Archive for March, 2007
March 29th, 2007 at 07:56pm
A study by the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University published by the World Bank has named the United Nations Capital Development Fund’s (UNCDF) work in Mozambique a best practice in building sustainable systems to reduce poverty in fragile countries. The study, titled Aid that works: successful development in fragile states, is aimed at understanding how initiatives in five countries, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Timor Leste and Uganda, achieved success in the extremely difficult conditions characteristic of “low income countries under stress.”
For more information, see here.
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March 28th, 2007 at 10:31am
On March 26, the Government of China, the Government of Norway, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to support a new project focusing on developing and implementing provincial programmes on climate change mitigation and adaptation. “The Provincial Climate Change Programme in China” was made possible by a USD $2 million financial contribution from Norway and is expected to be launched by mid-2007 by the National Coordination Committee on Climate Change of the National Development and Reform Commission and the UNDP.
For more information, see here.
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March 26th, 2007 at 06:54pm
The BBC and other news sources are reporting that Guantamo Bay detainee David Hicks has pleaded guilty to providing material support for terrorism. He is the first person to be tried under the United States’ new tribunal procedures. Once a plea deal is reached, Hicks will serve the remainder of his sentence in Australia.
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March 26th, 2007 at 06:44pm
In United States v. Bravo, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 6618, the First Circuit found that jurisdiction under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act does not include a nexus requirement. As such, a United States district court could properly hear a drug case involving an unmarked vessel in international waters, even though there had been no showing that the drugs being transported in the vessel would affect the United States. Moreover, the court found that the Coast Guard’s actions in boarding the vessel were in compliance with international law, given that Colombia had been unable to confirm the ship’s claim that it was a registered Colombian vessel. The court noted that the Fourth Amendment does not apply to actions by United States authorities against aliens in international waters.
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March 26th, 2007 at 06:26pm
In a March 23rd Ceremony, the UK became the 34th signatory to the Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings. The treaty will enter into force when it has been ratified by the parliaments of 10 of the Council’s 46 member states. Thus far 5 member states have ratified it.
For more information on the ceremony, see here.
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March 23rd, 2007 at 09:11am
With a unanimous vote, the United Nations Security Council today extended the mission of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) by one year. A summary of the proceedings, together with the full text of Resolution 1746, is at:
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2007/sc8977.doc.htm
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March 23rd, 2007 at 09:06am
On Thursday, March 22, the European Union’s transportation ministers backed the new Open Skies agreement, which will open up the aviation market for transatlantic flights.
http://ec.europa.eu/unitedkingdom/press/frontpage/22032007b_en.htm
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March 23rd, 2007 at 08:41am
The Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament has adopted a report regarding legislation that would impose criminal sanctions for the infringement of intellectual property rights. The proposed directive will next go before the April plenary session. A press release is here; the report can be found here.
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March 23rd, 2007 at 08:31am
On March 22, as part of a celebration of World Water Day 2007 and in recognition of the upcoming halfway point in the timeline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis made a statement stressing the concrete steps that can be taken to address the water emergency, being made more daunting by climate change, that currently affects the 700 million people in 43 countries who live below the water-stress threshold of 1,700 cubic meters per person per year.
For a text of the statement, see here.
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March 23rd, 2007 at 08:30am
As part of the support pledged by Junichriro Koizumi, the former Prime Minister of Japan, Japan has given $4.83 million to the United Nations Development Programme to bolster earthquake preparedness in South Asia. Japan’s donation was made specifically to the Earthquake Risk Reduction and Recovery Preparedness Programme that targets India, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan and aims to support regional cooperation in disaster risk reduction and recovery and to strengthen the capacities of nations to prepare for and recover from earthquakes.
For more information, see here.
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