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6 March, 2004
 

Table Of Contents

 

Security Council Authorizes Multinational Interim Force For Haiti 1

Acting just hours after Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned as President of Haiti, the United Nations Security Council on 1 March unanimously authorized the immediate deployment of a Multinational Interim Force to the troubled nation.

The Council's action followed an appeal by Haiti's acting President, Boniface Alexandre, for urgent international support in restoring peace and security.

Adopting a resolution under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which allows for the use of military power, the Council mandated the operation to contribute to a secure and stable environment in the country, to facilitate the provision of relief aid to those in need, and to help the Haitian police and the Haitian Coast Guard maintain law and order and protect human rights.

The Council decided that the operation would be stationed in Haiti "for a period of not more than three months" while declaring its readiness to establish a follow-on UN stabilization force to support the continuation of a peaceful and constitutional political process and the maintenance of a secure and stable environment.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan was requested, in consultation with the Organization of American States (OAS), to make recommendations on the size, structure and mandate of the follow-on UN operation. He was also asked to elaborate a programme of action for the UN's political, humanitarian, human rights and development work in support of Haiti.

Member States were called on to urgently contribute personnel, equipment and other necessary financial and logistic resources to the Multinational Interim Force.

The Council demanded that all the parties to the conflict halt the violence, reiterating that "there will be individual accountability and no impunity for [human rights] violators." It further demanded respect for the constitutional succession and the political process under way to resolve the current crisis.

The resolution called on the international community, in particular the UN, the OAS, and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), to work with the people of Haiti in a long-term effort to promote the rebuilding of democratic institutions and to assist in forging a development and poverty alleviation strategy.

Speaking to reporters after the vote, Mr. Annan hailed the quick adoption of the resolution, declaring that "the international community has shown the will to help the Haitian people."

Responding to press questions, Mr. Annan also voiced hope that "the international community is not going to put a band-aid on, and that we are not only going to help stabilize the current situation, but assist the Haitians over the long haul and really help them pick up the pieces and build a stable country."

He called on the Haitian people to "remain calm, to work with the new President, and to think of their country and their future, not individual ambitions."

In addition, he warned "those who are likely to want to commit serious human rights violations that they will be held individually accountable."

 

Security Council Hears Proposal To Revitalize UN Counter-Terrorism Committee 2

Members of the United Nations anti-terrorism committee on 4 March agreed on the need to "revitalize" its work in order to adapt to the evolving nature of its mission and voiced support for a plan that aims to enhance the Security Council's ability to help countries implement a resolution _ adopted in the wake of the 11 September terrorist attacks against the United States _ to fight the worldwide scourge.

In an open briefing on the work of the Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC), the panel's Chairman, Ambassador Inocencio Arias of Spain, stressed that the proposal to rejuvenate its work had originated from a dual conviction: that terrorism was one of the major threats to international peace and security; and that the UN must play a central role in the fight against that threat with the Council, through the CTC, leading the effort.

Ambassador Arias noted that the CTC's present procedures and structures needed to be reconsidered, particularly since the Committee had evolved to assume a more proactive role in evaluating the implementation of the landmark anti-terror measure, resolution 1373. In addition, the CTC has stepped up its efforts to facilitate technical assistance to countries and to promote closer cooperation with international, regional and sub-regional organizations.

A report presented last month by Ambassador Arias recommended that structural and operational changes to the Committee include the consolidation of the group of experts and the support staff from the UN Secretariat to enhance the Council's ability to encourage implementation of the resolution and to monitor implementation on the part of Member States.

The new CTC structure would consist of a Plenary composed of the Security Council's Member States focusing on strategic and policy decisions. A Bureau would comprise the Chair and Vice-Chairs, as well as the consolidated expert and Secretariat staff, known as the Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) headed by an Executive Director.

The report also proposes that limits be established on the number of personnel allocated to the Committee and calls for a comprehensive Council review of the Committee by 31 December 2005. In addition, it includes a "sunset clause" set for 31 December 2007, so that in the absence of a renewal from the Security Council, the initiative would automatically terminate.

During the meeting, Council members, who also serve on the CTC, voiced support for the proposed changes, stressing that they would boost the UN's ability to forestall terrorist threats. Participants emphasized that the suggested reforms would not alter the CTC's mandate or undermine the UN secretariat, but rather would enhance the panel's operational capacity.

 

Sec-Gen: Regional Rapid Deployment Forces Crucial To UN Peacekeeping 3

With regional military forces being strengthened for rapid deployment, the United Nations can now deploy multinational peacekeeping troops as part of a series of steps reinforcing strategic partnerships, especially in Africa, Secretary-General Kofi Annan says.

The focus of cooperation with regional organizations "has been both on seeking direct support to the United Nations by deploying before, alongside, or after a United Nations operation, as well as on the long-term enhancement of the capacity for peacekeeping of regional and sub-regional organizations, particularly in Africa," he tells the General Assembly in a new report.

In Côte d'Ivoire, forces fielded by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) established the peace, reinforced by a greater number of French "Licorne" rapid reaction peacekeeping forces, until the Security Council authorized a UN operation. In Liberia, too, ECOWAS forces imposed the peace and were then "re-hatted" with the blue helmets of UN peacekeepers.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a European Union-led force deployed in Bunia reduced ethnic
fighting there, while the UN mission, MONUC, was restructured to address wider security needs.

Elsewhere, UN peacekeepers cooperate with forces from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Organisation for Security and Cooperation (OSCE), the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and the Australian-led International Force in East Timor (INTERFET), the report notes.

 

S-G Pledges UN Backing For African Union Summit Goals 4

As the members of the African Union gathered for an extraordinary summit in Sirte, Libya, on 27 February to consider critical issues of peace, stability and security, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan pledged the world body's full support for reaching the continent's goals.

In a message delivered to the attending heads of State by Assistant Secretary-General Tuliameni Kalomoh, Mr. Annan said the UN, being firmly committed to Africa's welfare, was honoured to be associated with the AU's work on these issues. 

The AU, which replaced the Organization of African Unity (OAU), has a structure loosely patterned on that of the European Union. The Assembly comprises leaders of the 53 member States, while the AU's Executive Council is composed of its foreign ministers.

Recalling that the AU was established "to help foster greater political, economic and social integration in Africa," Mr. Annan said it was fitting that the extraordinary session would consider how to develop common approaches to critical challenges facing the continent. A great deal has been accomplished, he said, but much remained to be done.

The Secretary-General also noted that the UN has been helping the AU to enhance its effectiveness and pledged to "continue to do so as the Union steps up its efforts to take firm charge of the enormous and complex challenges before it."

In addition to security affairs, the Assembly is also slated to consider issues concerning agriculture and water supplies.

 

UNAMA: More Than Half Eligible Afghan Voters Registered 5

More than half the Afghans eligible to enrol in the first phase of the voter registration drive for national elections have already done so, the United Nations announced on 4 March.

Of the potential maximum 2.5 million voters in the eight cities where registration has already begun, more than 1.27 million have signed on, a spokesman for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Manoel de Almeida e Silva, told the press in Kabul.

Overall, Afghanistan has an estimated 10 million potential voters for the elections, scheduled to take place this year, but centres have so far been opened only in Kabul, Kunduz, Kandahar, Gardez, Herat, Mazar, Bamiyan and Jalalabad. Phase II of the registration drive is set to begin in May.

Only 27 per cent of those registered to date are women. In a bid to bring out the female vote in a country where women's rights were severely restricted under the previous Taliban regime, some 600,000 extra posters and 300,000 leaflets are to be distributed beginning this week. Printed in both Dari and Pashto, the principal Afghan languages, they say: "Women cast your vote…your vote is important…register your names in order to vote and participate in the reconstruction of your country."

 

UN Meeting Says Asia-Pacific Needs Stronger Alliances To Meet Millennium Goals 6

Governments and civil society organizations need to cooperate better if the Asia-Pacific region is to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a senior United Nations official has told a two-day workshop in Kathmandu, Nepal.

"We have a long way to go and we will need years of hard and dedicated work at all levels," Kim Hak-su, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), said on 29 February.

The MDGs, adopted by a UN summit in New York in 2000, are a set of time-specific targets for tackling the world's ills. They include pledges to halve extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.

Mr. Kim said stronger alliances and partnerships between stakeholders are essential if the region is to make progress. 

"Unless that partnership is in place, our quest for equity and justice will remain illusive," he said.

The Kathmandu workshop, which concluded on 29 February, was organized by UNESCAP and the UN  Development Programme (UNDP). Participants also agreed on how a second phase for promoting the MDGs would work.

 

International Women's Day, 8 March 2004 7

Message of the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan

"As we mark this year's International Women's Day, we look at the devastating toll the global HIV/AIDS epidemic is taking on women, and the critical role of women in fighting AIDS.

At the beginning, many people thought of AIDS as a disease striking mainly at men. Even a decade ago, statistics indicated that women were less affected. But a terrifying pattern has since emerged. All over the world, women are increasingly bearing the brunt of the epidemic. Today, in sub-Saharan Africa, more than half of all adults living with HIV/AIDS are women. Infection rates in young African women are far higher than in young men. In the world as a whole, at least half of those newly infected are women, and among people younger than 24, girls and young women now make up nearly two thirds of those living with HIV. If these rates of infection continue, women will soon become the majority of the global total of people infected.

As AIDS strikes at the lifeline of society that women represent, a vicious cycle develops. Poor women are becoming even less economically secure as a result of AIDS, often deprived of rights to housing, property or inheritance or even adequate health services. In rural areas, AIDS has caused the collapse of coping systems that for centuries have helped women to feed their families during times of drought and famine — leading in turn to family break-ups, migration, and yet greater risk of HIV infection. As AIDS forces girls to drop out of school — whether they are forced to take care of a sick relative, run the household, or help support the family — they fall deeper into poverty. Their own children in turn are less likely to attend school — and more likely to become infected. Thus, society pays many times over the deadly price of the impact on women of AIDS.

Why, then, are women — usually not the ones with the most sexual partners outside marriage, or more likely than men to be injecting drug users — more vulnerable to infection? Usually, because society's inequalities puts them at risk. There are many factors, including poverty, abuse and violence, lack of information, coercion by older men, and men having several partners. That is why many mainstream prevention strategies are untenable, for example those based exclusively on the `ABC' approach — "abstain, be faithful, use a condom". Where sexual violence is widespread, abstinence or insisting on condom use is not a realistic option for women and girls. Nor does marriage always provide the answer. In many parts of the developing world, the majority of women will be married by age 20, and have higher rates of HIV than their unmarried, sexually active peers — often because their husbands have several partners.

What is needed is positive, concrete change that will give more power and confidence to women and girls, and transform relations between women and men at all levels of society.

Change that will strengthen legal protection of women's property and inheritance rights, and ensure they have full access to prevention options — including microbicides and female condoms.

Change that makes men assume their responsibility — whether ensuring their daughters get an education; abstaining from sexual behaviour that puts others at risk; forgoing relations with girls and very young women; or understanding that when it comes to violence against women, there are no grounds for tolerance and no tolerable excuses.

That is why, last month, UNAIDS launched a Global Coalition on Women and AIDS as an effort to ensure that the empowerment of women is at the centre of the response, and to build on the critical role that women already play in the fight against HIV/AIDS worldwide. In most countries and communities I have visited around the world, it is women who have been the most active and effective advocates and activists in the fight against AIDS. Everywhere that the epidemic is taking a severe toll, there are heroic women's groups and cooperatives doing remarkable work on prevention and care. Supporting these women, and encouraging others to follow their example, must be our strategy for the future. It is among them that the real heroes of this war are to be found. It is our job to furnish them with strength, resources and hope."

 

Women Hold Key To Eradicating Poverty, UN Officials Tell Commission 8

Women hold the key to eradicating poverty worldwide, but must be supported in their efforts to lead families, societies and nations towards prosperity, senior United Nations officials told an intergovernmental meeting in New York on 1 March.

Addressing the Commission on the Status of Women, José Antonio Ocampo, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, stressed the need to ensure gender equality in order to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by a UN summit in 2000 to tackle global ills.

"In order to reduce extreme poverty, enhance social integration and achieve gender equality, we must be able to reconcile economic growth, employment generation and social and gender equality policies," he said.

He noted that men must play an active role in this endeavour. "It is important to identify the positive efforts already made by men and boys in many contexts and to find ways to encourage and support other men to understand the value of gender equality and to become active in its promotion," he said.

Assistant Secretary General Angela E.V. King, the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, cautioned that despite growing awareness of the need for gender equality, in many countries women's rights are still under threat. She cited a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) indicating that "depending on the country and the environment, between 10 and 69 per cent women around the world reported being subjected to some form of violence in their lives."

WHO research has also demonstrated that every day, 1,600 women die due to complications related to pregnancy or childbirth, she said. Ninety-nine per cent of these deaths, most of them preventable, occur in developing countries.

"If we are to meet the related MDGs of reversing HIV/AIDS and reducing the rate of maternal mortality by three-quarters by 2015, concerted action is needed to fully finance women's health programmes, incorporate a gender perspective into health care and ensure quality of care in childbirth," she declared.

She called on the Commission to tackle these and other pressing issues. "Our vision is a world where girls and boys have equal opportunities for education, where mothers and children have equal access to better health care and medicines, where women and men share decision-making and household chores equally, equally enjoy fundamental human rights and strive equally to achieve peace, democracy, good governance, and sustainable development for their families and nations."

 

INCB Urges Governments To Do More To Reduce Demand For Drugs 9

In a bid to cut the nexus between drug abuse and violent crime, a United Nations expert panel on 3 March called on governments across the world to introduce more comprehensive policies to reduce public demand for illegal narcotics.

Releasing its annual report in Vienna, the International Narcotics Board (INCB) recommended that States support local efforts towards legal employment, foster an environment that makes drug dealing difficult, and introduce anti-drug educational programmes targeting socially marginalized groups.

Highlighting the impact of drug abuse on communities, the report stresses that even though most drug-related crime is non-violent, the effect is still "highly damaging" in local areas.

INCB President Philip O. Emafo said "drug abuse is often linked with anti-social behaviour such as delinquency, crime, and violence and has negative consequences for individuals, families, neighbourhoods and communities." 

The report reiterates the Board's concerns about the impact of harm reduction policies _ which generally aim to help abusers avoid danger _ in some countries, specifically citing the operation of drug injection rooms as a "source of grave concern."

Speaking to reporters, Vincent McLean, the New York representative of the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said the INCB believes a drug injection room in Vancouver, Canada, to be in contravention of the provisions of international narcotics control treaties.

Mr. McLean said drug trafficking groups often have violent confrontations as they compete for market share, and can turn some places into "no-go areas for the general public."

The annual report calls on national authorities to be on alert for the growing trade in illegal pharmaceuticals over the Internet and to police this problem more closely. 

In another section of the report, the INCB criticizes Turkmenistan's failure to cooperate with the international community in the battle against illicit drugs.

The Central Asian nation, which shares a long border with Afghanistan, has not reported any seizures of opiates or precursor chemicals since 2000, even though "significant quantities" were reported in previous years.

The INCB added that Turkmenistan is the only one of Afghanistan's neighbours that is not participating in an international monitoring operation focusing on a chemical used to make heroin, and has not been actively involved in other regional drug control schemes.

The INCB is an independent body established by the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs to monitor governments' compliance with the international drug control treaties. Its 13 members are elected by the UN Economic and Social Council to serve five-year terms.

 

UNODC: HIV/AIDS Festers In Climate Of Prison, Addiction And Forced Prostitution  10

Drug addiction, human trafficking and prison together form a "trilogy" of conditions contributing to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on 3 March.

Antonio Maria Costa, the Executive Director of the Vienna-based agency, said that once HIV "enters the drug user community, it spreads rapidly, reaching _ in some cases _ an infection rate of more than 80 per cent in less than six months."

Mr. Costa said the same disturbing trend could be seen among the inmates of overcrowded prisons _ who tend to share drugs, needles and sex _ and the victims of human trafficking.

Pointing out that an estimated 1 million people worldwide are illegally smuggled, he said, "These men, women and children are coerced into sex work, paedophilia and child exploitation" and as such are more vulnerable to infection.

The UNODC also estimates there are about 12.6 million injecting drug users around the world, and in some countries 80 per cent of the drug users are HIV-positive.

Injecting drug users form the majority of HIV/AIDS sufferers in several countries, including Indonesia, Myanmar, the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Viet Nam.

Mr. Costa made his remarks ahead of a 4 March meeting in Livingstone, Zambia, of nine agencies which are part of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). At that event, UNODC presented evidence of the impact of drug addiction and human trafficking on HIV/AIDS.

 

UN Legal Counsel Calls For More Focus On State Of Environment 11

United Nations Legal Counsel Hans Corell appealed on 4 March for more attention to be paid to the condition of the world's environment as he reflected on related conventions that have been ratified and have entered into force during his 10 years of UN service.

"There is a tendency, of course, because of the way some behave, that we are focusing on armed conflicts and the use of arms and issues related to that. What I am actually more concerned about now, since part of my responsibility is the environment, is the status of the globe on which we live," the Under-Secretary-General told a pre-retirement news conference at UN Headquarters in New York.  

"I have the responsibility of providing the Secretary-General's report on the Law of the Sea. The seas, the oceans, 70 per cent of the globe, are deteriorating. We have deteriorating situations in other parts _ desertification and so forth."

The world should focus on protecting the environment and on how to live in dignity on the globe in the future, he said.

One of the impressive achievements in recent times has been the entry into force of the Law of the Sea, which is also known as "The Constitution of the Seas," Mr. Corell said.

An advocate of the international rule of law, he said it was difficult to assess how many conflicts have been prevented by the very existence of the treaty. States now know how to settle their differences under the convention and if they cannot settle by themselves they can take the case to an international court in The Hague or in Hamburg, Germany.

The international rule of law on trade has also improved, he said. The Legal Counsel's office in Vienna was being upgraded to a full division and would serve not only the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), but would offer States technical advice on implementing international trade conventions and laws.

 

UN Report Identifies Reforms To Help Private Sector Flourish In Developing World 12

From small measures such as cheaper fees for registering businesses to large steps such as liberalizing financial and capital markets, there are many potential ways to unlock the private sector in poorer countries, the authors of a landmark United Nations report said on 1 March.

Canada's Prime Minister, Paul Martin, and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, co-chairmen of the Commission on the Private Sector and Development, presented their report _ Unleashing Entrepreneurship: Making Business Work for the Poor _ to Secretary-General Kofi Annan at UN Headquarters.

Mr. Annan welcomed the report, saying the UN has so far "only sporadically tapped the power that can be drawn from engaging the private sector" in developing countries.

At a press conference, he said he was "heartened that the launch of the report will be followed by a plan of action and a set of initiatives, to be developed further as catalysts for actions on the Commission's main recommendations."

Mr. Martin said one of the keys to reform was to create partnerships between governments, businesses, civil society organizations and others to stimulate private enterprise.

He said entrepreneurship was on display in the world's poorest countries, even at the village level, as people found ways to eke out a living despite the difficult circumstances. He said this "huge potential" could be harnessed domestically if the economy and regulatory environment is stable.

"No one solution for economic growth, no one model fits all countries, fits all situations…Nevertheless what most developing countries do have in common is an entrepreneurial spirit that is strong and is local," he said.

Mr. Zedillo said "go to any shantytown or village in a developing country and you will find small entrepreneurs working hard to provide for their families."

He added that such examples are normally constrained to largely operate "in very small markets…and consequently they are unable to harvest the rewards of productivity and competitiveness that stem from economic specialization in the wider marketplace."

The report, requested by Mr. Annan last year, also calls for governments to do more to enable private companies to flourish, including by providing better-targeted subsidies and tax incentives and legal systems for protecting property rights that are internationally regarded as credible.

  

ILO: Transition Labour Markets More Flexible, But Joblessness Has Risen 13

Workers in Central and East Europe are more mobile than they used to be but unemployment is a growing problem in the region, the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) says in a new report.

"Central and East European labour markets have increased their flexibility, but the forms of flexibility are different from those to be found in the OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] countries," says Alena Nesporova, co-author of the study, with Sandrine Cazes.

In developed countries, job turnover increases during economic boom times because higher demand for labour encourages people to leave their jobs for better ones, while during recessions labour turnover declines due to low demand, according to the report, Labour markets in transition: Balancing flexibility and security in Central and Eastern Europe.

In the transition countries, however, people do not trust the economic health of many of the companies offering new jobs. They know that if they become unemployed their loss of income would be dramatic and the support provided by labour market and social welfare institutions is poor. For these reasons, they prefer to stay in their current jobs even during an economic upswing.

Between 1994 and 2002 unemployment increased to 19.9 per cent from 14 per cent in Poland and to 7.3 per from 4.1 per cent in the Czech Republic. In 2000 unemployment rose to 13.4 per cent in the Russian Federation, compared to 8.1 per cent in 1994, according to the report.

Only two transition countries saw a drop in unemployment between 1994 and 2002: to 5.8 per cent from 10.7 per cent in Hungary and to 6.4 per cent from 9 per cent in Slovenia, the agency says.

The report recommends that countries review their labour legislation with a view to protecting workers, especially those in the informal sector. The authors also recommend that transition countries spend more money on labour market policies and strengthen social dialogue between governments, workers and employers.

 

S-G Names Two Women To Senior-Level UN Jobs 14

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 4 March announced the appointment of two women to posts at the level of Assistant Secretary-General: Elisabeth Lindenmayer of France and Angela Kane of Germany.

Ms. Lindenmayer has been appointed Deputy Chef de Cabinet in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, while Ms. Kane has been named Assistant Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management.

Ms. Lindenmayer, who has worked for the UN since 1977, has been serving as Executive Assistant to the Secretary-General since 1997. She has also served in several senior positions within the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), and before that worked in the Office of Programme Planning, Budget and Finance as well as in the Office of Human Resources Management.

Ms. Kane has been based in Asmara since January 2003, serving as Mr. Annan's Deputy Special Representative for the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE). Before that she was Director of the Americas and Europe Division in the Department of Political Affairs (DPA). She has also held various positions in the Department of Public Information, among other assignments.

 

UNEP Unveils Measures To Boost Safety In Trade Of Genetically Modified Organisms 15

Efforts to promote the safety of international trade in genetically modified organisms received a new boost this week with the adoption of labelling and documentation requirements, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) announced on 27 February.

Under the new system adopted by the 87 member States of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety at a weeklong meeting in Malaysia attended by more than 1,000 delegates and observers, all bulk shipments of living or genetically modified organisms (known as LMOs, or GMOs) intended for food, feed or processing (such as soybeans and maize) are to be identified as "may contain LMOs."

The accompanying documentation should also indicate the contact details of the importer, exporter or other appropriate authority. 

Although the new system is binding on countries that are party to the Protocol, many key agricultural producers, such as the United States, have not endorsed that pact.

"Now that a system for identifying and labelling GMO exports has become operational, countries can enjoy the benefits of biotechnology with greater confidence while avoiding the potential risks," the Protocol's Executive Secretary, Hamdallah Zedan, said.

"This rigorous system for handling, transporting, packaging and identifying GMOs is in the best interests of everyone - developed and developing countries, consumers and industry, and all those who care deeply about our natural environment," he added.

The Cartagena Protocol, which entered into force last September, is designed to ensure the safe transfer, handling and use of GMOs that may adversely affect the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking also into account risks to human health. It forms part of the Convention on Biological Diversity negotiated under the auspices of the UNEP and signed by over 150 Governments at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.

Over the next year an expert group will further elaborate the documentation and handling requirements for bulk agricultural shipments. Key issues still to be resolved include the percentage of modified material that these shipments may contain and still be considered GMO-free and the inclusion of any additional detailed information. A decision on these matters will be considered at the next meeting of the treaty's Parties, to be held in 2005.

 

Committee On UN Treaty To Protect Migrant Workers Begins First Meeting 16

The United Nations-sponsored convention to protect the world's migrant workers and their families will open its first committee meeting on 1 March in Geneva, beginning its work by electing members, setting up rules of procedure and developing an agenda for the years ahead.

The five-day meeting is also likely to discuss the ways in which the convention will cooperate with the UN, its various agencies and other international organizations as it tries to help the millions of migrant workers around the world. 

The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families came into force on 1 July last year and has now been ratified by 25 countries. It aims to establish a set of binding standards for the treatment and human rights of migrant workers and work to end their exploitation.

The UN estimates that 150 million migrants _ including migrant workers, refugees, asylum-seekers and permanent immigrants _ live and work in a country other than that of their birth or citizenship 

The Convention's Committee _ which will elect a chairperson, vice-chairperson and rapporteur _ was set up to monitor States parties' compliance with their obligations under the treaty.

The nations that have ratified or acceded to the treaty so far are: Azerbaijan, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, Philippines, Senegal, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Timor Leste, Uganda and Uruguay.

 

New Regional Director For WHO South-East Asia Region 17

Dr Samlee Plianbangchang is the new Regional Director for WHO's South East Asia Regional Office (SEARO). He takes over the reins of office from Dr Uton Muchtar Rafei who laid down office after two terms. Dr Samlee pledged, "to continue building a more solid foundation for health, so that the right to health will be a basic right for all and not a privilege for some." He said our concern would be to address health risks by governments taking additional responsibility to ensure risk reduction and by empowering people through knowledge.Dr Samlee was appointed as Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia by the Executive Board of the WHO during its 113rd session in January this year. Earlier, the 11 Member States of the Region had nominated him to this post, in September 2003. Each term of office of the Regional Director is for five years.

Dr Samlee Plianbangchang has served with WHO's South-East Asia Region for over 16 years. He began working in WHO from 1984 as consultant in primary health care, and then moved up to become the Director of the Integrated Control of Diseases Programme. In 1996 Dr Samlee took over as the Deputy Regional Director, a post he held till his retirement in 2000. He now comes to WHO from the post of Dean at the Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.

Dr Samlee graduated with MD degree from Chulalongkorn Hospital Medical School, University of Medical Sciences, Bangkok, Thailand. He did his Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and Doctorate of Public Health from Tulane University, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Louisiana, USA. with emphasis on International Health Administration and National Health Planning.

His interest and expertise lie in international health planning and administration, including programme and project development, coordination and management; epidemiology and human ecology and public health education and practice.