Monthly Archives: August 2005

A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary

Chrenkoff: “Nearly half a million Iraqi children will benefit from upgraded sanitation facilities at schools across the country this year as a result of United Nations (UN) initiatives aimed at raising a new generation of educated Iraqis to help their country rebuild from war.”

Feministing: “According to a new report from UNICEF: “About 20 percent of children in Afghanistan die before their fifth birthday, girls being particularly vulnerable. Girls’ enrollment in secondary schools is less than 10%. Female illiteracy rates as high as 85%. In some parts of Afghanistan, maternal death rates are as high as 6,000 per 100,000 women.” These statistics have led UNICEF to declare a state of “acute emergency” for women and children living in Afghanistan.”

Booker Rising: “Haiti Election Doubts – Haiti’s planned election timetable is looking increasingly doubtful as officials say there are problems with finance, and violent clashes between police and supporters of former President Jean Bertrand-Aristide continue. Despite a United Nations stabilizing force having been present for more than a year, violence continues. The UN’s representative in Haiti fears that armed gangs could disrupt the election process.”

Coalition for Darfur: “Oxfam on the Genocide Agreement – I mentioned this yesterday, but I finally found the official Oxfam press release… The current draft wording on the ‘responsibility to protect is below’: 118. The international community should, as appropriate, encourage and help States to exercise this responsibility and support the efforts of the United Nations to establish an early-warning capability. The international community, through the United Nations, also has the obligation to use diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, including under Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter to help protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. 119. We invite the permanent members of the Security Council to refrain from using the veto in cases of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. 120. We support the implementation of the United Nations Action Plan to Prevent Genocide and the work of the Secretariat to this end.”

Crooks and Liars: “James Wolcott – “Roger L. Simon I don’t consider a liberal hawk. Because he isn’t. He isn’t much of a liberal of any kind. Instead, he typifies a subset of bloggers who day-in, day-out bash the UN (particularly over the “oil-for-food” scandal”) while saying damn near nothing about the billions of reconstruction money lost or stolen in Iraq and the sweetheart deals for companies like, yes, Halliburton; who dump scorn regularly on the ACLU and minimize the brutalities at Abu Ghraib…”

Democracy Arsenal: “Responding to my post of yesterday, in which I made the point that France had intervened without UN authorisation in the civil war in Cote d’Ivoire, KB says that “when the French deployed in 2002 it did so at the request of the legitimate government of the IC and therefore didn’t need UN say so.” READ MORE