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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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UNHCR Resumes Work in Camps in Chad after Suspension due to Violence
"The Breidjing site cannot support such large numbers of refugees so we are planning to move those who have come on their own to other camps. We will also move some of the registered refugees to another camp to help ease the pressure on Breidjing, which is about twice its planned size."
UN Human Rights Experts Concerned about Acquittal of Officer in Death of Journalist
"The
experts indicate that many reports say that the proceedings of the
trial of the intelligence officer for the killing, did not meet international
standards of fair trial because key evidence that might have incriminated
judiciary officials, the prosecutor's office as well as the intelligence
ministry were ignored by the court."
Board Overseeing Iraqi Oil Revenues Briefs Security Council International experts overseeing the Development Fund for Iraq briefed the UN Security Council on Monday in a closed meeting. Following the meeting, the chair of the International Monitoring and Advisory Board, Jean-Pierre Halbwachs, told reporters that he had relayed the Board's concerns on key issues to the Council. One was the lack of metering of the crude oil being extracted at the source. Another was the use of bartering, and a third was contracts that were not put up for bidding. "Why is our concern with the sole source contract? Because if you don't go to bids to get a contract, you are not sure that you actually got a very good price for it." The monitoring board was set up in December as an oversight body for the Development Fund for Iraq, which receives the proceeds of oil export sales. During the occupation, disbursements from the fund were managed by the Coalition Provisional Authority, in consultation with the Iraqi authorities, who now control the resources. Germany's UN Ambassador Gunther Pleuger says the Security Council is looking forward to further reports by the monitoring board. "We feel it is necessary to provide full transparency of how the Iraqi oil resources have been used, and the monetary resources have been used, and that kind of transparency in our view is also necessary to induce foreign investment in the country."
Tropical Timber Agreement Negotiations Focus on Funding Sustainable
Forestry
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The
UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, has resumed its work in two camps for Sudanese
refugees in eastern Chad. Aid agencies had been ordered to withdraw
from the Farchana and Breidjing camps following outbursts of violence
last week. Two refugees were killed by the Chadian authorities in
quelling the unrest. Over the weekend, UNHCR and other aid agencies,
met with the local authorities and refugee leaders at both sites,
and determined that humanitarian work could safely resume. But UNHCR
Spokesperson, Jennifer Pagonis, says the Breidjing camp is overburdened
- with 30 thousand refugees registered and another 5 thousand, who
have arrived on their own, and have not yet been integrated into the
camp.
Three
UN human rights experts have expressed concern about procedures in
the 2-day trial of an Iranian intelligence officer, who was acquitted
of killing journalist, Zahra Kazemi. The Iranian-Canadian photographer
was arrested in June last year while taking pictures outside a prison
in Tehran. She was reportedly beaten and died of her injuries in July
2003. The Spokesman for the UN Human Rights Commission, Jose Diaz,
says the 3 special rapporteurs -- on freedom of expression, on independence
of judges, and on torture -- fear that by failing to ensure an open
trial, the Iranian authorities are creating a climate of impunity
for law enforcement officials and setting the ground for the recurrence
of similar human rights violations in the future. 
UNCTAD,
the UN Conference on Trade and Development, is holding negotiations
on tropical timber this week. The negotiations concern the renewal
of the 1994 International Tropical Timber Agreement, which expires
next year. The 1994 accord replaced an earlier one from 1983, and
aimed to promote the expansion and diversification of international
trade in tropical timber from sustainable sources. However, it stopped
short of making environmentally sound conditions of production mandatory.
UNCTAD Spokesperson, Erica Meltzer, says producer countries, such
as Malaysia, Indonesia and Brazil, , want to make sustainable forestry
practices mandatory, so that they can be properly funded.