News
Marking World Humanitarian Day, UN lauds heroic efforts on the front lines
Read full article at the UN News Centre http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35664&Cr=Humanitarian&Cr1=.
UN agencies call for $460 million to assist Pakistani flood victims
10 August 2010 – The United Nations refugee agency’s staff on the ground in Pakistan are calling the devastating floods among the most difficult situations they have faced, stressing that the catastrophe is also testing the limits of the country’s emergency response capacity, as well as that of the world body and other agencies.
“Thousands of villages and towns in low-lying areas have not seen flooding on this scale in generations,” Andrej Mahecic, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told reporters today in Geneva.
Pakistan’s Federal Flood Commission estimates that more than 300,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged, more than 14,000 cattle have perished and 2.6 million acres of crop land is inundated.
So far, some 1,600 people have lost their lives in the flooding triggered by monsoon rains, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said that 6 million people are in direct need of relief.
Tomorrow morning, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes and representatives of the Pakistani Government will launch an appeal, estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, to respond to the floods.
“Let me stress now that we must also give thought to medium and longer-term assistance. This will be a major and protracted task,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said at a press conference in New York yesterday. “I appeal for donors to generously support Pakistan at this difficult time.”
OCHA announced today that more than $44 million in funds have been received, with up to $91 million pledged.
The Office also noted that two thirds of those in need of assistance are in Punjab province, considered to be the bread-basket of the country.
UNHCR said that its relief work has been focused in northern Pakistan where flooding has been most severe.
“Normally, our work there is geared towards Afghan refugees and conflict-displaced Pakistanis, but in this instance, we are working equally for all affected communities, both Pakistani and Afghan,” Mr. Mahecic said.
Of the 1.7 million registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan, 1.4 million are living in the hardest-hit flood areas, he noted.
So far, the agency has provided more than 41,000 plastic tarpaulins, 14,500 family tents, 70,000 blankets and other supplies, but deliveries have been impeded by flooded roads and other ruined infrastructure.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) reported that weather conditions improved slightly yesterday, allowing its helicopters to take off for the first time in three days to help transport urgently-needed supplies.
The World Food Programme says that weather conditions improved slightly yesterday, allowing WFP to get its helicopters off the ground for the first time in three days to help the affected people in Pakistan.
Some 600,000 people had essentially been cut off in the upper Swat Valley in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (PKP) over the weekend when poor weather prevented the aircraft from making deliveries.
To date, WFP has reached nearly 340,000 people with one month’s worth of food in the areas most affected by the torrential flooding.
For its part, the UN World Health Organization (WHO), which is coordinating the international health response in support of the Government, is treating tens of thousands of people via mobile and fixed health facilities. Since 21 July, WHO and its partners have carried out 200,000 consultations, out of which 5,000 were for diarrhoea.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) noted that in KPK, intermittent rain continues to hamper efforts to deliver assistance, but the agency is supplying oral rehydration salts for more than 2 million children and is assisting in a measles vaccination campaign.
-reprinted from UN News Centre
UN-backed child polio vaccine campaign kicks off in Afghanistan
“We hope that religious scholars, community representatives, parents and ordinary people will help us achieve our target to eliminate polio from the region,” said Rahmathullah Kamwak, who heads the office of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) in the southern province of Kandahar.
He was speaking yesterday at an inauguration ceremony for a three-day campaign which will send 20,000 people door-to-door to administer two drops of the oral polio vaccine to children under the age of five in 14 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces.
The scheme is part of a greater effort led by the Ministry of Public Health, with the support of WHO, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other partners to reach 7.7 million children by year’s end.
There have been one dozen confirmed cases of polio in Afghanistan, mostly in the south where fighting has impeded the access of more than 100,000 children to health services.
In the country’s east, 13 volunteers taking part in vaccinations have been abducted by anti-Government forces in Kunar province, but the campaign has resumed there following a security assessment.
In addition to insecurity, continued movements of people between polio-endemic areas to polio-free areas pose a challenge to efforts to rid Afghanistan of polio, said Khushhal Khan Zaman, who heads WHO’s office in Jalalabad, in the country’s east.
Faizullah, 35, who works in a flour mill near Jalalabad, has three children who have benefited from the latest round of vaccinations.
“I don’t want to see my kids handicapped,” he said, noting that his youngest children are vaccinated against polio whenever there is a campaign.
Afghanistan, along with Pakistan, Nigeria and India, are the four countries where polio is still endemic.
Last month, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative –spearheaded by WHO, UNICEF and its partners – unveiled a new effort to eradicate polio and urged the international community to provide additional funds to reach this goal.
The Strategic Plan 2010-2012 aims to build on success in key endemic countries, such as Nigeria, where the number of polio cases have dropped by more than 99 per cent – from 312 cases last year to three in 2010.
Ten of the 15 previously polio-free African countries that were re-infected in 2009 have successfully stopped their outbreaks. They are Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR), Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Kenya, Togo and Uganda.
Reprinted From the UN News Centre 26 July 2010
UN gets set for World Cup kick-off and renewed push on anti-poverty targets
With community festivals, television shows, posters, electronic games, multimedia campaigns and even a new song, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be under the spotlight during the month-long World Cup.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived today in Johannesburg ahead of Friday’s World Cup opening ceremony in the same city, beginning a five-nation African tour that will also take the UN chief to Burundi, Cameroon, Benin and Sierra Leone.
Mr. Ban held talks with South African President Jacob Zuma and later addressed the “Sports for Peace” gala dinner tonight alongside Wilfried Lemke, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace. In his speech Mr. Ban highlighted the unifying power of sport and underscored the importance of the MDGs.
As part of the UN-wide effort, agencies that include the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have started promoting 8 Goals for Africa, a song recorded by eight artists from across the continent. A video recorded for the song will be shown in public viewing areas in South Africa throughout the World Cup.
The UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) is holding community events in slum neighbourhoods that aim to promote sustainable urbanization; UNICEF is staging football festivals to raise awareness about the fight against child trafficking and exploitation; and the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is screening TV programmes about racism and tolerance.
Numerous other events and campaigns involving UN agencies, including the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), will also be held.
The renewed push on the MDGs is taking place just three months before world leaders are scheduled to gather at UN Headquarters in New York in September to chart the progress so far towards achieving the eight MDGs and discuss the ways forward.
At the Millennium Summit in 2000, world leaders agreed to try to attain the MDGs – which include halving the number of people living in extreme poverty, tackling environmental degradation, and slashing maternal mortality – by 2015.
Security Council calls for prompt, impartial probe into deadly Gaza convoy incident
31 May 2010 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today expressed his shock at the deadly military interception on boats loaded with relief supplies headed for Gaza, calling on Israel to fully explain its actions.
According to media reports, early this morning in international waters, Israeli intercepted and took control of the six-ship aid convoy, which was carrying hundreds of activists from several countries. At least ten people were killed in serious violence on one or more of the vessels.
“I condemn this violence,” Mr. Ban said from Kampala, Uganda, where he presided over the first review conference of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“It is vital that there is a full investigation to determine exactly how this bloodshed took place,” he said. “I believe Israel must urgently provide a full explanation.”
The Security Council held an emergency session today to discuss the incident.
Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco told the Council's open meeting that “today's bloodshed would have been avoided if repeated calls on Israel to end the counterproductive and unacceptable blockade of Gaza had been heeded.”
He spotlighted “the scale of unmet needs of Gaza's civilian population,” underlining that “the blockade is unacceptable and counterproductive and must end.”
Mr. Fernandez-Taranco noted that today's developments come as indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians began last month.
The incident took place “at a time when all efforts should be focused on the need to build trust and advance Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and nurture regional cooperation in support of peace,” he said. “It is vital that the proximity talks continue.”
John Holmes, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, condemned today's “dreadful waste of life over a humanitarian issue,” emphasizing the need to end the blockade of Gaza.
“It has worsened conditions of life for one and a half million Palestinians, deepened poverty and food insecurity, prevented reconstruction, and increased aid dependence by destroying livelihoods and economic activity,” said Mr. Holmes, who also serves as the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. “It has helped only the extremists.”
Also speaking out against today's events was UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, who emphasized that “nothing can justify the appalling outcome of this operation.”
Calling for a probe into the incident, she underscored the need for accountability.
“I unequivocally condemn what appears to be disproportionate use of force, resulting in the killing and wounding of so many people attempting to bring much-needed aid to the people of Gaza, who have now been enduring a blockade for more than three years,” Ms. Pillay said.
She called on the Israeli Government to heed the “almost unanimous international view that the continued blockade of Gaza is both inhumane and illegal.”
The blockade, the High Commissioner pointed out, “lies at the heart of so many of the problems plaguing the Israel-Palestine situation, as does the impression that the Israeli Government treats international law with perpetual disdain.”
For his part, Richard Falk, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, said that “Israel is guilty of shocking behavior by using deadly weapons against unarmed civilians on ships that were situated in the high seas where freedom of navigation exists, according to the law of the seas.”
He echoed the calls by the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for an investigation into today's incident, stressing that it is “essential that those Israelis responsible for this lawless and murderous behavior, including political leaders who issued the orders, be held criminally accountable for their wrongful acts.”
Mr. Falk characterized the blockade of Gaza as a “massive form of collective punishment” that is tantamount to a crime against humanity.
“Unless prompt and decisive action is taken to challenge the Israeli approach to Gaza all of us will be complicit in criminal policies that are challenging the survival of an entire beleaguered community,” he said.
29 May International Day of UN Peacekeepers
The Assembly invited all Member States, organizations of the United Nations system, non-governmental organizations and individuals to observe the Day in an appropriate manner.
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the United Nations Peace-keeping Forces in 1988.
New course released: Preventing Violence Against Women
In conjunction with the celebration of International Women’s Day on 8 March, we are pleased to announce the release of the new distance-learning course,
Preventing Violence Against Women and Gender Inequality in Peacekeeping. This course was written by AnnJanette Rosga, Ph.D., in association with Megan Bastick and Anja Ebnöther of the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF).
Read more about this course.
Earthquakes in Haiti
Please keep all those affected by the earthquake in Haiti in your thoughts and prayers. We have many students, friends and colleagues in the area. Thank you.
Find out how you can help.
IAPTC Education and Training Award
Representatives from the Peace Operations Training Institute recently attended the annual conference of the International Association of Peacekeeping Training Centers (IAPTC) in Sydney, Australia. While there, we were surprised and delighted when Executive Director Harvey Langholtz received the 2009 IAPTC Education and Training Award. The award was presented to Dr. Langholtz by Rear Admiral Gboribiogha Jonah, Director of the Nigerian War College and President of the IAPTC.
This award acknowledges “excellence in the field of peacekeeping education and training.” The recipient “must have demonstrated a unique and extremely valuable contribution to peacekeeping education and training and to the preparation of individuals or groups to participate in future or current peace operations.” (Source: IAPTC) The text of the award reads, “In recognition to your achievements in developing key strategic partnerships; development of doctrine, training programs and in providing strong leadership in peacekeeper education.”
In his remarks accepting the award Dr. Langholtz thanked the IAPTC and especially thanked the students and staff at the Peace Operations Training Institute for their dedicated work in serving peace and peacekeepers globally. He also acknowledged the important support of the nations that fund the Institute and expressed his pleasure in working with peacekeeping institutions world-wide in pursuit of the ideals of the UN as stated in the preamble to the UN Charter.
We thank and congratulate all of our students for their hard work and dedication.
Academic and Model U.N. bookstore
In response to an increase in interest from the academic community, we have developed a new programme that allows all university, college, and secondary school students, faculty, and staff to enrol in Peace Operations Training Institute courses at a reduced tuition. The programme also offers universities world-wide an opportunity to offer Institute courses as supplemental reading or primary text material for undergraduate and graduate courses. Furthermore, Model U.N. participants can take our courses in preparation for Model U.N. conferences. To enrol, please visit http://edu.peaceopstraining.org/.
