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Dear CSUN Members and Friends,
This issue of UN News offers you a digest of key United Nations doings in the month of September.
As always, we invite you to our monthly forums which feature discussion topics about the work of the United Nations and our related member organizations. Meetings are on the second Thursday of the month at 6
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CONTENTS
-
A. HIGHLIGHTS BY TOPIC:
1a. CLIMATE CHANGE – Meat: Making Global Warming Worse
1b. CLIMATE CHANGE – New UN Laws Needed to Combat Ice Melting
2. MALARIA – Africa Needs Our Help to Defeat Malaria
3. NUCLEAR ARMS – A Bad Deal
4. TERRORISM – UN Hosts Forum for Victims of Terrorism
5. UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY’S NEW PRESIDENT – Father Miguel d’Escoto
6a. UN MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS – Historic UN Private Sector Forum Seeks to Scale up
Business Solutions for Food Sustainability
6b. UN MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS – Rich Countries Reneging on Aid Promises for Poor
7. WORLD BANK – Tells UN: Turmoil Could Push Poor States Over the Edge
B. HIGHLIGHTS BY COUNTRY:
1. AFGHANISTAN – Deaths Probe Seeks to End UN Dispute
2. BURMA – UN Mission a Complete Failure
3. CYPRUS/TURKEY – Leaders Meet with UN Backing to Broker Lasting Peace
4. UN Aid Groups Struggle After Deadly Storms
5. UN Agency at “Dead End” as Iran Rejects Queries on Nuclear Research
6. LEBANON – Rival Factions Hold Reconciliation Talks over Hizbollah
7. NORTH KOREA – UN Steps Up Food Aid
8a. RUSSIA – Russian Neighbors Urge UN to Stand Against Kremlin Aggression
8b. RUSSIA – Refuses to Discuss Imposing More UN Sanctions on IranI
9. SRI LANKA – UN to Pull Out of
Rebel-held Territory
10. SOMALIA – No Pause in Country’s Relentless Downward Spiral
11. SUDAN – Time Bomb Ticking in Darfur Camps
* * *
A. HIGHLIGHTS BY TOPIC
1a. CLIMATE CHANGE – Meat: Making Global Warming Worse
September 10, 2008 – Time
“The head of the UN's Nobel Prize–winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, [Rajendra Pachauri], urged…people around the world to cut back on meat in order to combat climate change. By the numbers, Pachauri is absolutely right….In a 2006 report, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) concluded that worldwide livestock farming generates 18% of the planet's greenhouse gas emissions — by comparison, all the world's cars, trains, planes and boats account for a combined 13% of greenhouse gas emissions.” More> http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1839995,00.html?imw=Y
1b. CLIMATE CHANGE – New UN Laws Needed to Combat Ice Melting
September 8, 2008 – Environmental News Network
“A new set of United Nations laws may be needed to regulate new arctic industries such as shipping and oil exploration as climate change melts the ice around the North Pole, legal experts said on Sunday. They said existing laws governing everything from fish stocks to bio-prospecting by pharmaceutical companies were inadequate for the polar regions, especially the arctic, where the area of summer sea ice is now close to a 2007 record low.” More>
http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/38126
2. MALARIA – Africa Needs Our Help to Defeat Malaria
September 24, 2008 – Globe and Mail
“While there is reason for optimism, renewed vigour is required in the fight against a disease that kills nearly one million people a year, many of them under the age of 5….A simple bed net significantly reduces the likelihood of the disease being spread….A little more than half the required 250 million nets have been pledged. This past April, on World Malaria Day, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for governments, corporations, foundations and citizens to close that gap and ensure that bed nets are available to all who need them by the end of 2010.” More> http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080924.wcomalaria25/BNStory/specialComment/home
3. NUCLEAR ARMS – A Bad Deal
September 9, 2008 – New York Times
“The administration bullied and wheedled international approval of the president’s ill-conceived nuclear deal with India. The decision by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (which sets rules for nuclear trade) means that for the first time in more than 30 years — since New Delhi used its civilian nuclear program to produce a bomb — the world can sell nuclear fuel and technology to India.
“Mr. Bush and his aides argued that India is an important democracy and dismissed warnings that breaking the rules would make it even harder to pressure Iran and others to abandon their nuclear ambitions.” More> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/opinion/09tue2.html?ref=opinion
4. TERRORISM – UN Hosts Forum for Victims of Terrorism
September 10, 2008 – Los Angeles Times
“The daylong forum was the cathartic starting point of a UN push to coordinate a global effort that would assist those wounded, disabled, emotionally scarred, impoverished or bereft of loved ones in the wake of terrorist acts. Although such hot spots as Pakistan, Afghanistan and Somalia were not represented, UN officials flew 18 specially invited victims representing every continent to stress the universality of suffering from bombings, hostage taking and other violent acts….Several ideas emerged, including an international bill of rights for terrorism victims and a global fund for assisting them, drawing on assets seized from terrorist groups. More> http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-victims10-2008sep10,0,6285867.story
5. UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY’S NEW PRESIDENT – Father Miguel d’Escoto
September 16, 2008 – Los Angeles Times
"[Nicaragua’s] Father Miguel d'Escoto…was promoted [on September 16, 2008 to] the presidency of the United Nations General Assembly… After taking power in a 1979 uprising, the Sandinistas made D'Escoto foreign minister, a job he held until they lost the 1990 elections. ….he brings an energetic anti-poverty agenda, led by a proposal for a greater UN voice in the policy conditions now set by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund for development aid to poor countries.” More>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-father16-2008sep16,0,1263714.story
6a. UN MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS – Historic UN Private Sector Forum Seeks to Scale up Business Solutions Food Sustainability and Progress
September 24, 2008 – Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire
Chief executives representing leading corporations from all continents are meeting with government leaders and senior United Nations officials in New York today for the first UN Private Sector Forum on Food Sustainability and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Forum has been organized by the UN Global Compact and a broad coalition of UN agencies, funds and programmes in response to the global food crisis, which threatens to reverse critical gains made in reducing poverty and hunger worldwide.” More> http://www.csrwire.com/News/13250.html
6b. UN MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS – Rich Countries Reneging on Aid Promises for Poor
September 4, 2008 – Reuters
“The world's wealthiest countries are reneging on promises to boost development aid, threatening UN targets for drastically reducing poverty by 2015, according to a new UN report released on Thursday.
The report on progress on the so-called Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) said there has been improvement in providing debt relief to the world's poorest countries but not when it came to fulfilling trade and development commitments.” More>
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N04296025.htm
7. WORLD BANK – Tells UN: Turmoil Could Push Poor States Over the Edge
September 24, 2008 – Reuters
“World Bank President Robert Zoellick warned on Wednesday of the economic damage that developing countries, already reeling from high food and fuel prices, could suffer from the global financial crisis.
Addressing a business forum on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Zoellick said many developing countries were already facing balance of payments pressure as rising prices push import bills higher.” More> http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N24484523.htm
B. HIGHLIGHTS BY COUNTRY
1. AFGHANISTAN – Deaths Probe Seeks to End UN Dispute
September 8, 2008 – Financial Times
“The United Nations in Afghanistan hopes that a new investigation by the US military into allegations that 90 civilians were killed in a military operation last month will help end weeks of bitter argument between the organisation and western powers in the country. The most senior US commander in Afghanistan announced the inquiry after media groups were shown video evidence of the grisly aftermath of an attack by US and Afghan troops on a village in Azizabad on August 21 in the western province of Herat.” More> http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bf891790-7dc1-11dd-bdbd-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1
2. BURMA – UN Mission a Complete Failure
September 9, 2008 – Mail and Guardian
“While uncertainty surrounds Suu Kyi's plight, there is nothing at all ambiguous about Burma's political, social and human rights situation one year after the junta brutally suppressed the Buddhist-monk-led ‘saffron revolution’. By almost any measure, it is distinctly worse. Last May's Cyclone Nargis disaster played its part. But most of the deterioration is man-made.
“Despite last year's international condemnation and impassioned calls for action, the junta continues to hold more than 2,000 political prisoners, including leaders of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) such as U Win Tin, in jail since 1989. UN attempts to foster political reform have got nowhere….
"’The UN mission has been a complete failure,’ said Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK. Since …May 2006, the number of political prisoners had doubled, ethnic cleansing in eastern Burma had intensified, and humanitarian aid for Cyclone Nargis victims was blocked, he said.” More>
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-09-09-locked-in-burma
3. CYPRUS/TURKEY – Leaders Meet with UN Backing to Broker Lasting Peace
September 3, 2008 – The Guardian
“The leaders of the divided island of Cyprus began a new round of peace talks today that are seen as the most promising chance of reuniting the country after 34 years of division. The president of the Republic of Cyprus, Dimitris Christofias, met the Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat inside the UN-patrolled buffer zone that separates the two communities….
“The last attempt at reunification collapsed in 2004 when Turkish Cypriots backed a UN settlement plan that was rejected by Greek Cypriots. As a result, Cyprus joined the EU that year as a divided island, with Turkish Cypriots denied membership benefits. An agreement would increase Turkey's hopes of joining the EU.” More> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/03/cyprus.greece
4. HAITI – UN Aid Groups Struggle After Deadly Storms
September 8, 2008 – Reuters
“The deputy director for the World Food Program in Haiti, Romain Sirois, said on Monday efforts to feed several hundred thousand people made homeless by the tropical cyclones could still fall tragically short.
‘We need some 25,000 tons of supplies, including 16,000 tons of rice, to help feed the affected population over the next six months. But we only have 3,500 tons in stock,’ Sirois told Reuters. ‘We have launched an interagency appeal to find more supplies because so many people need our help.’
“The misery that has rained down on Haiti comes at a difficult time for President Rene Preval, who has been trying to establish a stable democracy in Haiti. The country has known little but political upheaval and dictatorship since a slave revolt ended French rule more than 200 years ago. It was only last Friday that Haitian lawmakers finally approved the installation of a new government to replace one dismissed in April over violent food protests in the poorest country in the Americas.” More> http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N08483383.htm
5. IRAN - UN Agency at “Dead End” as Iran Rejects Queries on Nuclear Research
September 16, 2008 – Washington Post
“The UN nuclear watchdog [International Atomic Energy Agency] said yesterday that it has reached an impasse with Iran over the country's refusal to account for past military research that US officials think was part of a secret bomb-building program. The apparent standoff was detailed in a report that also described substantial gains by Tehran in its efforts to make enriched uranium, the fuel used in commercial nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons.….In Washington, five former secretaries of state called yesterday on the winner of November's election to break with current US policy and engage directly with Iran on stopping its nuclear development. Colin L. Powell, Madeleine K. Albright, Warren Christopher, James A. Baker III and Henry Kissinger agreed on the need for talks during a forum at George Washington University, taped for broadcast later on CNN. More> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/15/AR2008091503036.html
6. LEBANON – Rival Factions Hold Reconciliation Talks over Hizbollah
September 16, 2008 – The Guardian
“Lebanon's rival political factions today began reconciliation talks that will include the issue of disarming Hizbullah, the powerful Shia group, which is required under a UN resolution….The Hizbullah-led minority coalition and the western-backed parliamentary majority remain at loggerheads over the fate of Hizbullah's arsenal. Hizbullah, which is backed by Iran and Syria, has resisted calls to disarm under a UN resolution that ended a month-long war with Israel in 2006. The group says its weapons are necessary to protect and defend Lebanon against Israeli attacks.” More> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/16/lebanon.israelandthepalestinians
7. NORTH KOREA – UN Steps Up Food Aid September 2, 2008 – Financial Times
“The United Nations World Food Programme is to expand its emergency operation in North Korea into its largest globally to avert a looming famine, following cuts in aid by China and South Korea….The drop in aid, higher global food prices and last year’s devastating floods have pushed North Korea closer to famine than at any time since the late 1990s, according to Tony Banbury, regional director of the WFP.” More> http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e8317a9a-790a-11dd-9d0c-000077b07658.html
8a. RUSSIA – Russian Neighbors Urge UN to Stand Against Kremlin Aggression
September 24, 2008 – New York Times
“…Russia’s neighbors urged the United Nations to stand up to a newly aggressive Moscow…Leaders of the small, relatively new democracies that were once part of the Soviet bloc, who were clearly unnerved when Russia sent troops into Georgia last month, called on the United Nations not to sit on its hands just because Russia was a permanent member of the Security Council.” More> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/world/europe/25nations.html?_r=1&ref=world_&oref=slogin
8b. RUSSIA – Refuses to Discuss Imposing More UN Sanctions on Iran
September 24, 2008 – Bloomberg
“Russia is refusing to discuss further United Nations sanctions to block Iran's nuclear ambitions, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a sign of continuing acrimony with the US over last month's war in Georgia. …The US and its European allies, who accuse Iran of using its nuclear program as cover for developing a weapon, are pressing for a fourth round of UN sanctions. Iran has rejected UN demands to halt its work on enriching uranium, which can be used to fuel a power station or form the core of a bomb.” More> http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aoSLGEcwEwKI&refer=home
9. SRI LANKA – UN to Pull Out of Rebel-held Territory
September 9, 2008 – Globe and Mail
“The United Nations says it will begin withdrawing its staff from rebel-held territory this week following a government decision banning foreign aid workers from the area. The UN says in a statement Tuesday that it had not set a timetable for the full withdrawal but would begin relocations this week.” More> http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscribe?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FRTGAM.20080909.wsrilanka0909%2FBNStory%2FInternational%2Fhome&ord=2154970&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true
10. SOMALIA – No Pause in Country’s Relentless Downward Spiral
September 4, 2008 – The Economist
“It has been a long, dreadful summer for Somalia. The UN says that 3.2m Somalis (out of about 8m) now need aid just to stay alive: a 77% rise on last year. A sixth of Somali infants are at risk of starving to death. Due to what aid organisations call ‘intolerable insecurity’, almost all international charity workers have left. Offshore, Somali pirates are as bold as ever….
“Foreign governments still wrangle over Africa’s worst humanitarian and political crisis. UN people working for a deal between Islamist insurgents and the weak Somali government want 8,000 peacekeeping troops to replace the few thousand beleaguered African Union and Ethiopian soldiers. But more senior people in the UN’s peacekeeping office, already failing to get enough troops into Darfur, rule that out.” More> http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12059342
11. SUDAN – Time Bomb Ticking in Darfur Camps
September 25, 2008 – Los Angeles Times
“KALMA CAMP, SUDAN -- This overcrowded Darfur displacement camp is preparing for battle. Now the Aug. 25 attack, the most deadly clash in a camp since the early days of the conflict, is raising fear that the front lines of the rebellion are shifting from mountaintop rebel strongholds and remote desert villages to the displacement camps to which victims have fled to stay out of harm's way.
“’We've got a ticking time bomb in the camps,’ said Sudan analyst Eric Reeves, a professor at Smith College. ‘The anger is overwhelming. The camps are awash with weapons. And if the fighting moves there, the civilian casualties could be higher than anything we have seen.’" More> http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-darfur25-2008sep25,0,1652339.story
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UN News – Issue 26 – September 2008
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