Yearly Archives: 2008
Blogging Iraq’s Upcoming Elections
An innovative way to prepare for Iraqi elections:
A new United Nations-supported blog site just launched in Baghdad is the latest initiative to engage voters in the nascent democracy and motivate them to go to the polls on 31 January 2009 during the country’s provincial elections.
The blog, called “Vote for Iraq” can be found on http://voteiraq.maktoobblog.com and was launched with the support of the UN-led International Election Assistance Team (IEAT).
Voters will just have to make sure not to get too much purple ink on their keyboards.
(image of the dyed finger of an Iraqi voter in 2005 elections, from flickr user carcollectorz under a Creative Commons license) Read more
Politics and Pessimism in Somalia
Regarding the most recent of Somalia’s tumultuous political twists, Jeffrey Gettleman asks the right question:
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the cantankerous president of beleaguered Somalia, resigned Monday. The question now is, will it make a difference?
Could it be the death knell of Somalia’s transitional government, whose zone of control is down to a few city blocks in a country nearly as big as Texas? Or will it be the government’s saving grace?
The answer, as should be expected, is that no one really knows. Everyone seems to be optimistic, though. Yglesias calls it “good news (by Somalia standards),” and the U.S. State Department and UN Special Envoy are both aboard the glass half-full train. And while the fact that a (unpopular and probably corrupt) leader did step down peacefully from a national leadership position in a traditionally, ahem, undemocratic state is certainly to be applauded, the magnetic pessimism in Mogadishu is tough to resist.
One context in which I am surprised not to have seen this latest development analyzed is one with regard to Yusuf’s last attempted initiative before bowing out — his botched effort to (illegally) “fire” his prime minister, Nur Hassan Hussein. It seems pretty clear that this was a last-minute power gamble by Yusuf, and upon its failing, he felt obliged to step down. Whether this makes Yusuf’s resignation equally politically waterlogged is unclear. The quotation, from a former employee of Yusuf, with which Gettleman chooses to end his piece, however, is telling.
“Maybe on the outside, to the international community, the resignation will matter,” he said. “But not on the inside.”
Here’s hoping it will at least matter on land and on sea in Somalia. Read more
Peacekeeping and Expectations
Julia Keyser at the great new Enough Said blog takes on the thorny issue of whether UN peacekeeping “take-overs” help or hurt efforts undertaken by regional missions in conflict zones.
There is ample evidence that UN missions may actually prolong a conflict — if there is no peace to keep. With Somalia once again facing serious violence and humanitarian crisis, the members of the UN Security Council must remember that UN missions are not a substitute for genuine political will, effective diplomacy and a practical plan to end a conflict.
The question of whether there is something about the dynamic of the actual take-over itself of a mission — the process of transitioning from the African Union-led efforts in Darfur to the “re-hatted” hybrid operation under UN control, for example — that improves or diminishes chances of success is clearly subsumed by the broader one of whether any peacekeeping mission is feasible and potentially beneficial in a given conflict scenario. The expectation that the UN will do a “better” job than a regional organization is simply an extension of the misguided belief that cobbling together some sort of peacekeeping force will be a silver bullet for a problem.
In cases in which a peacekeeping operation cannot halt conflict on its own — which is to say, never, though the chart that Julia cites does show that conflicts in which peacekeepers are deployed do reignite less often and take longer to do so than those without — this perverse international response to crises sets up a predictable double-dip of disappointment. First the world sighs when a beleaguered regional cannot impose peace on a chaotic society (e.g. Somalia); then it chastises the UN when its blue helmets also cannot square the circle of keeping a peace that does not exist. It would save a lot of time, money, and lives to recognize this pattern before precipitously looking to peacekeepers as a one-size-fits-all panacea to any problem. Read more
The Republic Formerly Known As Macedonia
The Ambassador At Large points out some rather tongue-in-cheek suggestions from Gregg Easterbrook on how to resolve the, er, name problem of the so-called (and very strictly so, if you ask a Greek) Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
The Republic Formerly Known As Prince. Steve. Wouldn’t Steve be a cool name for a nation? An Obscure, Landlocked Mountainous Region Along the Vardar River. Emmanuelle. Really sexy woman’s name might increase tourism. ROM. Subliminally suggests Republic of Macedonia, but the official name would be just initials — like KFC — thus frustrating Greece’s objection. Skopje and So Much More! The Greatest Nation in Human History. This would force the United Nations to say, “Now we will hear from the delegate representing The Greatest Nation in Human History.” The United States of America. Leading national brand in the world, yet cannot be copyrighted.
Easterbrook’s suggestions rest of the logic that, as he exasperatedly reminds Greece, “titles cannot be copyrighted!”
Anyone may publish a book called “Gone With the Wind.” Any country can call itself France, though it’s not clear what the incentive would be.
Perhaps. But I don’t think Macedonia would improve its prospects of joining NATO among, say, the French if it tried to call itself “France.” Read more
LRA Responds With Massacre
The last thing Congo needs is another out-and-out war. The Washington Post‘s Stephanie McCrummen reports:
A Ugandan rebel group known for its horrific cruelties has massacred 189 people and kidnapped at least 20 children over three days in northeastern Congo, U.N. officials reported Monday.
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The group killed 40 people in the small town of Faradje on Thursday, and over the next two days, it attacked the villages of Doruma, where rebels massacred 89 people, and neighboring Gurba, where 60 were killed, Brandau said, citing reports that the United Nations received from local authorities.
The group, of course, would be Joseph Kony’s murderous Lord’s Resistance Army, and the massacre seems to be in response to a joint offensive launched by Sudan, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo a few weeks ago. If there was any doubt that Kony wasn’t interested in peace talks before, there can be none anymore. Read more
R2P Reductivism
In an op-ed in The Guardian, Julia Gronnevet replicates many of the false assumptions lining the debate over the “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine. Here’s how Gronnevet misleadingly characterizes the doctrine.
Of course, this being not just UNHQ but also Acronym HQ, the whole discussion has been boiled down to R2P – “responsibility to protect”, the formal name of the doctrine that says borders are nothing and human rights are everything.
Just as R2P does not simply prescribe invasion every time a government fails to protect its citizens, it does not create a simple binary between “borders” and “human rights,” nor does it fall wholly on the latter half of this false dichotomy. If we are to use these two terms to describe R2P, the best way to do so would be to interpret the doctrine as an attempt to reconcile the existing state-based international system (yes, complete with its borders and all the difficulties they bring) with the paramount global need to protect human rights. This does not require the elimination of borders, or even the disregard of them in cases of various states of emergency. Rather, the doctrine provides a carefully considered program of steps to navigate the tricky divide that Gronnevet depicts so starkly with both circumspection and urgency.
Casting R2P in a role of the intrepid human rights defender, severing borders left and right, come what may, is a tempting image, but ultimately inaccurate and unhelpful. This fanciful caricature unnecessarily divides R2P’s audience into two divisive parts: the righteous and the rights-abusing. The entire point of the doctrine — even though some countries may be less comfortable than others with relinquishing the unchecked inviolability of their sovereignty — is that it is a global compact. Addressing it as such — and as a pragmatic schema in an interest-based global political system — is the only way to dispel the fears and misconceptions about it that continue to abound. Read more
The Maid Trade: Exploiting Child Servants
From the Washington Post:
Adiza ran scared and crying into the street. Ten years old and 4-foot-9, she fled the house where she had worked for more than a year, cleaning and sweeping from before dawn until late at night….
“I couldn’t take any more,” recalled Adiza, a slight girl with close-cropped hair and almond-shaped eyes, who talked in a halting whisper as she described how her employer beat her with her hands and with cooking pots before the November day she ran away.
The number of girls like Adiza, who leave their communities or even their countries to clean other people’s houses, has surged in recent years, according to labor and human rights specialists. The girls in the maid trade, some as young as 5, often go unpaid, and their work in private homes means the abuses they suffer are out of public view.
The International Labor Organization (ILO), a U.N. agency based in Geneva, said more girls under 16 work in domestic service than in any other category of child labor. The organization said that maids are among the most exploited workers and that few nations have adequate regulations to safeguard them.
Here’s a video describing the story of Shyima Hall, whose ordeal began at the age of ten:
Top Five Issues Facing the United Nations in 2009
2009 will be a busy year for the United Nations. Conflicts in central and eastern Africa will likely dominate the Security Council agenda. Meanwhile, new peacekeeping missions have stretched the United Nations peacekeeping apparatus beyond its breaking point, and unless remunerative actions are taken these missions may fail. Finally, this will be a make-or-break year for a post-Kyoto international climate change agreement.
Here are the top five issues facing the UN in 2009.
Remembering the South Asian Tsunami
Four years ago today 230,000 people lost their lives in the world’s worst ever natural disaster. This is a staggering number, behind which are hundreds of thousands of individual tragedies. The Associated Press tells one story of a Sri Lankan man who is struggling to rebuild his life, post-Tsunami.
Every morning and evening, Velmurugu Kangasuriyam gathers his 2 1/2 year-old daughter and his wife and confronts the wreckage of his former life.His wife, Thaya, lights an oil lamp on the mantle of a dark, bare concrete room. Kangasuriyam presses his hands together and closes his eyes. Little Theresa follows in imitation. For a long minute his new family stands in silent prayer.
Thaya places orange flowers in front of pictures of Hindu gods. She lays several more before a picture of Kangasuriyam’s parents.
The last flowers sit in front of a photo of a woman in a striking red bridal sari: Devi, who was Kangasuriyam’s wife for just 10 months before she died, along with his parents, three of his sisters and a brother, four years ago Friday.
The tsunami that crashed over south Asia on Dec. 26, 2004 and killed 230,000 people washed away nearly everything Kangasuriyam held dear. Sixteen close relatives were killed. His seaside village was razed, his house demolished, his business destroyed.
Four years later, with international aid and prodding from his remaining family, the 30-year-old has rebuilt his life. He has a new family. He has a bigger house in a resettlement village set back from the ocean.
He opened a new bicycle repair shop to replace the one where he worked alongside his father from boyhood.
And here is a Unicef report on how the Tsunami forever changed the lives of two brothers caught in the deluge.
Here is a list of some Tsunami Relief resources.
Read more
In My Name
A few months ago hip hop star wil.i.am cut a music video on behalf of the Millennium Development goals called In My Name. At the time, wil.i.am called on people around the world to send him their own videos about global poverty. The best user-submitted were included in this just-released mash-up,
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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”.
