by Susan Rice, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution

When Americans see televised images of bone-thin African or Asian kids with distended bellies, what do we think? We think of helping. For all the right reasons, our humanitarian instincts tend to take over. But when we look at UNICEF footage or a Save the Children solicitation, does it also occur to us that we are seeing a symptom of a threat that could destroy our way of life? Rarely. In fact, global poverty is far more than solely a humanitarian concern. In real ways, over the long term, it can threaten U.S. national security.

Poverty fundamentally erodes state capacity -- by fueling conflict, sapping human capital, hollowing out our impeding the development of effective state institutions, and creating especially conducive environments for corrupt governance. So why does this matter for American national security?

When states fail to meet the basic needs of their citizens -- for food, clean water, health care or education -- other groups move in to fill the void. Sometimes help comes from multilateral aid agencies or secular NGOs, but in Africa, South Asia and parts of the Middle East, many times these services are provided by foreign-funded religious NGOs, Christian missionaries or mosques -- sometimes with theological, even extremist, strings attached. Hezbollah and Hamas have been quite successful in filling these voids at a large scale -- effectively supplanting government and becoming "states within states."

Recent academic research also demonstrates that countries with low income per capita are at increased risk of civil conflict. According to the OECD, in 2002 "more that two-thirds of the poorest countries in the world [were] in conflict." These conflicts in turn can be sink holes that destabilize entire regions, as did Liberia and Congo in the 1990's, and as the crisis in Darfur is threatening to do today.

These conflict zones have been exploited by terrorists to lure foot soldiers and train new cadres -- as in Bosnia, the Philippines and Central Asia. It was in conflict ridden Sudan and Afghanistan where Al-Qaeda first established training camps, breeding approximately 20,000 militants who now operate in South and Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe and the Western Hemisphere.

Today, grinding poverty is the lot of half of the world's population. Three billion human beings subsist on less than $2 per day -- $730 per year -- the equivalent of seven pairs of quality sneakers in the United States. Efforts to illuminate the complex relationship between poverty and insecurity may be unwelcome to those who want assurance that global poverty and U.S. national security are unrelated. Yet, we ignore or obscure the implications of global poverty for global security at our peril.

Though far from the television screens of most Americans, some of the fighting in Ethiopia and Eritrea resembles a war with which they might be familiar. At its peak, hundreds of kilometers of trenches snaked their way around the border region of the two neighboring countries in the Horn of Africa, raising frequent comparisons to World War One. And like World War One, the toll of the trench warfare on conscripts has been exacting. Though no one knows for sure, 70,000 people are estimated to have been killed. There have also been as many as 700,000 displaced or made refugees from the war, which at one point cost these desperately impoverished countries $1 million a day to sustain.

For most of the 20th century, Eritrea, the smaller of the two countries, was a province of Ethiopia. After a long struggle, it gained independence in 1993. But the precise borders were never demarcated. One desolate region in particular, Badme, was a persistent point of contention. In May 1998, Eritrean fighters skirmished with the local Ethiopian-aligned forces there. Ethiopia's response was swift and both countries sent massive numbers of troops and artillery to the border region. Soon, 300,000 soldiers were staring at each other along an 800 kilometer trench line.

In May 2000, then-United States National security advisor Anthony Lake helped oversee international and regional efforts to end the conflict. In June 2000, both sides signed the Algiers Peace Agreement, ceasing hostilities. The Security Council then authorized the deployment of over 4,000 peacekeepers to the newly formed United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) to patrol the border region.

As part of the Algiers agreement, the two sides agreed to let a neutral commission determine the official boundaries. Two years later, the commission, in collaboration with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague awarded Badme to Eritrea. Other disputed territories went to Ethiopia and the two sides agreed to abide by the verdict. Ethiopia began withdrawing troops from the frontier and UNMEE began to scale back its presence. However, all was not well. In 2004, Ethiopia disputed the boundary ruling and deployed tens of thousands of troops to the border region, including Badme. A frustrated Eritrea expelled UNMEE troops from certain counties and restricted UN helicopter flights. A seemingly intractable stalemate persists to this day.

In May 2006, with its movements restricted, UNMEE was forced to downsize. Today, there are only 1,700 UNMEE troops patrolling the region, and one of their most important tasks is locating and disposing of the estimated 3 million landmines that dot the border region.

The Security Council has threatened both sides with sanctions, but the situation remains volatile. At this point, the main goal of international diplomacy is to force both sides to agree to the terms of the Algiers Agreement, including the border demarcations authorized by the Court of Permanent Arbitration. This is no easy task, but the alternative is an unstable stalemate that could once again flare into brutal warfare.

In a 10-0 vote yesterday, the Security Council backed the creation of a tribunal to investigate and prosecute a series of political assassinations in Lebanon, including the February 2005 car bombing that killed Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. From the Washington Post:

The vote will lead to the creation of the first U.N.- backed criminal tribunal in the Middle East, raising expectations that Hariri's killers will be held accountable. But that has stoked fears among Lebanese authorities and some council members that supporters of Syria -- which has been linked to the assassination -- will plunge Lebanon's fledgling democracy into a bloody new round of internal strife

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The UN World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint UN Programme Against HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) have called for increased care and prevention services related to HIV.

The prevailing model now is voluntary testing and counselling, where individuals actively seek diagnosis. But experts say this system is impeded by the fear of stigma and discrimination, limited accessibility to services and the perception of many – even in areas with high rates of HIV infection – that they are not at risk.

Approximately 80 per cent of people living with HIV in low-income countries are unaware that they're infected with the disease.

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The United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has announced its support for a $11.5 million development project in Cambodia to help the rural poor.

"The project will not only boost incomes, it will also lay foundations for sustainable social and economic development in the future," said Youqiong Wang, IFAD's country programme manager for Cambodia, noting that it is the agency's first to target the poor, ethnic population living in remote areas of the country.

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Today is the International Day of UN Peacekeepers. From the UN News Center:

Last year marked the fourth in a row when more than 100 men and women died in the service of UN peacekeeping, Mr. Ban noted. "Now, with our deployment at a record high, more soldiers, police and civilian staff face danger in places like Sudan, the Middle East and Haiti," he said, citing Friday's killing of Lieutenant-Colonel Ehab Nazih, a UN peacekeeper from Egypt working in Darfur, as but the latest example of this.

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The White House today announced long anticipated new steps to pressure the Sudanese government into accepting a peacekeeping force in Darfur. Known as "Plan B," the new measures include expanding existing American sanctions on Sudanese business interests and imposing targeted sanctions against one rebel leader and two Sudanese government officials (including one who is wanted by the International Criminal Court).

President Bush also announced that he would seek additional sanctions against Sudan at the United Nations. This would be a positive development. The unilateral American sanctions are of only limited value--the United States already has an expansive sanctions against Sudan. At this point, the best way to leverage Sudanese cooperation on Darfur is though multilateral forums like the United Nations and International Criminal Court.

In a Boston Globe op-ed that ran three weeks ago, John Prendergast of the Enough Project explains why this is so.

Until the United Nations intervened in 2003, some 250,000 people lost their lives and as many as one million people were displaced or made refugees as a result of fourteen years of conflict in the small, West African country of Liberia. UN Dispatch recently contacted Jordan Ryan, an American citizen who is one of the top administrators of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). From his office in Monrovia, Mr. Ryan discusses the history of the conflict, reconstruction efforts, and how UN peacekeepers are contributing to the political and physical rehabilitation of a broken country.

Dispatch: Can you give our readers a brief sketch of the conflict and why the United Nations sent peacekeepers to Liberia in 2003?

Jordan Ryan: The Liberian conflict lasted for fourteen years, but many feel it has its roots much deeper in the history of Liberia. During those fourteen years of civil war -- there were massive human rights violations. Perhaps as many as a quarter million people died and anywhere up to a million became displaced or refugees in neighbouring countries.

Dispatch: The population of Liberia is not all that tremendous--these numbers probably represent a significant portion of the entire population.

Ryan: The population is only about 3 million. So, with a third displaced, it was a very difficult time for the Liberian people.

The United Nations Security Council determined that the conflict in Liberia, which had spread across the borders to Sierra Leone, was a threat to international peace and security. With that determination, they authorized the presence of a United Nations Peacekeeping mission in Liberia. At its inception, it was the second largest peacekeeping mission in Africa. Today we have got close to 14,000 troops from 50 nations serving in Liberia.

Dispatch: What are the main duties of the troops today and how have their duties evolved since they were first deployed?

Ryan: The duties have always been to maintain peace, security, and law and order. Troops are stationed throughout the nation -- with contingents on border areas and in places we call "hot spots." Initially, the troops were engaged in the disarmament of combatants. Now they are much more involved in the process of maintaining or consolidtaing the peace. They provide both a security blanket, and as we like to say, they provide "time and space" for the duly elected democratic government to actually exercise democratic control. This is a very important element.

Dispatch: Many international observers consider those elections in 2005 to be a turning point for Liberia. Can you describe how UNMIL supported those national elections?

Ryan: The elections were conducted by the National Elections Commission. The United Nations provided considerable technical and logistical support to conduct the elections through UNMIL, through the Elections Division as well as through the United Nations Development Program. We provided advisory services in how to conduct the elections. We made sure that people could get to the polls, and we made sure that the elections were conducted in an open and transparent manner.

The international election observers who were here, the representatives of the Liberian political parties, and many independent observers concluded that the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf--the first democratically elected woman president in all of Africa--were conducted in a free and fair manner. This was a triumph of democracy.

Dispatch: What was the turnout like for the election?

Ryan: I wasn't here on the day of the first vote, but when I talk to colleagues that were here they tell me that even in the most rural and remote areas people turned out in droves. In many ways, the president was elected by the massive turnout of women voters who wanted a change and wanted to make sure that democracy prevailed. The turnout was high and participation was good. The government has been in place since January 2006.

Dispatch: Can you describe some of the reconstruction efforts that UNMIL has supported for the country?

Ryan: You have to understand how devastated the country was from the long war. Looting, on an unbelievable scale, had taken place across the entire county. Buildings were basically demolished. Lighting fixtures -- and even the wiring for the lights -- were stripped out of buildings. Roofs were taken off. Bathroom commodes, even bathroom tiles were chipped off and removed. That gives you the background of the reconstruction challenges facing the country.

A massive effort is required. It was only after the first six months of the new presidency that there was any city-supplied electricity in Monrovia. No other city throughout Liberia has any city-supplied electricity. Water is not available in most of the counties. More important are the lives of the people: the basic social services today are primarily provided through NGOs and the United Nations.

Dispatch: Can you be specific on what some of these services are that most touch the lives of Liberians?

Ryan: At least 80% of Liberians live on less than a dollar a day. In some counties there are no doctors. Malnutrition of children in Liberia is widespread. In rural areas, 39% of children under the age of five are stunted. Children have only a one in four chance of making it to their fifth birthday. Liberia has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world. So that is the background that the Government of Liberia, with support from the United Nations and donors, are working against.

There is tremendous deprivation. But, quite frankly there is also tremendous opportunity. Liberia is a small country. And it has natural wealth in land and water, timber, diamonds and other minerals.

Dispatch: To that end, I have read that sanctions on the diamond industry have recently been lifted. What mechanisms are in place that might ensure that the wealth derived from Liberia's natural resources might go back to the people?

Ryan: Liberia has just been admitted to the Kimberly Process, which is a certification scheme for diamonds that helps make sure that resources actually flow into the coffers of Liberia as opposed to the pockets of warlords and criminals. The United Nations and other donors have played a role in supporting a more open and transparent manner of regulating the mining industry. We had to make sure that once the Security Council sanctions were lifted the government has the capacity to regulate the diamond industry, including opening new government diamond offices throughout the country.

The same is true with the sanctions on timber. Not only were there blood diamonds here, there was also what some refer to as 'blood timber.' Sanctions on Liberian timber have been lifted and the United Nations, United States and the World Bank have been working closely with the Liberian authorities to develop a regulatory framework as well as mechanisms to help with the sustainable harvest of forests. These resources must benefit the poor in this country - not just an elite.

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) has released recommendations urging that all indoor environments be completely free of smoke. The organization cites extensive evidence of harm caused by second-hand tobacco smoke in their statement.

WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said, "There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke." Chan urged all countries to pass laws requiring all indoor workplaces and public places to be completely smoke-free.

There are about 4,000 known chemicals in tobacco smoke; more than 50 of them are known to cause cancer, according to WHO, which says exposure to second-hand smoke causes heart disease and many serious respiratory and cardiovascular diseases that can lead to premature death in adults. It also causes diseases and worsens existing conditions, such as asthma, in children.

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General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa says that female United Nations police and military serve as role models in the war-torn countries where they are deployed.

"Peacekeepers not only carry out their mandated tasks; they create a lasting legacy by exemplifying how military and police can engage in humanitarian work while interacting respectfully with civil society," General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa said in a message for the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, observed tomorrow.

"A shining example of this is the first ever all-female contingent of United Nations Police sent from India to Liberia...These Blue Berets are not only helping to restore the rule of law, they are also serving as role models for Liberian women," she added.

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Earlier this week, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced that his office will open an investigation into suspected war crimes in the Central African Republic, where a civil war peaked in 2002 and 2003. The war was marked by terrible sexual violence, and according to the Prosecutor this is the first ICC investigation in which the number of rape victims exceeds the number of murders.

With the new investigation in CAR, says The Economist, the International Criminal Court is hitting its stride:

"This is the fourth formal investigation launched by the court since it was set up in The Hague five years ago. Many, including some of its original backers, have complained about the slowness of its procedures. But it has passed some notable milestones. It has issued international arrest warrants against its first two suspects in Sudan and five rebel leaders in Uganda. Its first trial--of Thomas Lubanga, a Congolese rebel leader--is due later this year. Many a highly placed thug, it is hoped, is beginning to sleep less easily at night."

United Nations human rights experts have reported some progress in their talks with the Sudanese Government on the conflict in Darfur.

The UN Experts Group on Darfur "welcomed the positive approach taken by the Government of Sudan and specific proposals made by the Government," members said in a statement released in Geneva. "While there was common understanding on several important steps to improve the human rights situation in Darfur that could be implemented in the future, further dialogue would be pursued on other issues."

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On January 22, UN Dispatch reported that 105 Indian police officers where being deployed to Liberia as the UN's first all-female peacekeeping force. Today we sat down with a unit commander, Seema Dhundia, to check in on their progress.

Now that your unit has been in the field for a few months, how would you say the presence of a female UN peacekeeping contingent is enabling Liberia to get on the path to rebuilding?

I think that for the first time the Liberian people are seeing a fully trained contingent of female officers out on streets. Their own women are getting inspired and motivated and now they are coming forward. Seeing my girls performing their duties is inspiring young Liberian women to join the regular forces -- in this way we are sort of role models for the young Liberian ladies. They are seeing our girls and are now coming forward and joining the regular forces. Their numbers have considerably increased after our arrival here

The people are watching us here in Liberia. They are seeing the all-female contingent -- which has come all the way from India for the peacekeeping mission -- and they are getting inspired. They might start their own female force.

Have you faced any specific challenges being an all-women's unit?

There is no specific challenge as such. The situation is still volatile –the undercurrents of the conflict are still there, though the politics seem to be calm and quiet. Sometimes, though, it does get out of hand. But since the troops are prepared and they are professionally competent, we are able to cope with the pressures of any kind of situation.

Have you encountered any situations where being an all female unit has enabled you to accomplish things where a mixed gender unit would not have been able to?

No. Whether it's a mixed unit or a female unit or a male unit the point is that everybody has to be professionally competent. Even if it is a fully formed female contingent, even in that case, the female officers are supposed to be professionally competent and trained enough to tackle any kind of situation in that manner. Whether it is a mixed unit or a female unit or a male unit the point is the officers are to be properly sensitized. Irrespective of what you call it, they are to be properly trained and they have to be aware of what is going in their deployment area.

And would you say that Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's presidency has it had any impact on operating as an all-female unit. Has it made things easier or more difficult?

I can't be very specific about it since she is the President. But she does provide a platform for all of us to perform. As far as our duties are concerned we are preparing the same kind of duties that the other peacekeepers are doing so there is no discrimination as such.

What are the primary goals -- if you wouldn't mind giving some background for our readers -- the primary goals of the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia and how do those filter down into your day to day duties in as a policing unit?

The primary goals of the UN mission here are to establish peace and implement all kinds of humanitarian assistance programs. They call this a post-conflict scenario. The infrastructure of the country had to be repaired from scratch. The primary goal is to establish normalcy -- establish peace and to ensure that state infrastructure is functioning. I think that this is the main goal of the UN mission here in Liberia.

As far as our contribution is concerned, we are here to advise and mentor the Liberian national police and we are provide backup support to the police in their day to day work. We are the only people who carry weapons with us, so we provide a security cover -- a backup to the Liberian national police in their day to day job. We also are providing a great deal of on-the-spot training to the Liberian national police officers, advising them on how to react to a particular situation.

Why did you become a UN peacekeeper?

I was commandant of an all-female contingent in India. Coming all the way from India to a place called Liberia and using my expertise and skills in performing my day to day duties was a good challenge. And obviously, if there is a challenge for a police officer it has to be taken in a positive way. It definitely leads to our own development. We are gaining excellent experience from being here. We have learned many new things, including the function of the UN. And it has provided a good platform for all of us. I think that is why all of us volunteered for this mission.

Based on your experience thus far, how long do you think the UN will have a presence in Liberia?

I am not the right person or the right authority to say on this matter but I think it will take some time to bring in a little bit of normalcy. It will take some time -- how much time is difficult to judge, but obviously it will take a few years.

The International Atomic Energy Agency released a new report detailing Iranian non-compliance with Security Council demands that it suspend its uranium enrichment program. American officials are not pleased. From the Washington Post:

Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns called the IAEA report "disturbing, because it shows that Iran is effectively thumbing its nose at the U.N. and the entire international community. If Iran does not agree to sit down and negotiate, which we would prefer they do, then I'm quite sure there will be united and strong international pressure for a third resolution."

"The purpose would be to demonstrate to Iran that it is isolated and will pay an increasingly heavy cost for this outrageous behavior," Burns said.

In today's press conference, President Bush responded to the report by expressing his desire to pursue a tougher set of sanctions against Iran in the Security Council. Given the low expectations for a planned meeting next week between Iranian negotiator Ali Larjani and Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, we may soon see new action at the Security Council to step up the pressure on Iran.

After watching the United Nations World Food Programme's (WFP) newest Ambassador actress Drew Barrymore discuss child hunger, musician Sheryl Crow decided to support the organization as well.

Crow, a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, said "I was so struck by this story that our relationship with the WFP was born...It is absolutely amazing, the number of kids that they feed."

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When the United Nations is responsible for birthing a new country, as it was in East Timor over the past eight years, one can be forgiven for being a touch confused by the alphabet soup of UN missions involved.

Please bear with me: Following an East Timor referendum on independence from Indonesia in 1999, UNAMET was replaced by UNTAET, which in turn became subsumed into UNMISET and later transitioned into UNOTIL, that is, until 2006 when UNMIT -- the United Nations Mission in East Timor -- took over. For those less versed in UN-ease, let me explain.

East Timor, or Timor Leste as it is formally known in the UN system, is a tiny country situated on the eastern shores of the Indonesian archipelago. It stands today as an example of a country that was nurtured into existence and then protected at birth by the United Nations. Observers have hailed East Timor as a nation-building success story, but it is clear that East Timor is still a work in progress.

The conflict in East Timor draws its roots from Portugal's abrupt decision in 1974 to abandon East Timor, a territory it had colonized for centuries. Just days following the Portuguese withdrawal, the Indonesian government moved forces into East Timor, claiming that a communist movement threatened to spill over into Indonesia itself. So began a quarter-century of terrible suffering for the people of East Timor. An estimated 100,000 to 200,000 people are believed to have been killed in the 25 years of Indonesian occupation.

In 1999, under international pressure, Indonesian president BJ Habbibie acceded to a referendum that would let East Timor decide on independence from Indonesia. The Security Council then created UNAMET, the first of five UN missions in East Timor, to administer the elections.

On August 30, East Timor voted overwhelmingly for independence. But following the elections, the Indonesian military and pro-Indonesian militias instigated riots and violence soon spread out of control. The Security Council quickly approved an Australian-led international force that was able to stem the violence. By October 1999 a new international police force, UNATET, was authorized to keep the peace as East Timor prepared for national elections.

In 2002, East Timor voted for a president and parliament. The country, however, remained fragile, and the new government asked the United Nations to approve a new peacekeeping mission, UNMISET, to help provide security as the fledgling democracy built itself from scratch. By August there were nearly 5,000 UN peacekeepers in East Timor. The United Nations, meanwhile, welcomed a new member to the family. On September 27, the General Assembly voted unanimously to make East Timor the UN's 191st member state.

In May 2005, UNMSET closed its doors and the peacekeeping mission was replaced with UNOTIL, a political mission to support the development of the nation's infrastructure and state institutions. Still, all was not well in Dilli, East Timor's capital. In April 2006, a rally in support of East Timorese soldiers who were fired for desertion turned into a violent riot. Many were killed and an estimated 100,000, one tenth of the population, fled their homes. The crisis threatened to undermine seven years of UN and Timorese efforts to rebuild their country. Once again, Australia led an international intervention to restore order in the country. The Security Council, meanwhile, approved yet another mission, one that exists to this day.

Today, there over 1,600 uniformed personnel, mostly police, deployed in the United Nations Mission in East Timor, UNMIT. They support state institution and capacity building and helped oversee recent presidential elections, which concluded on Sunday when East Timor's newest president, the Nobel Laureate Jose Ramos Horta, assumed office. UNMIT is scheduled to conclude in February 2008. But prior to that, the Security Council may decide to reauthorize UNMIT for another year to make sure that East Timor is on stable footing.

UNEP's Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign met its goal--to plant a billion trees worldwide this year--seven months early after Senegal unveiled a pledge to plant 20 million trees.

The campaign, announced at the recent climate change convention conference held in Nairobi, Kenya, now switches to turning those pledges into one billion actual plantings by the end of 2007.

Senegal made its announcement on the International Day on Biological Diversity, which this year has a special focus on the relationship between biodiversity and climate change.

The campaign was inspired by 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya.

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Successive American administrations have had sometimes rocky, sometimes rosy relations with the UN, but one feature which all US governments have universally admired at the UN has been its peacekeeping missions. These undertakings have over the decades prevented the outbreak of conflict, disarmed combatants, overseen elections and trained police forces - all without involving US troops and saving Washington millions of dollars.

Today they number eighteen and involve over 100,000 UN soldiers. But now they may be in trouble. The US owes almost $500 million in back-dues to support these operations because several years ago Congress insisted that our nation should pay only 25% of the overall costs of these endeavors though we could afford more. Without these US outlays, these vital enterprises may now be crippled or forced to end.

And why are they so important? They are doing the Lord's work. They are monitoring war zones in some of the hottest spots on the planet – like the Congo, Darfur, Haiti, Iraq Lebanon and Kosovo - and assuring that battles, the kind of which could lead to larger and more serious world-wide conflagrations, don't break out.

If more proof of their value was ever needed, recent studies by the Rand Corporation, the University of British Columbia and the General Accounting Organization have shown that UN peacekeeping missions have over the years helped clamp down on disorder and mayhem around the globe significantly at a cheaper cost and with more legitimacy and effectiveness than if done by Washington or other major powers.

Today Congress is taking a second look at its arrears in America's peacekeeping account. Recently Democratic Senator Joe Biden and Republican Senator Richard Lugar introduced a bill that would temporarily lift the 25% cap on US contributions to the UN's peacekeeping forces. This is a good start. But Congress also needs to appropriate funds that would allow America to pay up its $500 million shortfall for the year 2008.

Surely this would be vital piece of legislation for our national security. I would urge anyone who cares about peace on earth to contact his or her representative and tell them why we need to lift the cap and fully fund peacekeeping. It would be a highest act of citizenship.

--Stephen Schlesinger is Director of the World Policy Institute at the New School University and Author of Act of Creation: The Founding of the United Nations

The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has announced an investigation into alleged crimes, most notably widespread rape, committed in the Central African Republic (CAR) in 2002 and 2003.

"My Office has carefully reviewed information from a range of sources. We believe that grave crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the Court were committed in the Central African Republic," said ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

Moreno-Ocampo continued, "We will conduct our own independent investigation, gather evidence, and prosecute the individuals who are most responsible."

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In June 2006, the United Nations Foundation and the Vodafone Group Foundation formed a partnership to help fund the development of digital health data systems in Africa so local health care workers can access national health databases. This includes an initiative, admimnistered through the NGO DataDyne, to fund mobile computing devices for health care workers and data officers in Burkina Faso, Kenya, and Zambia.

In the post below, Dr. Joel Selanikio writes in from a clinic in Zambia to explain why cell phones and PDAs have become a critical tool in the development of national health data systems in the developing world.

Kabwe, Zambia - May 16, 2007

In twenty years of international health work, I have become used to seeing examples of what needs to change. Here in Kabwe, at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Clinic facility, it was a pleasure to see examples of things done right. I was in Kabwe providing technical support to provincial officer Elizabeth Mwale, who has been helping us field-test our EpiSurveyor software for mobile data collection (in this case collection of facility supervision information on Palm handhelds). Over breakfast of toast and tea served on Barbi placemats in our hotel (the Kabwe Executive Lounge), we decided to stop at a facility to watch Elizabeth use the supervisory checklist, co- developed with CDC, on her Palm PDA -- and off we headed to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Clinic. The Gandhi clinic was within 30 minutes drive, and Elizabeth had not visited it in several months.

We were greeted after entering the clinic by Bridget Banda, a nurse- midwife and second-in-charge of the clinic. Nurse Banda took us through the spotless registration area, brightly-lit patient care rooms, a busy and perfectly-equipped laboratory equipped with microscopes and centrifuges for diagnosis of malaria, among other tropical diseases, and the counseling rooms where HIV-positive patients can receive both counseling and life-extending anti- retroviral treatment. Staff everywhere were neatly dressed and smiling, and happy to explain their function, and the whole clinic just had this feeling of order and harmony. What a tonic for a world- weary public health doc, accustomed to much less well-equipped centers.

Another thing I noticed, though, was the enormous amount of paperwork, in the form of logs, registries, drug records, patient histories, and more, in this small clinic. Dutifully collected on paper, that information was unlikely to make its way to any analyzable form -- meaning that the wealth of information collected by this exemplary facility was never going to reach the rest of the country's health system! What a tremendous benefit if we could replace all those paper records with easy-to-administer electronic records, accessible from the cell phones carried by each and every caregiver (and patient). Once again, I realize that in developing countries the cell phone is the computer, the internet access point, and the communicator, all rolled into one. For other clinics to learn from the experience of this one, we've got to build critical health data systems onto the cell system.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has started talks with rebel groups in the Central African Republic (CAR) to negotiate the release of hundreds of child soldiers; 220 have been freed so far.

Discussions have started with the full support of the Government of CAR, which has engaged in talks with the UNICEF since the first UN assessment mission in the Vakaga region identified armed children among the ranks of non-State armed groups in January, the agency said in a news release.

"This UNICEF programme not only contributes significantly to children's welfare, but also helps resolve one of CAR's most pressing problems," said the agency's CAR Humanitarian Coordinator, Toby Lanzer.

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As Jessica notes below, fourteen new members have just been voted to the new Human Rights Council. The real story here is what country did not win a seat. Belarus, a repressive dictatorship in Eastern Europe, was blocked from gaining a seat on the council on Thursday when it could not muster the requisite number of votes in the General Assembly. Given Belarus' appalling human rights record that should not come as a surprise. Still, there was a chance that Belarus could have snuck in the council because Eastern Europe was guaranteed two slots on the 47 member panel, and only Belarus and Slovenia originally entered the race.

For a while, it looked as if Belarus was a shoo-in. The United States and other western countries, however, persuaded Bosnia to run and then worked behind the scenes to lobby members of the General Assembly to vote for Bosnia over Belarus. A coalition of NGO's like Human Rights Watch, the Open Society Institute, and the Democracy Coalition Project also lobbied hard to deny Belarus a seat on the Council.

According to the New York Times, the new United States Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad called the outcome "heartening." This is significant statement because just over one year ago, the United States refused to vote to create the new Council (which replaced the discredited Human Rights Commission) and eschewed running for a seat. At the time, the United States worried that there were not enough safeguards preventing a country with dismal human rights record from gaining membership. However, the vote against Belarus goes to show that when member states are sufficiently determined to keep an abusive state off of the council, the rules on voting and membership are, in fact, adequate.

Fourteen countries have been elected to serve on the United Nations Human Rights Council after a vote by Member States at UN Headquarters in New York.

Angola, Bolivia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Qatar, Slovenia and South Africa were successful after the first round of voting, while Bosnia and Herzegovina and Italy were chosen following a second round.

Successful countries - which were elected according to a formula that allots seats among regional groups - needed to obtain an absolute majority of the General Assembly's membership of 192 States. The second round of balloting was restricted to those States which had scored the most votes in the first round without achieving a majority.

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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged policymakers and industry leaders to work to ensure that young people have better access to information and communications technology (ICT).

"In many instances, young people are the driving force behind innovation in the development and use of new technologies," Mr. Ban said in a message on World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, which is being observed under the theme Connect the Young.

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The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the largest and most expensive peacekeeping operation in the world. As of March, there were 18,336 total uniformed personnel, including 16,594 troops, 713 military observers, and 1,029 police, costing over $1 billion per year. But the price of peace is still less than the cost of years of war in Congo, which claimed more lives than any other conflict since World War Two.

From 1998 to 2003 nearly 4 million people are thought to have perished in a civil war stoked by Congo's neighbors. Today, that fighting has largely, but not completely, subsided. And while it is too early to call the DRC a UN Peacekeeping success story, it is clear that the United Nations Mission in the Congo (called by its French acronym, MONUC) is responsible for overseeing Congo's significant strides toward peace and democracy in recent years.

For 37 years Mobutu Sesse Seko ruled Congo (then called Zaire) by enriching himself and impoverishing his citizens. Laurent Kabila, a rebel leader supported by some of Congo's neighbors, overthrew Mobutu in 1997. The country soon plunged into brutal civil war, with various armed factions sometimes serving as proxies for Congo's nine neighboring countries. In early 2001, the 29 year old Joseph Kabila assumed the presidency following his father's assassination. Kabila the younger soon made significant efforts toward a comprehensive regional peace process, which became formalized in a 2003 agreement.

To prevent spoilers from undermining the agreement, the Security Council authorized a deployment of peacekeepers. (The United Nations has a long history in Congo. Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold died in a plane crash while en route to negotiate a ceasefire in Congo back in 1961.) This newest round of UN intervention began in 1999 when MONUC military observers were deployed to monitor a nominal ceasefire agreement between Congo, a rebel movement within Congo, and five of Congo's neighbors. In 2001, the Security Council expanded MONUC to 3,600 peacekeepers. The fighting, however, continued. In the north-eastern province Ituri, the fighting bordered on genocide, sparking the Security Council to dramatically expand the number of troops deployed there. Soon, there were over 10,000 troops in the DRC, many in Ituri.

These peacekeepers face grueling tasks. The country is the size of Western Europe, with few roads to support armored personnel carriers and other heavy military equipment. There were some setbacks. In 2004, an armed group overran UN forces and took over the town of Bukavu, killing many residents and looting their possessions. In response, the Security Council reinforced MONUC with additional 6,000 troops and expanded its mandate to ensure civilian protection. A newly emboldened Monuc force in Ituri began to experiment with more assertive peacekeeping tactics. Rather than simply provide protection to civilians and humanitarian workers, peacekeepers in Ituri sought to roll back militias by in aggressive tactical raids.

By 2005, MONUC's most important task was deterring spoilers from undermining national elections planned for 2006. These elections, which took place in late July, were a logistical accomplishment of historical proportions. The United Nations registered some 25 million people throughout the country. Ballots were transported by truck, plane, helicopter and even canoe. 80% of the population voted, and after a runoff selected Joseph Kabila. For the first time in 40 years, the Congolese people had voted for in a multiparty election.

After years of war, the DRC remains a broken country. It consistently ranks near the top of Foreign Policy's failed states index. Kabila's government is unable to deliver basic services to most of its citizens and depends on foreign assistance. The largest, most expensive, and most accomplished peacekeeping mission in the world, however, continues to offer the Congolese people a blanket of protection while democracy takes root.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has announced the launch of "Food Force," the world's first humanitarian video game for children.

"Children have very few opportunities to understand the realities of a hungry world. By engaging children in a fun and creative way, 'Food Force' will help children become better global citizens - now and in the future," said John Powell, WFP Deputy Executive Director for Fundraising and Communications.

A screen shot of the game is below.

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Colum Lynch reports that the African Union force in Darfur may be on the verge of collapse:

The African Union's first major peacekeeping mission — once considered the last line of defense for Darfur's civilians — has been crippled by funding and equipment shortages, government harassment and an upsurge in armed attacks by rebel forces that last month left seven African troops dead.

The setbacks have sapped morale among peacekeepers, many of whom have not been paid for months. It has also compelled the force -- which numbered 7,000 troops at its peak -- to scale back its patrols and has diminished its capacity to protect civilians, aid workers and its own peacekeepers. In one example, Gambian troops last month failed to aid a Ghanaian peacekeeper who was gunned down in a carjacking incident within 300 yards of the mission's Darfur headquarters, U.N. officials said.

When the fighting reached its peak in Darfur in spring 2004, the government of Sudan allowed a small number of African Union peacekeepers in to Darfur. Ostensibly, their job was to monitor a nominal cease-fire brokered between the government and rebels--not provide civilian protection. Still, considering the small number of troops, sparse resources at their disposal, and restrictive mandate, the African Union Mission in Sudan conducted itself admirably. In 2005, I interviewed Brian Steidle, a former US marine who served with the AU force. He recalled one incident in which the African Union deterred a government and janjaweed attack on a town of 45,000 by positioning merely 35 soldiers in the town.

So we know that the African Union can be effective. The problem is the AU is new at this. Its funding mechanisms are not guaranteed and neither are its logistical capabilities fully developed. But until a UN peacekeeping force sets foot in Darfur, AU troops are the only international boots on the ground. Donor countries need to do all they can to support them.

Speaking at a conference on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), President of the General Assembly Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa said that governments worldwide can help lift women and their families out of poverty by introducing more gender-sensitive policies that offer greater employment, taxation and investment opportunities for women.

[Sheikha Haya] called on governments to incorporate gender perspectives into their fiscal and monetary policies. Promoting gender equality and empowering women is one of the eight MDGs.

"Gender-sensitive policies assist women entrepreneurs in accessing markets and obtaining reasonable interest rates for loans, as well as promote decent employment opportunities, fair taxation, and investments in infrastructure," she said.

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Ten years ago, I would have sounded crazy should I have predicted that Liberia would become a functioning democracy by 2007, and that Charles Taylor, the Liberian warlord turned president, would be in jail awaiting prosecution for war crimes. And rightly so -- in 1997, Liberia was a singularly dismal place on earth. Taylor had just been elected president after leading a bloody insurgency characterized by the recruitment of child soldiers, wide-spread rape and mutilation. Taylor's popular support, however, was less from admiration than fear. Prior to the election, throngs on the street chanted, "He killed my ma, he killed my pa, I'm going to vote for him!" Better to vote him president than have him lose the election and turn his wrath against the people.

For the previous eight years, the civil war in Liberia had claimed the lives of 150,000 people and displaced 850,000 to neighboring countries. The illegal trade of diamonds and other natural resources abundant in Liberia fueled the civil war, and helped fund Taylor's regime. In 1999 a new round of fighting erupted when a rebel movement backed by Guinea took hold in northern Liberia. In early 2003, separate rebel movement from the south emerged. By the summer, the rebels had gained considerable strength and were threatening Monrovia, Liberia's densely populated capital.

So began a series of events that eventually led to Taylor's ouster. The United States diverted a ship carrying 1,500 marines heading toward the Persian Gulf and stationed it just outside of Monrovia. And just as the Marines were arriving to Liberia's shore, a United Nations war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone issued an arrest warrant for Taylor, whose forces are alleged to have committed crimes against humanity during the neighboring country's own civil war. Then, on August 1, the Security Council authorized a multinational force for Liberia. With a detachment of marines just off shore -- and Nigerian troops en route to Monrovia -- President Bush joined regional leaders and called for Taylor to leave Liberia. On August 11, following a second suggestion from President Bush that Taylor exit Liberia, he fled to exile in Nigeria.

After terrorizing West Africa for over a decade, Taylor was finally dislodged from power. His successor entered into a peace agreement with the rebels that established a transitional government and paved the way for free elections. By the end of the summer, the Nigerian-led multinational force became an official UN peacekeeping operation to assist in the implementation of the peace agreement and deny spoilers an opportunity to plunge Liberia back into chaos. Years of sanctions left the economy in ruins and rampant corruption meant that state services and infrastructure were virtually non-existent. The newly formed United Nations Assistance Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) provided security guarantees that let the United Nations and other international agencies embark on a series of humanitarian and infrastructure building projects throughout the country.

In 2006, Liberians elected lead Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first female head of state. Soon after winning election (to well deserved international fanfare) Sirleaf formally requested Taylor's extradition from Nigeria to face the war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone. Today, Taylor is in a jailhouse in The Hague awaiting his trial. Liberia, meanwhile, is steadily moving forward. The 15,000 strong UNMIL (which includes the UN's first all female police unit) is overseeing the disarmament and demobilization of former fighters, and helping UN and international agencies restore basic services to the Liberian people. Key to Liberia's progress is opening its abundant natural resources up to international trade. To that end, in May 2007, the Security Council lifted sanctions on the Liberian diamond trade, which for most of the country's history had been a source of misery, rather than prosperity for the Liberian people.

Despite Liberia's significant accomplishments post-Taylor, the state is still fragile. Over 250,000 people were killed in the conflicts. Considering that the population of Liberia is only slightly over 3 million that is a staggering percentage of the population. State infrastructure remains in ruins and Liberians continue to depend on the United Nations and other international agencies continue to deliver key services. Still, considering Liberia's significant progress from where it was just 10 years ago, it is clear that the country is on a hopeful path.

The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues opened its two-week session today in New York, where more than 1,000 indigenous representatives will take on issues related to lands, territories and natural resources.

These matters are widely viewed as central to indigenous peoples' efforts to gain recognition for their rights. "With the increasing desire of States for more economic growth, senseless exploitation of indigenous peoples' territories and resources continues unabated," said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Chairperson of the UN Permanent Forum, which will meet from 14 to 25 May.

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The Chicago Council on Foreign Affairs and WorldPublicOpinion.org released a new poll affirming public support of the United Nations in the United States and around the world. Like similar polls in recent years, the new poll challenges the conventional wisdom about how one thinks the American public views the United Nations. For example, the poll asked respondents in 14 countries whether they would support "giving the UN the power to regulate the international arms trade." By a large majority (60%), Americans were in favor. Also, when asked whether publics believe there should be a standing peacekeeping force "selected, trained, and commanded" by the United Nations, a whopping 72% of Americans agreed. Publics in other countries, such as France, South Korea and Peru gauged equally strong sentiment for these proposals, as well as giving the UN the authority to investigate violations of human rights.

Contrary to how one might assume Americans regard their country's relationship with the United Nations, it would seem that even in relatively controversial areas like regulating the arms trade and establishing a standing "international" army, Americans are remarkably pro-UN.

United Nations Special Envoy Jan Eliasson said that the peace process in Darfur is at a "crossroads," after he and his counterpart from the African Union (AU) finished their third joint visit to Sudan.

Serious obstacles to the political process - including the dire humanitarian situation, the persistence of tribal clashes and unrest in camps - still exist, Jan Eliasson told reporters at the Khartoum headquarters of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).

"We have talked very much about peacekeeping, an indispensable part of the process towards peace in Darfur, but we all must remember there has to be a peace to keep," said Eliasson.

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Actress Drew Barrymore has been named as an Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), and will advocate for school feeding projects.

Ms. Barrymore, 32, becomes the latest Ambassador for the WFP, joining Kenyan world marathon record-holder Paul Tergat, himself a former recipient of school feeding programmes, among others. Last year WFP fed 19.4 million children across 71 countries through such projects.

Barrymore said, "I can't think of any issue that is more important than working to see that no schoolchild in this world goes hungry."

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In last week's Keeping the Peace installment on Haiti I wrote about the UN Peacekeeping mission's trend toward more assertive tactics in the troubled slums of Port-au-Prince. Since February, the Brazilian-led force launched incursions into Cite-Soleil, the vast sea-side slum, to arrest leaders of organized criminal groups that run extortion rackets on the local population. Yesterday, according to the UN News Service, they nabbed another top dog.

A long-hunted Haitian gang leader accused of assassinations, kidnappings and extortion was arrested today in a joint operation by Haitian National Police and United Nations peacekeepers in Cité Soleil, the notorious slum area in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

The arrest of Torchon Jean Eoldy, alias Blade Nasson, who terrorized the neighbourhoods of Ti-Haïti and Linteau, is a part of "the joint efforts of the blue helmets and the PNH to return a lasting peace to Cité Soleil," according to the UN Mission in Haiti, known as MINUSTAH.

"It will, in particular, allow the population of Linteau and Ti-Haiti to get back little by little to normal life," the mission noted in a press release.

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Three climate change envoys, newly-appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, say that global warming must be tackled at the international political level.

The three envoys - former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Republic of Korea Foreign Minister and General Assembly President Han Seung-soo and former Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Escobar - held a working luncheon today with Mr. Ban, who announced earlier this year that tackling climate change is one of his priorities as head of the UN.

Brundtland said, "We know that the world is warming up, and we know that the issue is to be able to act quickly enough so that we can avoid the types of dramatic consequences that are also irreversible... without sufficient action."

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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has noted that the world is lagging in its efforts to aid the number of people who lack access to decent sanitation; he called for concrete measures from Member States and civil society groups to remedy the problem.

Mr. Ban told the first preparatory meeting for the International Year of Sanitation, which will be marked in 2008, that "access to sanitation is a fundamental issue of human dignity and human rights, and also of economic development and environmental protection."

Approimately 2.6 billion people worldwide don't have access to basic sanitation services.

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Two steps are generally required to stop an on-going conflict through diplomacy at the United Nations. When combatants become convinced that they have more to gain from peace than continued fighting, some sort of cease-fire agreement can be brokered. Then, once the parties agree to a ceasefire, the United Nations can put into place mechanisms to enforce the ceasefire. While the former depends on political will of the Security Council, the achieving the latter often requires the skill of diplomats in the General Secretariat.

In the summer of 2006, this process was on full display when the United Nations worked out a ceasefire between Israel and militant forces in Lebanon.

On July 12, Hezbollah militants killed eight Israeli soldiers stationed near the Lebanon-Israel border and captured two others. The Israeli Defense Forces retaliated with incursions into southern Lebanon and bombed targets throughout the country. Hundreds of thousands of civilians in the region were displaced as Hezbollah rockets rained down on northern Israel and Israeli bombs rocked southern Lebanon.

After thirty four calamitous days the parties to the conflict agreed to a ceasefire negotiated through the Security Council. Resolution 1701, which passed unanimously, called for the cessation of hostilities, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese soil, and the deployment of a large peacekeeping force to help the Lebanese national army exert control over southern Lebanon. However, out of expediency the resolution left some key issues for later negotiations. The ceasefire held, but conditions on the ground remained deeply volatile. Resolving these outstanding problems required the intervention of someone regarded as an honest broker.

With historic powers unable or unwilling to step up, Secretary General Kofi Annan embarked on a frantic shuttle diplomacy to shore up the resolution. In eleven days, Annan traveled to Belgium, Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Syria, Qatar, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and Spain. He faced the daunting task of convincing regional actors to support the ceasefire. Further, Israel had insisted that it would only withdraw troops from Lebanon and lift its sea and air blockades once a peacekeeping force was in place. This did not sit well with Lebanese President Fouad Sinora, who was eager to see it lifted. A credible peacekeeping mission needed to be deployed--and it needed to happen fast.

The United Nations has had a peacekeeping force deployed to Lebanon in some form since 1978. Per the Security Council resolution, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was to be drastically expanded and given a new mandate. But as with every peacekeeping mission, it is up to member states to actually contribute the troops. Convincing member states to commit troops, and then setting up the logistics of the actual deployment is often a laborious task. To complicate matters, Israel demanded that the peacekeepers only come from countries that have sophisticated military capabilities and diplomatic relations with Israel. But in the interest of balance, local sensitivities, and to avoid the appearance that UNIFIL would be an occupying force, the peacekeepers would have to be complimented by soldiers from Muslim countries as well. These political demands left precious few countries from which to draw troops.

In the end, France and Italy contributed the bulk of peacekeepers to UNIFIL. While in Ankara, Annan was also able to convince Turkey, which has relations with Israel, to contribute to the force. And following Annan's trip to Jerusalem, the Israeli government softened its position and consented to Indonesian contributions to UNIFIL. (Indonesia does not have formal relations with Israel.) During the trip, Annan was also able to orchestrate the lifting of the Israeli blockade. Working the phones, he secured French and German commitments to patrol the Lebanese coast and serve as border control agents at Lebanese airports. This is particularly significant because Germany, for historical reasons, has been reluctant to deploy troops to peacekeeping missions involving Israel.

Within weeks of Annan's trip, the first contingent of peacekeepers set foot in Lebanon. In fact, between the resolution and the deployment, only seventeen days lapsed, a remarkably fast deployment. This shows that when the political will is there, peacekeeping missions can get off the ground quickly. Today, there are currently over 13,000 uniformed personnel in Unifil. They continue to augment the Lebanese National Army in southern Lebanon. Troops also support other UN initiatives throughout Lebanon, such as removing unexploded ordinances, rebuilding and other humanitarian efforts.

Thanks to the quick intervention of the Secretary General, backed by crucial political support of member states, the ceasefire still holds in Southern Lebanon. Now the major task before the international community is to help establish a lasting comprehensive peace in the region.