Monthly Archives: May 2006
Blog Roundup #105
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Coalition for Darfur on Darfur’s “fleeting moment”
Daily Kos’s Navy Vet Terp on John Bolton at the Baltimore Council on Foreign Affairs
Paper Chase on the UN Committee Against Torture report
Peter Levine on political participation and economic success
PSD Blog on UNSG Kofi Annan and the announcement of the launch of new UN Principles of Responsible Investment
UN Officials Welcome Formation of Iraq’s New Government
“United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and his senior envoy to Iraq today welcomed the announcement of the formation of the new Iraqi Government, and urged that the process be completed in order to consolidate stability.
UN Calls for Closing Guantanamo Prison
AP: “The United States should close its prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and avoid using secret detention facilities in the war on terror, the U.N. panel that monitors compliance with the world’s anti-torture treaty said Friday.
A ‘Tsunami’ in the Democratic Republic of Congo Every Six Months
©UNICEF/2006/Shima Islam
“U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres has issued an urgent plea to the international community to increase support for the desperately under-funded emergency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In his first official visit to Germany since becoming High Commissioner last June, Guterres said that the human cost of the conflict in some parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – a country the size of Western Europe – continued to be much higher than in other emergencies.
“This conflict is taking more human lives than the tsunami; we have a tsunami in the Congo every six months,” Guterres said at a press conference Tuesday with the German Minister for Development Cooperation, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul.” [Read more]
See also:
“The war the world forgot”, Democratic Republic of Congo Photo Gallery
Secretary-General Calls for Global Security in Cyberspace
“From on-line banking to the benefits of telemedicine, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on the world community to enhance global security in cyberspace so as to realize the full potential of information and communication technologies (ICT) and accelerate the pace of development.” [Full story]
UN Council Approves Mission to Darfur
WaPo: “The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a legally binding resolution Tuesday that instructs the United Nations to replace an underfinanced African Union peacekeeping mission that is struggling to halt the killing of civilians in the Darfur region of western Sudan. The council threatened sanctions against anyone who impedes peace efforts there.
The U.S.-sponsored resolution, which passed 15 to 0, is aimed at speeding the transition from an African force of about 7,000 troops to a much larger U.N. mission of as many as 20,000 international peacekeepers. The council demanded that Khartoum supply visas for U.N. and African Union military planners within a week to travel to Darfur and prepare for the transition.”
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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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