Published Weekly by the United Nations Information Centre New Delhi

55 Lodhi Estate, New Delhi 110003

31 January, 2004
 

Table Of Contents

 
Secretary-General: With Adequate Security, UN Will Send Electoral Team To Iraq 1

Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced in Paris on 27 January that the United Nations will send a team to Iraq to explore the possibility of elections before the transfer of sovereignty as long as the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) provides adequate security arrangements.

His decision comes in response to a request, on 19 January, from both the CPA and the Iraqi Governing Council for a UN technical mission to travel to the country to establish whether elections for a transitional national assembly can be held before 30 June, and if not, what alternative arrangement would be acceptable.

"I have concluded that the United Nations can play a constructive role in helping to break the current impasse," Mr. Annan said, pledging to send the requested mission "once I am satisfied that the CPA will provide adequate security arrangements."

"The mission will ascertain the views of a broad spectrum of Iraqi society in the search for alternatives that might be developed to move forward to the formation of a provisional government," he added.

The Secretary-General, who has long said that there is no single "right way" to proceed, stressed that "the most sustainable way forward would be one that came from the Iraqis themselves."

Consensus among all Iraqi constituencies, he emphasized, "would be the best guarantee of a legitimate and credible transitional governance arrangement for Iraq."

The mission will report to Mr. Annan on its return to New York.

Speaking to reporters later in the day, Mr. Annan voiced hope that the mission's presence and efforts would help the Iraqis come to a consensus. He also reiterated his firm belief that if the Iraqis could agree on the way forward, then the process would be viewed as legitimate. Otherwise, he warned, the conflict risked continuing.

A UN spokesperson in New York confirmed that, in addition to a previously announced UN security mission to Iraq, another security assessment team arrived there on 27 January ahead of the electoral team.

 

Rising Demand For Peacekeeping Stretches UN's Resources, Fréchette Says 2

Poorer countries are providing the greatest contribution to United Nations peacekeeping operations but even this support is insufficient to meet rising demands, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette said on 27 January in India.

"Already there has been a marked shift in the composition of our peacekeeping forces, with the share provided by OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation for Development] countries declining and that of developing countries rising," she said in her keynote address to the Sixth Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses Asian Security Conference, hailing India's longstanding support.

While acknowledging that "it certainly makes sense for Europeans to take the lead in peace operations in the Balkans," the Deputy Secretary-General pointed to existing inequities. "There is a manifest imbalance between the 30,000 NATO peacekeepers deployed in tiny Kosovo and the 10,000 UN peacekeepers deployed in [the Democratic Republic of the] Congo, which is the size of Western Europe, and where some 3.5 million people may have died as a result of fighting since 1998."

Solidarity is not only a matter of peacekeeping, she added, pointing out that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) _ a set of global antipoverty targets agreed to at a 2000 UN summit _ remain out of reach. "Unhappily," she said, "the commitment to follow through on these Goals has been uneven, resulting in a loss of momentum in the drive to attain them."

Ms. Fréchette also said the current security paradigm _ the "Post 9-11 context" _ has raised a number of questions which must be resolved in order to strengthen the system of collective security. Among these is the perception by countries that they have the right to unilaterally use pre-emptive force without agreement by the Security Council.

"This logic represents a fundamental challenge to the principles on which, however imperfectly, world peace and stability have rested for nearly six decades, and could easily lead to a proliferation of the unilateral and lawless use of force, with or without justification," she warned.

The UN Charter, she emphasized, is not "a suicide pact." But she added that States would not adhere to it unless they had confidence that threats would be dealt with through collective action. The Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, she said, would seek to tackle these issues as part of the "enormous effort of will" needed to forge a common, multilateral strategy.

 

UN DS-G Reviews AIDS Awareness Projects In India 3

United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechetté on 28 January visited an anti-AIDS project in India before holding talks on key international concerns with senior Indian officials.

Ms. Frechetté toured an initiative launched by the National Institute of Information Technology and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to train peer educators in raising awareness about HIV/AIDS in their communities. The project reaches some 30,000 students.

Later, she discussed a range of issues, including India-Pakistan relations, Iraq, Security Council reform, and India's role in peacekeeping with the Indian Foreign Secretary, a UN spokesman reported.

 

S-G Tells European Parliament That Better Migration Policies Will Benefit All 4

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 29 January urged the European Union to better manage its legal immigration and strengthen the capacity of developing countries to give refugees adequate protection.

"Migrants need Europe, but Europe also needs migrants," Mr. Annan told the European Parliament at a ceremony where he received the 2004 Andrei Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. A closed Europe would be "meaner, poorer, weaker, older" than an open Europe, which would be "fairer, richer, stronger, younger."

"Without immigration, the population of the soon-to-be 25 member States of the EU [European Union] _ 452 million in 2000 _ would drop to under 400 million people by 2050," he said. "Were this to happen, jobs would go unfilled and services undelivered. Your economies would shrink and your societies could stagnate."

Noting that the Russian Federation, Japan and other Asian countries faced similar problems, he said immigration was an inevitable part of the solution.

"I would therefore encourage European states to open up greater avenues for legal migration _ for skilled and unskilled workers, for family reunification and economic improvement, for temporary and permanent immigrants," Mr. Annan said.

Without minimizing the difficulties that migration could bring, he pointed out that migrants have made enormous contributions in science, academia, sports, the arts and government, "including some of you as members of this Parliament."

He also noted that 7 out of 10 refugees fled to developing countries, where resources are far more stretched and human rights standards more uneven than those in Europe. The EU should be among those helping to strengthen the capacity of poor countries to provide protection and solutions for refugees, he said.

He added that "when refugees cannot seek asylum because of offshore barriers, or are detained for excessive periods in unsatisfactory conditions, or are refused entry because of restrictive interpretations of the [1951 Refugee] Convention, the asylum system is broken and the promise of the Convention is broken, too."

European States, he said, should move towards a system for processing of claims jointly and sharing responsibilities for refugees.

Above all, the Secretary-General advocated global partnerships to ensure that migration serves the interests of all.

 

Middle East Peace, Iraq And AIDS Focus Of S-G's Talks With Leaders In Davos 5

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan met in Switzerland on 23 January with officials and leaders from several countries for talks covering the Middle East peace process, developments in Iraq and the fight against HIV/AIDS.

In the margins of the World Economic Forum, held each year in Davos, the Secretary-General spoke with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom about Israel's separation barrier, which Mr. Annan "sees as an obstacle to the Road Map for peace," a UN spokesman said in New York.

The Road Map initiative of the Quartet _ the UN, European Union, Russian Federation and United States _ calls for a series of parallel and reciprocal steps leading to two states living side by side in peace by 2005.

In separate meetings with Mr. Shalom and with Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath, the Secretary-General also discussed conditions for resuming the Israeli-Palestinian dialogue and raised the matter of the pending advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the separation barrier, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Mr. Annan also met with the President of Poland, Aleksander Kwasniewski, with whom he discussed Iraq and the expansion of the European Community to 25 members.

The Secretary-General and new Prime Minister Paul Martin of Canada discussed efforts to provide affordable medication for AIDS patients in poor countries. He briefed the Prime Minister on Iraq, while Mr. Martin raised the issues of Zimbabwe and the Secretary-General's high-level panel on threats, challenges and change, Mr. Dujarric said.

His last meeting was with Dr. Richard Feachem, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Later in the day, Mr. Annan met with the President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf. The Secretary-General told reporters afterwards that he was extremely pleased with the recent developments between India and Pakistan, adding that peace between the two countries and improved relations would be very important not just for them but for the region and the world.

"I am confident that the two leaders are going to do whatever they can to bring about peace," he said, praising the fact that they are "engaged in such a determined manner."

Speaking to reporters on his way into the conference centre earlier on 23 January, the Secretary-General said he had had good discussions with several of the leaders in Davos on Iraq and developments in the region, and that he would make a decision fairly shortly on the Iraqi and coalition request that he send a team to the country to look at the feasibility of holding direct elections there prior to the return of sovereignty at the end of June.

On the Middle East, the Secretary-General said his talks focused on what could be done to move the peace process forward, "because there is an impasse at the moment."

"Everybody is searching for a way to move forward," he said, adding, "And the question of the wall was very much part of the discussion that we had."

 

5 Years After Launching Global Compact, Secretary-General Urges Leaders To Boost Support 6

Five years after urging business leaders to join his initiative to encourage good corporate practices as a response to the challenges brought on by globalization, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 23 January called on executives to look again at ways their companies can help promote fair and far-reaching economic development around the world.

In the text of his address to the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Secretary-General recalled that in 1999, globalization appeared to be almost a force of nature. Yet he felt obliged to warn back then that it would be only as sustainable as the social pillars on which it rested.

"I was concerned that unless global markets were embedded in shared values and responsible practices, the global economy would be fragile, and vulnerable to backlash from all the `isms' of our post-cold-war world: protectionism, populism, nationalism, ethnic chauvinism, fanaticism and terrorism," he said.

At that time, he called for a Global Compact _ to bring companies together with UN agencies, labour and civil society to support nine principles in the areas of human rights, labour and the environment. Today, there are more than 1,200 corporations from more than 70 countries involved from virtually all sectors of the economy.

"Yet much more can be accomplished _ and it must," he said, announcing that a Global Compact Summit will convene this June at UN Headquarters in New York "to reassess and reposition our efforts, aiming at even higher levels of achievement."

In appealing for the support of the leaders gathered in Davos, Mr. Annan noted that the global economic and security environment "have become far less favourable to the maintenance of a stable, equitable and rule-based global order." He cited dwindling investments in the developing world as well as the threat posed by international terrorism.

"This is a challenge for the United Nations," he said. "But it compels the business community, too, to ask how to help put things right."

Offering his own suggestions to reach this end, he stressed that corporations are key to the fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of eight time-bound and measurable targets meant to reduce extreme poverty and hunger while cutting the rate of diseases such as AIDS.

He stressed that the value of achieving these aims cuts across communities. "The Goals are intended, first and foremost, to help people, but they can be good for business: first, because helping to build the infrastructure is an enormous business opportunity; and second, because, once it is built, business will find larger, eager markets in place."

Noting that business has great potential to influence trade, he called for "a deal on agriculture that will help the poor" including the elimination of agricultural subsidies in the multilateral trading system.

He also stressed that companies can promote stability. "Business must find ways of reducing the contribution _ sometime conscious, sometimes inadvertent _ that firms make to fuelling conflicts, which are often related to factional competition for control of natural resources," he said, adding that the private sector can help fight corruption as well.

Turning to the realm of global politics, the Secretary-General recalled the UN's founding principles. "States have a right to defend themselves _ and each other _ if attacked, but the first purpose of the United Nations itself, laid down in Article 1 [of the Charter], is `to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace.'"

"We must show that the United Nations is capable of fulfilling that purpose, not just for the most privileged members of the Organization who are currently _ and understandably _ preoccupied with terrorism and weapons of mass destruction," he said. "The United Nations must also protect millions of our fellow men and women from the more familiar threats of poverty, hunger and deadly disease."

 

In Paris, S-G Welcomes French Network To Advance Global Compact Principles 7

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 27 January welcomed the creation of a network of more than 230 leading French companies committed to advancing good corporate practices under his Global Compact initiative, voicing confidence that it will soon lead others in fostering positive social change.

In remarks to a meeting in Paris with French President Jacques Chirac and top business executives, the Secretary-General praised the contributions of the companies participating the Global Compact Network France and thanked them for their engagement and commitment.

"In all the challenges ahead, I will need your help to ensure that the mission of the Compact remains as relevant as it is today, and that we make full use of its potential," he said, referring to the plan he launched in 1999 at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to encourage companies to adhere to nine core principles in human rights, labour and the environment. Today, more than 1,200 companies from over 70 countries participate in the Compact.

The Secretary-General noted that through the Compact's Dialogue, Learning and Project platforms, dozens of projects and initiatives have been inspired. "Companies, together with partners such as labour and civil society, have learned that cooperation is better than confrontation," he said. "Hundreds of case studies and examples of best practices have helped to establish the business case for the Compact."

Mr. Annan also pointed out that the Compact has been a catalyst in opening up the UN family to new partnerships, with many UN entities now ready to work in tandem with the private sector. This, in turn, is helping to find new way of achieving the lofty goals set by Member States.

"Ultimately, the Compact is in the hands of its participants," he said, voicing hope that the French network "will become a true pacesetter and innovator, and inspire many others to join our movement."

 

S-G, European Officials Agree On Need To Re-Energize Middle East Peace Process 8

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and European Union (EU) officials discussed in Brussels on 28 January the urgent need to support the Middle East
peace process and assist the Palestinian Authority.

Responding to press questions following a meeting with Brian Cowen, the Foreign Minister of Ireland, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, Mr. Annan said the two had agreed on the importance of re-energizing the peace process.

"We shared our concern about the economic, social and humanitarian situation of the Palestinians and I appealed for additional support for them because I am afraid if this situation continues, we will see real despair and perhaps even partial collapse of the Palestinian Authority," he said.

Stressing the need to break the impasse and move forward, the Secretary-General said, "Everybody agrees that the solution is land-for-peace and we need to really find a way of bringing the parties to the table so that in the end we can have two States, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in security." 

He pledged to continue efforts aimed at encouraging the parties to move forward.

Echoing this view, Foreign Minister Cowen said, "We have responsibilities; we need to discharge them and we will work proactively, diplomatically and politically in the coming weeks and months to try and devise a way forward, consistent with the Road Map because of course that is the only means by which a just and comprehensive peace can be obtained."

 

Condemning Bloodshed, S-G Implores Israelis And Palestinians To Pursue Peace 9

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 29 January deplored the latest spate of bloodshed in the Middle East and urged the Israelis and the Palestinians to pursue an enduring settlement to their conflict.

In a statement released in Brussels, Mr. Annan repeated his longstanding condemnation of those who resort to the violence and terror that have claimed innocent lives in the region.

"Once again I appeal, to Israelis and Palestinians alike, to rise above feelings of anger and vengeance, however natural, and to devote all their energies to negotiating a true and lasting peace in which two peoples will live side by side, each in their own State," he said.

Meanwhile in Geneva, the Acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bertrand Ramcharan, condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the terrorist bus bombing in Jerusalem. He extended condolences to the families of the victims of this "despicable criminal act."

Mr. Ramcharan also appealed for a rallying of public sentiment against terrorism. "Indiscriminate attacks on civilians are illegal acts aimed at the destruction of the most basic human rights," he said. "Justice must be meted out to terrorists in accordance with international human rights law."

 

S-G Encouraged By Discussions With Turkish Prime Minister on Cyprus 10

Secretary-General Kofi Annan held a "constructive" exchange on the subject of Cyprus with the Prime Minister of Turkey in Davos, Switzerland, on 24 January, a United Nations spokesman reported.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan "indicated his Government's strong desire for the Turkish Cypriots to resume talks with the Greek Cypriots with a view to resolving outstanding issues by 1 May," the spokesman said in a statement. Mr. Annan, who plans to study the Prime Minister's position carefully, "indicated that his good offices were still open if the parties were to demonstrate the will to conclude, with UN assistance, an agreement, including the holding of referenda, by 1 May," the spokesman added.

Speaking directly to the press in Davos, Mr. Annan stressed that political will would be required by all. "Obviously, if we are going to have talks, all parties concerned _ the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, the motherlands, Turkey and Greece _ must be committed to the talks and everyone must show a willingness to sustain the effort and to seek a settlement."

He added that a settlement to the long-running Cyprus dispute "would not only be in the interests of the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, it would also be in the interests of Turkey and Greece, and improve considerably Turkish relations with the European Union."

 

Concerned By `Difficult Situation' In Sri Lanka, S-G Hopes Peace Talks Can Restart 11

Voicing concern over the difficult situation in Sri Lanka, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 26 January said he still hopes that the peace talks between the Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) can resume in the near future.

The Secretary-General "is most grateful for the positive contribution of Norway to the process and hopes that the Norwegian Government will resume its efforts to bring the parties to the negotiating table," a statement issued by a UN spokesman in New York said.

The statement added that the Secretary-General is glad that the parties continue to respect the ceasefire agreement of February 2002, and appreciates the role played by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), which was set up under that accord and comprises observers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

Through his spokesman, the Secretary-General also appealed to the international community to continue its assistance to areas most affected by the war.

 

UN Security Team In Baghdad For Talks With Coalition 12

A two-person team from the United Nations is in Iraq for talks with the coalition on various security matters, a UN spokesman in New York confirmed on 23 January.

The team, comprising a military adviser and a security coordinator, arrived in Baghdad with the primary purpose of liasing with the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and the coalition forces, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a press briefing. 

"This is very important in achieving enhanced safety and security for our local United Nations personnel, as well as that of UN premises," he said.

He added that the opening of a direct line of communication with the coalition on security matters "is necessary for the planning for the safety and security of UN personnel, activities and assets in Iraq and for an eventual return of UN international staff to Iraq."

A separate field security assessment will be needed should Secretary-General Kofi Annan decide to send in an electoral team, Mr. Dujarric noted. In talks on 26 January, Iraqi and coalition officials asked the Secretary-General to consider dispatching an advisory team to Iraq to examine the feasibility of elections _ as well as possible alternatives _ before the handover of sovereignty at the end of June.

 

Afghanistan's New Constitution Takes Effect With UN Offering Support 13

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan on 26 January signed the country's new Constitution, triggering its formal adoption in the presence of the United Nations Acting Special Representative for Afghanistan, Jean Arnault. 

Afghanistan's Loya Jirga, or grand council, reached agreement on the Constitution's form and detail at the start of the month. But the signing was delayed until the Dari and Pashto language versions of the document could be completely reconciled.

The new document outlines a presidential system of government, a bicameral legislature, equal rights for women and a judicial system that complies with Islam. National presidential and legislative elections are scheduled to take place later this year.

 

French General To Head UN Peacekeepers In Southern Lebanon 14

Maj. Gen. Alain Pellegrini of France has been named as the new Force Commander of the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.

General Pellegrini, 57, will take over from Maj. Gen. Lalit Mohan Tewari of India as head of the 2,000-strong UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) starting in mid-February, a spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced on 26 January.

UNIFIL was created in 1978 to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, restore peace and security and help Beirut restore its effective authority over the area.

General Pellegrini served in Sarajevo and Mostar in 1995-96 with the UN Protection Force in the former Yugoslavia (UNPROFOR) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led Implementation Force (IFOR).

Currently the Special Adviser on Africa and the Middle East to the French Chief of Defence Staff, General Pellegrini has held various military appointments both in his country and abroad during a career spanning over three decades.

 

Sec-Gen: Urgent Action, Even Military Intervention, Needed To Prevent Genocide 15

With the past decade providing "especially shameful" examples of genocide in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 26 January called on the global community to take urgent preventive action, both political and, if necessary, military.

"Genocide, whether imminent or ongoing, is practically always, if not by definition, a threat to the peace," Mr. Annan said in an address to the Stockholm International Forum on preventing genocide. "It must be dealt with as such _ by strong and united political action and, in extreme cases, by military action."

Among measures he proposed were the establishment of a committee by States parties to the Genocide Convention to review reports and recommend action, as well as the appointment of a special rapporteur to deal directly with the Security Council, making clear the link, often ignored until too late, between massive and systematic violations of human rights and threats to international peace and security.

Mr. Annan referred to the genocide of the 1990s - when more than 7,000 civilians were murdered following the capture of the Srebrenica enclave by Serb forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina and some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were estimated to have been massacred in Rwanda _ as especially shameful. The UN had peacekeepers in both areas at the time.

"In Rwanda, some of those peacekeepers lost their lives trying to defend the victims. All honour to them. But instead of reinforcing our troops, we withdrew them."

He added that in both cases the gravest mistakes were made by Member States, particularly in the way decisions were taken in the Security Council, "but all of us failed."

Issuing a call to arms against the roots of violence and genocide _ "intolerance, racism, tyranny, and the dehumanizing public discourse that denies whole groups of people their dignity and rights" _ the Secretary-General praised Canada for setting up the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty.

"Thanks to the Commission, we now understand that the issue is not one of a right to intervention, but rather of a responsibility _ in the first instance, a responsibility of all States to protect their own populations, but ultimately a responsibility of the whole human race, to protect our fellow human beings from extreme abuse wherever and whenever it occurs," he declared.

He also voiced hope that the International Criminal Court would serve to deter the crime of genocide.

 

UNCTAD: Investors Face Fewer Requirements In Competitive Global Economy 16

The competition for foreign investment has intensified so much that many host countries are no longer stipulating that investors help increase exports, provide training, or recruit local staff, according to a new United Nations report.

The study by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), "Foreign Direct Investment and Performance Requirements: New Evidence from Selected Countries," analyzes the experiences of Chile, India, Malaysia and South Africa, as well as that of developed countries.

Performance requirements are stipulations that investors meet specified goals as a condition for being allowed to enter or expand in a host country, or for receiving certain advantages.

"While both developed and developing countries have used performance requirements as part of their development policies, the overall trends are similar in the two groups of countries: the incidence of performance requirements has declined and, to the extent that such policy measures are used, they are normally applied as a condition for the receipt of an incentive," the report says.

In developed countries, most traditional performance requirements have been abolished, the report says. At the same time, however, new strategic measures have been introduced to influence the behaviour of firms, such as the World Trade Organization's (WTO) "rules of origin" governing anti-dumping, countervailing duties and origin-marking measures and locational incentives.

Some developing countries continue to see the requirements as tools to enhance the benefits obtained from foreign direct investment (FDI). But the report adds that the effectiveness of measures has varied and may discourage investors.

Many developing countries argue that they should have the right to use tools that were available to developed countries when they were industrializing their economies. Developed countries, on the other hand, tend to associate performance requirements with government interventionist strategies of the past and question their effectiveness, it says.

In that regard, some developing countries would like to see greater flexibility in WTO's Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMs) Agreement to allow developing countries more freedom to apply stipulations that may have been prohibited, UNCTAD says. Others, however, have gone beyond TRIMs in banning certain stipulations.

 

Sec-Gen To Host Nigeria-Cameroon Summit Meeting On Border Dispute 17

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan will host talks at the end of this month between the leaders of Nigeria and Cameroon as part of continuing efforts to resolve a border dispute between the two countries, a UN spokesman announced on 28 January.

President Paul Biya of Cameroon and President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria will attend the 31 January summit at the UN headquarters complex in Geneva.

The meeting is being held in the framework of the work of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission, which is chaired by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa, Ahmedu Ould-Abdallah.

"The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss the progress achieved so far by the two countries, with the assistance of the United Nations, in the implementation of the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of 10 October 2002 on the land and maritime boundary between both States, and to consider the remaining tasks within the mandate of the Mixed Commission," the spokesman said in a statement.

 

WFP Seeks Urgent Private Sector Aid In Fighting Growing Global Hunger 18

With a child dying every five seconds from hunger or diseases associated with it, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) launched an urgent appeal at the annual World Economic Forum on 23 January for private sector help in tackling the increasing global problem.

Despite reaching a record 110 million hungry people with food aid last year, WFP noted that more than 800 million people in the developing world suffer from hunger. According to a recent report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the number of hungry people in developing countries increased by 18 million in the second half of the 1990s, indicating that hunger is getting worse, not better.

Attending this year's Forum in Davos, Switzerland _ the first appearance from the agency there _ WFP's Executive Director James T. Morris said the agency's corporate partnership with TPG, the global mail, express and logistics giant, was a model of its search for similar help from the private sector.

"One of the most valuable benefits of our partnership with TPG is the involvement of company employees in the fight against hunger," Mr. Morris said of the firm, which has boosted WFP's transport, warehousing and supply chain capabilities and provided critical funds to feed more people worldwide.

"From China to Spain and France to Australia, TPG staff are actively raising money for WFP's work, and highlighting the plight of the hungry," Mr. Morris added. 

"TPG has told us that it has been a tremendous boost to employee morale."

TPG has provided life-saving assistance with airlifts to Chad, Liberia and, most recently, to the victims of last month's earthquake in Bam, Iran. TPG has also helped WFP identify new corporate partners such as The Boston Consulting Group. With BCG's free assistance, the agency has developed a fund-raising strategy aimed at the corporate world.

WFP's effort to galvanize new partners into action and broaden its alliances with corporate sponsors is part of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's long-standing effort to build a stronger relationship between the UN and the business community.

 

UNDP And Microsoft Join Forces To Provide Technology Training 19

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Microsoft Corporation on 23 January launched a new initiative to provide technology training in community education centres across the developing world.

UNDP's Administrator Mark Malloch Brown and Microsoft's Chairman, Bill Gates, made the announcement at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The agreement is aimed at helping developing countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of time-specific targets agreed to by the world's leaders that include halving extreme poverty by 2015.

Under the agreement, UNDP and Microsoft will identify opportunities to work together on programmes using UNDP's development experience and Microsoft's technology products and skills.

They are already collaborating on a pilot project to provide technology skills and access at 16 centres across Afghanistan, with the aim of building a skilled pool of information technology professionals in the country. Other projects have been identified in Egypt, Morocco and Mozambique.

Microsoft has also agreed to help UNDP with its Southern Africa Capacity Initiative, providing computer technology to help poor countries in the region deliver better social services to people affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

 

UNFPA Welcomes US Congressional Support 20

Welcoming a decision by United States legislators to appropriate a contribution of $34 million for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), its chief on 23 January urged the administration in Washington to release the money.

The Bush Administration has withheld appropriated money from the Fund for the past two years, claiming that UNFPA provides indirect support to a programme of coercive abortion in China.

But numerous delegations, including a team from the US Administration, have visited family planning programmes in China and found no evidence of UNFPA support for coercion. For its part, the Fund has strongly urged the Chinese authorities to end coercive policies.

Members of the House of Representatives and Senate approved the funds for UNFPA as part of the 2004 Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill.

"I appeal to the United States Administration to allow the funds appropriated by Congress to be released so that the country can rejoin all other industrialized countries in supporting UNFPA's work to promote voluntary family planning, safe motherhood and HIV/AIDS prevention in the world's poorest countries," said Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid.

UNFPA estimated that the $34 million applied to its programmes could prevent 800,000 abortions, 4,700 maternal deaths and 77,000 infant and child deaths worldwide in just one year.