You probably don't recognize his name, but you have seen his work. In the 1940's Donal Mclaughlin headed of the Graphics Division of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the World War II-era precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency. Among other things, McLaughlin helped design visual presentations for use in the Nuremburg Tribunals and even designed the courtroom itself. His most famous design was also produced in the wake of World War Two.

Via Design Observer, a blog about graphic and architectural design, comes the fascinating story of how McLaughlin created one of the most universally recognizable symbols: the United Nations emblem.

The US State Department announced its intention to convene the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco in June 1945, and the OSS's Presentation Branch was asked to create displays, certificates, maps and guides for the delegates, and one seemingly modest thing."It was my good fortune," McLaughlin told me, "to be assigned the problem of designing a lapel pin for Conference identification." He went through dozens of designs, struggling with the challenge of accommodating a suitable image with the conference's name, date and location, all in a one and one-sixteenth diameter circle. His solution was what McLaughlin describes as "an azimuthally equidistant projection showing all the countries in one circle," flanked by crossed olive branches. It appeared not only on the delegate's pins, but was stamped in gold on the cover of the United Nations Charter. On June 26, the Charter was signed by delegates of fifty nations, and the United Nations was established. Donal McLaughlin, without fully intending to, had designed its emblem.

Today, July 26, 2007, is McLaughlin's 100th birthday. And after a century on this earth he remains an idealist, "I still believe that the UN is really our only hope for world peace," he tells Design Observer.

Happy Birthday, Donal Mclaughlin. Keep up the good work!

The rainy season is about the hit Chad, where 200,000 people live in internally displaced persons camps. Rain means mosquitoes. And for people living in squalid camps, that means malaria and possible death.

The situation is dire, but you can help. Nothing But Nets, a grassroots organization that sends insecticide treated bed nets to Africa, has launched an emergency appeal to send 40,000 bed nets to internally displaced persons camps in Chad in six weeks. The nets cost ten dollars each, and are suited to protect a family of four. Consider helping out. As they say: send a net, save a life.

This is a bit beyond our normal UN coverage, but one agency that rarely gets the recognition it deserves is the World Intellectual Property Organization (or WIPO), which is dedicated to developing common international intellectual property rights mechanisms. This includes arbitrating so-called "cyber squatting" complaints. For those not in the know, cyber-squatting is "registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name with bad-faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else." For example, (and this was a real case brought to arbitration) if one were to register the domain name Madonna.com in Tunisia, then market it as an "adult entertainment site," one would be accused of cyber-squating. Cyber squatting is illegal in the United States and many other countries.

This is all coming to my attention today because WIPO just announced that there has been a 25% increase in cyber squatting complaints in 2006. Who knew? Could this be the start of a trend?

UNICEF brings us an insider's look at the Nothing But Nets event that took place earlier this month in New York.

Nothing But Nets is a global grassroots campaign to save lives by preventing malaria--the leading killer of children in Africa. Click here to learn how you can get involved.

The New Orleans Saints may have lost their chance yesterday to play in Super Bowl XLI, but the Saints' star running back Reggie Bush will still make a Super Bowl appearance in this ad for the United Nations World Food Program.

UNEP announced their Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign today, an effort to help dampen global warning.

"Under the Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign, individuals, children, youth and community groups, schools, non-governmental organizations, business and industry, farmers, local authorities, and national governments are urged to plant trees as a small but practical step to combat what UNEP says is probably the key challenge of the 21st century. So far over 157 million tree planting pledges have been received." More

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

Get involved: Tree-planting pledges can be entered on the campaign website.

As part of the Nothing But Nets campaign, some "netraisers" are sharing their stories of getting informed and being involved. Here's Benita's story:

"The Malaria Boot Camp was a God-send for me. I have family in Senegal and have witnessed deaths due to malaria first hand. In the summer 2005, a friend took her newborn daughter to Senegal to show her off to the family. When she returned to the US, she felt weak and thought that she had a flu or something. After a few days, she went to our local hospital emergency room. They took blood and could not find anything, so they sent her home. She returned a second time, and was sent home again. After her third visit, the hospital had realized that she had deteriorated significantly, so they sent her blood work to a NYC hospital which helped them diagnose her malaria." More

To find out how you can get involved, click here.

Would you spend ten dollars to save a child's life? If it seems too simple, that's because it is. And that's what makes the Nothing But Nets campaign so incredible.

Nothing But Nets is a global grassroots campaign to save lives by preventing malaria--the leading killer of children in Africa. For just ten dollars, you can provide a child with a life-saving anti-malaria bed net. It's really that easy.

Inspired by sports columnist Rick Reilly, who asked each of his readers to donate at least $10 for a bed net, the campaign is now thousands strong, with partners such as the UN Foundation, NBA Cares, Sports Illustrated, VH1, The People of the United Methodist Church, the Mark J. Gordon Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. (In fact, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have recently awarded a challenge grant to Nothing But Nets, meaning they'll match donations dollar for dollar up to $3 million!)

I had the pleasure of going to a Nothing But Nets event yesterday at the NBA store in New York City, and the excitement around the campaign was amazing.

In addition to featuring Rick Reilly and representatives from the campaign partners, perhaps the most convincing attendees were six-year old Katherine Commale and her mother, Lynda. After viewing a PBS program on Malaria and learning how the disease kills a child in Africa every 30 seconds, Katherine and Lynda decided to take action. To date, they have raised over $10,000 for the campaign.

If a six-year old can do it, so can we. So please, spread the word about Nothing But Nets and start saving lives one net at a time.

To learn more about Malaria, click here.

To join the campaign, or to help out, click here.

The Nothing But Nets campaign travels to New York City this week for a series of promotional events intended to raise awareness for the grassroots anti-malaria campaign. The events kick off today with a panel discussion at Hunter College with malaria advocacy experts from the United Nations, the NGO community and philanthropic organizations. Tomorrow, Rick Reilly, the Sports Illustrated writer whose column inspired the Nothing But Nets campaign, will speak at the NBA store in Manhattan along with representatives from the UN Foundation and the NBA. Finally, on Friday, the New Jersey Nets-Chicago Bulls basketball game at Continental Airlines Arena will highlight Nothing But Nets, the first of many in-house promotions at NBA arenas throughout the country.

For those in New York interested in attending any or all of these events, more details are below the fold.

From January 3, 2006 to January 5, 2006, partners of Nothing But Nets, a global, grassroots campaign to save lives by preventing malaria will participate in several events throughout New York City to raise awareness about malaria and share how corporations and individuals are sending nets and saving lives. Partners participating in the events include the United Nations Foundation, the National Basketball Association's NBA Cares, The People of the United Methodist Church, Sports Illustrated, Mark J. Gordon Foundation, and VH1.

All events are open to credentialed media only.

Please contact Amy DiElsi at 202-492-3078 or adielsi@unfoundation.org.

January 3, 2006

8:30 a.m to 6:00 p.m Malaria Advocacy Boot Camp

Hunter College; 695 Park Avenue (entrance at E. 68th and Lexington)

Hosted by Americans for Informed Democracy 250 young leaders from across the world will hear from leaders and advocates fighting malaria including:

Melanie Renshaw, Senior Health Advisor, UNICEF

Emmanuel d'Harcourt, Senior Child Survival Technical Advisor, The International Rescue Committee

Cynthia Scharf, Public Information Officer, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Mark J. Gordon, Founder, Students Helping Achieve Philanthropic Excellence (SHAPE)

Martin Edlund, Communications Director, Millennium Promise

January 4, 2006

6:00 a.m. to 9 a.m. Wake Up America, So Children Can Sleep in Peace

Staging area at 1515 Broadway -- Broadway between 44th and 45th

Malaria Boot Camp participants will participate in visibility "street teams"

3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. NBA Store Launch -- Nothing But Nets

NBA Store; 666 Fifth Avenue

NBA TV's Andre Aldridge to host panel discussion on preventing malaria in Africa featuring:

Kathleen Bushkin - Executive Vice President and COO, UN Foundation

Sam Perkins - NBA Legend

Ruth Riley - WNBA Champion, Detroit Shock

Rick Reilly - Sports Illustrated columnist

January 5, 2006

7:30 p.m. In-arena promotion at New Jersey Nets v. Chicago Bulls game

Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

This is the first of 22 in-arena promotions that the NBA is conducting in support of Nothing But Nets in 2007.

"Today, Dec 18, marks International Migrants Day, a day to celebrate the contribution of migrants to our societies, and to promote their rights and fundamental freedoms across the world.

In 2006, there has been increasing attention on the phenomena of international migration. In September this year, the UN facilitated high-level dialogues amongst its member states to discuss the multi-dimensional aspects of international migration. Their focus was on how benefits could be maximised and negative impacts minimised as people continue to cross international borders." More

The grassroots anti-malaria campaign to raise money for insecticide treated bed nets traveled to the White House yesterday. The NBA and United Methodist Church represented the Nothing But Nets Campaign at a White House Summit on malaria, the number one killer of children in Africa. So far, the campaign has raised over $1.6 million to send life-saving bed nets to Africa. Learn more about the summit and Nothing But Nets.

With this year's Nobel Peace Prize bestowed on micro-lending pioneer Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Committee affirmed the principle that we cannot have peace while billions live in abject poverty. Since 1976, his Grameen Bank has been fighting poverty in the developing world, one small loan at a time. To celebrate Dr. Yunus' honor, join the Grameen Foundation for a week of activities to help raise awareness of the power of micro lending. And once again, congratulations to Dr. Yunus.

In his latest Sports Illustrated column Rick Reilly reports on his trip to Nigeria to distribute the first round of anti-malaria bed nets, bought from money raised by the Nothing But Nets campaign.

According to Reilly, the nets have had an immediate impact on the health and well being of some communities. "One hospital in Nigeria," writes Reilly, "is saying that since the nets went up, outpatient cases of malaria have dropped from 80 a month to 50."

The nets work. Help spread the word.

A couple of weeks back, we told the story behind the creation of Nothing But Nets, a grassroots campaign asking people to donate $10 toward the purchase of bed nets to combat malaria. Today, Nothing But Nets officially goes online.

WASHINGTON, DC (November 14, 2006) - The United Nations Foundation (UN Foundation) announced today the launch of Nothing But Nets - a grassroots campaign asking individuals to donate $10 to "send a net, save a life." Each $10 donation pays for an insecticide-treated bed net, distributes it to a family in need in Africa, and provides education on its proper use to prevent malaria. Founding partners of the campaign are NBA Cares, The People of the United Methodist Church, and Sports Illustrated.

This campaign was created after Sports Illustrated (SI) columnist Rick Reilly's May 5, 2006, column, "Nothing But Nets," raised $1.2 million. More than 120,000 bed nets have already been delivered in Nigeria as a result of Reilly's call to readers who had "ever cut down a net, jumped over a net, watched the New Jersey Nets, worn a hair net, surfed the net, or thought of Angelina Jolie in fishnets" to donate $10 to purchase insecticide-treated nets.

"Send a net. Save a life. It's that simple," said Andrea Gay, Director of Children's Health Programs at the UN Foundation and Program Director for Nothing But Nets. "Malaria is a leading cause of death in Africa and one of the most preventable diseases world-wide. We know that together we can stop the spread of malaria in a simple, easy, and affordable way."

Malaria is a disease that infects nearly 500 million people each year and kills more than one million of those who become infected. Malaria can be prevented through a simple, inexpensive measure: sleeping each night under a net treated with insecticides that kill mosquitoes or stop them from biting.

"Once you learn about the devastating effects of malaria, how this disease contributes to global poverty, and how easy it is to prevent, it is hard not to get involved," said Kathy Behrens, Senior Vice President of Community and Player Programs for the National Basketball Association. "Our teams, players, and the league are firmly committed to this campaign."

"We're excited about our involvement in this campaign. The People of the United Methodist Church have been in mission across Africa for more than 160 years," said United Methodist Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton of Pittsburgh. "Our work in the area of malaria prevention made Nothing But Nets a natural partner for us. There are many ways to stop the spread of malaria, but buying a bed net for a family in Africa is something that almost everyone can do. We hope that everyone will join us and our other partners in support of this effort."

Several global agencies of The United Methodist Church will launch supporting campaigns to educate and raise money for bed nets. The church is creating a special Web page through www.UMC.org in conjunction with www.NothingButNets.net. The People of the United Methodist Church are making Nothing But Nets a focal point of their youth outreach program. The efforts will culminate at the Youth 2007 gathering in Greensboro, N.C., in July 2007. More than 10,000 young people are expected to attend this event.

"This is the all-time no-brainer," said SI's Rick Reilly. "No governments to topple, no disease to cure, no warlords to fight. Ten bucks puts a net over a kid -- sometimes two and three kids -- and saves their lives. For the price of a new CD, you just saved two lives. It's such a good feeling; the country is starting to get behind it. And that's a very cool net result."

Rick Reilly visited Nigeria the week of November 6, 2006, and his follow-up column on the campaign will appear in the December 4 issue of Sports Illustrated, which will appear on newsstands on or around November 28.

To distribute the nets throughout communities in Africa throughout 2007 and 2008, Nothing But Nets has partnered with the Measles Initiative -- an integrated health campaign whose partners include the American Red Cross, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the UN Foundation. The Measles Initiative is one of the most successful vaccination efforts ever. The campaign will also fund education on the use of bed nets.

Additional partners for the campaign include AOL Black Voices, Malaria No More, and VH-1. To learn more about Nothing But Nets, visit www.NothingButNets.net.

It's not often that a story in Sports Illustrated can have a direct impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in sub-Saharan Africa. But with an 815 word column in April, writer Rick Reilly kicked off a grassroots campaign to do just that.

Reilly's pitch was straightforward. Every thirty seconds, an African child dies from a malaria infection transmitted by a mosquito bite, making it the number-one killer of African children under five. So he implored his readers to send $10 donations to the United Nations Foundation to purchase mosquito nets to help protect families when most of the transmissions occur: at night when families are asleep.

The pitch was simple, and it worked. It really worked.

In a few short months, SI readers, little league teams, high school clubs and community groups began sending donations to the United Nations Foundation. Soon, some $1.2 million - much of it raised in $10 increments - had poured into UNF. As a result, some 120,000 insecticide treated bed nets were purchased.

The success of Reilly's campaign was, quite literally, overwhelming. So to help organize the incipient movement, and collect and distribute the donations, the United Nations Foundation, in partnership with Sports Illustrated, the NBA, and the People of the United Methodist Church, established a non-profit to handle the donations and keep the momentum going. Nothing But Nets was born.

Here's how it works: One net is durable enough to last as long as four years. The nets themselves cost about $7. A $10 donation covers the cost of the net, delivery, and installation. In some cases, parents and children may sleep under one net. Importantly, there are no overhead costs for Nothing But Nets - the United Nations Foundation pays for that.

The first nets were recently delivered in Nigeria. Reilly is traveling there to visit families and with staff from the World Health Organization and the Measles Initiative to check out how the nets are used.

In the meantime, you can click here to donate ten bucks.

Turner created the UN Foundation 1998 with his historic gift in support of the United Nations. He has said that his gift is an "investment in the future of humanity."

On November 10, Ted Turner will answer questions via video and online. Add your question by visiting The People Speak.

"Despite the deteriorating security situation in Darfur, a new United Nations assessment has found that overall malnutrition levels have mostly stabilized in 2006 and food insecurity has improved slightly thanks to a stronger international response to the suffering in Sudan's war-torn west. Crude mortality dropped for the third year running, but insecurity and lack of access to many Darfurians continued to cloud the aid picture." More

Reuters: "School children in Gaza, cricket fans in India and African church-goers have helped set a Guinness world record for "the largest number of people to 'stand up against poverty,'" U.N. officials said on Tuesday.

The record was set when 23,542,614 people stood up as part of 11,646 organized events around the world during a 24-hour period this week, according to the official Guinness verification text, released at a U.N. news conference."

"Nicole Kidman is playing a role that has nothing to do with movies, touring Kosovo as a United Nations goodwill ambassador to the tense province.... The actress was named goodwill ambassador of the U.N. Development Fund for Women, or UNIFEM, in January and the tour of Kosovo is her first visit in that role." More

UNF board member Mohammed Yunus and his Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize today. In the 1970's Yunus pioneered the use of micro-loans to give rural entrepreneurs in the developing world start-up capitol needed for their small businesses. These loans typically range around $200, and are overwhelmingly directed toward women in the developing world who need funds to buy basic equipment or materials to get their small business off the ground. Fascinatingly, the Grameen Bank, which was founded in Bangladesh, claims a rate of return of over 90%.

Yunus is an economist, and the idea that he pioneered over 20 years ago has become an established part of development strategies worldwide. Micro-lending is not philanthropy, but a win-win-win investment strategy in which the creditor earns some interest, the recipient receives her capitol, and the community benefits from the new business.

The benefits from micro-lending continue to pay dividends to diverse sectors of people worldwide. For example, philanthropists have begun to use the idea to expand the reach of their philanthropy. Last year, Ebay Founder Pierre Omidyar donated $500 million to start a micro-lending bank, of which the proceeds from the interest earned will go to Tufts University.

Yunus has well earned this honor, and deserves our congratulations and thanks.

In 1998 Ted Turner pledged $1 billion to United Nations causes. The United Nations Foundation that Turner established has now hit that mark.

As the UNF's press release says, "The Foundation (and its sister organization, the Better World Fund) has donated over $600 million from founder Ted Turner and over $400 million from individuals, corporations, governments, and NGOs to programs that address key global challenges in four areas: children's health, environment, women and population, and peace, security and human rights."

In prepared remarks, Annan said: 'Ted's gift was a tremendous financial boost for our organization. More than that, it has helped the UN to change - to become a partnership organization, something that has been a top priority of mine. ... But Ted's act was perhaps most important for the message it sent to his fellow Americans, his fellow businessmen and women, and to the world. Here was an iconic businessman standing up for the United Nations, and saying to the world that the UN and its work were worthy of support.'"

Philanthropy is invaluable to the United Nations' work, but it cannot replace the continued financial support of member states. Perhaps this is something to keep in mind this month as member states renegotiate their dues payments to the UN.

"Cities around the world on Monday marked the 2006 celebration of World Habitat Day, which was launched from the Italian city of Naples.

The United Nations has designated the first Monday in October every year to reflect on how we manage our cities in the new millennium as humanity now moves from being predominantly rural to overwhelmingly urban. Today, half of us live in cities, and the world is witnessing the fastest urban growth ever experienced." More

From Salon: "I want to vote for Ted Turner for president ... of the world. Turner gave a speech at the World Trade Organization's Public Forum this morning in Geneva that is equal parts inspiring and enlightening, and cuts right to the core of what this blog cares about. It is, in short, a program for making the world work."

UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond: "With UNHCR's distribution of emergency aid proceeding smoothly, our field teams are now looking at some of the wider problems facing the victims of the war in Lebanon. There are thousands of Lebanese who have not been able to return to their homes - in areas around Beirut there are an estimated 12,000 displaced who have not returned after the war. In Beirut itself, the charity Caritas estimates there are 35,000. These people have lost their source of income. Older people and those with disabilities have chronic medical needs.

And our partners note that the children need help to resume their education and counselling because of their war experiences. As part of that problem, UNHCR has helped a Lebanese NGO, the Development for People and Nature Association, to set up a summer camp they're running for children in the town of Jezzine." More

"Most young people are unaware" of the world's water crisis, but if they knew about the "staggering numbers" of people affected by lack of clean water, they would be moved to act, Def Jam President and CEO Jay-Z said at United Nations Headquarters in New York on Wednesday.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed the help of the internationally known recording star and MTV President Christina Norman in raising public awareness of water scarcity through a new global initiative. LINK

From the UN Foundation:

Our post-tsunami water and sanitation reconstruction partnership with The Coca-Cola Company has been selected as a finalist for the US Chamber of Commerce's "Partnership Award." After the tsunami, the UN Foundation partnered with The Coca-Cola Company to find ways to contribute to longer-term recovery efforts, with a focus on community-based water and sanitation needs. Working in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme UNDP), the partnership is responding to long-term water and sanitation needs in remote, tsunami-hit areas of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Thailand. To learn more about the partnership and to vote click here: http://www.unfoundation.org/features/tsunami_partnership.asp

"With almost one in four of Lebanon's 3.8 million population homeless and hostilities continuing, WFP has launched a three-month US$8.9 million emergency operation to feed over 300,000 people, including 50,000 in Syria.

The Agency is also the lead UN agency for the logistics of transporting humanitarian aid to and within Lebanon. The value of the special logistics operation alone is US$38 million."

Warren Buffett is a generous man. His gift of over $30 billion in stock to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will nearly double the size of the country's largest charitable organization. As media coverage of the gift has noted, $60 billion is roughly five times the annual budget of the United Nations and its agencies. And as Slate points out, the Foundation's future $1.7 billion annual disbursement requirement is roughly equivalent to UNICEF's annual budget.

Over at Tapped, Matthew Yglesias makes the important point that while gifts of this kind are munificent, there is a limit to philanthropy.

Says Yglesias:

If the foundation really does double its grant-making, that would come to about $1.7 billion per year on global health issues.

By contrast, were the United States government to live up to the commitment it's already made to the United Nations Millenium Development Goals that would involve spending about $77 billion on third world development issues in the first year with disbursements growing proportionately to American GDP.

The Gates Foundation does tremendous work in the developing world, particularly on global health issues. Still, it is no substitute for sustained commitment on part of governments to promote a development agenda set forth in the United Nations Millennium Project.

"When Toshiko Kitahara arrived in Ragh district in Badakhshan province, north-east Afghanistan, two things struck her: its natural beauty and the fact that girls did not attend school.

As a UN Volunteer with the World Food Programme (WFP), Toshiko decided to make girls' education a priority. [She first arrived in Afghanistan in 2002 and started as a UN Volunteer in 2003.] A programme officer with WFP's Food for Education unit in the province, the Japanese national took up her concern directly with department of education officials - and just about anyone else who would listen.

In meetings with the department, she learned that they did not have the resources to accommodate the 700 or so girls in the district and definitely no funds to construct a school. The majority of girls who were receiving an education were doing so in classrooms at boys' schools, mosques and private homes - all scattered throughout as many as 16 different communities within the district.

With that information in hand, Toshiko started her self-driven campaign to build the first girls' school in Ragh. Her quest for funds started in Afghanistan and crossed the globe before she arrived at enough money to have the project put in motion." LINK

"Nearly one year has passed since the devastating waves of the Indian Ocean Tsunami destroyed the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people.

However, through the combined of public and private sectors around the world, the United Nations in cooperation with national governments, NGOs and local communities was able to respond immediately and effectively to the disaster - assessing damages, rebuilding schools so children can resume their studies, preventing major outbreaks of diseases through sanitation projects and vaccination campaigns, and reconstructing shelters and permanent housing for the hundreds of thousands of homeless. The UN has effectively coordinated the immediate relief and rehabilitation efforts over the last 12 months, and will continue its work to work with to sustain and strengthen recovery efforts to "build back better" for many years to come." [Link]

Also see: UNDP & Tsunami Recovery

Leaving years of exile in a refugee camp in Kenya
behind them, Sudanese refugees travel through
the dramatic scenery of South Sudan on the first
convoy of UNHCR's organised repatriation which
officially started on Saturday.

"This is a joyous day, the day we welcome refugees home from exile after decades of war," a representative of the government of South Sudan said at a ceremony on Saturday in Nadapal, just inside South Sudan on the Kenyan border, where local residents waved paper flags of what they call "New Sudan" to welcome their kinfolk home." [Read more]

See also: South Sudan Repatriation Outlook

"I find peacekeeping to be the most fascinating challenge a police officer could ever face. The opportunity to work in one organization with police colleagues from 46 different nations has taught me unforgettable lessons about foreign cultures and how isolated most of us in the United States truly are. This is an education that no American university could ever provide." - Jill Muncy, Deputy Commissioner/Operations UNMIK Police force in Kosovo

There are thousands of Americans who work for the UN - over 1,800 in New York City alone. "Americans at the UN" is a project dedicated to telling their stories and celebrating the extraordinary work they do quietly every single day in countries all over the world.

LEARN MORE

"MTV plans to chronicle a visit to poverty-stricken African villages by actress Angelina Jolie on Sept. 14, three months after co-star and off-screen companion Brad Pitt gained notice with a similar ABC special.

The MTV documentary will follow Jolie as she accompanies United Nations adviser and economist Jeffrey Sachs on a trip to Sauri, a remote group of villages in western Kenya where his team is battling hunger and disease, the cable channel said this week.

The 30-minute program, a special episode of MTV's long-running "Diary" series spotlighting celebrities, will coincide with the opening of a U.N. special summit on goals for improving living standards in developing nations.

The actress, an Oscar winner for "Girl, Interrupted," has visited U.N. operations around the world as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations' High Commissioner on Refugees since 2001." [Read more]

"Americans should seek to learn more about the broader mandate and work of the UN and its agencies beyond the very limited portrayal of the UN in the mainstream media. Americans should follow the important work of the UN through mechanisms such as the UN Wire, and should express their support and ideas for the UN by communicating these to their elected representatives and the President." - Andrew Hudson, Principal Technical Advisor, International Waters, at United Nations Development Program's Global Environment Facility

There are thousands of Americans who work for the UN - over 1,800 in New York City alone. "Americans at the UN" is a project dedicated to telling their stories and celebrating the extraordinary work they do quietly every single day in countries all over the world.

The Americans profiled on these pages come from very different backgrounds and work in extremely diverse settings. But whether they are from Los Angeles, St. Louis, or Boston, and whether they work from an office in New York City, a tent in a tiny village in Sri Lanka, or a battleground in the Congo, they are all committed to creating a better world.

LEARN MORE

Jeffrey Sachs: "When world leaders gather at the United Nations summit in September, they can build quickly on the Gleneagles achievements. They should insist that donor countries that still lack a timetable to 0.7 per cent announce one in order to complete the financing package for Africa and other poor regions; that the IMF, World Bank, and other international organisations set their work plans according to the Millennium Development Goals; and that the new donor commitments to double aid start now. The leaders should be guided by the spirit of London that was on display last week, which showed that hope and generosity are the greatest bulwarks against terror and hate."

"The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) with the support of three UN agencies - WFP, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UNICEF - has launched a Charity Project entitled "Athletics for a Better World - The IAAF Stars' Donation Fund". The initiative aims to encourage top athletes to increase awareness of and raise funds for humanitarian initiatives." Read more at the WFP website

"Ernest Darkoh saw early what was wrong with Africa. In Kenya, where he spent his teenage years, he watched as government mismanagement and corruption sometimes left his parents, both university professors, without paychecks for a month or more. Neighbors lived in abject poverty, and crime was a constant worry. When Darkoh was 19, a friend his age died at a local hospital because doctors, worried the boy might have AIDS, refused to treat him." Read More

"Charity now begins at your home computer. A new on-line video game that shows players how helping starving people can be exciting has attracted more than one million downloads from China to Canada.

The free game, Food Force, puts players behind the wheel of a United Nations food truck navigating its way through minefields or at the back of an airplane unloading food sacks in gusty conditions. The stakes are high -- if you make mistakes, starving people will die." Link

The UN is important for Americans because we of all people should realize that we don't exist on the planet as an island. Most Americans trace ancestry to other lands and cultures giving us a rich history of international composition and heritage. - Mark Kroeker, Civilian Police Advisor, Department of Peacekeeping Operations

There are thousands of Americans who work for the UN - over 1,800 in New York City alone. "Americans at the UN" is a project dedicated to telling their stories and celebrating the extraordinary work they do quietly every single day in countries all over the world.

The Americans profiled come from very different backgrounds and work in extremely diverse settings. But whether they are from Los Angeles, St. Louis, or Boston, and whether they work from an office in New York City, a tent in a tiny village in Sri Lanka, or a battleground in the Congo, they are all committed to creating a better world.

LEARN MORE

TRANSCRIPT

Chris DeBello: The news and talk shows have made it a hobby of debating and criticizing the UN. If you watch those debates you come away thinking that all the UN does is international diplomacy, politics, and well, arguing. My guest is here to present the other side of the UN; there are countless within the UN as well as via organizations aligned w/ the UN that make a huge difference in our world. One of these organizations features a woman with, well some very local roots. To talk more about this and the UN Foundation is Franklin, NJ native, Aimee Wielechowski.

Amy: Good morning, how are you

CD: Very good to talk with you and tell the listeners exactly where you are that I am talking to you

Amy: I'm actually in Nairobi in Kenya right now, waiting to go north to Khartoum in Sudan where I'll be working for the next four to six weeks or so.

CD: And just to make it totally official I want to give your full title. You are the response Officer, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Internal Displacement Division. Home base is Geneva, that must be a very large business card you need for a title like that.

Amy: Indeed, yes I work through OCHA, we're called, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs which is part of the UN secretariat, yes, and part of a relatively new division called the Internal Displacement Division which really tries to look at how we can solve the problems faced by the millions of people who are displaced from their homes by war or natural disaster but who haven't crossed the border so they're not refugees so there's no body of law to assist them except their own national bodies of law, so we're working with national governments and other humanitarian agencies to try and find ways to help millions of people who are displaced by conflict and natural disasters.

CD: So I would imagine in many of the countries you've worked in places like Uganda, Sudan, Palestinian Territories, that since these are people who have been displaced but that yet they can't go to a better situation in a way you're a hostage negotiator in some sense because that's… in a certain level, what these people are, they're held hostage by their surroundings.

Amy: Well that's an interesting way of putting I hadn't thought of it that way but in a way you're somewhat right. In many cases the people who are displaced through their homes are displaced by their own governments, the same government that's supposed to be protecting them. Now what do we do in that situation. Of course the UN tries to work with governments at a political level to solve these problems through diplomacy because at the end of the day we humanitarians we can not solve the political problems we can only try to help people cope and survive while the political process is continuing. We can also offer them a bit of protection simply by being present. Um, you wouldn't, I mean, you wouldn't imagine the number of people that, that, we can offer protection to just by being present in camps or in locations where these people are displaced because we can act as a deterrent to forces attacking them but most importantly also we're offering them food, shelter, water and sanitation, simply so that they can survive until a political solution is found.

CD: I guess the obvious question I need to ask is how does a woman from Franklin, NJ wind up traveling into what are some very dangerous parts of the world. What was a catalyst in your life that made you decide that this is something that either I want to do or maybe you felt that this is something I need to do.

Amy: Uh, that's a good question. I think maybe you can blame my parents and my upbringing which was very much rooted in helping other people, you know, making sure that you look after the people who don't have as much as we do and trying to give what we can back to society. I think that's very much the roots of it but how I got into the UN is how many people get into the UN, a bit by accident. I used to work for an NGO in the former Yugoslavia and we used to spend lots of time, bashing the UN, I think it was a bit of a recreational sport for us and then when I was in graduate school my advisor strongly suggested that I do an internship w/ the UN refugee agency just to kind of see things from the other perspective. And I did and I think it was one of the most eye opening experiences that I had to see the difficulties and the challenges that the UN faces in trying to get assistance to people, to protect people and to try and do all this at the same time while very complicated political processes are going on often by the same member states who are, the member states that are part of the UN and are supposed to be upholding all those principles of the UN, so that really turns my head around about what the UN can do and then I sought to go to work for them after graduate school starting out as a basically, unpaid, or very low paid intern in the republic of Georgia and kind of the rest goes from there I've been with the UN now for eight years.

CD: Talking w/ Franklin, NJ native Aimee Wielechowski now a member of the UN Foundation. They're on the web by the way: www.unfounation.org. You're listening to Issues and Ideas. Now I want to give you a chance to explain more about the UN Foundation because the UN is part of the title but in a way you're not within the body of the UN, to put it in maybe corporate business terms you are a subsidiary of the UN.

Amy: Well, to tell you the truth I don't know much about the UN Foundation. I've worked w/ the UN only outside of the US actually and I've participated recently in efforts by the UNF to raise awareness in the US about what the UN does and how it tries to work in different countries.

CD: Ok, well to bring along the lines, getting back to what I alluded to in the intro. How important, because we usually hear here in the states, the UN talked about in a derogatory, albeit general, but still a derogatory way but from your experience and from what you see, how important is the UN first for the world and how important is it for us here in the US to care about the humanitarian work of the UN?

Amy: Ok, yeah, I think you're right the UN gets a lot of, is criticized often and some of that is warranted and I think it's always useful to be critical about institutions like the UN as we're critical about our own government and other things in our own country but I think you know we need to consider a lot of the failures or what are considered to be the failures of the UN are failures rather, of diplomacy. The UN doesn't have its own army; we don't have our own factories to produce goods for people who are in desperate need of help. We depend entirely on member states to solve the critical problems of the world and to provide assistance to people who need it. And the UN as it were acts as a bit of a facilitator of all different nations in the world coming together to sort out their problems. And I think what's interesting you know, the US was critical to establishing first a League of Nations and then a UN after that and it was really our idealism, our ideas, our view of the world that can work together and solve problems that are the founding principles of the UN and back in the days after WWI when the League of Nations was created, a lot of European countries were very skeptical, they thought we in the US were very naïve and idealistic to think that you could have an organization that brought countries together to solve problems and I think through our perseverance and diplomacy we convinced the rest of the world that this was a good idea and I think it's important to recognize the critical role the US played in setting up this organization and also that we also, all of us, all member states, have accountability for whether or not the UN is successful or not, if the UN says, if the Security Council decides to send a peacekeeping mission that's great, but as I said the UN doesn't have an army, it can't deploy an army of people to the south Sudan or other countries to keep the peace, we depend on member states like the US, like European countries, like African countries, to provide troops for that so that has to go hand in hand; and why is it important for people in the US to care about what we are doing in humanitarian work? Well I think it goes back to the age old principle of you do unto others how you would like them to do unto you, I've seen people living in horribly desperate conditions, unspeakable poverty, in situations where their lives are constantly at risk, where women are raped just for going to collect water and food and wood for their families and none of us would want to be in that situation, all of us want to make sure our children in safety and security and dignity and I think that's what the UN can try to do, is to help people to achieve those lofty goals, We don't always succeed but I think we can have to continue to strive to do that because no one country can do it alone. We have to work together to solve these problems.

CD: We're w/ Franklin, NJ native Aimee Wielechowski who is now traveling the world as a response officer for OCHA in the Internal Displacement Division as part of the body that is the UN; you're listening to issues and ideas. Reading up on the work that you do and the various humanitarian efforts of the UN and maybe do a little search through history and your various organizations are challenged because you don't really have a, I guess you would say, a stellar advocate, you used to have one, this is I'm sure old-school for you and for the listener but there was a comedian back in the 1950's and 1960's and into the 70's, his name was Danny K, who used to travel the world, Danny K traveled the world as an ambassador for UNICEF and someone like that tremendously raised the awareness of the world UNICEF did so it got to be a challenge to really exist either by choice or depending on some of the countries that you have to go into, by necessity you have to stay under the radar screen because I would assume there are people in Nairobi, the Sudan that would prefer you do not go into that country, right?

Amy: Absolutely. That's certainly a challenge that we face, and it's interesting because some places don't necessarily want the UN because they see it linked it very closely to US policy and in some places we're not closely enough linked to US policy so it seems that sometimes we, lose lose situation, but getting back to this issue… advocates for the UN and the US, there are a lot of ambassadors for the UN in the US, maybe one of the most famous ones is Angelina Jolie, famous for her Tomb Raider roles and she goes out to countries all over the world. In fact she's been in Sudan I think, and tries to raise awareness about concerns that face refugees all over the world and there's many other celebrities like her that do the same thing.

CD: I wanted to just wrap things up by giving you the chance to talk to the person listening that, take them through a couple of ideas of what it would mean if more people did maybe as much as you do or at least try to raise their personal awareness of the humanitarian work that the various organizations within the UN do if just the awareness is raised not necessarily personal activity, how much of a difference would that make in the overall future of the humanitarian of the UN?

Amy: Ok, well I think in my work, what I do is, we try to make the UN work better in high office. The UN is criticized often for not very transparent, not very accountable for the money. My office tries to help the UN to better by coming up with better plans, being much more clear to the public about how we're using their money and it's very important that we can explain to people who give money how we use it. And that's what I do, others do work where they're working directly w/ people who are living in camps where displaced people are and they help them to get water, clean water or food, but behind all this is a huge infrastructure that requires logistics, negotiations of governments, preparing of documents, recruiting of staff; we have in Sudan for instance, 1.5 billion dollar program for UN assistance to the Sudan and that takes both imaginative programs that help reach people because many of the people in Sudan live, they're out of reach, we physically can't reach them because there's no roads or when the rainy season comes we can't get to them so we have to come up with other ways of getting to these people but for people in the US who want to help more you don't need come to Sudan necessarily although we could definitely use people to come help here and other places, you can help by raising your own awareness about what the UN is actually doing, visit the websites of the UN, try to engage in the debates that are currently going on in the US because there is a lot of criticism about the UN and I think its important to educate yourself about both sides of the debate; and advocate for more support by the US to the UN. That means political support but also moral support and financial support although the US of course is extremely generous with its support for the UN.

CD: Before we go I just wanted to ask how long has it been since you've been back home to Franklin.

Amy: It's been about a year and a half I think but I hope to come back soon. I try to get back at least once a year.

CD: Well, look forward to having you come back home and we've been talking w/ Franklin, NJ native and also a member of the humanitarian side of the UN. She serves as response officer for OCHA in the IDP division Aimee Wielechowski. Amy, thank you so much for as they like to say in baseball terminology for stepping up to the plate and through your work, indeed knocking one out of the park and thank you for being here today.

Amy: Thank you.

"United Nations Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie today saw off a convoy of trucks carrying Afghans home from Pakistan, pushing the total number of those repatriating with help from the UN refugee agency past the 50,000 mark for the year.

The Academy Award-wining actress arrived yesterday in Pakistan for a four-day visit to focus world attention on the plight of Afghan refugees. The 500 refugees who left Attock in the 35-vehicle convoy were all skilled carpet weavers carrying their talents back to their original homes in the northern Afghan provinces of Balkh and Jozan." Read more...

UN News Service: "Taking time off from battling fictitious villains, action film superstar and United Nations ambassador Jackie Chan wrapped up a visit today to Viet Nam, joining in the real-life fight against AIDS and sending a powerful message that more must be done both for prevention and advocacy.

"I may be a movie hero, but the real heroes are the people I've met in Viet Nam, among them grandparents, mothers and wives, and many young people and children, who are showing real courage in dealing with living with HIV/AIDS and who just be supported much more," said the star of such films as Rush Hour and Rumble in the Bronx.

During his three-day visit, Mr. Chan, a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), travelled to Quang Ninh province, north-east of Hanoi, which has the highest HIV prevalence in the country. There he heard how stigma and discrimination continue to inflict pain and alienation and also hamper efforts to stop the spread of the disease."

"Luciano Pavarotti, one of the most celebrated opera singers, will promote United Nations causes during his Worldwide Farewell Tour of more than 40 concerts this year and next, taking the world body's humanitarian message to the four corners of the earth.

Since his appointment as a UN Messenger of Peace in 1998, Mr. Pavarotti has used his fame to raise funds for UN projects. His latest campaign will contribute greatly to raising awareness of UN issues such the Millennium Development Goals, which seek to curb a host of social and economic ills by 2015, HIV/AIDS, child rights, urban slums and poverty.

"I am very proud both to be associated with the United Nations and to have been appointed a Messenger of Peace for this valuable and vital organization and will do whatever I can to help its work," he commented during his visit to Johannesburg for his farewell concert to South Africa earlier this week." More...

Empower Women, Save Lives: Women & AIDS U.S. Tour
March 5, 2005

GUEST BLOGGERS
Laura Rogers: Director of Advocacy & Communications/Global Health, UNF
Jessica Bernstein: Communications Associate, UNF

"No one is a random person in the fight against AIDS," Michaelle Soliman told the junior and senior classes of Stratford High School in Nashville, Tenn. yesterday. "Everyone matters and everyone has power." Michaelle confided to the sometimes rowdy 160 high schoolers that she had lost both of her parents to AIDS when she was a child in Haiti. That's why at age 24 she works in the capitol of Haiti to educate young people about the disease and to try to keep them HIV negative. She is one of the four amazing women participating in the seven-day, five city public education tour sponsored by the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS. We stood off to the side, truly impressed that for the 20 minutes these young women were ready to share, every young person in the audience was ready to listen. Their stories made it clear that AIDS is not only an issue in Indonesia and Haiti, but also at Stratford High School in Nashville, TN. Kids asked questions about how to keep themselves safe, how it feels to live with a killer disease, and how AIDS changes lives.

Michaelle encouraged us all to think about how and why the HIV/AIDS virus is able to spread so rapidly. "AIDS attacks the best of us, and spreads throughout our bodies to destroy us, cell by cell," she said. "They say that sometimes to defeat an enemy, you have to use its own strategy against it. I am here to tell you that you can be a part of the fight against AIDS by spreading information to people about how to protect themselves, and encouraging them to do so. Tell your friends. Tell your families. Tell your neighbors. This way we can fight this virus by creating a network of informed people that gets larger and larger. You here in this room are the cells of this movement, and when we unite we are so powerful."

Laura & Jessica

For more information, visit the