Yearly Archives: 2007
Some Good News on AIDS
In its annual update on worldwide trends in the AIDS epidemic, UNAIDS announced today that the number of people living with HIV is lower than previously thought. New sampling techniques used for this year’s report show that about 33 million people worldwide are infected with HIV, compared with last year’s estimate of around 40 million. Also, the new techniques yield an estimate that 2.5 million people will be infected with AIDS this year–which is a 40% drop in last year’s estimate.
The number of people living with AIDS each year is still increasing–but at a much slower rate than previously thought. This is excellent news, but far from a declaration of victory. From the Los Angeles Times:
Dr. Roger Detels, a UCLA epidemiologist, cautioned that the reduced numbers should not be used as an excuse to dismiss concerns about the pandemic.
“Even though the estimates are lower than we had previously thought, they’re still pretty significant,” Detels said. “You’re still talking about prevalences in sub-Saharan Africa where you’ve got over 20% of adults infected with HIV…I think the danger here is to say: ‘Oh my Lord, you know they overestimated. It’s not a very serious epidemic.’ I would say 33 million is a pretty serious epidemic.”
Indeed, the report shows that 5,700 people die each day from AIDS-related conditions. That’s like losing the population of Miami every two and a half months. Read more
UNHCR pledges $11 million to Iraqi refugees in Jordan
The United Nations refugee agency has pledged $11 million to help care for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees living in Jordan.
Under a funding agreement signed in Amman today, the money will help the Ministry of Health enhance public medical services and primary health centres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a news release.
“For a long time there was not enough attention given to the burden on Jordan and we continue to try to help in alleviating this burden,” UNHCR Representative in Jordan Imran Riza said after signing the agreement.
IPCC Report and What to Expect From Bali
There’s been extensive coverage of the newest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Like the three reports proceeding it, this one warns of dire consequences should action not be taken immediately to combat climate change. The timing of the release is no accident. Next month, delegates from hundreds of UN member states will meet in Bali to discuss a new climate change convention to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. The contents of the report, says the Washington Post, is “key ammunition” for negotiators at Bali.
Lest people have unrealistic expectation from what will come out of the talks, the negotiations in Bali will be what they call a “process meeting.” There will be no document to point to after the delegates go home which spells out specific obligations under a post-Kyoto climate change framework. Rather, the significance of the meeting is that it will lay out the entire road map for how negotiations over the next three years will proceed.
The path set forth in next month’s meeting will be how the climate change debate is framed over the next three years and beyond. So what to do if a member state is somewhat cold to the idea of say, an emission reduction target of 80% for developed countries by 2050, with a 1990 base year? At least for now, disputes over specific proposals should not make much of a difference to the outcome of Bali, which is more a discussion about future discussions than actual substantive policy negotiations.
Still, the process questions are hugely important. And UN Dispatch will be in Bali, covering the discussion from the ground with frequent updates throughout the two week long meeting, which begins December 3.
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New Blogging Heads
Matthew Lee and I square off once again. In the newest installment of Blogging Heads, we discuss the challenges facing UN peacekeeping in Africa, the bizarre Zoe’s Ark scheme in Chad, the Secretary General’s climate change efforts, Ambassador Bolton’s new book, Kosovo and more. You can also listen to the pod cast.
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Ban pledges support to Bangladesh cyclone victims
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has voiced his concern at the devastation and increasing death toll left by Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh.
Media reports say that more than 2,000 people have been reported killed as a result of Cyclone Sidr, which struck the southwest coast of Bangladesh late on Thursday local time, bringing winds of more than 240 kilometres per hour and a water surge that created waves up to five metres high. The death toll is expected to climb further.
Thousands of homes have been damaged or destroyed, large tracts of cropland have been wiped and hundreds of thousands of people have had to evacuate their home villages and towns and now depend on aid for basic necessities.
Ban expressed “his profound condolences to the people and Government of Bangladesh for the many deaths and the destruction involved, and the full solidarity of the UN system at this time of crisis.”
IAEA Report Roundup
The International Atomic Energy Agency released a report (pdf) yesterday on Iran’s nuclear program. Nearly all reports about the report called it “mixed,” which I tend to think is more of a comment about how various constituencies reacted to the report, than descriptive of the content of the report itself. The big question on everyone’s mind at the United Nations is whether or not this report provides justification for pursuing a third round of Security Council sanctions against Iran. And as you can see, the reactions to the “mixed” report are, in fact, mixed.
Chinese UN Ambassador Wang Guangya: “I don’t like to see this issue being discussed here [in the Security Council]. We already have two resolutions on the sanctions, and what do we have?”
American UN Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad: “For diplomacy to succeed, it needs widely supported, broad and biting sanctions to affect the calculations of the regime in Iran. I don’t believe the Chinese would want to take responsibility for the failure of diplomacy by not cooperating with the effort at additional sanctions.”
UK UN Ambassador John Sawyers: “The IAEA showed that they can’t even resolve questions about Iran’s past, that knowledge of present activities is diminishing, and they cannot clarify Iran’s future intentions because of the lack of cooperation. That is really worrying.”
Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili: “All the claims that Iran’s nuclear activities have a military agenda and are deviant are not true. The report says clearly that most of the ambiguities…have been removed.”
Former UN weapons inspector David Albright: “The main issue is that Iran now has 3,000 centrifuges. The report doesn’t even judge the quality of the information being offered, but it’s clear it is giving minimal answers.”
Meanwhile, hot off the presses, the Washington Post is reporting that Beijing canceled a Security Council meeting on Iran scheduled for the week after Thanksgiving. So at least for the time being, it looks like there will be no third round of sanctions.
WFP sends relief to Bangladesh
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is sending relief in the wake of Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh—the organization is sending food to feed 400,000 people in the affected areas.
“We have to move as quickly as possible to get food to the most vulnerable,” said WFP Bangladesh Representative Douglas Broderick, pointing out that the biscuits are critical “when there is a scarcity of clean water for drinking and cooking.”
They Write Letters
Yesterday, Scott Paul railed against the inaccuracies found in this Washington Times editorial about the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Apparently, Scott wasn’t the only person to raise an eyebrow. Captain Patrick J. Neher, director for international and operational law of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps at the Pentagon, wrote the following letter to the editor in today’s Washington Times.
Why Helicopters Matter
The head of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guehenno, warns of possible mission failure should 24 helicopters — including six attack helicopters — not be made available for UNAMID, the joint AU-UN Darfur mission. The United Nations has been asking member states to provide these important “force multipliers” for weeks, but so far those pleas have fallen on deaf ears. In a not-so-subtle jab to stingy member states, Guehenno says, “I think it tells a sad story on the commitment for Darfur, frankly.”
Why are attacks helicopters so important? First, peacekeepers deployed to Darfur will likely be subject to attack themselves — out gunned and out manned, the African Union lost ten soldiers in an attack last month. “If [UNAMID] was to know humiliation in the early stage of its deployment,” warns Guehenno, “then it’d be very hard to recover.”
Second, the extent to which the joint AU-UN Darfur mission will be able to deter attacks on civilians is reliant on the availability to superior firepower. Attack helicopters can be decisive in deterring attacks on civilians, especially when the attackers are using supped-up Toyotas and horses; it is widely acknowledged that a key turning point for UN peacekeeping in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was the deployment of Indian air force attack helicopters, which were then used to proactively target militias that attacked civilian enclaves. A similar dynamic will likely occur once peacekeepers are deployed to Darfur. “Peace enforcement,” the euphemistic term for aggressively deterring spoilers, will be a critical to the success of the Darfur mission. But without the right equipment, peace enforcement would be nearly impossible. This why Guehenno is warning that UNAMID might fail if member states do not supply the UN with the helicopters.
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UN Names New Chief Prosecutor at the Hague
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has nominated Belgian criminologist Serge Brammertz as the new chief prosecutor at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
Mr. Brammertz’s candidacy became known informally this summer, but he had to complete his mandate as the head of the United Nations inquiry into the killing in 2005 of Rafik Hariri, the former prime minister of Lebanon. Mr. Ban also nominated Daniel Bellemare, a Canadian prosecutor, to take over the Lebanon investigation. Both appointments require the approval of the Security Council, which is likely.
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The top United Nations refugee official today voiced his alarm at new inflows of refugees into Rwanda and Uganda, fleeing fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). More than 8,200 refugees have crossed from DRC into Rwanda since 27 April, according to staff of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). These are in addition to the 55,000 Congolese refugees that Rwanda is already hosting.
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Syria: U.N.-Arab League mediator Kofi Annan is urging Syria’s government to accept U.N. conditions for expanding the distribution of humanitarian aid to roughly 1 million Syrians in need of assistance, the United Nations said today. Meanwhile, three vehicles belonging to … Read more
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Sustainable Future Symposium; ICT for Development; IAEA/Iran; Global Financial Transaction Tax; and more
Partnerships and development cooperation among countries will play a key role in accelerating sustainable development, the Secretary-General of the UN Sustainable Development Conference (Rio+20), Sha Zukang said today, stressing that assistance will need to focus on helping developing countries find longer-term solutions to eradicate poverty and transition into a green economy.The two-day Australia High-Level Symposium, “Shaping a Sustainable Future – Partners in Development Cooperation,” which began today, seeks to facilitate an informal dialogue on development cooperation among high-level policymakers, multilateral and civil society organizations, philanthropic foundations and the private sector.
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DR Congo; South Sudan; UNHCR and OIC; and more
Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ivan Šimonovic, today voiced concern over the human rights situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which has experienced a recent upsurge in violence. Mr. Šimonovic said he was “appalled” by the heightened levels of recent violence triggered by defections in the Congolese armed forces, including former members of certain militia groups, and welcomed joint efforts between the peacekeepers of the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO), humanitarian actors and the authorities to protect civilians and respond to human rights violations.
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Asia-Pacific Human Development Report; Syria; Horn of Africa; UNRWA
Countries in the Asia-Pacific region must find ways to continue to grow economically and lift millions out of poverty while also responding to climate change and environmental concerns, according to UN report released today, which stresses that new methods of production are needed to meet this goal.UNDP’s Asia-Pacific Human Development Report 2012 argues that policies and actions in the region will have a global impact as it is home to more than half of the world’s population and half of the planet’s megacities.
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SG on Rio/Post-2015 Development; Syria; Middle East; Global Fund; and more
Appealing for flexibility in reaching agreement on a final outcome document, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon today, emphasized the need for Member States to agree on launching a process to establish Sustainable Development Goals ahead of the Rio+20 conference while also announcing the appointment of three co-chairs to his High-Level Panel on Post-2015 Development Planning. We should agree on launching a process to establish Sustainable Development Goals that build on the Millennium Development Goals … find better ways to measure progress that goes beyond Gross Domestic Product …and advance action to improve people’s lives through decent work, social protection and the empowerment of women and young people,” the UN chief said in his address to the UN General Assembly.
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Syria; Guinea-Bissau; UNAIDS; Afghanistan; and more
Amid concerns from the international community over the prospects of a “full civil war” in Syria, the Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan, said today that the ongoing levels of violence and human rights abuses in the Middle Eastern country are unacceptable and the UN observer mission is possibly the only remaining chance to stabilize it.
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Peacebuilding; South Sudan; Indigenous Issues; Rwanda
The United Nations is determined to do everything possible to assist societies torn by war from sliding back into conflict, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told an audience in the United States capital today, adding that while there have been setbacks, peacebuilding remains a crucial element of the world body’s efforts.In a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D. C., Mr. Ban highlighted the work of the UN’s 16 peacekeeping operations and 15 political missions in the area of peacebuilding – a core mandate of the Organization.
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Counter-terrorism; South Sudan; Iran; Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and more
At the Security Council’s high-level debate on Counter-terrorism today, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today he hoped Member States will decide to create the position of a UN Counter-Terrorism Coordinator to promote better coordination, collaboration and cooperation among all players.Mr. Ban told the Security Council, during its debate on threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts, that terrorism is a significant threat to peace and security, prosperity and people, and the global community continues to pursue a robust and comprehensive response.
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Sudan/South Sudan; North Korea; Afghanistan; “Born too Soon” report; and more
The Security Council today adopted a unanimous resolution calling on Sudan and South Sudan to immediately end hostilities and resume negotiations within two weeksto resolve all outstanding issues, and voiced its intention to take appropriate measures if the parties do not comply. The Council decided that the two countries shall, among other measures, “immediately cease all hostilities; unconditionally withdraw all of their armed forces to their side of the border; activate, within one week, the necessary border security mechanisms; and immediately cease hostile propaganda and inflammatory statements in the media”.
