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Fostering Peace and Prosperity

November 3, 2006 by UN Insider

Yesterday the Carter Center announced that the run-off Presidential election held on October 29, 2006, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was “extremely orderly and peaceful” and “very well executed.” This is a remarkable piece of good news for the inhabitants of this war torn country and those of the entire region, which has been destabilized for more than a decade due to almost non-stop cross-border clashes. And it is an example of one of the myriad ways in which the United Nations is fostering peace and prosperity around the world.The run-off on Monday was the third successful election held this year in the Congo, which had not, prior to July, had a free election in over 46 years and has been embroiled for over a decade in a conflict that may have killed up to 4 million people. While there have been a number of factors that have made these elections possible, there can be no question that the United Nations played a central role. The Congolese have received massive amounts of support from the UN’s peacekeeping mission in the DRC (MONUC) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

MONUC and UNDP have helped register 26 million Congolese to vote at 9,000 registration sites. Voter registration kits were distributed to every village by light aircraft, by truck, by canoe, and by hand to overcome infrastructural difficulties in this massive country. Despite being the size of Western Europe, the Congo has only 300 miles of paved roads. And, it has one of the absolute lowest per capita GDPs in the world.

The UNDP Electoral Assistance Program undertook a widespread civic education program, which included plays, musical performances, classes, and films, to educate the 23rd largest electorate in the world, which is predominately illiterate and had never participated in an election. UNDP also delivered over 30 million ballots and other technical equipment to over 50,000 polling stations.

There is no doubt that the road to lasting peace in this complex nation is long and uncertain. But the Carter Center’s stamp of approval certainly bodes well for the possibility of forward movement and makes a strong argument for the power of the UN as a stabilizing factor in some of the world’s most hostile and complicated situations.

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Panama

by Mark Leon Goldberg

After over forty rounds of voting, neither Guatemala nor Venezuela will join the Security Council. Rather, Latin American member states have nominated Panama as a compromise candidate.

Far from causing a meltdown in the General Assembly, this long drawn out series of votes shows that the system is healthy; the main deliberative organ of the United Nations can survive a heated contest between some of the most influential member states, and emerge stronger from it. As Delegates Lounge predicted two weeks ago, the process worked.

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Annan Condemns Recent Attacks in Darfur Killing Civilians

by Peter Daou

“Condemning the recent militia attacks in Sudan’s strife-torn West Darfur region that killed scores of civilians, reportedly including young children, and forced thousands more to flee, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on all sides to respect humanitarian law and appealed to the Government to prevent such violence.

“The Secretary-General condemns the large-scale militia attacks in the Jebel Moon area… on 29 and 30 October. The attacks on eight civilian settlements, including a camp harbouring some 3,500 internally displaced persons, caused scores of civilian deaths and forced thousands to flee the area,” Mr. Annan said in a statement attributable to his spokesman.” More

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UN Lays Out Path to Ivory Coast Vote

November 2, 2006 by Peter Daou

“The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Wednesday to shift power from Ivory Coast’s president to its prime minister to guide the volatile West African nation to long-delayed elections within a year.” More

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Venezuela and Guatemala End Fight for UN Security Council Seat

by Peter Daou

NYT: “Venezuela and Guatemala agreed Wednesday to withdraw from their race for a seat on the United Nations Security Council and to support Panama as a candidate.”

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Nothing But Nets

November 1, 2006 by Mark Leon Goldberg

nbn_malaria_page.jpg

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.

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