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15 May, 2004
 

Table Of Contents

 
UN-Led Process To Nominate Iraqi Electoral Commissioners On Track 1

The United Nations-led exercise to gather nominations for posts in Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission is progressing on track, UN officials said on 7 May.

The nomination period for the seven-person Commission, which will be the exclusive authority to organize and conduct Iraq's transitional elections, will close on 15 May. The appointment of the Electoral Commissioners and the Chief Electoral Officer is scheduled for 31 May.

Nominations for the posts are already being received through manual submission at governorate locations and via e-mail. Women's groups, academia, professional associations, political parties and other civil organizations have expressed strong interest in the exercise.

Five thousand nomination forms and 600,000 leaflets advertising the process have been distributed throughout Iraq so far, and another 5,000 forms will be distributed shortly. Iraqis are being encouraged to photocopy and widely share nomination forms with interested people. Information and forms can be found at a website set up for that purpose.

UN electoral officials said violence in some locations has not stopped efforts to distribute nomination forms or leaflets about the process. However, violence has hampered efforts to provide access to all local Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) sites for Iraqis to deliver nominations. Nonetheless, nominees or someone on their behalf can submit nomination forms at any accessible governorate location or via e-mail.

Several visits conducted by the UN electoral team sent to monitor the process report that Iraqis have expressed a high level of interest in participating. The UN team is randomly visiting CPA sites to verify that the procedures to ensure secrecy of information for nominees are applied, and to monitor progress.

UN officials have emphasized that the creation of the Independent Electoral Commission is an essential step toward the holding of elections in Iraq.

 

UN Envoy Continues Consultations With Wide Spectrum Of Iraqi Society 2

United Nations Special Adviser Lakhdar Brahimi is continuing consultations in Iraq with representatives from a wide spectrum of society to explore the planned political transition on 30 June.

According to a spokesman travelling with the envoy, the images of United States occupation soldiers apparently torturing Iraqi prisoners has been a key topic of discussion. "It is raised in almost every meeting we attend and Mr. Brahimi has had consultations with a very wide group of Iraqis over the past three or four days," spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told UN Radio.

On 8 May Mr. Brahimi met with the Governing Council, chaired by this month's president Ezzelding Selim. "For over 90 minutes they discussed proposals for the caretaker government to which sovereignty would be transferred on July 1," Mr. Fawzi said. "Mr. Brahimi listened to their views and answered all their questions regarding the political transition."

Also over the weekend, the Special Adviser met separately with a group of more than 30 tribal leaders, Judge Dara Nouraldin, a member of the Governing Council, and a group of cabinet ministers. In addition, he held talks with leading academics, including the Rector of Baghdad University, as well as representatives of professional associations representing, engineers, economist, accountants, lawyers, doctors, pharmacists, labour unions and the business community.

Mr. Brahimi's meetings included talks with the Deputy Commanding General in Iraq, Gen. John McCall of the United Kingdom.

The envoy's contacts served to clarify what the transition entails, according to Mr. Fawzi. "I think that now most people are on-board with what is happening," he said.

 

S-G Horrified By Hostage's Murder And Use As `Public Spectacle' 3

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 12 May condemned the brutal execution of a civilian hostage in Iraq recently, which was captured on videotape and broadcast worldwide on 11 May.

"He was horrified by the gruesome murder of a civilian hostage…and was particularly disturbed by the use of this killing as a public spectacle," the Secretary-General's spokesman Fred Eckhard said in response to a question about hostage Nick Berg, who was beheaded by his hooded captors. 

"He extends his deepest condolences to the family of the victim and can only imagine how they must be feeling," Mr. Eckhard added.

The Secretary-General condemned all killings of innocent civilians in Iraq, "as he condemns all abuse of all prisoners and other violations of international humanitarian law," the spokesman said.

"Now more than ever he once again appeals to all parties to adhere strictly to the fundamental precepts of human rights and principles of international humanitarian law," Mr. Eckhard said.

 

UN Envoy Appeals For Neighbours' Help To Assure Smooth Transition 4

With Iraq "in the midst of an exceptionally tense political transition" just 49 days before the handover of sovereignty, a senior United Nations envoy to the country on 12 May appealed for help from neighbouring states.

"After its experience of war and occupation, Iraq is in urgent need of international support in all aspects of its development, not least the re-establishment of political stability and internal security," Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative ad interim for Iraq, Ross Mountain, told the opening meeting of Speakers of Parliaments of neighbouring countries in Amman, Jordan.

"Yet the prevailing conditions in Iraq make it an exceptionally challenging environment to provide assistance whether by the United Nations or any other international institution," he added of the UN mission to help select a caretaker government by 30 June and organize elections by the end of January.

"Your presence here is testimony to the importance you all attach to assisting Iraq to establish its own parliamentary organs and thereby promote the growth of a healthy political life," he said.

"What the United Nations is absolutely not striving to do is to tell the Iraqi people who should govern them in a sovereign government in the future," he added. "The sole objective of the United Nations' political role in Iraq is therefore to help in providing a framework that will allow the Iraqis to reach agreement among themselves on the way forward. I cannot stress too highly how important it is to help in providing the basic framework and allow the Iraqi people themselves to do the rest."

Mr. Mountain declared that this is not the first time the world body is aiding the electoral process in fragile security conditions, "but rarely has the United Nations had to help organize elections on this scale under the range of security threats that we face in Iraq." He stressed that the UN had to do its utmost to help without being present on the ground in the numbers that would be expected elsewhere.

"I am sure that the United Nations has your full support in ensuring that the (electoral) team's neutrality and impartiality is appreciated and respected," he told the assembled Speakers.

 

S-G Reaffirms UN's Support For Probe Of Iraq Oil-for-Food Allegations 5

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has reaffirmed that the United Nations will fully support the work of an independent panel he commissioned to examine allegations of corruption surrounding the UN Oil-for-Food programme for Iraq.

UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters on 7 May in New York that the Secretary-General welcomed a statement issued by panel chairman Paul Volcker, former head of the United States Federal Reserve Board. Mr. Annan "fully accepts the arrangements set out in that statement," Mr. Eckhard said.

In his statement, Mr. Volcker said that, at his request, the Secretary-General had taken the necessary steps to ensure that all UN staff cooperate fully with the investigation and that all relevant documents are secured solely for the committee's use, according to the spokesman.

Mr. Volcker also said that as the investigation proceeds, and as the committee arrives at an understanding of the substance and scope of the relevant documentation, including material in Baghdad, it will consider appropriate disclosure.

Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General assured the inquiry of the full cooperation of all UN staff. "He earnestly hopes that the inquiry will reveal the full truth about the management of the programme, and repeats his undertaking to waive the immunity of any official found by the inquiry to have broken the law," he said.

 

Sec-Gen Says He Will Continue Work Despite Alleged Bin Laden Threat 6

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 7 May vowed to go on with his work despite a tape alleged to be from the world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, offering a bounty of
10 kilograms of gold for the UN leader's life. 

"Obviously, we take it seriously and we will have to take precautions and then (I will) carry on with my life and my work," he told a CNN journalist at UN Headquarters in New York.

Asked if the threat would affect his work and that of his envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi, who was among the other officials also threatened for their efforts on the Iraq situation, Mr. Annan said: "I think we need to carry on with our work. As I said, we have to take precautions and carry on with your work and with your life. And that's what we're going to do."

 

S-G Condemns Deadly Attack On Karachi Mosque 7

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 7 May condemned an attack on a mosque in Karachi, Pakistan, which reportedly killed about a dozen worshippers and wounded about 100 more, and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

"The Secretary-General is appalled by the news of yet another attack in a place of worship," his spokesman, Fred Eckhard, said at the daily briefing.

"He condemns in the strongest terms this terrorist act and calls for action to bring the perpetrators to justice. He reiterates his position that no political or other cause can justify brutal acts of indiscriminate violence against civilians," Mr. Eckhard said.

Through his spokesman, the Secretary-General also extended his condolences to the families of the victims of the attack.

 

Sec-Gen `Disturbed' By Latest Cycle Of Deadly Violence In Gaza 8

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is deeply disturbed by the alarming violence in Gaza City that started on 11 May, which left several Palestinians, including civilians and children, and at least six Israeli soldiers dead, his spokesman said.

"The Secretary-General is particularly concerned by the heavy fighting in densely populated neighbourhoods, which is exposing more Palestinian civilians to death and injury," spokesman Fred Eckhard said in a statement issued in New York.

"He urges both sides to desist from further violence and instead to heed the calls of the Quartet and the international community to resume negotiations to end the conflict," the statement added.

 

Deadly Terrorist Attack On Chechen President Condemned By S-G, Security Council 9

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Security Council on 10 May voiced both their dismay and condemnation of the terrorist attack in Grozny, which killed Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov and a number of bystanders.

"Such acts can never be justified. They can only delay the return to peace and justice in Chechnya," Mr. Annan's spokesman, Fred Eckhard, said in a statement.

The Secretary-General "extends his deepest condolences to the Government of the Russian Federation and to the families of the victims," the statement added.

The Council President for May, Pakistani Ambassador Munir Akram, read a statement in an open session unequivocally condemning the perpetrators of the bomb attack, which came during the commemoration of Victory Day, the Russian Federation's most solemn national holiday.

The statement expressed the Council's deepest sympathy and condolences to the people and the Government of the Russian Federation.

The Council "reaffirms that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security and that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, whenever and by whomsoever committed," Ambassador Akram said.

 

Recent Violence In Kosovo Shook UN Mission `To Its Core', Security Council Told 10

Although the recent wave of violence shook the United Nations mission in Kosovo "to its foundations," it aimed to root out and punish the perpetrators while remaining resolute in its task to help prepare the province for self-governance, the UN's senior envoy in the province told the Security Council on 11 May.

In his first briefing to the Council since a spate of ethnically-motivated violence rocked the province in mid-March, Harri Holkeri, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative and head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), said that in the wake of this "serious setback," the Mission was questioning whether its response had been adequate, and whether it had done enough to prevent it.

"The violence has forced us at UNMIK to take a long hard look at ourselves," he said, recalling the incident in which 19 people were killed and nearly 1,000 injured over days of rioting. Hundreds of homes and centuries-old Serbian cultural sites were razed or burned, and some 4,000 people were displaced in just two days.

The speed with which the unrest spread had overwhelmed the ability of the Kosovo international force (KFOR) and UNMIK security forces to respond, Mr. Holkeri said. The mission had no means to augment its security forces, and KFOR was not reinforced until after the violence ended. The Mission had since been reviewing operational procedures and coordination in responding to crisis, for which he had appointed a review board.

In the aftermath, UNMIK would do all it could to bring to justice all those who provoked or engaged in the violence, he said, noting that some 270 arrests already had been made. The priority now was to target investigations on the principal organizers, as well as on homicides and arson. Local prosecutors were handling over 130 cases directly related to the riots. Some 50 cases of a more serious nature had been entrusted to international prosecutors.

Meanwhile, violence had obviously had a very adverse effect on the overall returns process, and the current security environment in Kosovo was not conducive to the forcible return of members of minority communities to their homes, he said. Achieving any progress on returns, including the newly displaced, would require a substantial increase in the quality and quantity of protection provided by KFOR and the police.

Describing Kosovo as an "open wound for Serbs, Albanians and the entire international community," Vuk Draskovic, Foreign Minister of Serbia and Montenegro, said that in the wake of the "mass violence against Serbs and the barbaric destruction of their cultural sites," the Council had adopted a Presidential statement that had not adequately responded to the tragedy suffered by the Serbian people in the province. He called on the body to ensure a greater and more resolute respect for the UN Charter and strict compliance with Security Council resolution 1244, which gave UNMIK its original mandate.

Mr. Draskovic told the Council the international community should not think today in terms of final status since the rights of Serbs were being tragically violated in Kosovo, and such human suffering could not constitute the basis for any final status. Serbia and Montenegro called for the start of a sincere dialogue at all levels between ethnic Albanians and Serbs, directly or through the good offices of the international community.

 

Progress In Timor-Leste `Encouraging', Security Council Told 11

Cautioning that the peacekeeping developments in recently-independent Timor-Leste are better characterized as encouraging than as successful, the top United Nations envoy to the country on 10 May took his leave of a mission that is being gradually downsized.

"I would like to acknowledge with satisfaction the fact that the engagement of the peacekeeping mission in Timor Leste is widely described as having been a successful one," Kamalesh Sharma, the chief of the UN Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET), told the Security Council in an open briefing. "I myself characterize the outcomes and result as `encouraging.'" 

The experience of the last half-century has shown that for success to be embedded and durable, unremitting effort and belief in the highest values of democratic and participative governance had to be demonstrated over a long period, Mr. Sharma said.

"All too often what appeared to be a success story has turned sour," he said.

The first leaders of any nation must take care to safeguard the means of policy and not only the ends, Mr. Sharma said. "I believe this is a test which the first leadership of Timor-Leste is equipped to discharge to the lasting benefit of the present and succeeding generations." 

 

European Security Body Willing To Help UN In Iraq And Afghanistan 12

The Chairman of Europe's largest security organization on 7 May told the United Nations Security Council that if asked, the 55-nation body would be willing to offer its assistance in rebuilding democratic institutions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Just ask us," Foreign Minister Solomon Passy of Bulgaria, Chairman-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said in a first time briefing of the Council.

The OSCE had considerable expertise and experience in organizing elections and training police, he said, and a future resolution on Iraq should include a role for the body as well as invite the participation of other regional organizations such as the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Arab League or the Gulf States.

"These are areas in which Iraq and Afghanistan urgently need support. If the Security Council asks the OSCE and other regional organizations for assistance, I am confident that it will be possible to find consensus within the OSCE on this," Mr. Passy said.

The OSCE, which covers a territory stretching from Vancouver to Vladivostok, has not operated "out-of-area" until now and neither Iraq nor Afghanistan are members. However, Afghanistan became an OSCE Partner for Cooperation last year.

 

S-G Hails Efforts To Probe Attacks In Nigeria That Have Killed Hundreds 13

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 10 May hailed the efforts of Nigerian authorities and community officials who are trying to probe the killings that took place last week during communal clashes in a town in Nigeria's central Plateau State.

"The Secretary-General welcomes the concerted efforts of the authorities and the affected communities not only to investigate the Yelwa killings with a view to bringing those responsible to justice, but also to promote the peaceful resolution of disputes," Mr. Annan's spokesman, Fred Eckhard, said at the daily briefing.

Mr. Annan was "deeply concerned over the reports of growing communal clashes in Nigeria" and condemned the attacks in Yelwa, where hundreds of people lost their lives last week, the spokesman said.

"He appeals for swift action to ensure the rule of law, and to promote reconciliation, and supports the Government's efforts to protect the safety of all citizens throughout the country," the spokesman said.

 

Sec-Gen Calls For Solidarity And Respect As UN Indigenous Peoples Forum Opens 14

With native peoples worldwide continuing to encounter systemic prejudice and discrimination, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 10 May called on the international community to confront such ill-will head on, in a spirit of solidarity and respect, to help indigenous peoples overcome a history of inequality.

Opening the Third Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Secretary-General said despite a dramatic shift in global attitudes, indigenous peoples still suffered disproportionately from extreme poverty and faced serious barriers to health care and basic education.

Such threats would only "fester and deepen" without immediate and decisive action, he added, calling for particular focus on promoting the rights of indigenous women and encouraging their greater involvement in decision-making.

Some 1,500 people from about 500 groups will meet over the next two weeks at UN Headquarters in New York to focus attention on indigenous women and girls, whose well-being is critical to the survival and prosperity of their peoples' unique culture in this age of globalization.

As keepers of gender-specific traditional knowledge, it is mainly through the indigenous women that traditional language and culture is transmitted from one generation to the next. Their vulnerability has been amply demonstrated, and this year's Forum is an opportunity to exchange good practices in protecting and supporting indigenous women.

 

UNRWA: Homes Of 1,100 Palestinians In Gaza Destroyed 15

The last 10 days have seen one of the most intense periods of destruction by the Israeli military in Gaza since the start of the Intifada, with more than 100 homes flattened and 1,100 people left homeless, the main United Nations agency helping Palestinian refugees said on 10 May.

According to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the Israeli military has demolished or damaged beyond repair 131 residential buildings since the start of May, bringing to 17,594 the total number of people who have lost their homes in Gaza.

The majority of the demolitions have taken place in Rafah in the south, where 11,215 people have already been made homeless by demolitions since the beginning of the current strife in September 2000, and in the region of the Kissufim Road, where a Palestinian attack on 2 May left an Israeli mother and her four children dead. 

UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen said the Agency condemned "without reservation the 2 May killings, as it does the killing of innocent Palestinians and their children, as international law simply forbids collective punishment."

"The overwhelming majority of the more than 17,000 Palestinians who have lost their homes in Gaza since the start of the intifada have been guilty of nothing more than living in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.

 

UN-Backed Conference Seeks To Boost Regional Trade Through Afghanistan 16

For more than two decades, Afghanistan's war-torn borders were an obstacle to trade from South to Central Asia, but a United Nation-backed conference is now seeking to exploit the new opportunities in the region to boost economic cooperation, trade and transit.

"Regional cooperation is a necessity and not an option," the Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Mark Malloch Brown, told 150 delegates from eight countries in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, on 12 May.

For the first time in Afghanistan's history, the basis for expanding political and social freedoms is being laid, he said, adding that it was clear that the destinies of the region's countries are tied, for good or ill, since few parts of the world are as interdependent as the Central Asian region.

The conference for "Afghanistan's Regional Economic Cooperation: Central Asia, Iran and Pakistan" is aimed at helping Afghanistan's re-entry into the regional economy by mapping out new opportunities for trade and investment and considering actions to regularize trade and transit and harmonize customs procedures.

 

WHO: World At `Critical Moment' In Fight Against HIV/AIDS 17

With more money, more political will and more attention being paid to HIV/AIDS than ever before, the world has reached a crucial moment in the history of the pandemic and now has an unprecedented opportunity to alter its course, according to a new report released on 11 May by the United Nations lead health agency.

By using HIV treatment programmes to bolster existing ones on prevention and improve health systems, the international community has a unique opportunity to change the course of history, says The World Health Report 2004 _ Changing History, launched in Geneva by the World Health Organization (WHO).

"Future generations will judge our era in large part by our response to the AIDS pandemic," said WHO Director-General Lee Jong-wook. "By tackling it decisively we will also be building health systems that can meet the health needs of today and tomorrow. This is an historic opportunity we cannot afford to miss."

AIDS has killed more than 20 million people and is now the leading cause of death and lost years of productive life for adults aged 15 to 59 years worldwide. Today, an estimated 34 million to 46 million people are living with HIV/AIDS.

Even as the AIDS death toll and HIV prevalence rates continue to rise, to meet this "critical moment" in the history of the killer disease, WHO, along with the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and other partners are implementing a comprehensive strategy which links prevention, treatment, care and support for people living with the virus care, long-term support, and initiatives to provide antiretroviral therapy. 

Until now, treatment has been the most neglected element in most developing countries. Yet among all possible HIV-related interventions, the report says it is treatment that can most effectively boost prevention efforts and in turn drive the strengthening of health systems and enable poor countries to protect people from a wide range of health threats.

Vital resources have now been pledged, including more than $20 billion from donor countries and through multilateral funding agencies, including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the United States President's Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief and the World Bank. These funds must now be used swiftly and in a coordinated way to prolong the lives of millions of children, women and men who will otherwise soon die, the report says.

 

WHO Hails US Signature Of Global Anti-Tobacco Accord 18

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) on 12 May welcomed the United States Government's signing of a global treaty aimed at curbing tobacco-related deaths and disease, which now claim 5 million lives every year, a number that if left unchecked could double by 2020.

On 10 May, the US became the 109th country to sign the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control _ the first-ever under the auspices of a United Nations agency. WHO said the signing showed Washington's commitment to maintaining standards of public health. The agency added that it was the first step in the process, and hoped that the next one would be the ratification of the treaty.

The treaty will take effect once 40 governments have ratified it; so far 12 have, and the European Parliament has recommended ratification. It requires ratifying nations to implement a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion, set new labelling _ including larger, more noticeable health warnings on cigarettes _ and clean indoor air controls and strengthen legislation to clamp down on tobacco smuggling. It also requires Member States to prohibit tobacco product sales to minors.

 

UNICEF: World Still Lagging On Its Pledges To Improve Fate Of Children 19

Two years after the world's leaders agreed to time-bound goals to improve the welfare of youngsters, millions of children continue to die from preventable diseases and lack such basic rights as education, safe drinking water and protection from abuse, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned on 7 May.

"We are crawling toward goals that we should be marching toward," UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said in a message on the second anniversary of the UN General Assembly's first special session on children, noting that 30,000 youngsters under five die every day and chiding governments for lagging on the pledges they made.

"We must pick up the pace and sustain it, or children will continue to suffer. For millions of the world's children, the achievement of these goals is not a bureaucratic matter, but a question of life expanded programmes for children, she stressed.

Governments in poor countries could do more to focus their budgets on basic social services that help children survive and grow. At the same time, despite renewing agreements to raise the proportion of gross domestic product going to development aid to 0.7 percent, major developed nations have failed to come even half way to that target.

On the positive side, UNICEF noted that Kenya increased its number of children in primary school by 1.3 million; Bangladesh continued to bring down child death and fertility rates and improve education of girls; Eritrea, Viet Nam, Guinea and Mali made strides in providing anti-malarial bed nets; and Cambodia, like Uganda and Brazil, reduced the rate of HIV infection while Botswana and other countries scaled up access to AIDS treatments.

 

Arab Journalists Urged To Give Full Picture Of UN's Work In Region 20

With Western Asia and the Middle East grappling with "profound unease" and "disappointed aspirations," the top United Nations communications official on 13 May called on the region's media experts and journalists to help refine a strategy aimed at bringing the Arab world and the UN closer together.

"I, for one, am convinced that if people in the region are better able to understand what we are and what we do, they will support our efforts," the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Shashi Tharoor, told experts gathered in Beirut for the Strategic Communications Meeting for the Middle East and the Arab Region.

With upheaval in Iraq and the ongoing suffering of the Palestinian people, Mr. Tharoor said that, perhaps more so than at any other time in recent memory, this was a time of profound unease, "reflection and self-questioning in the Arab world."

But with the daily struggle of ordinary people for dignity and justice, the many UN activities designed to improve the lives of Arabs deserve to be better known in the region, he said. "We…want to find ways to help you inform your constituents and your audiences of UN Development Programme (UNDP) projects to eradicate poverty and of UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) efforts to eradicate polio."

He said that the UN Department of Public Information (DPI) wanted journalists to join mine-clearing teams in south Lebanon and TV camera crews to document water desalination and environmental projects in Cairo. "We want to help you highlight (the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) UNRWA's income-generation projects in the occupied Palestinian territories," he said, appealing to the media in the region to present the full picture _ "a picture that is far more complex and diverse than most people imagine."

Mr. Tharoor said the meeting also planned to discuss how best to strengthen the role of civil society in the region, as it was "an increasingly important partner in our efforts to advance the noble goals of the UN Charter." He said one way "might be to re-energize and, where necessary, reactivate the work of the Arab United Nations Associations."

But the aim was not to divert attention away from the "big ticket" issues of Iraq and the occupied territories,

he said, noting that the discussions in Beirut were a follow up to a 2003 meeting held in New York where UN system communications experts had pooled their knowledge and their skills, and developed a strategic framework that is now serving as the foundation of the world body's efforts to help the Arab world better understand the Organization.

 

UNICEF: Expanded EU Affords Opportunity To Boost Children's Rights 21

"The world has become a scary place for children" with millions of them falling prey to trafficking, exploitation and abuse, and the expansion of the European Union (EU) offers an opportunity to enhance their rights, the head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on 13 May.

"In Europe and Central Asia, millions of children are falling through the cracks to be trafficked and traded, exploited and abused, excluded and alienated in ways that affront the intelligence, shame the conscience and break the heart," UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy told government ministers from across Europe and Central Asia.

"We know how to prevent this from happening, so what exactly is holding us back?" she asked the representatives from more than 50 countries and delegations of young people, donors and civil society gathered in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, for the Second Intergovernmental Conference on Making Europe and Central Asia Fit for Children.

"EU expansion has generated a new sense of optimism and opened minds across the whole of this region to issues of human rights, an opportunity we should seize to deliver on child rights obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child," Ms. Bellamy added.

Hosted by the governments of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of Germany, the three-day conference will focus on five areas for priority action: investing in children; children moving across borders; violence against children; social exclusion and cities fit for children.

The conference will also identify and prioritize measures for action at country level to end child trafficking and illegal adoptions, violence in the home, the school and the community, and exclusion from participation in the mainstream of life.

 

UN: Sri Lankan Rice Farmers Need Emergency Food Aid Following Dry Spell 22