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1 May, 2004
 

Table Of Contents

UN Adviser Hopes To Have Iraqi Interim Government Named By End Of May 1

United Nations Special Adviser Lakhdar Brahimi told the Security Council on 27 April that he intends to quickly resume talks with Iraqis to reach agreement by the end of May on the composition of a caretaker government to succeed the United States-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), formally bringing an end to the occupation on 30 June.

This interim government will lead the country until "the most important milestone" _ elections scheduled for January 2005, Mr. Brahimi said in an open briefing to the Council of his mission earlier this month to Iraq, where he spent 11 days consulting with a broad spectrum of Iraqi society on ideas for the post-transition period.

"Though it will certainly not be easy, we do believe that it shall be possible to identify, by the end of May, a group of people respected and acceptable to Iraqis across the country, to form this caretaker government," he said.

Mr. Brahimi expressed concern about the "extremely worrying" security situation throughout the country, such as the current standoff in Fallujah, "the Mahdi Army's uprising in the South, and a general increase in violence up and down the country."

"The CPA is well aware that, unless this stand-off _ and now this fighting _ [in Fallujah] is brought to a resolution through peaceful means, there is great risk of a very bloody confrontation. They know as well as, indeed, better than everyone else, that the consequences of such bloodshed could be dramatic and long-lasting," he said.

A key question is whether a credible political process is even viable under such circumstances, Mr. Brahimi said. "I put it to you and the Council, Mr. President, that there is in fact no alternative but to find a way of making the process viable and credible," he said.

As for the details of the plan for a caretaker government, Mr. Brahimi said ideally the Iraqi people should select this government. He also stressed that this government, by definition, must be short-lived, and should try to refrain from entering into long-term commitments "that can and should await decision by an elected government."

In addition, Iraqis were near unanimous that a Prime Minister should lead this government, and that a President should serve as Head of State, with two Vice-Presidents, Mr. Brahimi said. The members of the caretaker government must be careful not to use their positions to try and give advantage to any political party or group, and to prevent even the perception that they might do so, it would be best if they _ including the interim President, Vice Presidents and Prime Minister _ "were to choose not to stand for elections," he added.

Mr. Brahimi noted that many Iraqis also suggested the UN convene a National Conference, consisting of at least 1,000 people, to engage in a genuine national dialogue on the country's challenges. This National Conference "may ultimately constitute an important step towards many things, not least national reconciliation," he said.

In the meantime, Mr. Brahimi said, he intended to resume consultations in Iraq as soon as possible. "We earnestly hope that the next phase of consultations will help consolidate consensus around the ideas that I have just outlined," he said. "Once broad support for the framework is evident, we will then proceed to helping facilitate an Iraqi consensus on the actual composition of the caretaker government, as well as of the preparatory committee for the National Conference.

"As I have indicated, I hope that all of this can be completed before the end of May 2004," he added.

"The job is doable, as long as we set principled but realistic targets, moving towards them with deliberate steps, and if we are not alone as we take them. We will need, in particular, the Security Council to be united behind us and with us," he said.

 

Security Council Backs Brahimi's Ideas On Formation Of Iraqi Interim Government 2

The Security Council on 27 April gave its backing to ideas outlined by United Nations Special Adviser Lakhdar Brahimi for the formation of an interim
Iraqi Government to take over from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) at the end of June.

In a statement read out in an open meeting by German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger, the Council President for April, the 15-member body said it considered the efforts of Mr. Brahimi and his team, as well as those of the UN electoral assistance team, "to be of particular importance and urgency."

Welcoming Mr. Brahimi's briefing, the Council said it "strongly supports the efforts and dedication of the Special Adviser and welcomes the provisional ideas he has submitted as a basis for the formation of an interim Iraqi Government to which sovereignty will be transferred on 30 June 2004."

The Council's statement also encouraged Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Mr. Brahimi "to continue diligently with the efforts that they are employing and welcomes the Special Adviser's intention to return to Iraq shortly and looks forward to a further briefing upon his return."

The Council also called on all Iraqi parties to cooperate fully with Mr. Brahimi and urged Iraq's neighbours and the international community at-large "to lend all support possible to these efforts."

 

S-G Urges US Caution In Fallujah, Warns Military Action Would Heighten Resistance 3

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 28 April appealed to all the parties in Iraq to refrain from violence, urging the United States to do all it can to seek a peaceful end to the confrontation in Fallujah and warning that violent military action would only make matters worse.

"It is definitely time now for those who prefer restraint and dialogue to make their voices heard," the Secretary-General told a press conference at UN Headquarters in New York.

"There is nothing cowardly or fainthearted about this approach. Those who venture into violent situations in the course of peace run just as high a risk as the soldiers do, as we in the United Nations learned all too painfully last year," he said, alluding to the bombing last August of the UN office in Iraq, which killed 22 people, including his Special Representative Sergio Vieira de Mello.

"It takes courage and dogged determination to work for peace in a violent world."

Asked about the continuing insecurity in Iraq, Mr. Annan said: "The reason why I asked for caution is that the more these attacks _ the more the occupation is seen as taking steps that harm civilians and the population, the greater the ranks of the resistance grows."

The Secretary-General acknowledged receiving an appeal from Fallujah that the UN should intervene in the standoff there. "I have spoken to US authorities about this and the need for caution, the need to do all that is possible to avoid a violent confrontation, which, as I said, would play into the hands of the resistance and also have a broader reaction in the region," he said.

Referring to a briefing of the Security Council by his Special Adviser Lakhdar Brahimi, the Secretary-General said it was "a very sober assessment" of the chances of success in the political process in Iraq, given the deteriorating security situation.

"But I want to add my voice to his in appealing to all parties in Iraq to refrain from violence, to respect international humanitarian law, and to give this process of political transition a chance," he said.

"We all want to see the end of the occupation. We all want to see Iraq at peace _ with itself and with its neighbours and with a genuinely representative government," he said. "Somehow, we have to get from here to there, and I think the kind of caretaker government he's proposed is the way forward."

 

Oil-for-Food: Sec-Gen Says Some Charges `Outrageous', Probe Will Clarify Issues 4

While reiterating his determination to "get to the bottom" of allegations surrounding the United Nations Oil-for-Food programme in Iraq, Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 28 April stressed that some of the issues have been blown out of proportion and the UN has been unfairly blamed for things that had been beyond its control.

"Some of the comments that I have read have been constructive and thoughtful. Others have been rather outrageous and exaggerated," the Secretary-General said, responding to questions from reporters during a news conference at UN Headquarters in New York. "If you read the reports, it looks as if the Saddam regime had nothing to do with it _ they did nothing wrong; it was all the UN."

Referring to the frequently cited issue of oil smuggling, for instance, Mr. Annan emphasized that the UN actually had no mandate to do it. "There was a maritime task force that was supposed to do that," he said. "They were driving the trucks through northern Iraq to Turkey. The US and the British had planes in the air. We were not there. Why is all this being dumped on the UN?"

On the general process for the approval of contracts, he noted that the Security Council's "661 Committee" was responsible for approving contracts or putting them on hold. "Of course the Member States are not coming out saying, `We had a role,' or, `We had an oversight responsibility,' so all is dumped on the Secretariat."

 

Acting UN Human Rights Chief Calls For Accountability For Human Rights In Iraq 5

While lauding the work of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the acting UN chief for human rights said since the body had puzzlingly excluded Iraq from its decisions on rights in armed conflicts, he would initiate the compilation of such a report.

"You have adopted decisions on several country situations where there has been conflict in the recent past. A notable exception is the situation in Iraq," Acting High Commissioner Bertrand Ramcharan told the 53-member body in a wide-ranging speech about its sixtieth session, which ended on 23 April. 

Among the Commission's final decisions before it ended its six-week session were to appoint Special Rapporteurs on the situations in Belarus and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), and one to examine the trafficking in persons, especially women and children.

"It is a perplexing and troubling omission. There must be accountability in warfare. At this point in time there is no international monitoring of the human rights situation in Iraq, whether it be in respect of terrorism or in respect of the use of force and the treatment of civilians," he said.

Conflicts are prevalent in the world and the commission had effectively elaborated a policy on ensuring respect for human rights and humanitarian assistance during armed conflicts, he said.

He said he would compile an Iraqi report, "using the competence of the High Commissioner, whose functions I have been carrying out for the past year."

Mr. Ramcharan said he had also initiated fact-finding exercises on the Darfur region in western Sudan, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.

 

Sec-Gen: Cyprus Misses `Historic Chance' As It Rejects UN Reunification Plan 6

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on April 24 Cyprus missed an historic chance to resolve the decades-long problem after voters rejected a reunification plan, leaving the island nation divided as it prepares to join the European Union next week.

"A unique and historic chance to resolve the Cyprus problem has been missed," Mr. Annan's Special Adviser, Alvaro de Soto, said in Nicosia after Greek Cypriots voted against the plan that would have created a United Cyprus Republic, composed of a Greek Cypriot constituent state and a Turkish Cypriot constituent state linked by federal government.

"The Secretary-General respects the outcome of the two referenda. He knows that for many Cypriots the decision [of] how to vote was a difficult one," Mr. de Soto said, pointing out that Cyprus will remain divided and militarized as it joins the EU on 1 May, while the benefits of a settlement will not be realized.

The Secretary-General, who Mr. de Soto said will give "careful thought" to the implications of the result, applauded the Turkish Cypriots for approving the plan despite the significant sacrifices that it entailed for many of them.

"He regrets that the Turkish Cypriots will not equally enjoy the benefits of EU membership, but he hopes that ways will be found to ease the plight in which the people find themselves through no fault of their own," Mr. de Soto said in reading a statement on the Secretary-General's behalf.

"Together with a broad cross-section of the international community, the Secretary-General remains convinced that the settlement plan represents a fair, viable and carefully balanced compromise," his Special Adviser said, adding that Mr. Annan also hoped that the Greek Cypriot electorate may "arrive at a different view in the fullness of time, after a profound and sober assessment of the decision."

He stressed that a settlement to the long-standing Cyprus problem "would benefit the people of Cyprus, as well as the region and the wider international community."

The Secretary-General also voiced appreciation for the strong backing that the plan received from many political figures on both sides. "He is grateful that Greece and Turkey, the Security Council, the European Union and the broader international community stood ready to throw their support behind the Cypriots and work to ensure full implementation," Mr. de Soto said.

 

Cyprus Vote Disappointing, UN Official Tells Security Council 7

While the outcome of the vote in Cyprus on a unity plan was disappointing, the United Nations had come closer than ever before to resolving one of the most delicate and complex conflicts on its agenda, a senior UN official told the Security Council on 28 April.

That achievement must be preserved, pending, one hoped, a fundamental re-evaluation on the Greek Cypriot side, Kieran Prendergast, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, said in his briefing to the Council. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, meanwhile, told a news conference he remains convinced the plan _ which would have created a United Cyprus Republic, comprised of a Greek Cypriot constituent state and a Turkish Cypriot constituent state and linked by a federal government _ is the only realistic basis for reunifying the island.

"What matters is to arrive at a careful and accurate assessment of the full implications for the United Nations of the 24 April outcome and to make appropriate recommendations," Mr. Prendergast stressed.

Seventy-six per cent of the votes cast in the Greek Cypriot referendum were against a plan put forward by Mr. Annan, while 65 per cent of Turkish Cypriots voted in favour of it.

"Time is needed for the dust to settle from the outcome of the referenda,"
Mr. Prendergast said. "The full implications of the outcome of these referenda may take a while to become apparent."

At his news conference in New York, Mr. Annan said, "The vote by the Greek Cypriots to reject my proposals was of course a great disappointment, since it means that Cyprus will not now enter the European Union [on 1 May] as a reunited island."

"I salute the Turkish Cypriots for their courageous vote in favour of the proposals. We must all do our best to see that they are not penalized for the way the vote went in the other part of the island," he added. "I hope that before too long the Greek Cypriots will have an opportunity to consider the plan more calmly, and to judge it on its true merits."

 

Security Council Voices Disappointment At Cyprus Missing Chance At Reunification 8

The United Nations Security Council on 29 April voiced its disappointment that recent efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem have not succeeded and reiterated its backing for an overall political settlement.

German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger said in a statement to the press that the Council respected the outcome of twin referenda in Cyprus, in which voters defeated a plan that would have reunited the island nation ahead of its entry into the European Union on 1 May.

The Council shared Secretary-General Kofi Annan's disappointment "that efforts since 1999 to reunify the island have not succeeded and regrets that an extraordinary and historic opportunity to resolve the 

Cyprus issues has been missed," said Ambassador Pleuger, who currently holds the Council's rotating Presidency.

"The Security Council reiterates is strong support for an overall political settlement in Cyprus," he added.

Ambassador Pleuger said the Council looked forward to the Secretary-General's forthcoming report, "in response to which the Council will need to give careful consideration to the implications of the outcome of the referenda."

The Council also expressed its appreciation for the "committed and sustained" efforts of the Secretary-General and his Special Adviser, Alvaro de Soto in the implementation of the good offices mission, he said.

 

Roed-Larsen: Right Israeli Pullout From Gaza Could Help Bring Middle East Peace 9

The top United Nations envoy for the Middle East, Terje Roed-Larsen, gave the Security Council a cautiously upbeat assessment on 23 April of developments in the area, now poised between choosing a new era of peacemaking if Israel withdraws from Gaza in the right way and more violence if the withdrawal is wrongly handled.

In an open briefing on the latest developments in the region, Mr. Roed-Larsen, Special Coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said the right withdrawal should not just be a military deployment but "should be full and complete and lead to the consolidation of Palestinian control over its territory and international crossings."

Complete withdrawal would confront Israel with a security dilemma, but this problem could be solved by "temporary, internationally supervised security arrangements," he said.

If approved by the parties, the arrangements could enable Israel to withdraw completely and the Palestinians to live normally, "fighting terrorism and violence in cooperation with regional and international players," Mr. Roed-Larsen said.

He did not share the pessimism of many about Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's announcement earlier this year that Israel will withdraw from almost all of the 40 per cent of Gaza that it still controls and part of the West Bank, Mr. Roed-Larsen said.

Noting that he had expressed optimism about the plan at his Council briefing in February, Mr. Roed-Larsen said, "I still do believe that the Gaza withdrawal, if carried out in the right way, can usher in a new era of peacemaking in the Middle East.

"I also continue to maintain that if such a withdrawal is implemented in the wrong way, it will lead to more violence, quite possibly bringing us to a new low in the dismal annals of the Palestinian-Israeli tragedy."

This is the crossroads today, Mr. Larsen said.

Only a rigorously engaged international community, led by the diplomatic Quartet _ the UN, European Union, Russian Federation and United States _ and the Security Council could help the parties to make the right choices, he said.

"The international community should certainly lend a hand to see the Palestinians recover their land in Gaza and to ensure that other steps in the same direction follow in the West Bank," he said.

 

UN Confirms Large Loss Of Life, Severe Damage After Train Explosion In DPR Of Korea 10

A United Nations assessment team has confirmed that Ryongchon County in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) suffered a significant loss of life and experienced extensive damage to housing and infrastructure following last week's train explosion.

The mission went to the area on 24 April and said there is no need for international help in search and rescue operations. There were, however, considerable immediate needs to provide shelter to affected families and to repair damaged buildings.

UN agencies have been providing medical supplies from existing programmes to Ryongchon, and the UN system is also making available emergency grants to respond to the disaster, including $50,000 from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), $50,000 from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and $25,000 from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Two train wagons carrying explosives detonated on 22 April at Ryongchon Station in North Phyongan province, near the Chinese border. According to Government reporting, the explosives were en route to a construction site for a large-scale irrigation project when the accident occurred during shunting operations at the station. Initial reports put the number of dead at 50, with more than 1,000 others injured.

The Government's Flood Damage Rehabilitation Committee said the explosion, which reportedly caused major damage to housing and infrastructure, including schools and medical facilities, levelled more than 1,800 dwellings.

 

Security Council Votes Unanimously To Keep WMDs Out Of Terrorist Hands 11

The United Nations Security Council on 28 April unanimously approved a binding resolution criminalizing the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction by such private parties as terrorists and black marketers.

The Council decided that "all States shall adopt and enforce appropriate effective laws which prohibit any non-State actor to manufacture, acquire, possess, develop, transport, transfer or use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and their means of delivery, in particular for terrorist purposes, as well as attempts to engage in any of the foregoing activities, participate in them as an accomplice, assist or finance them." 

Governments were prohibited from aiding any private actors seeking to make or acquire such weapons.

The resolution fell under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which gives the 15-member Council the power to enforce certain decisions through tribunals, embargoes, or military force after all peaceful means of persuading delinquent Member States have been exhausted.

In the public debate last week to suggest amendments to the text, several speakers cautioned that the most important aspect about the resolution was not enforcement. They emphasized that the Council would have to get separate approval for the means of enforcement.

The text directs Governments to establish effective accounting for and domestic controls of material that could be used to make nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. They should also establish and maintain effective border and trans-shipment controls and appropriate law enforcement.

The Security Council would establish a committee to monitor for the next two years the implementation of the resolution and would expect all States to present reports on their efforts to execute the provisions within six months.

 

IAEA Fights Not Just Weapons, But Diseases Of Mass Destruction Too 12

The United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, better known for its efforts to combat the spread of weapons of mass destruction, on 29 April drew attention to its role in another battle _ the war against diseases of mass destruction.

Scientists at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) research laboratories near Vienna are targeting malaria-transmitting mosquitoes with a radiation-based method called the "sterile insect technique" to stanch a disease that kills as many as 3,000 people each day in sub-Saharan Africa alone.

"The IAEA multi-year project is designed to support national, regional and global efforts, including those of the World Health Organization (WHO), to combat the disease," the Agency said in a news release spotlighting recent press reports on its role in the war on malaria, still among the world's biggest health threats. Up to 500 million cases of malaria are clinically diagnosed each year.

The "sterile insect technique" has a long track record against health-threatening insects, including the tsetse fly that transmits sleeping sickness.

 

S-G: Making Vital Reforms Next Year May Be Too Late For Development Goals 13

Countries can halve extreme poverty and reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 if they implement vital reforms and get adequate external support this year, "but by next year it might already be too late," United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on 26 April.

The MDGs, adopted in 2000, list goals to be reached by 2015 in tackling poverty, lagging rates of education, gender equality, child mortality, maternal health, HIV/AIDS, environmental degradation and global partnerships.

The goals could only be reached by building on the spirit and promise of the 2003 Monterrey Consensus for making trade between rich and poor more equitable, Mr. Annan said in his address opening the annual joint meeting of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Bretton Woods Institutions _ the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Trade Organization (WTO), which included for the first time, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

"But in the area where progress is needed most _ trade _ the record is mostly disappointing. Indeed, with the failure (of trade talks) in Cancun and a growing resort to bilateral trade agreements, we have backtracked significantly," he said.

Meanwhile, national policies, resources and strategies had to be focused on reaching the MDG's, Mr. Annan said.

"Domestic resources are the largest source of financing for development and can be especially effective if focused on education, health, infrastructure, capacity-and institution-building and efforts to improve regulatory frameworks and public administration," he said.

The developing countries, especially those that improved their investment climate, needed more foreign investment, while the 2001 Doha agenda, a mandate for negotiations to free up trade, should produce real gains for the developing countries by providing unhindered access to markets in rich countries and eliminating rich country subsidies for its own producers, he said.

Other promising ideas that have been proposed, such as the Global Finance Facility, needed action, while the high debt burdens of low- and middle-income countries that are not a part of the World Bank Groups' Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative had to be addressed, he said.

 

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY, 3 May 2004

Message of the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan

"Information is, undoubtedly, a source of power. Those who have access to a free and independent media have more options, as well as the information they need to take better advantage of them. World Press Freedom Day is an important reminder of the contribution that journalists play in the information age, especially in the protection of human rights and the promotion of development.

This day is also one on which we should remember and pay tribute to journalists who have been killed in the line of duty, or whose reporting has led to their imprisonment and detention. The Committee to Protect Journalists continues to document sombre facts about the dangers and hostility faced by journalists. Thirty-six journalists were killed in 2003, and at least 17 have been killed in the first three months of 2004. Their deaths were the result of their efforts to bring us the facts, to deliver first-hand accounts of important events, to offer perspectives on the trends of our time — in short, the essential work of daily journalism. Indeed, some were deliberately targeted because of what they were reporting or because of their affiliation with a news organization. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a further 136 journalists were in jail at the end of 2003 simply because of their profession.

Journalism, as a profession, has been resolute in the face of such danger. But the continuing threat to their personal and professional integrity must concern all of us who rely on the media as an agent of free expression and as an often very lonely means of rousing the world's conscience.

Those issues and events need not be immediate or traumatic. While the war in Iraq has been a major recent preoccupation for press and politicians alike, battles of another kind — against poverty, discrimination and disease, for example — also warrant attention. Last year on World 

Press Freedom day, I asked why some issues and situations attract coverage, while others of seemingly equal importance fail to achieve critical mass. The question remains relevant today. Just as it should not take the collapse of a state for the international community to act, so it should not take a full-fledged crisis to attract the media spotlight. There are important stories to be told even in peacetime, about things that affect the normal everyday lives of children, women and men the world over.

On World Press Freedom Day, let us reaffirm our commitment to the freedom and independence of the media as an essential requirement for building a better and fairer world. And let us all pledge to do our utmost to ensure that journalists — the men and women charged with helping us understand ourselves and our world — are able to do their vital work in safety and without fear."

 

UN Slowly Regaining Indispensable Role In Global Affairs, Information Committee Hears 14

Although the United Nations suffered in 2003 rumblings about its fading into irrelevance largely from the debate surrounding the war in Iraq, there are signs that a year later the Organization is slowly regaining its indispensable role in global affairs, the UN's top information official said on 26 April.

Addressing the opening of the Committee on Information's annual session, scheduled to meet through 7 May, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Shashi Tharoor said while spirits at the United Nations had at times been low, its vital work continued around the world and the Committee understood that any attempt to reduce the UN's relevance to its conduct on any one issue was completely misconceived.

"We know the media prefers to focus on `hard threats' _ such as acts of terrorism or dangers posed by weapons of mass destruction," he told the Committee, which makes recommendations to the General Assembly on the policy and activities of the UN Department of Public Information (DPI). "The `soft threats,' such as extreme poverty and hunger, endemic or infectious disease, or environmental degradation that afflict millions of people, rarely made the headlines."

For the Department of Public Information, the options were never simply "either/or," Mr. Tharoor noted. DPI had no choice but to respond to the insistent demands of the news stories of the day normally in the world's "hot spots," including Iraq and its future, and the allegations of wrongdoing in the management of the Oil-for-Food programme in that country.

"But we cannot afford merely to echo the media's priorities," he said. "We have to constantly strive to keep the big picture on the media's agenda, reminding the world that there are other critical areas that needed equal, if not more, attention."

The Committee's Chairman, Ambassador Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury of Bangladesh, noted that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had drawn attention to some of the more pressing and more immediate threats facing the vast majority of the world's population: threats of extreme poverty and hunger, unsafe drinking water, environmental degradation and endemic or infectious diseases.

The observance next year of the sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations, Ambassador Chowdhury said, would provide an opportunity to take stock of what the Organization had done and how the Member States had helped to accomplish its goals.

"To millions of people affected by poverty, environmental degradation, HIV/AIDS and communicable diseases, the United Nations remains the best hope _ often the only hope _ for survival and for a better future," he said. "Of course, the United Nations has not solved all problems the world faces. But if we want to see them solved _ including such problems as the turmoil in the Middle East, the question of Palestine, the questions concerning Cyprus and in West Africa _ we need the UN more than ever."

 

UN Says Improving Water And Sanitation Access Would Cost $11.3 Billion More a Year 15

With the United Nations Millennium Declaration putting pressure on governments to halve the number of people lacking access to safe water and decent sanitation by 2015, a new report, sponsored by the UN health agency and launched on 27 April, estimates that the additional global investment needed will be $11.3 billion per year.

The World Health Organization (WHO) report, "Evaluation of the Costs and Benefits of Water and Sanitation Improvements at the Global Level," was prepared by the Swiss Tropical Institute and presented at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-12) in New York.

The economic benefits from each dollar invested range from $3 to $34 _ or even as much as $60 _ depending on the region. An $11.3 billion investment could bring an $84 billion return, the report says.

In the calculations, savings of time from locating water and sanitation facilities more conveniently for people are valued at the minimum hourly wage rate for each country.

The report notes that improving water and sanitation saves on funds for treating sometimes fatal diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases. The reduction of infectious diarrhoea ranges from 4 per cent in the poorest areas, using simple improvements, to 69 per cent in areas using the highest water supply and sanitation technologies.

 

Sanitation Expert At UN Meeting Recommends That Governments Promote, Not Provide 16

With some 2.4 billion people lacking access to basic sanitation, a World Bank expert has recommended using a "what people want" approach, giving governments the role of creating demand and enabling local industries to meet that demand, instead of providing the facilities themselves.

"It is silly to try to sell, or even give, things to people that they do not want and that is particularly true of sanitation and hygiene," World Bank Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist Peter Kolsky told the 12th session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-12) on 22 April.

Governments with scarce resources could not afford to promote sanitation through large-scale supply of facilities, he said. After people in Maharashtra, India, used the new latrines as tool sheds and storerooms, the government embarked on the new approach, he said in citing one example.

Stressing comfort, cleanliness, dignity and aesthetics were good ways to sell sanitation, Mr. Kolsky said, the government could create the right industrial environment through legislation, information campaigns and capacity building.

Because of the stigma associated with the public elimination of human waste in areas of poor sanitation, many Indian women were forced to defecate either at sunrise or at sunset, Indian sanitation expert Bindeshwar Pathak said. Nearly 700 million people defecated in the open in his country, he added.

His company had built some 6,000 pay toilets that provided privacy, security and dignity to women and were being used by nearly 10 million people per day, even though pay toilets had not been part of Indian culture, he said.

In addition, the company had installed 1.2 million eco-friendly compost flush toilets and had affixed biogas fixed dome digesters to community toilets to recycle waste products for agriculture and energy uses, he said.

 

UNAIDS: Donor Countries Agree On Use Of Funds For Anti-AIDS Campaign 17

Donor countries have agreed to a more streamlined system of coordinating their efforts to fight the global AIDS epidemic, ensuring that recipient countries can use the funds for more efficient and effective programmes, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

The "Three Ones" principle was adopted on 25 April in Washington, D.C., by a meeting of donor countries in a bid to help improve their ability to work more effectively together with developing countries on a country-by-country basis. 

The principles include one agreed HIV/AIDS action framework that provides the basis for coordinating the work of all partners; one national AIDS coordinating authority, with a broad based multi-sector mandate; and one agreed country level monitoring and evaluation system, UNAIDS said in a news release.

"Today, we left our flags and affiliations at the door," UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot said. "It is not just about raising more resources, it's about making sure these resources are spent wisely to help countries mount sustainable and effective AIDS strategies. This is why the Three Ones are so crucial."

Despite stepped up resources and the best intentions, the AIDS epidemic continues to be one of the greatest crises of the century, with 40 million people currently infected, and over 25 million deaths to date, according to UNAIDS.

In other news, Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan was jointly named a Goodwill Ambassador of both UNAIDS and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). He is currently in Cambodia to visit projects dealing with HIV/AIDS and landmines.

 

UN Report Finds World's Youth Better Off Today 18

The world's youth are better off today than earlier generations, although many are still severely hindered by a lack of education, poverty, health problems, unemployment and the impact of conflict, the United Nations says in a new report released on 27 April, the first to examine the global situation of young people.

The World Youth Report 2003 measures progress in 10 priority areas _ education, employment, extreme poverty, health issues, the environment, drugs, delinquency, leisure time, the situation of girls and young women, and youth participation in decision-making _ identified by Member States when they adopted the 1995 World Programme of Action for Youth. 

Johan Schölvinck, Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), told a press briefing the main message to emerge from the report was that young people needed to be given the tools to make them effective agents of social change and enable them to realize their potential.

Young women and men between 15 and 24 in some regions were better educated and had an unprecedented knowledge of the world around them, yet 133 million youth remained illiterate. Only one in four young persons _ or 22 per cent of young women and 26 per cent of young men _ was enrolled in secondary school in sub-Saharan 

Africa, compared with 40 to 57 per cent in South Asia, and 62 to 67 per cent in the Middle East and North Africa.

Of the slightly more than 1 billion young people between 15 and 24, almost nine out of 10 lived in developing countries. Up to 110 million youth were estimated to be malnourished and up to 7,000 became infected with HIV/AIDS daily.

Mr. Schölvinck said the Report also examined five new priorities that had emerged since the adoption of the 1995 plan: globalization; information and communication technologies; HIV/AIDS; conflict; and inter-generational relations.

 

ILO Observes Annual Day For Workplace Safety 19`

In the 20th anniversary year of the massive Union Carbide factory gas leak that affected nearly 250,000 people in Bhopal, India, the United Nations labour agency on 28 April observed its annual "World Day for Safety and Health at Work" with a worldwide commemoration of those who lost life or health in workplace accidents.

From Addis Ababa to Zimbabwe, from Bhopal to Belgium, the UN International Labour Organization (ILO) staged memorials, marches, symposia and talk shows, including a performance by the New York City Labour Choir at the Commission for Sustainable Development meeting at UN Headquarters.

ILO estimated that more than 2 million people die from work-related causes every year _ including some 22,000 children, 750,000 women and 1.5 million men. The very high figure for men reflected the fact that men often do the world's most dangerous work, it said.

"A safety culture must be nurtured through partnership and dialogue _ governments, employers and workers within a framework of rights, responsibilities and duties, finding common ground, creating safe and healthy work places," ILO Director-General Juan Somavia said in a message.

Highlighting health issues and accidents reported so far this month, ILO said at least 44 miners died in a mine explosion in Russia; electric shocks killed 12 workers and injured three others on a building site in China and a study in Ireland showed that hundreds of thousands of workers were suffering from stress, at a cost of 4 million working days lost last year alone.

It noted that the December 1984 Bhopal accident, which drew increased attention to ways of preventing industrial accidents, killed 2,500 people then and 20,000 people later, and injured more than 200,000.

About 80 per cent of occupational deaths and accidents could be prevented if all ILO Member States would provide more information to workers and use the best accident prevention strategies and practices. All of these are already in place and easily available, it said.

Industrialized countries needed to focus on improving poor workplace relations and management, counteracting the mental and physical consequences of repetitive, highly technical tasks and providing information to workers on handling new technologies and substances, including chemicals, ILO said.

Countries that are industrializing should give priority to improving safety and health practices in their primary economic activities, such as farming, fishing and logging.

They should prevent industrial accidents, including fires and exposure to hazardous substances, as well as work on methods to avoid traditional accidents and diseases, including those in informal workshops and home-based industries, ILO said.