Yearly Archives: 2005
Pacific Island Villagers First Climate Change “Refugees”
“A small community living in the Pacfic island chain of Vanuatu has become one of, if not the first, to be formally moved out of harms way as a result of climate change.
The villagers have been relocated higher into the interior of Tegua, one of the chains’ northern most provinces, after their coastal homes were repeatedly swamped by storm surges and aggressive waves linked with climate change.
The relocation, under a project entitled Capacity Building for the Development of Adaptation in Pacific Island Countries, underlines the increasingly drastic measures now underway to conserve low lying communities as a result of the rise in human-made emissions to the atmosphere.” LINK
News Roundup #66
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
Blog Roundup #69
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.”
Pakistan: UN Food Agency to Feed 1.3 Million Quake Survivors Through Winter
Survivors have to prepare their meals outdoors
“The United Nations World Food programme (WFP) can guarantee winter food supplies for hundreds of thousands of earthquake survivors in remote high-altitude villages in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, but continuing donor support is vital for one of the most challenging logistical operations the agency has ever faced.” [Full article]
Syrians to be Quizzed by UN Team
BBC: “UN investigators are due to question five Syrian officials on Monday as part of their inquiry into the killing of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri. The officials, who have not been identified, will be interrogated at UN offices in Vienna.
An interim UN report has already implicated Syrian and pro-Syrian Lebanese officials in the death of Hariri in a Beirut bombing in February.”
UN Envoy Finds Torture in China Widespread
“The use of torture is widespread in China and the country’s legal system needs a major overhaul for the situation to improve, a top U.N. envoy said on Friday, adding the government had obstructed his investigations.
Manfred Nowak, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, said his team was under frequent surveillance during a two-week trip that included Tibet and the northwestern Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang and was granted after 10 years of lobbying by his office.
There was also evidence authorities had intimidated victims and family members the U.N. team tried to interview, he said.” [Full Story]
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The SC; HRC; DPRK; South Sudan
The SC: The Security Council today held its last consultations under the Council Presidency of ROK. Tomorrow, Russia will take over the rotating Presidency of the Security Council for March under Ambassador Vitaly Churkin.
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The SG; Mali; Middle East; Palestine
The SG: At the Fifth Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations in Vienna, Austria today, the SG emphasized the role of youth in ensuring a “prosperous, equitable and peaceful future.”
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The SG; DRC; HRC; Palestinian Prisoner
The SG: In Ethiopia over the weekend, the SG is now in the United Arab Emirates. Today he met with Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, where the two discussed developments in the region, including Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, and in the Middle East Peace Process.
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