NYT: "Secretary General Kofi Annan on Thursday vigorously defended Louise Arbour, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, after comments she made about detention and torture came under criticism from John R. Bolton, the United States ambassador.
"The secretary general has absolutely no disagreement with the statement she made yesterday, and he sees no reason to object to any of it," said Mr. Annan's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric. In an unusual instance of a secretary general's singling out an individual envoy for critical comment, Mr. Annan said he was seeking a meeting with Mr. Bolton to make his point in person."
"The rise of deadly new diseases such as SARS and bird flu could be linked to the destruction of the environment, the World Health Organization said on Friday.
"Human health is strongly linked to the health of ecosystems, which meet many of our most critical needs," Maria Neira, director of WHO's Department of Protection of the Human Environment told a news conference at the launch of a new report.
"As a result of human actions, the structure and the world's ecosystems changed more rapidly in the second half of the twentieth century than at any other time in human history," the report said." [Read more]
Full Report
"With the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) reporting banditry, looting and ethnic fighting in Sudan's western Darfur region, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today voiced grave concern about the worsening situation in the area and called on all parties to respect their ceasefire agreement.
UNMIS has reported "banditry, looting, inter-tribal fighting, clashes allegedly between Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) rebels and tribes, attacks on civilians - destroying wells, which are essential to their livelihood, and forcing thousands more people to leave their homes in addition to the 2 million already displaced - and a further increase in the number of attacks and robberies committed against humanitarian workers," Mr. Annan said through his spokesman." [Read more]
"The U.S.-led fight against terrorism is eroding the time-honored international prohibition of torture and other forms of cruel or degrading treatment of prisoners, the top U.N. human rights official said Wednesday in a statement commemorating Human Rights Day.
Louise Arbour, the high commissioner for human rights at the United Nations, presented the most forceful criticism to date of U.S. detention policies by a senior U.N. official, asserting that holding suspects incommunicado in itself amounts to torture." [More]
Blogs covering the story:
Andrew Sullivan
Swords into Plowshares
Talking Points Memo
The Heretik
The Corner
Wise Law Blog
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Gypsy Girl Chronicles: "Today is Human Rights Day. It has been celebrated since December 10th, 1948, when the United Nations first adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This year, in the aftermath of Abu Ghraib and the current reports of secret CIA prisons, the theme is significant..."
Matthew Good: "I suppose it should come as no real surprise that the United States is now saying that the UN CAT [Convention Against Torture] applies to US personnel abroad, including interrogators. Their position had been that it didn't apply to US personnel abroad, but given the various scandals that have erupted one can see why Congressional pressures might have made some headway with regards to altering the administration's point of view. Of course, the precedent set has caused a great deal of damage to global human rights standards, something that won't be so easy to correct. Terrorism, the world's new justification in perpetuity, provides rights abusers the perfect, and highly ambiguous, justification for suspect action. Just because a few skeletons in America's War On Terror closet are starting to rattle around doesn't mean that justification is any less potent. Rice has said that her statement does not imply a policy shift, but that she was simply clarifying policy. If that's the case, one has to ask the obvious question: does it apply to the last four years, or has the clock just started?"
Barking Dingo: "Time to Learn How to Swim - The first recorded displacement of humans due global warming has officially been recorded: "Pacific islanders move to escape global warming: "Rising seas have forced 100 people on a Pacific island to move to higher ground in what may be the first example of a village formally displaced because of modern global warming, a U.N. report said on Monday."
Guardian Blogs: "Midway through the final week of the UN climate negotiations in Montreal brings a strange kind of lull, writes Simon Retallack. It could be the calm before the storm. Something seems to be up. I've tried to attend press conferences that have been postponed three times and then abandoned. An important negotiating session was eagerly awaited and then cancelled. Without much light being shed, it's a time when dark thoughts and rumours flourish. The news overnight has not been particularly good. Negotiations on how to kick-start negotiations on new emission reduction targets for industrialised countries under the Kyoto protocol went on until 2am and a leak of the draft text that emerged suggests the state of play is worse than before. Key elements of a decision are now in square brackets, which means they are in dispute, including the suggestion that the negotiations should be completed by November 2008 (when a new US president would be elected)."
It's Getting Hot in Here: "Earlier today, the US climate delegation met again with a room full of climate advocates. While the audience had expanded in size, the responses remained equally disappointing. Dr. Harlan L. Watson led his congregation of cronies through another round of crass question evasion. Once again, inaction was defended under the veil of "scientific uncertainty," adaptation, and voluntary participation in climate mitigation. As NGO (non-governmental organization) reps and US citizens voiced concern about the urgency of our climate situation, the US delegation replied with oily, rehearsed rhetoric. Ultimately, today's meeting served to reinforce the necessity of the local action emerging across the US. With or without the US administration, we are moving ahead."
The Decline: "This is an essay question for my International Relations final exam. The question: What are the most important long-term US interests at the international level, and how can the US best accomplish them? Are US interests and global peace mutually exclusive, or complementary? What I came up with: We need to, overall, get back to diplomacy as a means to solve international problems.... Haass is correct when he says: "A decision to opt out of formal multilateralism should only be taken when it is truly necessary. And when the United States does break ranks with the international community, it should look to bring in the relevant regional organizations -- or the U.N. -- at the first opportunity."
Selected summary of United Nations related news and events
World Must Act Quickly to Stop Sudan Violence: UN
Arctic, Tropical Islands Unite in Climate Fight
World Weather Disasters Spell Record Losses in 2005
Mugabe Rejects UN Offer of Tents
Deadly Violence in Sri Lanka Must Not Derail
Peace Process - Annan
UN Troops Murder Suspect Arrested
Sri Lanka: Focus of Tsunami Recovery is Shifting to
'Bricks-and-Mortar' Reconstruction
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Coalition for Darfur: "Darfur: UN Refugee Agency Calls for Urgent Action - From the AP: "The head of the U.N. refugee agency called on the international community to take a united stance and give urgently needed help to Sudan's embattled Darfur region."
Democracy Arsenal (Morton H. Halperin): "Having spent most of Friday at the United Nations headquarters in New York, I am much more pessimistic about the chances for reaching agreement on a new human rights council. More alarming, I fear that the US is precipitating a crisis which will further weaken American ability to lead and which could debilitate the UN. As reported in an editorial in the New York Times on Friday, John Bolton has informed his colleagues that the United States will only support an interim three month budget for the UN and will accept a longer budget only after the US reform agenda is implemented. With the possible exception of Japan, the US position has no significant support. UN officials say that the UN will run out of money by late February if this course is adopted."
Agonist: "UN contemplates military operation for Darfur - Reuters: "A joint military team will visit Darfur next week to study whether the United Nations should take over efforts to bring order to Sudan's lawless west, U.N. officials and diplomats said on Sunday."
Strategy Unit: "Ruth Wedgwood is right to say the U.N. should not have a monopoly in what defines the international community and the U.S. should nurture relationships with other international organizations for its own foreign policy goals. But, it won't be a catalyst for U.N. reform. Indeed, it can lead to the fragmentation of the international community space - with major power getting "legitimacy" for its policies from whatever regional or international organizations out there."
Tapped (Mark Goldberg): "If you were ever wondering how to lose diplomatic influence across the world, let me suggest using John Bolton's recent maneuverings over the UN budget as a case study."