The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is sending aid to 70,000 people affected by floods in the Mexican state of Tabasco.
"We are moving as swiftly as possible to bring critical help to the people of Tabasco, who are suffering the worst crisis in their recent history," said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran.
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Since the outbreak of fighting in Darfur, the United Nations has undertaken one of the biggest humanitarian operations in the organization's history, feeding and providing medicine to millions of refugees and internally displaced people. Throughout the humanitarian operation, however, the government of Sudan has not always been cooperative. It is often accused by some in the NGO and advocacy community of using tactics like "bureaucratic obstructionism," to prevent the delivery of humanitarian aid.
That is a somewhat opaque phrase. This is what it looks like in action.
The South Darfur government has expelled Wael al-Haj-Ibrahim, the top official of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the state capital, Nyala. The office is responsible for coordinating international aid efforts in the state... U.N. spokeswoman Orla Clinton tells VOA the organization has not yet received a clear explanation of the government's actions. "He was forced to leave South Darfur. This is a directive from the state government. Today, we are having meetings with the government here in Khartoum on this," said Clinton. "The only indication we have been given was that he was not complying with the humanitarian acts. Now, we don't exactly know what that means and we are looking for clarifications on this. So, we are hoping to have those clarifications today."
An English version of a United Nations online game aimed at raising awareness about refugees, "Against All Odds," was recently released.
[The game] is a reworked version of a Swedish-language game, Motallaodds, which was designed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Stockholm and launched nearly two years ago. In September 2006, the German version of the game – known as LastExitFlucht (LastExitFlight) – was awarded the Austrian Multimedia and E-Business State Prize in the category for “Knowledge and Learning,” after beating off stiff competition from a CD-Rom about the life of Mozart.More
Looking for an afternoon diversion? The newly created Friends of World Heritage Trivia Game challenges you, on the clock, to pinpoint UNESCO World Heritage Sites. There's a lot of diversion to be had here -- 14 lightening rounds of increasing difficulty. I tapped out after 12. Better study up.
The need to expand the UN's "preventative diplomacy" capacity has been buzzing around the United Nations for quite some time. The idea is to shift the Secretariat's conflict management resources to direct more attention to preventing the outbreak of conflict, rather than simply respond to it. To that end, it looks like B. Lynn Pascoe, the American head of the UN's Department of Political Affairs, will be getting the staff he requires to make this shift.
The United Nations Department of Political Affairs will gain more than 100 new staff as part of a programme by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to make the department more proactive in averting crises and conflicts before they can emerge and threaten peace and security. The planned reorganization of DPA will cost about $21 million over the next two years, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe told reporters at a briefing today to outline the changes.Read more.
UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari has been in Burma for the past three days in an effort to mediate talks between the ruling junta and Aung San Suu Kyi, the jailed democracy activist. Junta head General Than Shwe, however, does not seem interested in even meeting with Mr. Gambari and has rejected his entreaties.
From the BBC:
Burma's ruling generals have rejected a UN plan for three-way talks involving detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according to state media. Minister Kyaw Hsan told UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari that Burma would not accept interference in its sovereignty. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has expressed concern at the lack of progress being made with the junta. Mr Gambari arrived in Burma on Saturday for his second visit since protests in September were brutally suppressed. On a previous visit, he held talks separately with junta head General Than Shwe and Ms Suu Kyi. Although he is expected to meet Ms Suu Kyi again before concluding his visit on Thursday, Mr Ban said there had been no further meeting with General Than.Burma Digest has more. If Gambari must return to New York without securing a constructive meeting with General Than, it should be incumbent on the Security Council to tighten the screws until the junta feels cooperating with the a UN-led mediation process is in its best interests.
This story in today's Times, reporting the State Department's announcement that a "team of American experts had arrived at North Korea's sole functioning nuclear reactor and begun the work of disabling the facilities," reminded me that I've been wanting to write about John Bolton's recent destructive tactics with regard to North Korea and Iran. Bear with me. If you haven't been following the Syrian-North Korea story, on September 6 the Israeli Air Force attacked a site inside the borders of Syria that "Israeli and American intelligence analysts judged was a partly constructed nuclear reactor, apparently modeled on one North Korea has used to create its stockpile of nuclear weapons." According to the same Times article:
Many details remain unclear, most notably how much progress the Syrians had made in construction before the Israelis struck, the role of any assistance provided by North Korea, and whether the Syrians could make a plausible case that the reactor was intended to produce electricity. In Washington and Israel, information about the raid has been wrapped in extraordinary secrecy and restricted to just a handful of officials, while the Israeli press has been prohibited from publishing information about the attack.
Malaria kills one million people each year, the majority of whom are children in sub-Saharan Africa. Simple measures, like sleeping under an insecticide treated bed net, significantly reduces the risk of infection. To help us better understand the effectivness of bed nets, Nothing But Nets teamed up with VH1 to create this PSA.
As they say, "Send a Set, Save a Life"
Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon today urged the Pakistani Government to restore the rule of law.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has urged the Pakistan government to immediately release political detainees, including a UN Human Rights expert and restore democracy. The UN chief, in a statement on Monday, expressed his ''strong dismay'' at the detention of hundreds of human rights and opposition activists, including the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief Asma Jehangir. He urged the authorities to immediately release those detained, to lift restrictions on the news media and to take early steps for a return to democratic rule, and appealed to the Pakistani government to hold the parliamentary elections as scheduled.As far as statements condeming the actions of a member state go, this is fairly strong--and even more so because Pakistan's UN Ambassador Munir Akram currently holds the rotating presidency of the powerfull G-77 bloc of developing countries. Akram, not surprisingly, is upset with Ban's outspokeness.