Full Coverage: United Nations

10/30/2005 SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 28 (OneWorld) - Echoing recent comments by White House officials, a U.S. government report submitted to the United Nations last Friday bears a message that the brutal treatment of people held in U.S. military custody abroad is and should be legal.

10/28/2005 Some of the world's richest nations have come under fire from a leading corruption watchdog group for failing to take action against the companies that illegally profited from a United Nations-sponsored humanitarian programme in Iraq.

10/27/2005 It's payback time for Pakistan, in return for the country's generosity in hosting more than six million Afghan refugees for over 25 years, the UN refugee organisation said, as the Red Cross and Red Crescent warned that thousands of earthquake survivors may die unless they get help through the winter and the United Nations raised its appeal for donations to almost US$550 million.
Meanwhile, with the UN appeal seriously underfunded, Oxfam named rich countries that have given nothing - Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, Portugal and Spain - and governments that have given less than one-fifth of their fair share: Italy, Japan, Germany and the US.

10/27/2005 It is a disgrace that fewer than 5 per cent of HIV-positive children receive treatment and that millions of children who have lost parents to the disease go without support, says a new global campaign.

10/27/2005 U.S. Ambassador John Bolton recently called for U.N. to take action, not merely talk about the deteriorating situation in Darfur, but the arms embargo he's suggesting would be ineffective and insufficient, say Africa advocates, urging Bolton to do more.

10/26/2005 Nel mondo meno del 5% dei bambini sieropositivi riceve cure mediche e milioni di bambini resi orfani dall’AIDS non ricevono assistenza. Ogni minuto un bambino muore per malattie correlate con l’AIDS, un altro viene contagiato dall’HIV e quattro ragazzi tra i 15 e i 24 anni diventano sieropositivi. Per rispondere a questa situazione l’Unicef e l’Unaids, hanno lanciato una campagna mondiale sull’enorme impatto dell’HIV-AIDS sui bambini. Nell’Africa subsahariana, la regione più colpita al mondo, si trovano più del 60% del numero totale delle persone sieropositive e più dell’85% di tutti i bambini al di sotto dei 15 anni che hanno contratto il virus. All’interno del continente africano, in proporzione l’HIV colpisce maggiormente le donne. Un'indagine nella Repubblica Democratica del Congo ha dato dei risultati allarmanti sulle prestazione sessuali e la diffusione dell'AIDS.

10/26/2005 Suomalaiset kansalaisjärjestöt vetosivat YK:n turvallisuusneuvoston jäseniin, jotta paikallisväestön ihmisoikeudet turvattaisiin Länsi-Saharassa. Erityinen huoli esitettiin kymmenien nälkälakkoon ryhtyneiden mielipidevankien terveydentilasta sekä 30-vuotisesta pakolaistilanteesta Algeriassa.

10/25/2005 The U.N. Security Council has endorsed Secretary-General Kofi Annan's
decision to begin talks on the sensitive issue of the future of Kosovo.
Mr. Annan will name former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari to lead the
negotiations.

10/24/2005 Un triste compleanno quello dell'Onu: dopo i casi di corruzione nel programma iracheno "Oil for food", (petrolio in cambio di cibo) che hanno fortemente intaccato l'immagine dello stesso Segretario Generale Kofi Annan, le denunce di pedofilia e di violenze sessuali sulle donne congolesi compiute dai Caschi Blu ed il fallimento della recente Assemblea Generale, le Nazioni Unite hanno davvero poco per cui far festa. L'auspicata riforma del Consiglio di Sicurezza è tuttora bloccata dagli interessi contrastanti dei governi, mentre gli Stati Uniti premono per una radicale revisione dei bilanci del Palazzo di Vetro e delle sue agenzie. Nessuna menzione della "Settimana per il disarmo" che, istituita dalla stessa Onu nel 1978, dovrebbe stimolare gli stati a comprendere "i pericoli della corsa agli armamenti, promuoverne la cessazione ed incrementare l'attenzione generale sull'urgenza del disarmo". Eppure materia su cui riflettere ce ne sarebbe.
di Giorgio Beretta

10/24/2005 Suomen YK-liitto ja rauhanjärjestöt vetoavat YK:n 60-vuotis syntymäpäivänä tasa-arvon ja aseriisunnan puolesta. YK:n 60-vuotisjuhlan teemana on uudistumisen aika, ja uudistusten toteuttamiseksi ja vuosituhattavoitteiden saavuttamiseksi tarvitaan nyt poliittista tahtoa ja konkreettisia toimia, järjestöt toteavat.

10/21/2005 Kylmän sodan jälkeen YK on pystynyt järjestämään tehokkaita rauhanturvaamisoperaatioita. Sodat ovat vähentyneet 1990-luvun alun jälkeen 40 prosenttia, tuore Human Security Report -tutkimus valottaa.

10/21/2005 As violence and lawlessness escalate, African Union (AU) soldiers struggle to protect refugees displaced by the continued fighting in Sudan's western region of Darfur. Refugees International accompanied the AU mission as it monitored the humanitarian ceasefire in effect since 2004.

10/21/2005 Despite being integral to the grassroots peace building process, women are all but excluded from formal negotiations and political decision making. There is no peace, security, or justice unless both genders are fully involved in all stages of the peace process, says researcher Elisabeth Porter.

10/21/2005 The United Nations is facing its worst logistical nightmare ever as it scrambles to save the lives of tens of thousands of earthquake survivors in inaccessible areas of Pakistan in an unprecedented race against time that dwarfs efforts after last year’s Indian Ocean tsunami, warned the world body's emergency relief coordinator.

10/20/2005 The Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations and the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace Netherlands organized a lunch meeting on the 19th of October 2005 to evaluate the results of the 2005 UN World Summit outcome and to determine follow up activities.

10/20/2005 There is a danger of a second wave of deaths in earthquake-affected parts of Pakistan with tens of thousands of children in peril because of deteriorating weather, injury, and illness.

10/19/2005 SAN FRANCISCO, October 18 (OneWorld) - In an unprecedented move, a UN committee has asked human and civil rights groups to submit reports and testify on U.S. breaches of international law, filling a gap left by the U.S. government's failure to submit its own report.

10/18/2005 Kosovo is often held up as a test case for the concept of “humanitarian” intervention. But as Iraq spirals into chaos, diplomats and leaders everywhere are again asking themselves if it is ever appropriate for alliances of nations or the international community as a whole to intervene when a sovereign country appears unable or unwilling to defend its citizens from genocide, war crimes, or ethnic cleansing.

10/14/2005 The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, today called on authorities in both Belgrade and Pristina to be ready for compromise in the imminent negotiations on the future status of Kosovo.

10/14/2005 Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, said yesterday that the Special Mediator Matthew Nimitz, doesn’t plan to come forward with yet another idea to solve the dispute over the name of the Republic of Macedonia between Macedonia and Greece.