UN DAILY NEWS - 2 June
UN RIGHTS BODY VOTES TO DISPATCH INDEPENDENT PROBE INTO 'ATTACK' ON GAZA AID CONVOY
Strongly condemning Israel's actions against the humanitarian flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted today to dispatch an independent, international probe into violations of international law resulting from Monday's incident.
With 32 votes in favour to three against, and nine abstentions, the 47-member Council also deeply deplored the loss of life resulting from Israel's "attack" on the convoy, and demanded that Israel release all detained persons and material aboard the ships.
Italy, the Netherlands and the United States voted against the resolution, which also called on Israel to immediately lift the blockade on Gaza, which it imposed for what it called security reasons after Hamas, which does not recognize Israel's right to exist, ousted the Fatah movement in the Strip in 2007.
Israel's military interception of the aid ships led to the deaths of several civilians and the wounding of dozens of others. Early yesterday the Security Council issued a resolution in which it "condemns those acts which resulted in the loss" of the lives of civilians and calls for a "prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation" into the incident.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has also called for a prompt probe, has appealed for the immediate release of those detained in the raid, and he said today in remarks to journalists at UN Headquarters in New York that most of the detainees are now returning to their home countries.
Mr. Ban said that he would consult with concerned parties on the way forward after the Security Council's presidential statement and the Human Rights Council's resolution.
The Secretary-General noted that he has already had discussions with Arab, Turkish and Israeli representatives, as well as with members of the Security Council.
Israel must provide "a full and detained accounting of the events" around the military operation, he said, adding that he was relieved to learn that most of the detainees are now returning to their home countries.
He stressed that the incident highlights a serious underlying problem – that Israel's closure of the Gaza Strip is "counterproductive, unsustainable and wrong" and should be lifted immediately.
Asked about reports that another convoy of ships is heading towards Gaza, Mr. Ban urged all parties to act with caution and responsibility to avoid a repeat of Monday's incident.
The aid convoy that was intercepted by Israel was said to have been carrying educational, medical and construction materials, as well as hundreds of activists from different countries, to Gaza, where the blockade has caused ongoing suffering for 1.5 million Palestinian inhabitants.
The UN has repeatedly spoken out against the closure of Gaza and raised concerns over the insufficient flow of material into the area to meet basic needs and spur reconstruction.
Irina Bokova, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), today voiced her concern that a number of journalists who were aboard the ships had been detained by Israel.
Ms. Bokova expressed her shock at the incident, and highlighted the need to ensure that journalists can report accurately and without hindrance.
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UN INDEPENDENT EXPERT VOICES CONCERNS OVER THE PRACTICE OF TARGETED KILLINGS
A United Nations independent human rights expert today sounded the alarm about the practice of targeted killings, saying it had a tenuous legal basis and could undermine the rules that aim to prevent extrajudicial executions and guarantee people the right to life.
Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, said in a new report that legal justifications for targeted killings were often based on "excessively broad circumstances" and there was a lack of essential accountability mechanisms to ensure that they were legal.
"In terms of the first problem, there are indeed circumstances in which targeted killings may be legal," Mr. Alston noted. "They are permitted in armed conflict situations when used against combatants or fighters, or civilians who directly engage in combat-like activities.
"But they are increasingly being used far from any battle zone. The United States, in particular, has put forward a novel theory that there is a 'law of 9/11' that enables it to legally use force in the territory of other States as part of its inherent right to self-defence on the basis that it is in an armed conflict with al-Qaida, the Taliban and 'associated forces', although the latter group is fluid and undefined.
"This expansive and open-ended interpretation of the right to self-defence goes a long way towards destroying the prohibition on the use of armed force contained in the UN Charter. If invoked by other States, in pursuit of those they deem to be terrorists and to have attacked them, it would cause chaos," Mr. Alston writes in his report to the UN Human Rights Council.
He emphasized that he did not question the seriousness of the challenges posed by terrorism, saying he wholeheartedly condemned actions of al-Qaida and other groups that killed innocent civilians, as well as those that increased the danger of attacks on civilians by hiding in their midst.
"But the fact that such enemies do not play by the rules does not mean that a government can cast those rules aside or unilaterally re-interpret them. The credibility of any government's claim that it is fighting to uphold the rule of law depends on its willingness to disclose how it interprets and applies the law – and the actions it takes when the law is broken," according to Mr. Alston.
On accountability, Mr. Alston observed that international law requires that States using targeted killings demonstrate that they are complying with the various rules governing their use in situations of armed conflict.
"The clearest challenge to this principle today comes from the programme operated by the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in which targeted killings are carried out from unmanned aerial vehicles or drones. It is clear that many hundreds of people have been killed as a result, and that this number includes some innocent civilians," Mr. Alston said.
"Because this programme remains shrouded in official secrecy, the international community does not know when and where the CIA is authorized to kill, the criteria for individuals who may be killed, how it ensures killings are legal, and what follow-up there is when civilians are illegally killed.
"In a situation in which there is no disclosure of who has been killed, for what reason, and whether innocent civilians have died, the legal principle of international accountability is, by definition, comprehensively violated," Mr. Alston said.
He contrasted the lack of accountability during targeted killings to the established practice in the United States Department of Defense, where controversial military decisions can be reviewed.
"While it is by no means perfect, the United States military has a relatively public accountability process, as demonstrated earlier this week by its report on the incident in Uruzgan, Afghanistan, in which at least 23 civilians were killed based on erroneous intelligence from surveillance drone operators," Mr. Alston said.
"Intelligence agencies, which by definition are determined to remain unaccountable except to their own paymasters, have no place in running programmes that kill people in other countries," Mr. Alston added.
The Special Rapporteur reports to the Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva, and serves in an independent and unpaid capacity.
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NEW CANCER CASES AND DEATHS TO DOUBLE BY 2030, UN FINDS
The number of new cancer cases and deaths will double in the next two decades, cancer researchers at the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) announced today.
By 2030, there will annually be nearly 21.4 million new cases diagnosed and more than 13.2 million deaths, compared to 12.7 million new cases and 7.6 million deaths in 2008, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the WHO.
The projections – part of GLOBOCAN 2008, an online resource launched by IARC today – are based on expected population aging and growth in the coming decades, assuming that underlying rates of cancer will remain constant during that time.
"These figures represent the most accurate assessment of the global cancer burden available at present and can be used in the setting of priorities for cancer control in different regions of the world," said Christopher Wild, IARC Director.
The body found that developed countries bear a higher cancer burden, both in terms of incidence and deaths.
Lung, breast and colorectal cancer are the most commonly diagnosed, while the most common causes of deaths due to cancer are lung, stomach and liver cancers.
Cervix and liver cancers are more common in poorer nations, while prostate and colorectal cancers are more widespread in developed ones.
Europe is home to nearly half of all cancer cases, followed by South America and Asia, IARC found.
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UN APPOINTS ROCK-AND-ROLL ICON ANNIE LENNOX TO SPOTLIGHT TOLL OF HIV ON WOMEN, GIRLS
Scottish singer, songwriter and women's activist Annie Lennox will use her voice to speak out for women and girls affected by HIV in her new role as International Goodwill Ambassador for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
"I am sure with her incredible passion and presence, she will raise awareness of the terrible toll HIV has taken on women and girls," said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé.
"With her amazing energy, she will make sure international, national and community leaders challenge the injustice of gender inequality," he added.
As an activist and campaigner, Ms. Lennox has worked with numerous organizations on issues of social justice. In October 2007, she launched her own "SING" campaign, working to raise awareness and support for women and children affected by the AIDS pandemic in southern Africa.
The award-winning singer has also supported UNAIDS by participating in the March 2010 launch of a five-year action plan aimed at ending gender inequalities and human rights violations.
In the Agenda for Accelerated Country Action for Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV (2010-2014), the UN teams up with governments, civil society and development partners to address gender inequalities and human rights violations that put women and girls at risk for HIV infection.
More than 33.4 million people have been living with HIV worldwide since December 2008, half of them women. In sub-Saharan Africa, 60 per cent of people living with HIV are women.
"The daily brutality faced by millions of women and girls is unacceptable," said Ms. Lennox. "If we are to end the cycle of human devastation triggered by the AIDS epidemic, we must address the rights of women and girls and challenge their second class citizen status, which puts them at greater risk of HIV."
Ms. Lennox will be participating, in her new role as International Goodwill Ambassador, at the Women Deliver 2010 conference and the 2010 Global Business Coalition conference, both to be held in Washington next week.
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BIOSPHERE RESERVES IN ETHIOPIA AND ZIMBABWE JOIN UN LIST
For the first time, biosphere reserves in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe are joining the United Nations network that was created in an attempt to halt the loss of biodiversity and promote sustainable development.
The more than 500 sites in 109 countries are part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR), designated "to serve as places to test different approaches to integrated management of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine resources and biodiversity," according to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which oversees the network through its Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme.
Kafa, an Ethiopian highland region which contains 50 per cent of the country's remaining Afromontane evergreen forest ecosystems and origin of the rare Coffee Arabic, was added to the network, as was Yayu, in the country's southwest.
It is considered one of the world's 34 vital yet threatened areas for biodiversity conservation and known for undisturbed natural forests and semi-forest systems which produce coffee, spices, honey and wood, while providing important ecosystem services such as watershed production in the Nile.
Also joining the network is the Zambezi valley in Zimbabwe, which contains riverine and terrestrial ecosystems unique to the subcontinent, including the Mana Pools National Park, already a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
A dozen other sites were added in Iran, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Poland, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Slovenia and Sweden, while five sites were extended in Chile, Costa Rica, Finland, Germany and Switzerland.
The decisions were made at the five-day meeting of the International Coordinating Council of MAB currently under way at UNESCO's Paris headquarters.
The body had planned to review 25 new proposals and applications for extension, but Sweden and the United Kingdom withdrew their proposals for the inclusion of Lake Trone and Taynish, respectively, because they had not met the required criteria.
This year's meeting coincides with the International Year of Biodiversity designated by the General Assembly to promote the protection of the planet's species and habitats.
Biodiversity will be discussed in a special thematic session at the annual high-level debate in September in New York.
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GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT AND QATARI LEADER DISCUSS GAZA FLOTILLA RAID
The Israeli military "attack" on the humanitarian flotilla headed for Gaza, which led to the deaths of 10 civilians, was among the issues discussed by General Assembly President Ali Treki during a meeting in Doha with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani.
Monday's raid on the six-ship convoy that was carrying humanitarian goods and activists has drawn international criticism, including from UN officials, as well as a call for an immediate investigation into the incident.
The Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council today voted to dispatch an independent, international probe into violations of international law resulting from Israel's actions. It also demanded that Israel release all detained persons and material aboard the ships.
During their meeting earlier this week, Dr. Treki and the Emir condemned the attack, and called for the "immediate lifting of siege on Gaza, and the release of all detainees," according to a statement issued by the spokesperson for the Assembly President.
In addition to meeting with the Qatari leader, Dr. Treki also delivered a keynote address at the 10th Doha Forum on Democracy, Development and Free Trade.
Prior to arriving in Doha, Dr. Treki paid a two-day visit to Brazil, where he attended the Third Global Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations, entitled "Bridging Cultures, Building Peace," which took place in Rio de Janeiro.
The Assembly President noted the need to fight ignorance and to undertake practical steps that would lead to a new era of political, economic and social advancement.
He also reaffirmed that the international community has denounced the atrocities committed by the Nazi against the Jews as a genocide and crime against humanity; underscored that the international community also adopted collective measures against ethnic cleansing; and stressed that the world should address the collective punishment measures against Palestinians in the occupied territories.
The visit also included discussions with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.
Earlier last week on his official visit to Argentina, Dr. Treki participated in the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of that country's independence.
On 25 May, he had a bilateral meeting with President Evo Morales of Bolivia, with whom he discussed a wide range of issues, particularly the UN's role on climate change and the high-level summit to be held in New York in September on the globally agreed anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Dr. Treki is now in Saudi Arabia for a four-day official visit.
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AT ICC REVIEW CONFERENCE, NATIONS REAFFIRM COMMITMENT TO ROME STATUTE
More than 80 nations have reaffirmed their commitment to the Rome Statue, which led to the founding of the International Criminal Court (ICC), emphasizing the crucial role of justice in achieving sustainable peace.
The so-called Kampala Declaration was adopted yesterday at the end of the general debate segment of the two-week-long ICC review conference under way in the Ugandan capital.
During the debate, 84 States, along with Palestine, international organizations and others, reiterated their support for the Court's mission of tackling impunity, bringing justice to victims and deterring future atrocities.
In the Declaration, States underscored their determination to end impunity for perpetrators of the most serious crimes and pledged to enhance efforts to promote victims' rights under the Rome Statute.
During the general debate, many delegations stressed that an amendment to the Statue to adopted to include the crime of aggression, the focus of the remainder of the Kampala conference.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay is expected to discuss the gathering tomorrow.
So far 111 countries have become parties to the Rome Statute that established the ICC, while 37 others have signed but not yet ratified it. But some of the world's largest and most powerful countries, including China, India, Russia and the United States, have not joined.
For the ICC to have the reach it needs, it must have universal support, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said at the start of the review conference on Monday. "Only then will perpetrators have no place to hide."
More than one decade after the Court was set up, a new "age of accountability" is replacing the "old era of impunity," he underlined.
Twelve years ago when world leaders gathering in Rome for its establishment, "few could have believed, then, that this court would spring so vigorously into life," Mr. Ban said.
"Seldom since the founding of the United Nations itself has such a resounding blow been struck for peace, justice and human rights."
The Kampala event, the Secretary-General said, marks an occasion to bolster "our collective determination that crimes of humanity cannot go unpunished."
The new "age of accountability," he noted, dawned with the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals, gaining strength with tribunals for Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone, Cambodia and Lebanon.
"Now we have the ICC – permanent, increasingly powerful, casting a long shadow. There is no going back," Mr. Ban stressed.
"In this new age of accountability, those who commit the worst of human crimes" – be they rank-and-file foot soldiers or top political leaders – "will be held responsible."
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BAN UNVEILS NEW HEAD OF UN PEACEKEEPING FORCE IN CYPRUS
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today appointed Lisa Buttenheim of the United States as his Special Representative and top United Nations official in Cyprus, where UN-backed talks are being held in a bid to reunify the island.
"Ms. Buttenheim brings to the position extensive experience with the United Nations in the political and peacekeeping areas," the Secretary-General's spokesperson Marie Okabe told journalists today in New York.
Since January 2009, she has served as Director of the Middle East and West Asia Division in the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) in the world body's Secretariat in New York.
Prior to this appointment, Ms. Buttenheim headed the Department's Asia and Pacific Division and the Asia and Middle East Division.
In addition to posts in New York, Ms. Buttenheim served as the Director and Head of the United Nations Office in Belgrade, and has had multiple high-level UN posts in Geneva, Kosovo and Jerusalem since joining the Organization in 1983, including with the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO).
Ms. Buttenheim will now serve as the Secretary-General's Special Representative and Head of the UN peacekeeping mission known as UNFICYP, which has been stationed in Cyprus since 1964 after an outbreak of inter-communal violence.
Ms. Buttenheim succeeds Tayé-Brook Zerihoun of Ethiopia, who was appointed in April to serve as the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs for the Secretariat in New York.
UN-backed talks continue between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders as part of efforts to try to reunify the island.
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TRAFFICKING STILL ONE OF FASTEST GROWING CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES GLOBALLY, SAYS UN EXPERT
Human trafficking, "one of the most appalling forms of human rights violations," remains one of the world's fastest growing criminal activities in the world, an independent United Nations expert said today.
But she said stressed that the role of regional organizations in fighting the scourge "cannot be underestimated," Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, the UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children, told the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, presenting her annual report.
The key to tackling the problem is enhanced coordination among countries of origin, transit and destination, she said, calling for stepped up support for regional and sub-regional groups seeking to catalyze State action to combat trafficking.
With most of these organizations focusing nearly exclusively on the criminalization of traffickers, Ms. Ezeilo called on them to adopt a human rights and victim-centred perspective instead.
"In order to be effective, they should put the rights of the victim at the core of their strategies and actions," she said. "By doing so, they will succeed both in protecting victims and prosecuting traffickers."
The Rapporteur, who assumed her position in 2008, underscored to the Council today that "it is only be properly protecting and assisting victims that you can effectively prosecute traffickers."
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UN-FUNDING TO HELP IMMUNIZE 630,000 CHILDREN AGAINST MEASLES IN LESOTHO
The United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) is giving $646,000 to immunize hundreds of thousands of children in Lesotho, the Southern African country which since January has been grappling with a deadly outbreak of the disease.
By the end of April, there were some 2,037 suspected cases of measles and 1,295 confirmed cases in Lesotho. The majority of the cases have involved children.
In response, CERF will allocate funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) to be used to immunize 630,000 children between the ages of six months and 15 years, and to carry out a public measles awareness campaign for nearly one million people in the country.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced last month that it had received €4 million from European Union to boost food production in Lesotho, which ranks as one of the least developed countries on the UN Human Development Index (HDI).
CERF was established in 2006 to make funding for humanitarian emergencies faster and more equitable. Since then, more than 115 Member States and several private sector donors have contributed $1.9 billion to the fund, which is managed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
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URGING FOCUS ON JOB CREATION, UN OFFICIAL WARNS OF DEBT THREAT TO GLOBAL ECONOMY
The head of the United Nations labour agency today called for the formulation of policies that would help the world sustain a "jobs-rich" economic recovery, warning that financial turbulence triggered by the debt problem in some European countries poses a new threat to the global economy.
Juan Somavia, the Director-General of the UN International Labour Organization (ILO), told the opening session of the agency's 99th International Labour Conference in Geneva that the recent debt crisis and deficit reduction measures, mainly in social spending, could "directly affect jobs and salaries" at a time of weak economic recovery and continued high levels of unemployment.
He called for a "balanced policy convergence strategy" based on three elements – securing a job-rich recovery, moving to a path of strong, sustainable and balanced growth, and tackling the structural imbalances of the global economy that existed before the crisis.
"We need to act on all three objectives together in a harmonious way within a short, medium and longer-term perspective," Mr. Somavia said. "They are all interconnected. So we don't have 'either or' options," he added.
"The immediate danger of a simultaneous fiscal retrenchment in a significant number of countries is to slow down Europe's weak recovery even more," Mr. Somavia said. "In turn, this would damage in different ways growth prospects around the world. A contagion effect cannot be ruled out."
Mr. Somavia spoke amid new concern over the continuing jobs crisis, which has driven global unemployment to more than 210 million, the highest level ever recorded, according to the ILO's report, Recovery and Growth with Decent Work, which will be discussed at the conference.
Mr. Somavia noted that the ILO saw no indications that the global rate of unemployment would decline this year, despite signs of an economic recovery.
The conference is also expected to discuss progress on a Global Jobs Pact adopted last year during a summit of the heads of State and government of some of the world's largest economies.
Mr. Somavia urged delegates from governments, workers and employers from the ILO's 183 Member States to initiate "a coordinated, orderly, balanced and credible long-term process to deal with the public debt and deficits… according to each country's situation and within a convergent international pattern."
He warned that that "too much, too fast, will damage job prospects and the real economy, make it much harder to stabilize public finances and risk a double dip recession."
More people with jobs and rising earnings would translate into more tax revenue, less unemployment-related spending and a narrowing of deficits, Mr. Somavia said, calling for what he described as an "employment-oriented framework for strong, sustainable and balanced growth."
"Social tensions continue to rise," he said. "There was already much anger and frustration over a 'job-weak' recovery," he said. "Today, our culture of social dialogue founded on respect for workers' rights is needed more than ever."
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ELECTION TO FILL UN WORLD COURT VACANCY TO BE HELD IN SEPTEMBER
The Security Council and General Assembly will hold elections on 9 September to fill a vacancy on the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) arising from the resignation of Judge Thomas Buergenthal.
The date for the simultaneous but separate meetings was fixed in a resolution adopted unanimously by the 15-member Council.
Judge Buergenthal has been a member of the Court – the principal judicial organ of the UN – since March 2000 and was re-elected to serve a nine-year term beginning in February 2006.
Established in 1945 under the UN Charter, the ICJ settles legal disputes between States and gives advisory opinions on legal questions that have been referred to it by authorized UN organs or specialized agencies. It is also sometimes referred to as the World Court.
Judges are chosen on the basis of their qualifications, not on the basis of nationality, and care is taken to ensure that the principal legal systems of the world are represented. No two judges can be from the same country. They cannot engage in any other occupation during their term of office.
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UN-BACKED PEACE INITIATIVE KICKS OFF IN AFGHAN CAPITAL
Some 1,600 participants from across Afghanistan gathered in the capital, Kabul, today to kick off a United Nations-backed event aimed at charting the way forward in bringing peace and stability to the country.
The Consultative Peace Jirga is an "important stepping stone" in developing the Afghan-led peace process," Staffan de Mistura, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan, told reporters after the opening ceremony.
"The international community, and in particular the United Nations, is fully supportive of this Afghan initiative. We are confident that the results from these discussions will lead to the next steps in a national dialogue to bring peace in Afghanistan," stated Mr. de Mistura, who also heads the UN mission in the country, known as UNAMA.
The UN has provided technical support to the Peace Jirga, which was opened by President Hamid Karzai. Alternating between the official languages of Dari and Pashto, he stressed that Afghanistan work for peace and that it maintain its relationship with the international community.
About 300 women are taking part in the three-day event, during which participants will break into 28 working committees that will prepare and present recommendations on how to move forward in the peace process.
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AGRICULTURE, ENERGY SECTORS TO SHAPE SUSTAINABILITY OF FUTURE DEVELOPMENT – UN
How the world contends with the agriculture and energy sectors will serve as a bellwether for development in the 21st century, largely determining whether growth will be sustainable for billions of people, according to a new United Nations-backed report.
With current production and consumption of fossil fuels and food draining freshwater supplies, triggering losses of forests and other ecosystems and raising pollution levels, the study concludes that dramatically reforming, rethinking and redesigning how the planet's people are fed and fueled could spur environmental, social and economic returns.
It stresses that reaching sustainability goals should start in the home, through dramatically changing heating and cooling systems, gadgets, appliances and the way people travel.
Perhaps controversially, the report – by the International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management – also calls for a shift away from animal-based protein diets to more vegetable-based foods to ease pressure on the environment.
"Decoupling growth from environmental degradation is the number one challenge facing governments in a world of rising numbers of people, rising incomes, rising consumption demands and the persistent challenge of poverty alleviation," said Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), which hosts the Panel.
"Thus setting priorities would seem prudent and sensible in order to fast-track a low-carbon, resource-efficient Green Economy," he stated.
Launched today in Brussels, the publication notes that more intelligent fiscal policies and creative policy-making are among the tools that can be used to combat unsustainable patterns.
"Some tough choices are signaled in this report, but it may prove even more challenging for everyone if the current paths continue into the coming decades," Mr. Steiner said.
