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Occupied Arab Territories in Political Turmoil
 UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan challenges world leaders to scale up efforts in the fight against AIDS; The International Labour Organization says more than 36 million workers have HIV; The Decolonization Committee is told there's a need for more support for political education in the dependent territories; The UN Resident Coordinator in the Eastern Caribbean says the Millennium Development Goals are an excellent tool for translating policies into practice; The International organization for Migration says trafficking may be contributing to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean
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Libya Opens Humanitarian Corridor for WFP Food Aid into Darfur and Chad The World Food Programme has announced a landmark deal with the Libyan Government to help provide life-saving assistance to 1.2 million people displaced by conflict in western Sudan's Darfur region and nearly 200 thousand who have fled to eastern Chad. Libya will provide a corridor for substantial deliveries of WFP food from the United States and other donors. The Libyan government and WFP have signed an agreement to guarantee the safe passage of food aid and other UN humanitarian supplies through Libya -- by air, water and road. With the onset of the rainy season WFP is facing difficulties in the delivery of aid, and it says the Libyan corridor will provide a vital link to the refugees and internally displaced people of Darfur.
WHO Calls for Intensification of Relief Efforts to Save Lives in Darfur Meanwhile, The World Health Organization is calling attention to the critical health situation of the displaced people of Darfur. The UN health agency says more funds, health workers and supplies are urgently needed to prevent a major health catastrophe in the Sudanese region. WHO's Director-General, Lee Jong-wook, who visited camps in South and West Darfur, says people are suffering from lack of sanitation, malnutrition and a shortage of clean water. David Nabarro, Special Representative to the Director-General, says the situation will get much worse with the imminent arrival of the seasonal rains:
WHO's Dr. David
Nabarro, on the line from Khartoum, Sudan.
Human Development Report 2004 Calls for Cultural Liberty in Today's Diverse World This year's Human Development Report focuses on cultural freedom as a necessary condition for development. The publication launched today by the UN Development Programme, UNDP, says most countries have minority groups that make up more than a tenth of their population. And the authors estimate that nearly a billion people suffer from some form of discrimination based on their ethnic, linguistic or religious differences. The report titled "Cultural Liberty in Today's Diverse World" argues that diversity is not an inherent threat to states. Rather, states must actively devise multicultural policies to foster inclusion across religious, ethnic and linguistic lines. Hafiz Pasha, head of UNDP's Asia Pacific bureau, says the world has come a long way towards achieving these goals, but cultural differences are still a source of conflict: "What is happening is that as we come closer, we're also becoming more aware of our differences, and in some societies some of the dominant groups do not want a new cultural arrangement, which accepts equality of partners".
Nelson Mandela Calls for Stepping up Fight Against Tuberculosis The International AIDS Conference taking place in Bangkok, Thailand today turned its attention to another related disease - tuberculosis. TB kills about a third of people with AIDS. Former South African President, Nelson Mandela, who successfully battled a TB infection, while in prison during Apartheid, called on the world to devote more attention and resources to improve TB detection and treatment:
Mr. Mandela challenged
countries and private sector donors to support the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which today received a 50 million
dollar pledge from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.
UN launches new initiative with major investors to safeguard environment The United Nations
environment programme (UNEP) has launched a new Responsible Investment
Initiative in a bid to safeguard the ecological future of the planet.
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"They're
a bit late this year, thank goodness, but when they do come, they
will first of all bring with them a much greater risk of disease,
particularly diarrhea, and possibly even outbreaks of cholera and
dysentery, and they will also bring risks of malaria"
"We
are all here because of our commitment to fighting AIDS, but we cannot
win the battle against AIDS, if we do not also fight TB. TB is too
often a death sentence for people with AIDS."