Yearly Archives: 2009
It’s the Last Day for 2009 Charitable Donations – Can I Make a Suggestion?
It’s been a rough year for a lot of us. Personally, we’ve seen jobs lost, promotions deferred, unemployment, uncertainty, and unease. Globally, we’re facing climate change, terrorism, and long, bloody wars. We’ve had a lot to face, and no one knows when it will get better. If you can read this, though, you are better off than most people on this planet. You’re literate, you have internet access, and you’ve got leisure time to spend reading blogs. You can probably give a little bit and be part of making things better.
Sixty Ways the UN Makes a Difference
I just saw this link on twitter – it’s old, but I thought it was a great end of year reflection: 60 Ways the UN Makes a Difference. In the midst of global financial crisis, climate change, and rapid globalization it’s easy to forget just how much the United Nations is part of our global history. Of the sixty ways, these are six of my favorite:
Number of Afghan Returnees Down in 2009
A new UN report shows that he number of returning Afghan refugees fell significantly in 2009 compared to 2008. The UN Refugee Agency says the drop is attributable to insecurity and limited economic opportunities for returning refugees. From the UN News Center:
Drug Resistant Malaria is Getting Worse
The Thai-Cambodian border is the epicenter for new malaria strains. It’s the result of poorly regulated pharmaceutical sales, an early switch to artemisinin-based drugs, and a landscape that breeds plenty of mosquitoes. Read more
UN Urges Thai Government to Cease Return of Hmong
Peacekeeper Abuse – a Follow Up
The UN’s Conduct and Discipline website now has a new section. Called “Statistics,” it will make public the aggregate data on peacekeeper abuses. It’s an impressive demonstration of transparency – or at least it will be. The data isn’t up there yet.
Here’s what the statistics page says at present:
Yemen: The Humanitarian Crisis
Considering how the end of 2009 is shaping up, 2010 may be the year of Yemen.
The country has been in the news quite a bit the last few days as the alleged potential Northwest Airlines bomber is said to have ties to extremists in Yemen, which is located just south of Saudi Arabia on the Arabian peninsula. The United States is also said to be expanding its covert operations in Yemen to target al Qaeda members who have a foothold there.
First US case of XXDR TB identified
Until today, I hadn’t even heard of extremely drug resistant tuberculosis. There are only a handful of cases globally. The term was only defined in the last couple of years. It refers to TB bacteria that are resistant to all tuberculosis drugs and it’s almost always fatal. This is not the same as XDR TB (with one X), aka extensively drug resistant TB, which still responds to some third-line TB drugs and has a lower mortality rate.
Petra Nemcova: How Access to Education Can Heal the Ravages of Natural Disasters
Special to Dispatch from Petra Nemcova, Founder and Chair, and Phil Caputo, Executive Director, Happy Hearts Fund
Interpol Under Siege by Uninformed Bloggers
Last week, the Obama Administration issued an executive order that extended certain diplomatic privileges to Interpol–the International Criminal Police Organization. This was a pretty innocuous bureaucratic move, but it has apparently sparked some serious concerns among a certain cadre of blogger. For example, you have Steve Shippert and Clyde Middleton of ThreatsWatch worrying that this “could conceivably include…Americans arrested on our soil by Read more
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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”.
