorism and fundamentalism, and the like.”
He added that the world body must also become more responsive to emerging threats, such as unreliable energy supplies or coordinated cyber-attacks.
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BOSNIAN LEADER SAYS UN MUST RIGHT THE WRONGS OF SREBRENICA
The United Nations must take action to reverse the de facto “ethnic apartheid” that has taken root in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as part of efforts to redress the failure surrounding the Srebrenica massacre, the Balkan country’s leader told the General Assembly today.
The UN has acknowledged that, by its own acts and omissions, it is partially responsible for the July 1995 Srebrenica killings in which nearly 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys lost their lives, casting a shadow over the world body forever, said Haris Silajdžić, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“We do not want the United Nations to be haunted,” he told world leaders gathered at UN Headquarters in New York. “This Organization’s credibility is too important to the world to carry the burden of this failure.”
Rather, the world body must ensure that mistakes are not repeated and that past errors are corrected, Mr. Silajdžić stressed.
“We cannot bring back the dead, but we can give dignity and justice to the survivors,” he said. “What we say today is not aimed at the past, but at the future, and not only for Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
Despite the positive results delivered by the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, many key issues remain, including the blocking of ‘minority’ returns by the authorities of the Republika Srpska, an entity within the country, by either directly taking part in violence or by not protecting people from attacks due to their ethnic background, the Chairman said.
“Dayton never intended such ethnic apartheid to take root in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he declared.
“It is the responsibility of this Organization to make it right,” he added. “Just as we should not have been forced to smuggle arms to defend ourselves, we should not be forced to smuggle basic human rights, justice and democracy” into the country.
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KENYA ON PATH TO FULL RECOVERY AFTER POST-ELECTION VIOLENCE, UN DEBATE HEARS
Kenya is making important progress towards reaching consensus on the legal, constitutional and other reforms necessary to avoid a repeat of the deadly post-election violence that swept the country at the start of this year, President Mwai Kibaki told the General Assembly today.
Speaking before world leaders gathered for the annual high-level debate, Mr. Kibaki said the Government in Nairobi had made use of the “historic window of opportunity” offered by the national reconciliation accord struck in late February, which ended two months of violence, “to address the major challenges facing our nation.
“We are, for instance, making good progress towards implementing far-reaching legal, constitutional and policy reforms that will entrench national cohesion and meet the political, economic and social aspirations of our people,” he said.
“I am confident that over the past few months, Kenya has regained its glory and redeemed its image as a peaceful nation, a safe tourist and investment destination, and as the regional hub for peace and humanitarian efforts.”
Thousands of Kenyans had to flee their homes during the clashes, leading United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to offer humanitarian assistance to those in need.
In his speech Mr. Kibaki paid tribute to the work of the members of the Panel of Eminent African Personalities, led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to broker a solution to the crisis, as well as to the UN itself.
The President noted that Kenya’s experience this year illustrated that “the challenge of attaining democratic and inclusive elected governments is at the core of prevailing conflicts and insecurity in many parts of Africa.”
Many African democracies, he added, are fragile and already divided by racial, religious or ethnic differences that can be exacerbated during competitive electoral processes.
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AT UN, IRANIAN PRESIDENT BLAMES ‘CORRUPT POWERS’ FOR SPARKING GLOBAL CHALLENGES
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today pointed the finger at “corrupt powers” for provoking or maintaining problems in global hotspots such as Iraq, the Middle East and Afghanistan, noting that the United Nations is often paralyzed and unable to take effective action.
In Iraq, “millions of people have been killed or displaced, and the occupiers, without a sense of shame, are still seeking to solidify their position in the political geography of the region and to dominate oil resources,” he told the General Assembly’s high-level debate.
“The UN is not capable enough to solve the problems and to remove aggressions, occupation and aggression.”
Regarding Palestine, the President said that “Zionists” and “some hegemonic and bullying powers [which] support them” are behind the decades of “carnage and invasion,” and the Security Council is powerless in assisting the Palestinian people.
Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, the people are the “victims of the willingness of NATO member states to dominate the regions surrounding India, China and South Asia,” he said, again adding that the Council is toothless because some of the culprits are also “the major decision-makers” in the UN body.
Earlier this week, the head of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called on Iran to be fully transparent regarding its nuclear programme.
At the body’s Board of Governors meeting in Geneva, Mohamed ElBaradei appealed to Iran to “implement all measures required to build confidence in the exclusive peaceful nature of its nuclear programme at the earliest possible date.”
Mr. Ahmadinejad today stressed that Iran, like all nations, has the right to produce nuclear fuel for non-military purposes, but “a few bullying powers have sought to put hurdles in the way of the peaceful nuclear activities of the Iranian nation by exerting political and economic pressures” against the country.
He accused these nations of themselves creating deadly nuclear weapons and stockpiling them, but noted that they are not under the watchful eye of international organizations.
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TURKEY ENDORSES UN-LED EFFORTS TO BROKER POLITICAL SETTLEMENT IN CYPRUS
Turkish President Abdullah Gül today offered his country’s full backing to United Nations-led diplomatic negotiations aimed at reunifying the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
In an address to the opening day of the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate, Mr. Gül said “we welcome and firmly support the comprehensive settlement negotiations” that recently began between Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.
“The solution lies at the establishment of a new partnership State composed of two constituent states of equal status,” he said. “The process towards this goal should be based on the UN parameters of bizonality and political equality of the two sides.”
The full-fledged negotiations between Mr. Christofias and Mr. Talat, which began earlier this month, are slated to resume on 8 October, with an initial focus on issues of governance and power-sharing.
In May, Mr. Christofias and Mr. Talat committed to a partnership that will comprise a Federal Government with a single international identity, along with a Turkish Cypriot Constituent State and a Greek Cypriot Constituent State, which will be of equal status.
The UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) has been in place on the island since 1964 after the outbreak of inter-communal violence. It is tasked with preventing a recurrence of fighting, contributing to a return to normal conditions and the maintenance of law and order.
Mr. Gül added in his speech that he believed it was “long overdue to end the unfair isolation of the Turkish Cypriots who voted courageously in favour of the UN Comprehensive Settlement Plan in 2004 – the Plan which was unfortunately rejected by the other side.”
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ARGENTINE PRESIDENT CALLS FOR ‘REFORMULATION’ OF UN TO RESTORE MULTILATERALISM
Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner today called for the reformulation of multilateral organizations, including the United Nations and global financial institutions.
“This is necessary so that we can again reconstitute a multilateralism which has been lost, making the world much more insecure,” she told the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate. Such reform was necessary to enable the UN to function properly and achieve concrete results.
The current global financial turmoil was evidence of the need for reforming financial institutions, Ms. Fernández de Kirchner said, citing what she called the “jazz effect” for the present troubles originating from the United States, just as an earlier financial crisis that started in Mexico but affected the world economy was called the “tequila effect.”
She also called on Member States to ratify the global treaty that outlaws enforced disappearances and allows victims’ families the right to learn the truth about what happened. Argentina, where thousands of people are estimated to have disappeared under the military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s, has been a strong advocate of the treaty.
So far, only four of the 74 countries which have signed have also ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, which contains an absolute prohibition on the practice and calls on all States Parties to ensure that it is an offence under their domestic laws.
The treaty will enter into force once 20 countries have ratified it. The treaty’s monitoring body will be entitled to receive requests for urgent action on individual cases, to conduct visits with the agreement of States parties concerned, and, in the situation of suspected widespread or systematic cases being practised in the territory under the jurisdiction of a State party, to urgently bring the matter before the General Assembly.
Turning to another issue, Mr. Fernández de Kirchner called on Iran to hand over Iranians implicated by Argentine judicial authorities in the blowing up of the Israeli embassy and a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in 1992 and 1994 respectively.
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LEBANON STILL FACING SERIOUS CHALLENGES TO PEACE, GENERAL ASSEMBLY HEARS
Lebanon still faces many urgent risks and challenges, including Israeli acts of aggression and the threats posed by terrorist groups, as it tries to establish prosperity and stability, the Middle East country’s President, Michel Sleiman, told the General Assembly today.
Speaking before dozens of world leaders gathered for the annual high-level debate at United Nations Headquarters in New York, General Sleiman said Lebanon was doing all it could to promote peace and stability, including preparing for parliamentary elections slated for next year.
But he told the Assembly that the international community should compel Israel to fully implement Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and the armed group Hizbollah, and “stop its serious threats to launch a new war against Lebanon.
“Such threats are acts of aggression that adversely affect the Lebanese State, its public facilities and infrastructure,” he said. “They also adversely affect all components of the civil society and have [a] severe impact on the national economy.”
The President called on Israel to halt “its extensive air breaches of Lebanese sovereignty” and to provide the promised funding to allow Lebanon to remove landmines and cluster bombs left behind by Israel on Lebanese soil.
“Their presence constitutes a direct threat to the civilian population, especially children, and deprives the farmers and workers of cultivating their land.”
General Sleiman also called for the confronting of terrorism in all its forms, noting that Lebanese army and internal security forces have been the victims of several “brutal attacks” in recent years from terrorist groups.
In addition, he stressed the importance of a comprehensive national strategy that promotes national entente and reconciliation between different Lebanese groups and extends the authority of the Lebanese State over all its territory.
The President praised the work of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), particularly the sacrifices its staff have made, and pledged renewed efforts to protect blue helmets from possible terrorist attacks.
Last month the Security Council extended UNIFIL’s mandate by a year through the end of August 2009, stating that a new strategic environment was emerging in southern Lebanon.
UNIFIL is tasked with ensuring that the area between the Blue Line and the Litani River is free of unauthorized weapons, personnel and assets, and it also cooperates with the Lebanese armed forces so they can fulfil their security responsibilities.
In his address, General Sleiman also called on the international community to step up its funding of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Lebanon rejects any resettlement of Palestinian refugees on its territory, he said, adding that the country has limited resources to absorb the hundreds of thousands already living on its territory and that the refugees themselves have the right to return to their homeland and homes.
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UN PARTNERS WITH YOUTUBE TO LAUNCH ONLINE TELEVISION CHANNEL
The United Nations has launched its television channel on YouTube, a popular video sharing and social networking web site, in an effort to reach a broader and younger audience on a range of issues on the world body’s agenda.
The programmes set to air on the channel are produced by UN Television (UNTV) with the Organization’s agencies and funds, and cover topics such as climate change, development, human rights and peace and security.
Some of the current stories posted on site address the fight against prejudice of India’s so-called untouchables, the threats to the ecological treasures of the Galapagos Islands and several segments from 21st Century, the UN’s monthly news magazine that spotlights the world’s most forgotten stories.
The UN is also partnering with YouTube to launch, on 25 September, a joint campaign In My Name with global nonprofits Oxfam, GPAC and Save the Children, to draw attention to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – the set of eight anti-poverty targets world leaders have pledged to achieve by 2015.
As part of the campaign, Black Eyed Peas singer Will.i.am will ask citizens from every country to upload footage to YouTube supporting the MDGs by stating their name, their country and, if desired, a request to their government to end poverty.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon intends to join the online petition that will feature a song written by the Black Eyed Peas artist especially for the campaign.
The partnership with YouTube is the latest effort by the UN to use new media technologies to get its message out. The world body recently drew on SMS mechanics for the International Day of Peace “Txt 4 Peace” campaign encouraging people across the world to send messages of peace.
An innovative partnership was also forged between Internet giant Google and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to map environmental projects across the globe.
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BAN CALLS FOR ENHANCED FUNDING AND RESOURCES FOR UN MEDIATION ROLE
Stressing the importance of mediation in both resolving and avoiding conflict, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for proper funding and requisite resources to build up the United Nations’ capacity to carry out this vital role.
Addressing a high-level Security Council debate on mediation and the settlement of disputes, Mr. Ban noted that while a small Mediation Support Unit (MSU) was set up in 2005 after the UN World Summit, only two positions are funded by the regular budget.
“Today, I would like to call upon the Council, and indeed all Member States, to invest up-front in our mediation capacity so that we can do more of this quiet diplomacy – and less often cross that Rubicon to where vast suffering and huge peacekeeping expenditures become inevitable,” he said.
“Without prejudging the role of the General Assembly in deciding budgetary matters, I urge the Council to ensure that mediation efforts have the requisite resources.”
Mr. Ban said past experience suggested that effective and coordinated mediation efforts throughout a conflict cycle are necessary for effective peacekeeping and peacebuilding.
“It is thus critical that the Security Council provide the same support to enhance the structures, processes, tools and resources required for mediation as it does for peacekeeping and peacebuilding activities,” he added.
He underlined the important role mediation plays when quiet diplomacy has enabled the parties to step back from the brink of conflict before it erupts, thereby saving the world untold lives, troops and money, as well as when peacekeepers have to be deployed quickly to save lives before a peace is reached, thus avoiding further bloodshed.
On settling disputes, Mr. Ban said the Council’s most positive contributions come when the 15-member body agrees on common principles for resolving a conflict and when it is prepared to use leverage, such as the use of targeted sanctions that “greatly supported” mediation efforts in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Angola.
In a presidential statement underlining the important contribution of regional and sub-regional organizations, civil society and other stakeholders, the Council resolved to strengthen UN support for mediation efforts through improved cooperation, in particular in Africa.
Noting that women have an important role to play in the settlement of disputes, the Council stressed the importance of their equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, and called on the Secretary-General and heads of regional and sub-regional organizations to take into account the gender aspect during mediators selection processes.
Many members at today’s meeting were represented by their foreign ministers, who are in New York for the high-level debate of the 63rd UN General Assembly, while Panama’s delegation was headed by its President, Martin Torrijos.
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UN BEST POSITIONED TO TACKLE TERRORISM, SAYS UNITED STATES LEADER
The role of the United Nations has become increasingly more essential in confronting the global threat of terrorism, with multilateralism having the potential to usher in a more secure and more prosperous era, United States President George W. Bush said today.
Since banding together eight years ago to address the “global movement of violent extremists,” it has been made apparent that “the United Nations and other multilateral organizations are needed more urgently than ever,” he told the General Assembly annual high-level debate in New York.
Success in fighting terrorism depends on cooperation to prevent attacks from occurring instead of deploring them after they take place, Mr. Bush said.
“By acting together to meet the fundamental challenge of our time, we can lead toward a world that is more secure, and more prosperous, and more hopeful,” he told delegates.
The world is almost in universal agreement that no cause can justify terrorism, with Security Council resolutions asserting it to be unlawful and other multilateral bodies such as the Group of Eight (G-8) industrialized nations and the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) speaking out against the scourge. “Like slavery and piracy, terrorism has no place in the modern world,” the President said.
He pointed to countries such as Syria and Iran that continue to sponsor terror, but noted that “their numbers are growing fewer, and they’re growing more isolated from the world.”
Addressing terrorists’ ideologies is also crucial, Mr. Bush said, calling on the UN to provide a “more hopeful alternative” and step up its efforts to “challenge tyranny.”
He voiced support for “brave young democracies” such as Georgia, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Iraq, but emphasized political freedom is not enough to overcome terrorism.
“The extremists find their most febrile recruiting grounds in societies trapped in chaos and despair – places where people see no prospect of a better life,” the US President said, stressing the need to deal with poverty, disease and ignorance.
Trade and investment play a large part in spurring development, and he accentuated the need to reinvigorate the commitment to open economies with markets more integrated than ever.
As global financial markets face turbulent times, Mr. Bush said that his country’s Government is taking “bold steps to prevent a severe disruption of the American economy, which would have a devastating effect on other economies around the world.”
Acknowledging the difficulty of the tasks facing the world body, he underlined how “the world needs a confident and effective United Nations” that can correct its mistakes and streamline its inefficiencies.
“With determination and purpose, the United Nations can be a powerful force for good as we head into the 21st century,” Mr. Bush said. “It can affirm the great promise of its founding.”
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AFRICA ADVANCING ON DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS, GENERAL ASSEMBLY TOLD
African countries are making important advances in embracing democracy, respecting human rights, tackling corruption and strengthening their economies, Tanzanian President and African Union (AU) Chairman Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete told the General Assembly today.
Speaking to dozens of heads of State and government gathered for the annual high-level Assembly debate at United Nations Headquarters in New York, Mr. Kikwete said he brought “with me a message of hope and optimism from Africa.
“Africa is no longer the hopeless case as perceived by some. There are so many good things happening on the continent. There is increasingly political stability, peace reigns in almost all nations except a few, and economies of many nations are blossoming.”
Many of the continent’s countries have successfully staged democratic elections in the past two years, he said, noting that – aside from Kenya and Zimbabwe – those polls were largely peaceful.
Mr. Kikwete added that it was also heart-warming that Africans themselves had taken the lead in monitoring elections and in resolving conflicts, such as in Kenya, as they arose.
“The old principle of non-interference in internal affairs is surely being replaced by non-indifference to violations of democracy and abuse of human rights.”
But the Tanzanian President warned that while there are fewer conflicts in Africa today than there were a few years ago, much more still needs to be done to boost the AU’s capacity for conflict prevention and resolution.
Turning to the five-year conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region, which pits rebels against Government forces and allied Janjaweed militiamen, he noted that the humanitarian crisis persists despite some encouraging signs of improvement.
The joint UN-AU peacekeeping force – known as UNAMID – is slated to have 26,000 troops and police officers when it reaches full deployment, but currently has only about 10,000 uniformed personnel in the field.
“There is need therefore for the United Nations, the African Union and the Government of Sudan to continue to work together expeditiously to remove the obstacles impeding the deployment of UNAMID, the dialogue between the Government of Sudan and the rebels, operations of humanitarian work and the process of dispensation of justice,” Mr. Kikwete said.
He added that he held “fruitful” discussions with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and other senior Government officials two weeks ago, as well as with officials from UNAMID.
“I am hopeful that progress can be made. We need to seize the moment and the opportunities unfolding.”
Mr. Kikwete stressed that it was the AU’s considered view that the indictment of Mr. al-Bashir on war crimes charges relating to Darfur – prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) are seeking an arrest warrant – should be deferred as it would complicate the deployment of UNAMID and humanitarian relief efforts.
“Let me make one thing clear – that when we talk about deferment, we should not in any way be perceived as condoning impunity. Justice is a matter of essence. We are simply concerned with the best possible sequencing so that the most immediate matters of saving lives and easing the suffering of the people of Darfur are dealt with first.”
The AU Chairman also voiced concern about the ongoing violence in Somalia and the far east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and pledged his organization’s support of UN efforts to bring peace to those two conflicts.
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AFRICAN-UN PEACEKEEPERS IN DARFUR TRAIN SUDANESE FORCES ON PROTECTION
The joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping operation in Darfur (UNAMID) today conducted a training workshop for Sudanese police, national security and military intelligence officials in the war-torn region.
The workshop on security coordination for senior and mid-level managers focused on issues such as the UNAMID mission mandate, the Status of Forces Agreement, the host Government’s responsibility and the UN security management system.
UNAMID representative Henry Anyidoho stressed that the responsibility for protecting UN staff and property rests with the host Government.
“This was our plan for [so] long to share more information with our partners in the government,” Mr. Anyidoho said in his opening remarks at the workshop.
“We strongly believe that sharing and understanding of UN security mechanisms and guidelines by our friends would help them secure the UN staff and property,” he added at the meeting, conducted in the North Darfur state capital of El-Fasher.
General Ahmad Atta Al Mannan Othman, Chief of the Sudanese Police Force in North Darfur, said that since both UNAMID and the Government aim to achieve peace in the western Sudanese region, both sides should work hand-in-hand to accomplish that goal. He called for the hybrid AU-UN force to build police capacity in the region by conducting more training and laying the ground for training facilities.
He also tackled the issue of traffic accidents committed by UNAMID staff and called upon the mission to find a just way of compensating those affected.
The Sudanese Government and the allied Janjaweed militiamen have been fighting rebels in the arid and impoverished region of Darfur since 2003. During that period, some 300,000 people are estimated to have been killed as a result of direct combat, disease or malnutrition, while another 2.7 million people have been displaced because of the violence.
The UNAMID operation, tasked with protecting civilians and improving security in the area, is slated to have about 26,000 troops and police officers when it reaches its peak, but currently has around only 10,000 uniformed personnel in the field.
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CURRENT CRISES MUST NOT DETRACT FROM ANTI-POVERTY GOALS, MADAGASCAR TELLS UN
The current global food, economic and security crises should not be used by affluent countries as a rationale for cutting back on pledges of increased aid to needy States, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar’s President told the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate today.
Speaking to dozens of world leaders gathered at United Nations Headquarters in New York, Marc Ravalomanana warned that efforts to overcome the crises were threatening to push the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – the globally agreed set of eight targets for slashing a host of social and economic ills – to the margins.
“If we allowed this to happen, this would be a major mistake,” he said. “We have to remain focused on the achievement of the MDGs.”
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s most recent report on the MDGs, released ahead of a high-level event on the issue slated for this Thursday, showed that many countries, particularly in Africa, are lagging in the race to reach the Goals by the target date of 2015.
The report noted that wealthy nations have failed to deliver on their promise to provide $50 billion to poorer countries by 2010, and called for a sharp, immediate increase in aid and development assistance to meet the timetable.
Mr. Ravalomanana said it was African nations such as his own that bore the consequences for the shortfall in financial support.
“Poor countries cannot break the cycle of poverty, families have difficulties feeding themselves, people still have very limited access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation.
“I call upon all donor countries to honour your promises and to demonstrate leadership by explaining to your people why supporting the MDGs and the fight against poverty is a moral obligation and is so essential for creating a more stable and peaceful world.”
He said it was clear that tackling the emerging crises of soaring food prices, troubled financial markets and recent wars and political hostilities merited the use of resources to stabilize food markets, meet energy demands and meet other aims.
“What I do not understand, however, is that these challenges sometimes offer reasons for countries to abdicate on their promises of doubled aid for education, health and infrastructure.”
Gabonese Vice-President Didjob Divungi di Ndinge, who also addressed the high-level debate today, called for collective global action to ensure there is a lasting solution to the food crisis, where soaring prices have placed many staples – such as rice – out of reach of the ordinary citizens of poor countries.
He said the use of crops for fuel production, subsidies and export restrictions had all contributed to the spike in prices.
The Vice-President also noted the links between the food crisis, climate change and environmental degradation and stressed the need for international aid to help developing nations face the challenges these threats posed.
“It is thus urgent that all partners honour their promise to double official development aid,” he said.
Namibia’s President Hifikepunye Pohamba told the Assembly debate that there was “a need for genuine political will, especially among donor countries,” if the world is to achieve all eight MDGs.
“Open, predictable and non-discriminatory trading and financial systems must be developed,” Mr. Pohamba said. “We call for the intensification of the implementation of the global partnership for development, as agreed upon at Monterrey in 2002.”
He also backed a proposal for the 192-member General Assembly to hold regular thematic debates until 2015 to chart the progress made – and also the setbacks – towards attaining the MDGs.
Boni Yayi, President of Benin, said the international community had a responsibility to mobilize the necessary resources to “correct the grave distortions” which he said had caused the food crisis.
He also called on the UN to exert its influence to ensure that enough aid reaches those countries whose populations are suffering the most as a result of the food crisis.
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UN RIGHTS EXPERT WELCOMES MYANMAR’S FREEING OF POLITICAL PRISONERS
The independent United Nations expert on the situation of human rights in Myanmar has welcomed the reported release of seven political prisoners today, calling it a positive sign of cooperation from the Government of the South-East Asian nation.
Special Rapporteur Tomás Ojea Quintana said he hoped the freeing of the seven “would be the first in a series of releases of other prisoners of conscience, some 2,000 of whom are currently estimated to be still detained in Myanmar,” according to a news release issued in Geneva.
Among those released today is U Win Tin, who Mr. Quintana met with at Insein Prison during his four-day visit to the country last August.
The other freed prisoners are Dr. May Win Myint, U Aung Soe Myint, U Khin Maung Swe, Win Htain, Dr. Than Nyein and U Thein Naing.
Mr. Quintana, who took up his post in May 2007, has proposed to the Government four core human rights elements to help pave the road to democracy. One of these concerned the progressive release of all prisoners of conscience starting with the elderly, those with health limitations and long-serving prisoners.
Special Rapporteurs serve in an independent and unpaid capacity and report to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council.
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KOSOVO ISSUE COULD UNDERMINE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM, SERBIAN LEADER TELLS UN
Kosovo’s declaration of independence earlier this year directly contravenes international law and threatens the duty to respect State sovereignty and territorial integrity which underpin the United Nations Charter, Serbia’s President told the General Assembly today.
For the Serbian people, Kosovo “stands at the crucible of our identity,” Boris Tadić said at the annual high-level debate. “It is the essential link between our proud national past and our proud national future. It is what ties the living tradition of Serbia to itself today.”
The declaration of independence of Kosovo by ethnic Albanian authorities, he said, “amounts to an attempt at partitioning a Member State of the United Nations against its will, and with disregard for the firm opposition of the Security Council, in order to appease a volatile and threatening ethnic minority.”
Mr. Tadić said that, as a result of the “unilateral, illegal illegitimate” move, “the very nature of the international system has been called into question.”
He rejected claims that Kosovo – which has been run by the UN since Western forces drove Yugoslav troops out in 1999 – was a unique case and an exception, labelling its declaration of independence as a “fundamental violation of international law.”
For its part, Serbia has not taken unilateral measures – including the use of force and the imposition of economic sanctions – against its “breakaway province,” the country’s President noted.
The Balkan nation has submitted a resolution to the General Assembly to ask the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to rule on the legality of Kosovo’s declaration of independence.
Asking Member States for their support, Mr. Tadić cautioned that “to vote against means to accept that nothing could be done when secessionists in whichever part of the world proclaim the uniqueness of their cause, and claim exception to the universal scope of international law.”
“Such an attitude could lead to the end of the United Nations system as we know it,” he added.
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UN BLUE HELMETS HELP SPUR RECENT LIBERIAN PROGRESS, GENERAL ASSEMBLY HEARS
The presence of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Liberia has been critical to the West African country’s progress in revitalizing its economy, rebuilding basic infrastructure, tackling corruption and consolidating peace and security after years of civil war, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf told the General Assembly today.
Addressing the opening day of the Assembly’s annual high-level debate, Ms. Johnson-Sirleaf – the first democratically elected female head of State in Africa – said the economic, political and social gains posted by Liberia since the war ended in 2003 are “truly a success story for a country coming out of so much destruction in so short a time.”
She noted that Liberian gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 9 per cent last year, numerous schools and health clinics are re-opening or being built, and the once-despised security forces are rapidly modernizing.
Ms. Johnson-Sirleaf said that while the country’s people deserved credit for these advances, the support of the international community, led by the UN, has also been vital.
She urged UN Member States to support the continuing mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission, known as UNMIL, “until the peace is properly consolidated, thereby removing the threat of the country relapsing into conflict again as some others before Liberia have experienced.”
UNMIL was established by the Security Council in September 2003 to support the implementation of that year’s ceasefire agreement, and the President said the ongoing presence of around 11,000 blue helmets contributes to national economic growth by signalling that peace is guaranteed.
“The presence of the UN Mission in Liberia has given hope to the people not to surrender to the threat to peace and development that are represented by the large percentage of unemployed youth who cannot be absorbed by an economy still too weak, in spite of the recorded growth; the large number of ex-combatants who were not properly re-integrated into society; and the resultant armed robberies and drug and arms-related crimes,” the President said.
The current mandate of UNMIL, which had nearly 13,000 troops, police officers and military observers in place as of the end of July, expires on 30 September.
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UN AGENCY URGES GLOBAL FISHING INDUSTRIES TO COMBAT SEABIRD KILLINGS
Following the success of strategies to protect seabirds from longline fishing activities, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has today urged regions using other industrial fishing techniques, such as trawl nets and gillnets, to implement safeguards in areas where seabirds are at greatest risk.
The threat of fishing on populations of already endangered seabirds – including albatrosses, of which 18 of the 22 species are listed as endangered – can be curbed by joint action, FAO has suggested.
“With industry and government working as partners, the impacts of fishing can be greatly reduced,” said Francis Chopin, a senior fishery officer with FAO.
The practice of longline fishing, which involves boats trailing long lines bearing as many as 2,500 baited hooks, threatens seabirds that follow the vessel and dive for the bait, and in the absence of safeguards become hooked.
In case of trawling, the trailing of cone-shaped nets behind boats, large birds such as petrels and albatrosses are unable to manoeuvre out of the way of the fishing wires, while with the use of gillnets diving birds can become entangled in the long line of netting following the vessel.
Statistics reported to FAO have indicated a significant decrease in collateral damage to seabirds worldwide in areas where safeguards to lessen the impact of longline fishing have been implemented. The number of birds killed as a result of Chilean longline fishing dropped from 1,600 in 2002 to zero in 2006, while the number in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica was reported to have fallen from 6,500 in 1996 to zero last year.
Following an expert consultation earlier this month that was organized by the UN agency in Bergen, Norway, best practice guidelines have been outlined that work to extend the International Plan of Action (IPOA) approach – a framework developed by FAO and approved by member countries in 1999 – to include trawl and gillnet fisheries in areas of high seabird density.
The 10 countries currently implementing, or in advanced stages of preparing, strategies to lessen the impact of fishing on seabirds are South Africa, Australia, Chile, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Uruguay, Argentina, Namibia and the United States.
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AT UN DEBATE, QATARI EMIR ADVOCATES ‘POSITIVE PEACE’ BASED ON JUSTICE FOR ALL
Achieving a true global peace requires more than eliminating the threat of arms, the Emir of Qatar told the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate today, calling for a “positive peace” which aims to promote economic and social justice for all people.
“The realities of today’s world require a different approach, for peace cannot be achieved through conflict between powers, agreement between empires, or coexistence among blocs,” Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani said.
Instead, he stressed the need for an alternative in which international law guarantees political rights and in which development allows for “parallel and equal opportunities to one world that cannot head into the future hindered by the injustices of politics or blinded by the darkness of underdevelopment.”
The Emir noted that his country is preparing for the follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development, which seeks to review the implementation of the 2002 landmark anti-poverty agreement known as the Monterrey Consensus, to be held in Doha in November.
“My country looks forward to an international cooperation that offers the broadest base possible for political as well as social peace,” he said.
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PHILIPPINES CALLS ON UN TO HELP POORER COUNTRIES FIGHT SOARING FOOD, FUEL PRICES
The developing world is at a “tipping point” due to fluctuations in the global economy, the President of the Philippines told the General Assembly today, calling on the United Nations for its assistance in ensuring that financial uncertainties do not roll back development gains.
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, addressing the annual high-level debate in New York, underscored how her country is suffering from the burden of soaring prices of food, fuel and rice.
“Our people pursue the universal dream of a better life for themselves and their children: better education, better health care, higher wages, a dignified retirement,” she said.
The Philippines has made “hard-earned” gains over the past seven years that have allowed the South-East Asian nation to weather the first tide of global price surges that swept across the world earlier this year, Ms. Arroyo said, but the recent economic turmoil in world markets has had a profound impact.
“To address these global challenges, we must go on building bridges among allies around the world: to bring the [price of] rice to where it is needed to feed the people, investments to create jobs; and keep the peace and stability in the world,” she stated.
The President praised Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for taking swift and decisive measures to address the global food crisis that brings together multilateral organizations, donor countries, civil society and the private sector.
“This is a model of the Untied Nations in action,” she said.
Regarding the southern island of Mindanao, which has been wracked by recent deadly violence, Ms. Arroyo voiced her commitment to peace based on inter-faith dialogue.
“We maintain high hopes in inter-faith dialogue as a means to building bridges rather than barriers between communities of different cultures and ethnicity.”
Viewing the global food crisis through the lens of climate change, Finnish President Tarja Halonen said that managing natural resources in a more sustainable manner will help to alleviate poverty, especially in rural areas, offering her nation’s support in this arena.
Global warming has the potential to “bring into question the whole future of mankind,” she said, adding that recent extreme weather phenomena are a harbinger of worse events to come.
“Multilateral engagement and shared responsibility are the only effective means to tackle this global menace,” Ms. Halonen said. “There is no place for petty politics and recrimination.”
She highlighted the importance of the UN in responding to climate change, emphasizing the need to reach agreement next year in Copenhagen, Denmark, on a successor pact to the Kyoto Protocol, whose first commitment period ends in 2012.
Many sectors of society – including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector, individual citizens and governments – must be involved to mitigate global warming, the President noted. “We need everybody; it is necessary that also women can participate in this work.”
Further, both industrialized and developing nations must take part in combating climate change, she said.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame warned that Africa was at the frontline of the impact of climate change, with deserts and dry zones expanding across the continent.
“Over-reliance on wood for energy by our populations is leading to severe deforestation,” he said. “Further, unpredictable weather and rainfall patterns, combined with limited scientific and technological capacities, are already undermining our continent’s ability to effectively manage water resources.”
Mr. Kagame pledged to intensify his Government’s efforts in reforestation, terracing and irrigation so that water and land are more effectively used.
* * *
SIERRA LEONEAN REFUGEES IN LIBERIA MOVE TO NEW HOMES AFTER UN-FUNDED REPAIRS
Sixteen refugee families living in Liberia now have a place to call home thanks to the efforts of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) which funded the rehabilitation of 32 houses for Sierra Leoneans who cannot go back to their homeland or are unwilling to repatriate.
During the height of Sierra Leone’s civil conflict as many as two million of the country’s six million citizens were displaced with some 490,000 fleeing to Liberia and Guinea.
With UNHCR’s help more than 179,000 Sierra Leonean refugees returned home voluntarily between September 2000 and July 2004, while many others returned by their own means.
The renovations are part of a process to locally integrate some 3,500 Sierra Leonean refugees living in camps in Liberia. The first batch of 118 people moved into their new homes in Bensonville in Montserrado County last weekend, after making the 60-kilometre journey from the Banjor and Samukai camps.
Welcoming the group to their new community, UNHCR Senior Protection Officer Sharon Cooper told the Sierra Leoneans to no longer consider themselves as refugees. She said they were now on the road to becoming permanent Liberian citizens and should work in harmony with locals to develop their new community.
As part of the local integration process, a further 110 houses are under construction, including 50 in Bensonville and 60 in the nearby town of Memeh.
Last June, the agency announced that as of 31 December Sierra Leoneans who fled their country in the 1990s will no longer be considered refugees since the root causes of the refugee problem in their homeland no longer exist.
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ENLARGING SECURITY COUNCIL ESSENTIAL TO DEFEATING GLOBAL CRISES, FRANCE TELLS UN
The membership of the Security Council and other key international institutions must be urgently broadened if the world is to overcome its most acute crises, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told the General Assembly’s high-level debate today.
Speaking before dozens of heads of State and government on the annual debate’s opening day, Mr. Sarkozy said it was time to reform the major global institutions to reflect changing conditions, and not the world as it was many decades ago.
“Enlarging the Security Council and the G-8 [bloc of industrialized nations] is not just a matter of fairness; it is also the necessary condition for being able to act effectively,” said Mr. Sarkozy, who spoke on behalf of both France and the 27-member European Union, whose rotating presidency his country currently holds.
“We cannot wait any longer to enlarge the Security Council. We cannot wait any longer to turn the G-8 into the G-13 or G-14, and to bring in China, India, South Africa, Mexico and Brazil.”
Earlier this month the General Assembly adopted a decision to begin intergovernmental negotiations on Security Council reform in informal plenary by February next year.
Mr. Sarkozy stressed that international institutions must become “more coherent, more representative, stronger and more respected” if they are manage the most pressing or intractable crises, such as the current problems in global financial markets.
“I am convinced that it is the duty of the heads of State and government of the countries most directly concerned to meet before the end of the year to examine together the lessons of the most serious financial crisis the world has experienced since that of the 1930s.”
He warned that on all major issues, including the conflict in the Sudanese region of Darfur, the fight against terrorism and efforts to combat climate change, “we have a duty to act, not endure.
“And we can wait no longer. We are beginning to gauge the tragic consequences of having already waited too long… We have retreated too long when faced with the need to give the globalized world the institutions that will regulate it. We can wait no longer.”
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UNICEF WELCOMES BRITISH RECOGNITION OF MIGRANT CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today applauded the decision by the British Government to grant children seeking asylum, migrant children and those trafficked into the country the same rights as British children, including their right to education, health care and social services.
“The decision paves the way for vulnerable children who are subject to immigration control to enjoy the fundamental human rights spelled out in the Convention [on the Rights of the Child] for every child,” UNICEF said in a press release.
“The move, made over the weekend, signals the Government’s full commitment to supporting the children’s rights as laid out in the CRC,” the statement added.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which was adopted in 1989, details the basic human rights for children and young people everywhere under the age of 18.
The British Government also removed its reservation to article 37(c) on children in custody, which stresses that incarcerated children should not lose their fundamental rights and that their treatment must take into account their age and development, ensuring that children are kept separate from adult prisoners.
At the same time the Government announced its intention to sign the CRC’s Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, further strengthening its support of the most vulnerable children.
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BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT CALLS ON UN TO TAKE ROLE IN RESPONDING TO FINANCIAL CRISIS
Governments must demonstrate decisive leadership if they are to overcome the crisis in global financial markets, the President of Brazil told the General Assembly today, calling for the United Nations to take the lead in responding to the threats raised by the current economic strife.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told dozens of world leaders gathered for the Assembly’s annual high-level debate, held at UN Headquarters in New York, that they were meeting at a time when long-predicted economic crises have become “today’s harsh reality.”
His remarks echoed the comments of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who earlier today at the Assembly urged world leaders to rise to the “challenge of global leadership” to defeat the most pressing problems, including the current financial crisis.
“Only decisive action by governments, especially in countries at the heart of the crisis, will be able to control the disorder that has spread through the world’s financial sector, with perverse impacts on the daily lives of millions of people,” Mr. da Silva said.
He warned that “a crisis of such magnitude will not be overcome with palliative measures. Mechanisms for both prevention and control are needed to provide total transparency to international finance.
“International economic institutions today have neither the authority nor the workable instruments they need to inhibit the anarchy of speculation. We must rebuild them on entirely new foundations.”
The Brazilian President cautioned that the crisis was too serious “to be left in the hands of speculators,” adding that all too often their profits were privatized while their losses were socialized.
“The global nature of this crisis means that the solutions we adopt must also be global, and decided upon within legitimate, trusted multilateral fora, with no impositions. The United Nations, as the world’s largest multilateral arena, must issue a call for a vigorous response to the weighty threats we all face.”
He stressed that the world was facing many other “equally serious matters,” including the food crisis, the spike in energy prices, the deadlock on talks to reform international trade, and the continuing degradation of the environment.
The President said Brazil’s own experience illustrated that sugar cane ethanol and biodiesel production can reduce global dependency on fossil fuels and at the same time create jobs, regenerate degraded land and expand food production.
“Attempts to tie high food prices to the dissemination of biofuels do not stand up to an objective analysis of reality,” he added, calling for a multilateral approach to solve the food and energy crises.
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UN WELCOMES UNITED ARAB EMIRATES' PLAN TO TACKLE PLIGHT OF STATELESS PEOPLE
The United Nations refugee agency has welcomed a decision by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to resolve the situation of thousands of stateless people living there, and voiced the hope that the Persian Gulf nation’s efforts will encourage other countries in the region to do the same.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are thousands of stateless people living in different parts of the Middle East. When state boundaries were established and the Gulf States were formed, some countries used tribal affiliations rather than borders to determine citizenship.
As a result, thousands of people were left out and ended up without the nationality of any state. Without nationality, stateless people in are often unable to travel or gain access to the full range of public services, including education, that are available to citizens. Children of stateless people are also born stateless.
“UNHCR is keen to see a positive outcome for this process,” the agency’s spokesperson, William Spindler, told reporters in Geneva.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Interior announced the launch of a two-month campaign for the registration of the country’s stateless population, who are referred to as the Bidoon.
It has also established four registration centres in the emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman, where applicants fill out forms explaining why they should be granted UAE nationality. These centres will continue to accept applications for registration until the end of October.
“We are encouraged to see the high level of interest among the stateless population as shown by the number of application forms distributed in the first day of registration and the media awareness campaign carried by the government of the UAE to encourage registration,” said Mr. Spindler.
Two years ago, efforts by the Government to tackle the issue resulted in the naturalization of a first group of close to 1,300 people stateless people.
The agency has recommended additional steps to address statelessness and encourage a process that meets international standards.
“We hope that a successful resolution of this issue in the UAE will encourage other countries in the region to follow suit in addressing the problem of statelessness,” Mr. Spindler stated.
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MORE THAN 5,000 BHUTANESE REFUGEES RESETTLED FROM NEPAL WITH UN HELP
Over 5,000 refugees from Bhutan have left their camps in Nepal to resettle in third countries this year, in one of the United Nations refugee agency’s largest and most promising resettlement programmes.
The vast majority of the refugees have left for the United States, followed by Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Canada and Denmark, under the programme which began only this year, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Over 50,000 refugees have expressed interest in resettlement – just under half of the total 107,000 refugees from Bhutan who live in seven camps in eastern Nepal. “Some of them have been in exile for as long as 17 years,” UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler told a news conference in Geneva.
Regular meetings have been held with the refugees to discuss resettlement and other durable solutions, as well as provide information for women at risk or people with disabilities.
“Refugees are being offered English classes as well as additional vocational and skill-based training to prepare for a life in a new country,” Mr. Spindler said.
While another 2,000 to 3,000 refugees are expected to leave Nepal for third countries by the end of this year, UNHCR “continues to advocate for the option of voluntary return to Bhutan for those refugees who wish to do so, and hopes that talks on repatriation can restart soon,” he added.
UNHCR attributes the success of the programme to close cooperation with the Nepali Government, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the resettlement countries.
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UN CALLS ON EUROPEAN UNION TO UPHOLD PLEDGES TO PROTECT IRAQI REFUGEES
The United Nations refugee agency is calling on the European Union (EU) to reaffirm its commitment to protect Iraqi refugees ahead of its meeting of Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs later this week.
Nearly 40,000 Iraqis applied for asylum in 27 EU member states last year, and some 16,000 have put forward their applications in the first seven months of 2008, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Roughly 2 million Iraqis remain uprooted in Syria, Jordan and other countries in the region.
Earlier this month at a conference on asylum convened by the French presidency, High Commissioner António Guterres voiced hope that the majority of Iraqi refugees will be able to return to their home country once stability and security have been bolstered. But the security environment is still precarious, especially in central and southern Iraq.
“We hope that the Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs will commit the European Union to participation in organized resettlement efforts,” UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler told reporters in Geneva today. “At present, only a minority of the 27 EU member states have implemented resettlement programmes.”
The agency has resettled 14,600 Iraqi refugees from Syria, Jordan and other regional nations between last April and this month; the United States has admitted nearly two-thirds of them, with just 10 per cent being taken in by EU countries.
UNHCR is also appealing for the resettlement of 3,000 Palestinian refugees – including a large number of women and children – who have fled Iraq. Only 300 of them have been resettled to date, with only 47 to EU member states.
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UN’S ASIA-PACIFIC ARM TEAMS UP WITH CHINA TO CURB DISASTER RISK
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has joined forces with China, which was struck by a devastating earthquake in May that left nearly 100,000 dead or missing, to reduce the damage wrought by future disasters.
“The Asia-Pacific region shares a disproportionate burden of the global loss of life from disasters,” ESCAP Executive Secretary Noeleen Heyzer said today during a visit to China’s Sichuan province, which was ravaged by the May tremors.
Some 80 per cent of casualties from global disasters in the past seven years have occurred in the region, which is home to six of the world’s 10 most affected countries by number of victims, she added.
The new ESCAP-China partnership will focus on three key areas.
First, it seeks to improve disaster risk reduction and preparedness by improving access to information, such as through early warning systems.
It also aims to assess the socio-economic impact of disasters, and lastly it targets enhancing existing South-South cooperation to share disaster management experiences.
Ms. Heyzer stopped in the town of Yingsiu, the earthquake’s epicentre, situated 200 kilometres northwest of Chengdu, Sichuan’s capital. “The smooth coordination with which the relief and rescue effort was undertaken despite the sheer enormity of the task is truly admirable,” she said.
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