Wednesday,
August 27, 2008

 

SECURITY
COUNCIL HOLDS DEBATE ON WORKING METHODS 

• The Security Council began this morning by
  unanimously extending the
  
  U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon. 
   

• It then moved on to an
  open
  debate on the Security Council’s working methods.
   

• In a
  
  speech, the Secretary-General stressed that it is essential for the
  Council to keep addressing these issues, given the increasingly complex
  responsibilities it is facing, as well as the surging demand for UN
  conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peacebuilding activities.
   

• The Secretary-General noted, too, that the
  Secretariat has taken steps to make the UN more effective, efficient and
  accountable.  He added that he looked forward to working to strengthen
  cooperation between the Secretariat and the Council even further.
   

• Yesterday, the Council adopted a
  
  press statement on Burundi, in which it urged the parties to
  implement the Comprehensive Ceasefire Agreement in accordance with the
  agreed timeline. Security Council members were also briefed, in closed
  consultations, on Somalia, Afghanistan and the Kalma camp shooting in
  Sudan.

 UN ASSESSMENT TEAM DISPATCHED TO
KALMA CAMP FOLLOWING EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCE

• UNAMID, in a press release issued yesterday
  afternoon, strongly
  
  condemned what it called the “excessive, disproportionate use of
  lethal forces” by Sudanese security forces against civilians during a
  raid inside a displaced persons’ camp in Darfur, in contravention of the
  Darfur Peace Agreement and international humanitarian law.
   

• As part of its investigation of the incident,
  UNAMID has sent an assessment team to Kalma today to further gather
  information of what happened at the camp. Composed of officers of the
  UNAMID Formed Police Unit of Nyala, police and military advisors, and
  human rights and civil affairs personnel, the team has been tasked with
  ascertaining the facts and circumstances surrounding the incident.
   

• UNAMID has
  
  obtained concrete evidence of the death of 31 displaced persons,
  among them 7 children, 10 women, and 13 men, aged 11 to 60, who were
  buried in Kalma.
   

• Expressing their concerns, to which the armed
  presence maintained by Government of Sudan security forces in the camp
  further contributes, Kalma Camp leaders have called for a meeting with
  the UNAMID leadership. Responding immediately to their request, Rodolphe
  Adada, the African Union – United Nations Joint Special Representative
  and Chief of UNAMID, has directed that a high-level delegation engage
  today in a series of meetings with the IDPs and other concerned parties.
  In order to rebuild confidence among the IDPs of Kalma, another UNAMID
  assessment mission to the camp has been scheduled.

 HEAD OF UN REFUGEE AGENCY IN SOMALIA
RELEASED UNHARMED 

• [In a press release issued after the noon briefing,
  the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced
  that the head of the
  
  UNHCR office in Somalia has been released unharmed after two months
  in captivity. 
   

• Hassan Mohammed Ali, who is also known as Keynaan,
  was abducted from his home near Mogadishu on 21 June by an unknown armed
  group.  He is in good health, and preparations are underway to reunite
  him with his family.
   

• UNHCR is grateful for all expressions of public
  support and thanks all Somali organizations and members of civil society
  who organized demonstrations to call for his release. 
   

• The refugee agency extends its sympathies to aid
  workers who are still forcibly detained in Somalia.  Such abductions and
  attacks on humanitarian workers have increased in recent months,
  jeopardizing the delivery of aid to vulnerable populations, UNHCR
  notes.]

GRAVE
CONCERN EXPRESSED AT LARGE NUMBER OF CIVILIAN VICTIMS IN AFGHANISTAN BOMBING 

• The Special Representative of the Secretary General
  for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, today
  
  voiced her grave concern on the high toll of civilian victims,
  mostly children, caused by an aerial bombardment in Shindand district of
  the Herat Province in Afghanistan on August 21.
   

• The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan issued a
  
  statement yesterday saying it had found convincing evidence that
  some 90 civilians were killed, including 60 children, in that operation.
   

• The Special Representative strongly condemned the
  large number of deaths of civilians, and especially children, as a
  consequence of the escalation of the conflict. During her recent visit
  to the country, Radhika Coomaraswamy raised the need to limit such
  incidents with the leadership of the International Security Assistance
  Forces.

 U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE CONCERNED
OVER VIOLENCE IN INDIAN-ADMINISTERED KASHMIR 

• The Office of the High Commissioner for Human
  Rights (OHCHR)
  
  says it is concerned about the recent violent protests in
  Indian-administered Kashmir that have reportedly led to civilian
  casualties as well as restrictions to the right to freedom of assembly
  and expression.
   

• OHCHR calls on the Indian authorities and in
  particular security forces to respect the right to freedom of assembly
  and expression, and comply with international human rights principles in
  controlling the demonstrators. The use of force should be proportionate
  to the threat posed, and firearms must only be used in dispersing a
  violent assembly to protect individuals against an imminent threat of
  death or serious injury.
   

• The Acting High Commissioner calls for thorough and
  independent investigations into all killings that have occurred so far.
   

• OHCHR also calls on the demonstrators to protest
  using peaceful means only. Leaders of the different protesting groups
  have a responsibility to ensure that demonstrations are peaceful and
  that the demonstrators are not carrying sticks, guns or other weapons,
  and to refrain from intimidation. Political actors are urged to take all
  necessary protection measures to avoid exposing people under 18,
  including young children, to violence and to manipulation for political
  ends.
   

• Asked why the Secretary-General himself has not
  issued a statement on the situation in Kashmir, Montas explained that a
  statement has been issued by the Acting High Commissioner for Human
  Rights. The Secretary-General supports statements issued by his advisers
  and special representatives. "That the Secretary-General himself does
  not issue a statement should not be read as a sign that he is not aware
  of, or concerned about, the situation," Montas added. 

 UNILEVER PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS TO
BENEFIT WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME OPERATIONS IN PAKISTAN 

• The World Food Programme (WFP)
  says it has joined hands with the Unilever corporation, to fight against
  child hunger in rural Pakistan.
   

• Dubbed “Together for Child Vitality”, the
  three-year partnership is part of the company’s commitment to ending
  child hunger and achieving the
  
  Millennium Development Goals.
   

• More than 600 Unilever staff are taking part in an
  automated employee payroll programme, which is expected to raise 2.5
  million rupees per year.  The money will be go to more than 3,000
  WFP-assisted government girls’ primary schools in rural areas.

 WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME TO PROVIDE
EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE TO 50,000 FLOOD VICTIMS IN NEPAL 

• The World Food Programme (WFP) in Nepal
  
  announced today that it is mobilizing emergency food assistance for
  50,000 people displaced by floods in the eastern Terai districts of
  Nepal.
   

• The emergency operation is in response to the
  government’s request after monsoon rains caused an embankment of the
  Saptakoshi River to collapse, flooding thousands of hectares of land and
  forcing an estimated 50,000 people to flee their homes.
   

• The WFP Country Representative in Nepal said food
  supplies were moved quickly to thousands of displaced families affected
  by the floods, but there are concerns about the continuous rains which
  could increase the number of people in need.  As an initial response,
  WFP will provide a 15-day food basket consisting of rice, pulses, salt
  and vegetable oil to 50,000 flood victims. It is prepared to provide
  food for up to 30 days for families who cannot return to their homes
  because of high water levels.
   

• WFP estimates that it will need an additional
  US$1.5 to US$3 million in contributions to meet longer-term food needs
  and to provide livelihood support and recovery for flood victims in
  Nepal.

 HAITI: U.N. DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
CHIEF TOURS AREAS DAMAGED BY HURRICANE GUSTAV 

• U.N. Development Programme (UNDP)
  Associate Administrator Ad Melkert has extended his trip to Haiti.
   

• Yesterday he toured Cité Soleil, Haiti’s largest
  slum, with troops from the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).
  
   

• Today, along with the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator
  for Haiti Joel Boutroue, he toured parts of Port-au-Prince, including
  the harbor and Cité Soleil, that were damaged by hurricane Gustav. He
  will also view progress made on UNDP’s Disaster Preparedness Programme
  with Haiti’s Ministry of Interior.

 SECRETARY-GENERAL DOES NOT
ACKNOWLEDGE
SELF-DECLARED INDEPENDENCE OF ABKHAZIA AND SOUTH OSSETIA

• The Spokeswoman, in response to a question, said
  that the Secretary-General's
  
  statement of yesterday on the Russian Federation's recognition of
  South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states should not be misread
  as an acknowledgement of the self-declared independence of these two
  regions. "Only countries recognize countries," she said. "The
  Secretary-General does not."
   

• She added that yesterday's statement focused on the
  possible repercussions of this development for security and stability in
  the Caucasus and on the urgent need to protect all civilians living in
  the conflict zones. 
   

• The Secretary-General, she said further, has voiced
  his concerns about this situation since the crisis began in early
  August. In addition to remaining engaged in the matter, via phone calls
  to various regional leaders and extensive consultations with his
  advisers, the Secretary-General has also endorsed the six-point
  agreement brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and signed by
  both Georgia and the Russian Federation.  

 ENCOURAGING PROGRESS NOTED IN GHANA
CLIMATE CHANGE TALKS 

• The latest
  
  round of UN climate change talks are wrapping up today in Accra,
  Ghana.  Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention
  on Climate Change, says the meeting has been very encouraging.  Progress
  is speeding up towards the goal of reaching a new global climate change
  deal in Copenhagen by the end of 2009, Mr. de Boer says.
   

• He noted that good progress was made in the areas
  of deforestation, expanding the clean development mechanism and other
  programmes to more sectors of the economy, and on ensuring that Africa
  gets a larger share of clean technology projects under the Kyoto
  Protocol.
   

• He added that the debate in Accra made clear that
  these approaches are not about imposing targets on developing countries,
  but rather about what governments may or may not choose to do on a
  voluntary basis at the national level.
   

• The next round of talks will take place at the
  ministerial level in Poznan, Poland, in December.

 WORLD BANK FINDS MORE WIDESPREAD
POVERTY IN DEVELOPING WORLD 

• New estimates from the World Bank
  
  show that poverty has been more widespread across the developing
  world over the past 25 years than previously thought. The numbers also
  show more robust, if uneven, progress toward reducing overall poverty.
   

• The World Bank notes that one in four people in the
  developing world, or a total of 1.4 billion people, were living on less
  than US$1.25 a day in 2005. In comparison, 1.9 billion people, about
  half of the developing world, were living below the poverty line in 1981
  when the world population was estimated at 4.5 billion.
   

• On the basis of the new numbers, the World Bank
  believes that the developing world is still on track to halve extreme
  poverty by 2015, and thus meet this key Millennium Development Goal.

 UNICEF URGES GREATER JUDICIAL REFORM
TO REDUCE CHILD TRAFFICKING IN SOUTH ASIA 

• A
  
  report launched today in Kathmandu by UNICEF states that all too
  often child victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking are blamed
  and punished across South Asia, where weak national legislation can lead
  to further victimization of children.
   

• The report, “South Asia in Action: Preventing and
  responding to child trafficking”, found that the judicial process itself
  needs to be reformed and strengthened to protect children who have been
  victims of trafficking, as well as protecting other children from being
  exploited.
   

• South Asian children continue to be trafficked for
  multiple forms of sexual exploitation – including prostitution, sex
  tourism, child pornography, and paedophilia – as well as labour
  exploitation. Trafficking occurs both within and between countries in
  the region and also from South Asia to other regions including East
  Asia, Europe and the Gulf States.
   

• Although South Asian governments have developed
  national plans of action and adopted laws that criminalize human
  trafficking, so far only two countries in the region – India and Sri
  Lanka – have signed the Palermo Protocol, the first legal instrument to
  provide international definition of trafficking in human beings and
  specifically addressing children.

U.N. TRAINS 168 MEMBERS OF POLICE
UNIT IN ABYEI, SUDAN

• In a joint effort, the UN Mission in Sudan and the
  United Nations Development Programme have successfully
  
  concluded the first ten-day Police Basic Training Course for a total
  of 168 members of the new Abyei Joint Integrated Police Unit.
   

•  In accordance with the Abyei Road Map signed
  on June 8, the new Police Unit works for restoring the rule of law and
  ensuring the safety and security for the return to Abyei of Internally
  Displaced Persons.  

 U.N. HUMANITARIAN ENVOY VISITS KENYA
AND SOMALIA 

• UN Special Humanitarian Envoy, Mr. Abdul Aziz
  Arrukban, is currently on a mission to Kenya and Somalia. 
   

• He’s there to highlight the humanitarian crisis in
  Somalia and advocate for stronger involvement of Gulf Countries in
  tackling the unfolding emergency. Today, he is visiting the Bakool
  region in South Central Somalia and Dagahaley camp in north-eastern
  Kenya.  The camp is part of the Dadaab camp complex, which houses more
  than 200,000 Somali refugees. 

U.N.
MEETING TO EXAMINE IMPACT OF ORGANIZED CRIME ON PEACEKEEPING 

• Opening today in Stockholm is the fourth
  International Policing Advisory Council meeting. 
   

•  The meeting seeks to examine the impact of
  organized crime on peacekeeping. It will also develop proactive
  strategies for UN operations to respond to challenges posed by organized
  crime. The UN Secretariat is represented at the meeting by Assistant
  Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions, Dmitry
  Titov, and UN Police Adviser Andrew Hughes.
   

• Hughes, who will be the guest at noon on September
  2, said that the international community must recognize that organized
  crime has been one of the central spoilers of UN and other peace
  efforts. 
   

• The Police Division is the fastest growing
  component of the United Nations. It employs 16,900 officers as of
  January 2008, with more than 12,000 police officers from 98 countries
  deployed in 19 UN peace operations. 

OTHER
ANNOUNCEMENTS
 

U.N. ENVOY TO BRIEF SECRETARY-GENERAL ON RECENT
VISIT TO MYANMAR:  In response to a
question about Myanmar envoy Ibrahim Gambari being allegedly prevented to
meet with opposition figure Aung San Suu Kyii by the authorities, Montas
said that the envoy was expected to brief the Secretary-General on the
outcome of his mission in three days. Asked if Gambari was specifically
asked by the Secretary-General to meet with Suu Kyii, Montas confirmed that
Gambari had indeed been assigned the task and that he had met her on
previous visits to the country.

 

LEBANON BORDER ASSESSMENT REPORT SENT TO SECURITY
COUNCIL: The Spokeswoman, in response to a question, said that the
latest report of the Lebanon Independent Border Assessment Team, has been
forwarded by the Secretary-General to the Security Council. It will become
an official document soon.

 

MINISTERIAL MEETING EXAMINES
HEALTH-ENVIRONMENT LINKS IN AFRICA:  The first-ever Inter-Ministerial
Conference on Health and Environment in Africa is taking place through
Friday in Libreville, Gabon.  The World Health Organization and the U.N.
Environment Programme have jointly organized the

session, whose theme is “health security through healthy environments”.
The meeting is aimed at securing political commitment for reducing
environmental threats to health.  These include unsafe water, pollution,
poor sanitation, inadequate waste disposal, insufficient disease control,
and exposure to chemicals.  Up to a quarter of diseases in Africa may be
associated with environmental changes, the agencies say. 

 

SECRETARY-GENERAL HAS SPOKEN OUT AGAINST NEW ISRAELI
SETTLEMENTS: Montas, in response to a question, noted that the
Secretary-General has repeatedly spoken out against the building of new
settlements by Israel in the occupied territories as a serious obstacle to a
peaceful solution of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

 

SYMPOSIUM WITH VICTIMS OF TERRORISM TO TAKE PLACE IN
EARLY SEPTEMBER: On September 9th, the United Nations will host a
symposium with victims of acts of terrorism, the Spokeswoman said in
response to a question. Montas said that although there is no set definition
of terrorism within the UN's conventions and laws, there is a definite
acknowledgment and evidence of acts of terrorism and what it is to be a
victim of acts of terrorism.

 

CONSULTATIONS CONTINUE ON WESTERN SAHARA: Asked
for an update on efforts to resolve the political stalemate on Western
Sahara, Montas said that consultations continue between the parties in order
to prepare for a fifth round of talks. So far no conclusion has been agreed
upon. "The issue is not dead" she said in response to another question as to
why the United Nations seemed quiet on the matter.