Posts filed under 'United Nations'
November 20th, 2008 at 11:16am
On 18th November, 2008, Navi Pillay, the UN Human Rights Commissioner called for an immediate end to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. Pointing out that the Israeli action was a flagrant violation of International Law and denied the residents of Gaza their most basic human rights, Ms. Pillay said:
“By function of this blockade, 1.5 million Palestinian men, women and children have been forcibly deprived of their most basic human rights for months”….“This is in direct contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law. It must end now”
She welcomed the Israeli decision to allow a limited number of trucks in the Gaza strip on 17th November, 2008 but stated that a full-fledged lifting of blockade was absolutely necessary to address the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation there. She pointed out that more than half of the civilian population in Gaza consists of children who are in dire need of humanitarian protection.
In a parallel development, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said that UNRWA has been unable to get supplies and was turning away mothers from food centres without powdered milk for their babies.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon telephoned the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and expressed over the deteriorating situation in the Gaza strip and called upon the Israeli Prime Minister to facilitate free movement of supplies within and UN personnel into Gaza. The Israeli Prime Minister remained non-committal regarding any specific action.
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November 10th, 2008 at 09:34pm
The General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations voted last week to elect five new members to the International Court of Justice. The five judges haling from Jordan, France, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Somalia were affirmed for a nine-year term beginning in February 2009.
The International Court of Justice consists of 15 judges - three for Africa, two for Latin America, three for Asia, five for Western Europe and other States, and two for Eastern Europe and Russia. One third of the membership is renewed every three years, and no two judges may be from the same country.
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November 10th, 2008 at 11:25am
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon encouraged the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and neighboring nations (namely, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and South Africa) to take “urgent measures to contain the present crisis created by the upsurge of fighting in eastern DRC” at a UN-backed summit hosted by the African Union on November 7. He expressed deep concern at fresh fighting in the province of North Kivu between Government forces (FARDC) and the National Congress in Defence of the People (CNDP) and stressed that the escalation of violence would be felt not only by the Congolese people but across the region. He called for efforts to broker a political solution, which would involve a ceasefire, disengagement of troops, and disarmament of armed groups. In addition, he requested that the Security Council add 3,000 troops to reinforce the 17,000-strong UN peacekeeping force in the DRC, known as MONUC. Currently, 5,000 peacekeepers are in North Kivu, trying to carry out MONUC’s mandate to protect civilians from the violence. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the total number of internally displaced people in North Kivu since September is now estimated at 252,000, in addition to the existing 800,000 displaced from earlier hostilities.
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November 3rd, 2008 at 01:07am
On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an end to the violence in the North Kivu province in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The intensity of the conflict between Government forces (FARDC) and a militia group known as the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), led by former general Laurent Nkunda, has increased in the past several days .
Over the past several days, more than 45,000 people have fled internally displaced persons camps (IDPs) in North Kivu, while over 1,000 other Congolese have sought refuge in Uganda. The conflict between the FARDC and the CNDP, which began in August, has left 250,000 Congolese homeless and another 850,000 in IDPs.
Mr. Ban referenced “the use of civilians as human shields,” “the exchange of heavy weapons across the…DRC-Rwanda border,” “the collapse of discipline” among government forces, and “the targeting of UN peacekeepers” as particularly deplorable elements of the conflict. In addition, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) reported an inability to deliver over 100,000 metric tons of food due to the violence.
Nevertheless, Mr. Ban praised the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC, MONUC, for its efforts to protect civilian lives. In recent days, he dispatched senior advisors to the region to meet with key leaders. Mr. Ban’s Special Representative Alan Doss emphasized, “What we want is for the CNDP to enter a process and stay in the process and remain committed to agreements they have signed.” To that end, Mr. Ban announced that “MONUC will use all necessary means, within the limits of its capacity to carry out its mandate,” which includes attempting to bring the CNDP and Congolese government to the negotiate in order to end what Mr. Ban has termed “a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic dimensions.”
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October 31st, 2008 at 04:35pm
Violence has broken out in Congo as forces loyal to former Congolese General Laurent Nkunda launch attacks on government troops. These rebel forces are believed to be preparing a strike on the city of Goma. Only ten months ago, rebel groups met in Goma to sign a peace agreement. As a result of the rising violence, almost 45,000 refugees have fled to a U.N. refugee camp outside of the city. The U.N. is attempting to prevent forthcoming raids by deploying attack helicopters to the region.
Spokesman for the U.S. State Department, Sean McCormack, has stressed the United States’ support of U.N. peacekeeping efforts, and McCormack has urged Mr. Nkunda to resume talks with the DRC government. In a statement made on October 28, McCormack said, “The U.S. calls on all parties to the Goma Agreements and the Nairobi Communiqué to respect their commitments and renounce the use of arms.”
The United States has been a long-time supporter of the U.N.’s peacekeeping mission in Congo. Since 1998, the U.S. has delivered over $220 million in emergency aid to victims of the conflict, and has also played a role in efforts to enhance stability in Congo and surrounding regions.
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October 30th, 2008 at 04:49pm
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attacks in Northern Somalia on October 29, 2008. These attacks included a suicide car bombing at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) compound in Hargeisa which killed two UN staff and injured six others. Mr. Ban’s spokesperson states the Secretary-General “stresses the neutrality of the United Nations as well as humanitarian personnel, and urges all parties to support and facilitate the delivery of assistance to the Somali population.” Other explosions in the Hergaisa area and in Putland did not involve UN premises.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991. Despite the signing of a UN-brokered peace deal to end the fighting between the Transnational Federal Government (TFG) and the rebel Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), recent months have been filled with violence
The UN assists peace efforts in this area through the UN Political office for Somalia (UNPOS), which is lead by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah. A Deputy Special Representative, Charles Petrie, was appointed to assist these efforts.
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October 17th, 2008 at 09:06am
On Wednesday Serbia won a bid in the United Nations General Assembly to have the International Court of Justice review Kosovo’s recent declaration of independence. Serbia considers Kosovo to be a “breakaway province” which unilaterally declared independence and thus wants a ruling on the legality of the region’s actions.
Although the ICJ is often called upon to resolves border disputes, it is rarely asked to make legal rulings of this nature. Kosovo is a particularly difficult case because there are no guidelines to follow in international law for secessions within Europe. Former colonies in regions such as Africa or Latin America have formal steps to follow in order to declare independence, but such steps cannot easily be applied to regions that are more established.
77 countries in the General Assembly voted in favor of Serbia’s request, with six countries voting against it and 76 countries abstaining. The United States and Albania, which has strong ties to Kosovo, are among those voting against the measure, asserting that Kosovo’s independence is irreversible and that Serbia’s request is merely “dragging its domestic disputes into the international arena.” Most European states refrained from voting. However, a number of European countries with separatist factions of their own, such as Spain and Cyprus, voted in favor of letting the ICJ review the issue. These nations are interested in hearing how the court rules in order to determine how it may impact secessionist movements in their own states in the future.
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October 16th, 2008 at 09:22pm
Former president of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari, won the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize for his work as an international mediator in conflict resolution efforts around the globe. The Norwegian Nobel Committee particularly recognized Ahtisaari’s work in Namibia, Indonesia, Kosovo, and Iraq, praising his dedication to “peace and reconciliation” in those areas.
Ahtisaari was seen as a conservative choice by some, especially following last year’s controversial award of the prize to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. International mediators rarely win the Nobel Peace Prize, which is often awarded to inspirational figures or even to a conflict’s principal actors. Ahtisaari joins only six other laureates chosen for their role in conflict mediation, including Theodore Roosevelt (1906), for mediating peace between Russia and Japan, and Jimmy Carter (2002), for brokering the Camp David Accords, among other achievements. In comparison with these laureates, Ahtisaari’s choice is unusual because it comes in recognition of a decades-long career in international mediation, as opposed to any particular high-profile success, a selection regarded by some as reaffirming “the original vision of Alfred Nobel.”
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October 8th, 2008 at 12:20am
The top UN envoy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has asked for an increase in the number of peacekeepers in the country (in addition to the 19,000 already there), expressing alarm about the renewal of hostilities in the eastern provinces. Alan Doss, Special Representative for the DRC, expressed concern that the Congo may plunge back into a civil war, pinpointing the provinces of North Kivu, where ethnic tensions have risen, and Orientale, where Ugandan rebel armies have launched attacks. While granting that the peacebuilding budget is limited and that the peacekeeping mission in the DRC (MONUC) needs to maximize its current resources, Mr. Doss stressed that armed groups must be dealt with, if the rule of law is not to give way to “the rule of gun.”
MONUC was set up in 1999 to help enforce the ceasefire of the civil war and restore peace and stability. Since then, the UN has helped to organize elections and maintain relative calm.
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April 23rd, 2008 at 07:11pm
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) held its largest meeting ever during 8-11th April. Attended by member states and 2 new participants, China and Spain, the focus of the meeting was research and development needs in safeguards and verification. 41 delegates discussed the future agenda of the Member State Support Programme (MSSP), specifically addressing areas of research, technology transfer and operational support for verification activities. Given the IAEA’s own limitations in finance and implementation, the IAEA relies on its member states in order to meet its safeguards. The organization also released its publication, “Research and Development Programme for Nuclear Verification, 2008-2009,” a document released biennially detailing the IAEA’s activities in research, development and implementation activities. For further details, please click here.
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