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17 January, 2004
 

Table Of Contents

 
Secretary-General Urges Media Leaders To Use Influence To Spread Information In AIDS Fight 1
Asserting that the public still faces a profound lack of awareness about HIV/AIDS, Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 15 January urged media executives from around the world to use their influence to spread information that people need to protect themselves from the deadly disease.

"If there is one thing that we have learned in the two decades of this epidemic, it is that in the world of AIDS, silence is death. As broadcasters, you can bring the disease out of the shadows and get people talking about it in an open and informed way," the Secretary-General said at the launch in New York of the Global Media AIDS Initiative, an alliance between the UN system and the media born of a partnership between the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

"You can create an enabling environment, where individuals are free to explore ways of keeping themselves safe and changing their behaviour as necessary," he told participants.

Noting that recent surveys from more than 40 countries show that more than half of all adolescents and young adults have serious misconceptions about HIV/AIDS and about how the virus is transmitted, Mr. Annan said, "We must and we can change this situation."

He said broadcasters could designate the fight against HIV/AIDS as a corporate priority. They could dedicate airtime to public service messages and provide prominent news coverage to the epidemic. They could also air special educational or awareness-raising programming.

"More widely, you can join together to form partnerships that draw on shared reach and resources, as some of you have already done," he said. "You can reach out to other organizations, such as Government departments, NGOs [non-governmental organizations] and civil society groups. You can offer resources and access to airtime, while your partners can provide expertise."

The Secretary-General said the UN family and the media could build an alliance with an ambitious agenda, one that would inform, educate and entertain people "as a means to giving them the knowledge and incentive they need to protect themselves against HIV/AIDS."

"I believe this is a unique opportunity none of us would want to miss _ and its greatest impact will be where it is most needed, among young people," he said. "If we can get young people to take the lead in the movement for change, the pandemic can be turned around."

 
Sec-Gen: To Tackle Poverty, Empower Women And Educate Girls 2

The greatest weapon in the war against poverty is the empowerment of women and the education of girls, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on 15 January, calling for international support for efforts to achieve these goals.

"When it comes to solving the problems of this world, I believe in girl power," Mr. Annan said in his keynote address to the International Women's Health Coalition Annual Gala in New York.

He said "study after study" has proved that helping women and girls will serve to raise economic productivity, lower infant and maternal mortality and improve health. "When women are fully involved, the benefits can be seen immediately: families are healthier; they are better fed; their income, savings and investment go up," he said. "And what is true of families is true of communities and, eventually, whole countries."

Despite this fact, women and girls suffer disproportionately from the world's ills, Mr. Annan said, citing the example of HIV/AIDS. "It is a shocking fact _ and one of which I, as an African man, feel ashamed _ that a girl in sub-Saharan Africa is six times more likely to be infected than a boy," he said.

Women also indirectly bear the brunt of the pandemic, since girls, who are more likely to care for sick family members, often miss school as a result. Without an education, they tend to engage in early sexual relations and become exposed to HIV. "Thus they pay, many times over, the deadly price of not getting an education."

Offering an example of "the kind of leadership we need," the Secretary-General related an anecdote about a young girl he had met in Ethiopia who was living with HIV but had made it her mission to tell others about prevention. The Secretary-General's wife, Nane, who was along at the time, "told her that young people would probably listen to her more than me," he said. "She immediately agreed."

"It is among young people like these that the heroes and heroines of our age are to be found," he told the gathering. "It is our job to furnish them with hope." 

 
Recent Progress In Afghanistan Raises Stakes For Success, Outgoing UN Envoy Says 3

The successful conclusion of Afghanistan's recent constitutional Loya Jirga promises great hope, but the country faces many onerous challenges if it is to capitalize on that accomplishment, the outgoing senior United Nations envoy to Afghanistan told the Security Council on 15 January.

Lakhdar Brahimi, giving his final briefing as the Secretary-General's Special Representative to Afghanistan, said improving security around the country, strengthening the rule of law, broadening the Government's popular base and increasing the pace of reconstruction are crucial goals if the gains are not to be wasted.

He said there were too many indications over the last year that there was not enough progress in achieving these goals. The security situation remains poor, especially in the south, east and southeast of the country, while many Pashtuns feel the government does not give them a fair degree of representation, according to the envoy.

Outside the Council, when questioned by reporters, Mr. Brahimi said he was doubtful that Afghanistan could meet the timetable outlined at the UN-brokered Bonn conference in late 2001 of holding national presidential and legislative elections by June this year.

"I think I have said that June for the presidential and legislative elections is not realistic any more. How this is going to be now revised _ are you going to have presidential elections alone, and then later legislative elections, or postpone both for a longer period of time? _ is up to the people who are going to be involved in Afghanistan," he said.

Mr. Brahimi said he expected logistical problems would delay the elections by a couple of months, but he was confident they would be held before the end of this year.

During his briefing to the Council, Mr. Brahimi said the achievements of the past two years in Afghanistan _ such as the constitutional Loya Jirga, the formation of a national army and police, and the avoidance of large-scale conflict or humanitarian crisis _ "mean there is now even more to lose and more to protect."

 

S-G Appoints Lakhdar Brahimi To Post Of Special Adviser 4

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 15 January announced the appointment of the outgoing senior UN envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, as his Special Adviser with the rank of Under-Secretary-General. 

A spokesman for Mr. Annan said Mr. Brahimi, 70, had accepted the post after a meeting on 13 January, but the scope of his specific responsibilities has not yet been determined. 

Mr. Brahimi is likely to advise the Secretary-General on "a wide range of issues, including situations in the areas of conflict prevention and conflict resolution," the spokesman said.

 

Sec-Gen Hails Libyan Decision On Treaties Banning Nuclear Testing, Chemical Weapons 5

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 12 January welcomed Libya's decision to take action on international treaties banning nuclear testing and chemical weapons, saying the move would boost worldwide efforts to halt the proliferation of these arms. 

A statement issued by a spokesman for the Secretary-General said Mr. Annan considered Libya's decision to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and to accede to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) "positive steps that can help strengthen global efforts to prevent the spread and use of weapons of mass destruction in both these deadly categories."

Through his spokesman, the Secretary-General also urged all countries to accede to all disarmament treaties, and to implement them in full.

 

Nepalese General Named To Head UN Force In Golan Heights 6

Major-General Bala Nanda Sharma of Nepal is the new Force Commander of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Golan Heights, Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced on 14 January.

General Sharma, 54, takes over from Major-General Franciszek Gagor of Poland on 16 January as head of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). Since 1974, the mission has maintained the ceasefire between Israel and Syria and monitored the disengagement of their forces while maintaining an 80-kilometre area of separation. 

General Sharma joined the Royal Nepalese Army in 1969 and served, among other posts, as an assistant military officer with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in 1980. He is currently commanding an infantry division in western Nepal.

 

S-G Calls For Action To Combat Rising Islamophobia And Anti-Semitism 7

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 13 January issued a strong call for action to address rising Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, warning that complacency in the face of intolerance amounts to complicity.

Delivering the inaugural Robert Burns Memorial Lecture at UN Headquarters in New York, Mr. Annan criticized those who remain silent in the face of bigotry, saying "such passivity must not be allowed to masquerade as tolerance."

The Secretary-General noted that Islamophobia _ a new word for an old phenomenon _ is one of the most disturbing manifestations of bigotry today. Since the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, "many Muslims, particularly in the West, have found themselves the objects of suspicion, harassment and discrimination," he said, adding that too many people see Islam "as a monolith, and as intrinsically opposed to the West."

Contrasting this view, he pointed out that Western and Islamic peoples have a long history of commerce, of inter-mingling and inter-marrying, and of influencing and enriching each other's art, literature, science and much else.

"Despite a discourse of centuries, caricature remains widespread, and the gulf of ignorance is dangerously deep," he warned. "It would be unconscionable to add any further to the resentment and sense of injustice felt by members of one of the world's great religions, cultures and civilizations."

Mr. Annan also pointed to anti-Semitism as "another dangerous hatred" that blights the world. He called attention to the scars left by the history of persecution against the Jews, adding that a recent upsurge of attacks shows this hatred to be "virulent still." 

Addressing the broader political context, he noted that in some cases, anti-Semitism could be a by-product of the escalation of the Israel-Palestine conflict. "Criticism of Israeli policies is one thing," he said, "but it is quite another when such critiques take the form of attacks _ physical or verbal _ on Jewish individuals and the symbols of their heritage and faith."

While pointing out that criticism of Israel must not be allowed to mask anti-Semitism, he added that Israel's supporters should not use the charge of anti-Semitism to stifle legitimate discussion.

The Secretary-General called for a "framework of shared values within which different peoples can coexist." Pledging full support for this endeavour, he said the battle for tolerance is of "paramount importance to the entire United Nations."

 

UNESCO Chief Deplores Recent Killing Of Journalists 8

The head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has condemned the killing of five journalists in recent weeks and deplored the fact that more reporters were killed in the line of duty in 2003 than in any year since 1995.

"As long as violence is used to muzzle the voice of reporters, the free flow of ideas, which UNESCO has been created to promote, will remain an unattainable ideal," Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said 8 January in Paris, deploring the impunity surrounding the vast majority of these killings.

Mr. Matsuura also voiced grave concern over the high number of journalists imprisoned in 2003 _ 766 were arrested and 124 were reported to be in jail in the latter part of the year.

The five murdered journalists he named were Ersa Siregar of the private Indonesian television channel Rajawali Citra Televisivi, who had been held captive for six months by separatist rebels in Aceh; Ivannia Mora Rodriguez in Costa Rica; William Soto Cheng in Colombia; Volodymyr Karachevtsev, deputy editor-in-chief of the weekly Ukrainian newspaper Kurier; and Marco Boukoukou Boussaga, Editor-in-Chief of L'Autre journal in Gabon.

"It is a source of grave concern that the number of journalists killed in the line of duty in 2003 was higher than in any year since 1995," Mr. Matsuura said. His comments on the toll were based on reports of professional organizations, which recorded as many as 42 deaths in 2003, compared to at most 25 in 2002. In 1995, a record 49 journalists were murdered, including 22 in the civil conflict in Algeria.

Up to 19 of the journalists killed in 2003 died in Iraq, 5 in the Philippines and 3 in Colombia.

Mr. Matsuura pointed out that "the vast majority of the killings remain un-investigated and unpunished" despite a 1997 pledge by UNESCO's Member States to bring the perpetrators of such crimes to justice.

 

S-G: Advances In Genetics Have Benefited Humanity But Also Pose Questions 9

While advances in the field of genetics have brought tremendous benefits to humanity, especially in curing serious illnesses and saving lives, this progress has also raised important ethical questions, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on 12 January.

His comments came in introductory remarks to a lecture at UN Headquarters in New York on "Designer Genes: The Ethics of Modern Genetics" by Professor Eric Wieschaus of Princeton University, who won the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine.

The Secretary-General said he had proposed the title of the speech "to suggest a future in which, thanks to the discoveries that he and his colleagues have made, it might become possible to select human genes à-la-carte, so to speak, and thus pre-determine human characteristics."

Mr. Annan also raised a series of disturbing questions which require attention. "Is this possible? Are we moving closer to a world dominated by eugenics, like that imagined by Aldous Huxley in his famous novel, Brave New World? And if so, would not the dangers outweigh the benefits? Where should we draw the line between what is feasible and what is desirable or ethical?" he asked.

"The greatest fear is that we may be trying to `play God,' with unforeseeable consequences, in the end precipitating our own destruction," he cautioned.

The lecture is the latest in a series sponsored by the Secretary-General with the aim of creating a strengthened international framework for dialogue and mutual understanding.

 

UN Launches Three-Month Drive To Feed 100,000 Iranian Quake Survivors 10

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on 9 January announced the launch of a three-month emergency operation to feed 100,000 victims of the earthquake that devastated the Iranian city of Bam two weeks ago. 

The $2.9 million package is part of the $31.3 UN million flash appeal launched on 8 January and will ensure that each beneficiary receives a daily ration of bread, rice, lentils, vegetable oil, sugar, nutritional biscuits and salt. WFP has already airlifted 35 metric tons of the biscuits, which provide each person with 450 calories, to Bam.

Some 200,000 people were affected by the earthquake, which struck one of Iran's poorest regions, already hit by severe drought in recent years.

 

Increased Number Of Donors Helping With Iran Quake Relief, UN Official Says 11

Iran has gathered an unprecedented number of donors responding to a Flash Appeal for funds to cover 90 days of humanitarian aid after last month's devastating earthquake, the United Nations relief coordinator said on12 January.

Though he did not yet know the precise total contributed so far, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Jan Egeland, told a news conference at UN headquarters that instead of the usual 30 donors, Iran had gathered pledges from 60 countries, with generous contributions coming from the Gulf Cooperation Council.

The Flash Appeal, launched by nine UN agencies and programmes, seeks $31.3 million, earmarked for such needs in the hard-hit Bam area as shelter, food, water and sanitation. Belgium convened a meeting of the donors on 12 January.

Iran had cooperated in an exemplary way with international rescue teams, Mr. Egeland said, permitting some 1,700 workers from 40 countries to land without visas and, sometimes, even without passports.

"The search and rescue and immediate emergency phase is now over," he said, adding that Iran was in the intermediate relief, recovery and immediate rehabilitation phase, which would be followed by long-term rehabilitation expected to cost between $700 million and $1 billion.

He said that in his 20 years of experience in humanitarian relief organizations, Iran had mounted one of the most efficient and effective disaster responses he had seen. 

 

UN-Hosted Meeting Pledges To Eradicate Polio With Massive Immunization In 2004 12

With a bold new plan for massive campaigns to immunize 250 million children against polio, the six remaining polio-endemic countries pledged at a United Nations-hosted meeting on 15 January to relegate to the history books within 12 months a disease that once paralyzed hundreds of thousands of children worldwide each year.

But implementing the plans outlined by the Ministers of Health of Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Niger, Nigeria and Pakistan requires continued generous support of public and private donors, and an additional $150 million is urgently needed to fill the remaining funding gap for activities during 2004 and 2005.

After an international investment of $3 billion over 15 years, and the successful engagement of over 200 countries and 20 million volunteers, polio could be the first disease of the 21st century to be eradicated, according to a joint news release issued at the end of the meeting co-hosted in Geneva by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

The ministers noted that success or failure of the world's largest public health initiative - spearheaded by national governments, WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International and the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - now rests with the governments of the six endemic countries.

Transmission is at its lowest level ever in India, Pakistan and Egypt, providing a rare opportunity to halt the spread of the virus, according to the release issued by WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International and the CDC. But Nigeria currently poses the greatest risk to global eradication, since immunization was halted in Kano state, the last major polio reservoir in Africa, because of unfounded rumours that the vaccine was unsafe.

Polio has thus crept back across Nigeria and spread into previously polio-free Cameroon and Chad, and through Niger into Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Togo, putting 15 million children at risk and necessitating a massive immunization campaign across west and central Africa.

"Nigeria is determined to break the chains of polio transmission for the sake of our children, our neighbours' children, and the children of the world," Nigerian Minister of Health Eyitayo Lambo said, outlining steps to "dramatically" improve polio campaigns in the first half of 2004.

In 2003, funding shortfalls required most polio-free countries to stop their immunization campaigns, leaving millions of children more vulnerable to infection from endemic States.

 

S-G Hails Establishment Of Secretariat For Central Asia Alliance 13

United Nations Secretary-General on 15 January hailed the establishment of a permanent secretariat for a regional alliance in Central Asia, where he said pressing international challenges require a cohesive response.

"The profound geopolitical changes that took place in Europe and Asia in the early 1990s provided a unique opportunity to strengthen security in Asia in all its dimensions _ political, military, economic and environmental," the Secretary-General said in a message delivered by a senior UN official in Beijing to the Inauguration Ceremony of the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), comprising China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

He said the SCO had become "an increasingly important regional security organization." Over the past decade, he noted, some of its members have achieved great economic success and prosperity, while others are working hard to realize their potential.

"For all of you, however, the menaces of terrorism, instability and conflict exist as potential threats to development, prosperity and the advancement of universal human values," he said. "Our work for conflict prevention must therefore aim not merely to postpone violence for a few weeks or months, but to build the foundations of sustainable peace."

Achieving that goal requires a comprehensive prevention strategy that encompasses a range of instruments, "from the political to the diplomatic, from the humanitarian to the developmental," Mr. Annan said, pledging the UN's support for the SCO in this endeavour.

 

Global Economy Set To Expand In 2004 Under Present Policies, UN Says 14

In an upbeat assessment of the global economy, the United Nations says growth in many countries improved in the latter half of last year and should strengthen further in 2004, though it warned that economic imbalances would also increase.

"After growth of less than 2 per cent for over two years, the world economy is gaining momentum," the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the UN regional economic commissions say in a joint report, World Economic Situation and Prospects 2004, released on 14 January.

Under-Secretary-General for Economic Affairs José Antonio Ocampo told the press at the report's launch at UN headquarters that, compared to the boom years of the 1990s, today's recovery still depends on low interest rates and expansionary fiscal measures. Policymakers should be careful, therefore, not to choke off the recovery through a premature withdrawal of measures designed to stimulate the economy.

The growth of the gross world product rose in the second half of 2003 to bring the annual figure up to 2.5 per cent, and "despite some lingering uncertainties and downside risks," global economic growth should rise to 3.5 per cent in 2004, according to the report.

The UN warns, however, that the "overriding weakness" of global imbalances, shown in the large United States external deficit and matching surpluses in a few other economies, reflect "not only a substantial disequilibrium in international trade and capital flows," but also disparities from country to country. The imbalances will not be corrected by the global recovery, exchange rate realignments, or protectionism and may well widen further in 2004, the report warns.

While global economic recovery is being driven by the US, the report notes China's "rapidly rising weight" in the world economy. The turnaround in Japan has been stronger than anticipated, while the rest of East Asia has remained strong, according to the report. By contrast, Western Europe has been a source of the weakness that began to dissipate only in late 2003.

The economic difficulties facing some Latin American countries have been lessened. While Africa's short-term prospects have improved, the continent is not projected to achieve the 7 per cent annual growth rate needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of targets designed to halve extreme poverty by 2015.

 

UNCTAD: Global Foreign Direct Investment Remained Flat In 2003 15

After dropping for two years, foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2003 remained flat at $653 billion, but should rebound in 2005, the United Nations' think tank on global financial flows and economic development said on 12 January.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said investment inflow figures for all countries were $651 billion in 2002 and $824 billion in 2001, down from $1.4 trillion in 2000.

"The continuing low value and number of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) _ the key driver of global FDI flows since the late 1980s _ contributed heavily to the downturn," the Geneva-based agency said in a summary of an upcoming report.

UNCTAD predicted, however, that FDI flows would rebound next year, boosted by the improving global economy, higher corporate profitability, recovering M&A transactions and growing investor confidence.

For the United States, the figures dropped from $144 billion in 2001 to $30 billion in 2002, but rose to $86.6 billion last year. Among other developed regions, the European Union declined from $389.4 billion in 2001, to $374.4 in 2002 and $341.8 in 2003.

Developing countries attracted 209.4 billion in 2001, $162.1 billion in 2002 and $155.7 billion in 2003. Most of this FDI went to the Asian and Pacific countries, where the figures were $106.9 for 2001, $95.1 billion in 2002 and $99 billion in 2003. China set a new record for itself, pulling in $57 billion in 2003, UNCTAD reported.

Further information on global FDI trends will be released in the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2004, to be issued by the UN later this week.

Government trade ministers come together every four years to set UNCTAD's priorities and guidelines for action. This year's session, known as UNCTAD XI, the 11th ministerial-level meeting, will be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from 13 to 18 June.

 

UN-Organized Forum Calls For Recommitment To Cairo Population Summit Goals 16

A United Nations-organized conference of European population and reproductive health experts wound up a three-day meeting on 14 January with a plea to mobilize the funds needed to achieve the goals of the 1994 Cairo population summit, which called for gender equality and the universal right to education and development.

The three-day European Population Forum 2004 in Geneva, co-organized by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), also examined the impact of changing demographic trends in the region.

"Our primary objective must be to protect and save lives and contribute to the conditions under which all people _ men, women and children _ thrive and lead secure and healthy lives," UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid told the closing session. 

"Stronger political commitment, backed by effective policies grounded in human rights and above all by adequate resources, is the key to realizing our common hopes for humanity."

More than 350 people took part in the Forum, part of a series of regional meetings marking the tenth anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo. The sessions identified lack of adequate resources for population and reproductive health programmes as the primary obstacle to achieving the Cairo objectives, which include gender equality and universal access to reproductive health care by 2015.

Participants emphasized the importance of Europe keeping its promises to mobilize resources for population and reproductive health as a key contribution to international development. Annual global assistance for these sectors, they noted, is nearly $3 billion short of the requirements agreed to in Cairo.

Regional issues discussed included persistent low fertility, ageing populations and declining workforces, migration, and high mortality and morbidity. Special attention was given to the social, economic and health challenges facing countries in transition in Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Other concerns identified included widespread human trafficking and gender-based violence.

The Forum also called for empowering young people to fully enjoy healthy sexual and reproductive lives as a key priority in a region with rising rates of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. It emphasized the need to integrate HIV prevention and treatment fully within reproductive health programmes.

 

Senior UNDP Official Killed In Uzbek Plane Crash 17

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on 14 January mourned the death of Richard Conroy, its top official in Uzbekistan, who was among the 37 people killed in the crash of a passenger airliner 13 January in the capital Tashkent.

UNDP confirmed that Richard Conroy, its Resident Representative and UN Resident Coordinator in Uzbekistan since 2001, was aboard the aircraft that crashed while approaching Tashkent airport.

UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown offered condolences to Mr. Conroy's wife, Anna, and praised him as "an example of integrity, competence and commitment to the UN's highest ideals."

A statement issued by a UN spokesman in New York said Secretary-General Kofi Annan was deeply saddened to learn of Mr. Conroy's death and described the UNDP staffer as a "dedicated and indefatigable international civil servant."

The statement recalled that Mr. Conroy arrived to take up his duties in Uzbekistan two weeks before the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. "It was his steadfast efforts that led to the opening of the Friendship Bridge to Afghanistan, allowing for crucial provisions to flow in from the Uzbek border town of Termez" _ the town he was returning from when the accident occurred, spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

"The Secretary-General remembers with gratitude the support and expertise provided by Mr. Conroy during the Secretary-General's visit to Uzbekistan in October 2002," Mr. Eckhard added. "He extends his profound condolences to Mr. Conroy's wife and family."

A citizen of Australia and the United Kingdom, Mr. Conroy, 56, joined UNDP in 1990 and served in China, Sri Lanka and India before assuming his post in Uzbekistan.

Mr. Conroy was Senior Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP in India from 1998-2001.