In this week's UN Plaza, Matthew Lee and I cover a host of issues, including francophones at the UN, Northern Uganda, and circumstances surrounding the assassination attempt on East Timor president Jose Ramos Horta. In the segment below, we discuss Ban's recently released report on Somalia.
In this week's UN Plaza, Matthew Lee and I cover a host of issues, including francophones at the UN, Northern Uganda, and circumstances surrounding the assassination attempt on East Timor president Jose Ramos Horta. In the segment below, we discuss Ban's recently released report on Somalia.
HBO is poised to shine a light on the terrible human tragedy of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. On Tuesday, April 8 the station will air The Greatest Silence, a ground breaking documentary that exposes the scale and brutality of rape in the Congo (view the trailer). The Enough Campaign and HBO are teaming up to coordinate house screenings around the United States. (Click here to find or organize a screening near you.) The following evening you can join filmmaker, Lisa Jackson; ENOUGH Co-Chair, John Prendergast; and the Director of Public Policy at the Family Violence Prevention Fund, Kiersten Stewart in a conference call to discuss the film and discover practical ways that you can end violence against women in the DRC.
In the meantime, you can brief yourself on the situation by reading this chilling Enough Campaign report on sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo:
According to the International Rescue Committee's latest study of mortality in Congo, death rates there remain unchanged since the end of the regional war that tore through Africa's Great Lakes region from 1998 to 2004. By the end of this and every month, 45,000 more Congolese--half of them children--will die from hunger, preventable disease, and other consequences of violence and displacement. Congolese women and girls in particular bear the vicious brunt of this crisis. Indeed, eastern Congo right now is perhaps the worst place in the world to be a woman or a girl. The sexual violence and rape exists on a scale seen nowhere else in the world as it is part and parcel of the conflict. It mutilates and humiliates. Its nature is brutal and vicious; it defies both description and imagination. Often successful in its intent to destroy and exterminate, rape as a weapon of war is causing the near total destruction of women, their families, and their communities.Read the full report (pdf).
HBO is poised to shine a light on the terrible human tragedy of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. On Tuesday, April 8 the station will air The Greatest Silence, a ground breaking documentary that exposes the scale and brutality of rape in the Congo (view the trailer). The Enough Campaign and HBO are teaming up to coordinate house screenings around the United States. (Click here to find or organize a screening near you.) The following evening you can join filmmaker, Lisa Jackson; ENOUGH Co-Chair, John Prendergast; and the Director of Public Policy at the Family Violence Prevention Fund, Kiersten Stewart in a conference call to discuss the film and discover practical ways that you can end violence against women in the DRC.
In the meantime, you can brief yourself on the situation by reading this chilling Enough Campaign report on sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo:
According to the International Rescue Committee's latest study of mortality in Congo, death rates there remain unchanged since the end of the regional war that tore through Africa's Great Lakes region from 1998 to 2004. By the end of this and every month, 45,000 more Congolese--half of them children--will die from hunger, preventable disease, and other consequences of violence and displacement. Congolese women and girls in particular bear the vicious brunt of this crisis. Indeed, eastern Congo right now is perhaps the worst place in the world to be a woman or a girl. The sexual violence and rape exists on a scale seen nowhere else in the world as it is part and parcel of the conflict. It mutilates and humiliates. Its nature is brutal and vicious; it defies both description and imagination. Often successful in its intent to destroy and exterminate, rape as a weapon of war is causing the near total destruction of women, their families, and their communities.Read the full report (pdf).
Enjoy an Egg McMuffin with your Morning Coffee today in honor of its inventor, Herb Peterson, who died today at age 89.
Starting 5
>>Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's hotly contested presidential election will be held tomorrow. Opposition leaders have repeatedly stated that 84-year-old President Mugabe, who has held power for 28 years, is again undermining the election. They claim to have already discovered 90,000 suspicious names on voting rolls. Yesterday he handed out 450 cars to doctors at government-run hospitals. Security forces are on high alert amid warnings by the opposition that they will carry out Kenya-style protests if they feel the election is rigged. The Times reports on the millions of Zimbabwean refugees living in South Africa, some of which may decide to return pending the results of tomorrow's election.
>>Tibet - Yesterday monks in Lhasa interrupted a carefully orchestrated press trip by the Chinese government at the Jokhang Temple. The group of 30 to 40 monks wept and shouted at Chinese authorities and spent 15 minutes with reporters rebutting what they said were Chinese lies about the recent unrest. The Chinese government announced that the monks won't be punished.
>>Colombia - Colombia is offering to suspend the sentences of jailed FARC guerillas if FARC, in turn, frees Ingrid Betancourt, along with other hostages. Betancourt, a former senator and presidential candidate who has spent six years in captivity, is feared to be ill, suffering from Hepatitis B and Lesmaniasis.
>>Korea - North Korea test-fired a battery of short-range missiles today in further defiance of the new South Korean president's reprimand on human rights and non-proliferation. The show of force follows the expulsion of 11 South Korean officials from a jointly run factory complex in Kaesong.
>>Iraq - Iraq's government has extended their deadline for Shia militias to lay down their arms by 10 days as the assault by government forces in Basra has begun to stall.
Yesterday in UN Dispatch
Enjoy an Egg McMuffin with your Morning Coffee today in honor of its inventor, Herb Peterson, who died today at age 89.
Starting 5
>>Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's hotly contested presidential election will be held tomorrow. Opposition leaders have repeatedly stated that 84-year-old President Mugabe, who has held power for 28 years, is again undermining the election. They claim to have already discovered 90,000 suspicious names on voting rolls. Yesterday he handed out 450 cars to doctors at government-run hospitals. Security forces are on high alert amid warnings by the opposition that they will carry out Kenya-style protests if they feel the election is rigged. The Times reports on the millions of Zimbabwean refugees living in South Africa, some of which may decide to return pending the results of tomorrow's election.
>>Tibet - Yesterday monks in Lhasa interrupted a carefully orchestrated press trip by the Chinese government at the Jokhang Temple. The group of 30 to 40 monks wept and shouted at Chinese authorities and spent 15 minutes with reporters rebutting what they said were Chinese lies about the recent unrest. The Chinese government announced that the monks won't be punished.
>>Colombia - Colombia is offering to suspend the sentences of jailed FARC guerillas if FARC, in turn, frees Ingrid Betancourt, along with other hostages. Betancourt, a former senator and presidential candidate who has spent six years in captivity, is feared to be ill, suffering from Hepatitis B and Lesmaniasis.
>>Korea - North Korea test-fired a battery of short-range missiles today in further defiance of the new South Korean president's reprimand on human rights and non-proliferation. The show of force follows the expulsion of 11 South Korean officials from a jointly run factory complex in Kaesong.
>>Iraq - Iraq's government has extended their deadline for Shia militias to lay down their arms by 10 days as the assault by government forces in Basra has begun to stall.
Yesterday in UN Dispatch
I've made the case before that the crisis in Somalia seems to hover perpetually on the edge of falling into the oblivion of international apathy. Today the UN World Food Program, which is working to feed over two million people in conditions of continually deteriorating chaos and insecurity, made an impassioned plea not to forget the dire humanitarian needs in the East African country.
"The international community must put Somalia at the top of its agenda and press for change before it is too late," said Peter Goossens, WFP's Country Director for Somalia. "We call on all authorities in Somalia to help us reach those in need and urge donors not to give up on this country."Specifically, WFP is calling for $10 million before July, at which point it will have seriously run out of most basic food staples. For the number of lives at stake, this seems a small price to pay.
I've made the case before that the crisis in Somalia seems to hover perpetually on the edge of falling into the oblivion of international apathy. Today the UN World Food Program, which is working to feed over two million people in conditions of continually deteriorating chaos and insecurity, made an impassioned plea not to forget the dire humanitarian needs in the East African country.
"The international community must put Somalia at the top of its agenda and press for change before it is too late," said Peter Goossens, WFP's Country Director for Somalia. "We call on all authorities in Somalia to help us reach those in need and urge donors not to give up on this country."Specifically, WFP is calling for $10 million before July, at which point it will have seriously run out of most basic food staples. For the number of lives at stake, this seems a small price to pay.
There are two "Macedonias" in the world. One is the former Yugoslav Republic, the other is a province in Greece that buttresses the former Yugoslav Republic. Macedonia-the-country is officially referred to at the UN as the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)," which aside from being a mouthful is somewhat backward looking. Understandably, Macedonia wants to change this. But Greece is concerned that calling Macedonia, "Macedonia," would sow confusion and imply claims on its northern province.
Yesterday, a UN mediator came up with a compromise: "The Republic of Macedonia (Skopje)." Greece, though, is dissatisfied. Why does this matter? Because next week, NATO is meeting in Bucharest to consider admitting Macedonia and Athens is threatening a veto. Yikes.
(Bronze statue of Alexander on Bucephalus Museo Nazionale di Villa Guilia, Rome, Italy)