UN Independent Commission on Syria says more than 200 deaths since ceasefire began
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The UN Human Rights Council holds country reviews regularly and many are heated, but this week in Geneva several meetings have turned up the heat under accusations of human rights abuses.
Cuba appeared before the UN Committee Against Torture Wednesday 23 May to say it has no express definition of the crime of torture but is considering one. The Miami Herald in the US, in a scathing article, describes the Cuban delegation’s appearance before the Geneva commission as a “stout defense”, with the group “denying ‘each and every’ complaint of mistreatment but delicately parsing its words when it came to other alleged abuses.”
Bahrain came in for sharp criticism during its periodic review before the Human Rights Council earlier in the week. Protesters have rallied on several occasions in the past year, with concern voiced by other governments over clashes in the streets. “Bahrain’s response – that all is well and there are no political prisoners – simply doesn’t fly,” says Juliette de Rivero, Geneva director at Human Rights Watch. “It’s time for Bahrain to stop denying the problem and take genuine steps to end the country’s human rights crisis.”
Thursday 24 May the UN’s Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria noted that more than 200 people have died since the 12 April ceasefire was to start in Syria, information based on interviews carried out in Geneva and with people in the region around Syria. The group has not been allowed to enter the country. UPI carries a lengthy story on the report.
Geneva, Switzerland: candidate to host the Green Climate Fund permanent secretariat
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland officially presented Geneva Thursday 12 April as a candidate to host the Green Climate Fund permanent secretariat. Switzerland is also running for a seat on the GCF’s Executive Board.
Germany and South Korea are currently the only other candidates. The provisional seat is in Bonn.
The GCF was created in 2010, with the Cancun agreements, and is designed is to administer tens of billions of dollars to help developing countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and “undertake the measures necessary to adapt to climate change”, says Bern.
In the start-up phase, the World Bank is to act as trustee for the GCF in its start-up phase. The Fund is scheduled to have a permanent secretariat by 2014.
Bern and the canton of Geneva argue that the city is well-suited to be the GCF’s host, noting in a federal government statement that Geneva is “a strategically significant location for political and scientific work in the environmental domain, and increasingly in the climate domain as well. The GCF fits very well into this institutional landscape and can contribute significantly to enhancing international Geneva.”
It lists other agencies and groups that make up this “a major hub for international environmental policy “:
- the headquarters of the World Meteorological Organization
- the Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the Global Earth Observation Initiative.
- in 2011 Geneva was designated as the location for the Secretariat of the Global Framework for Climate Services.
- A Regional Office of the United Nations Environment Programme is located in Geneva.
- the World Bank and the UNDP, active in environmental financing, have offices in Geneva.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Geneva’s Palais, home to the UN in Geneva, has begun the biggest makeover in its history, and not too soon, says the UN, which recently issued un update on the dire state of the Neo-classic buildings that date to 1929. The League of Nations took up residence in 1936 and then the United Nations in 1946. The UN created a Strategic Heritage Plan for repairs and renovations in 2007, then began to look for funds.
The new director general of the United Nations office in Geneva, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, met in Bern Tuesday 3 April with Didier Burkhalter, Swiss federal councilor and minster for foreign affairs, to sign papers for Switzerland’s contribution to the renovation project. The overall cost of the eight-year project wa estimated at CHF618 million in 2010. Switzerland in 2011 pledged CHF50 million to energy-related measures as part of the plan.
The buildings provide one of the largest conference centres in Europe, with 34 meeting rooms and halls and 2,000 offices.
Some 4,000 UN staff work at the Palais building, which has about 100,000 visitors a year.
The federal government noted in signing the check Tuesday that Geneva’s international role remains a pillar of the country’s foreign policy. Switzerland is home to 25 international organizations, of which 22 are in Geneva, and the city is also home to 7 other international organizations that have fiscal agreements with Switzerland. Another 250 international bodies in Geneva “act as advisors” to the UN, says Bern.
Editor’s note: Le Point in France carries an article with details about the repairs that need to be carried out.
World water day is 22 March – whet your appetite for water news
Those of us next to Lake Geneva are among the world's lucky, with easy access to pentiful water supplies
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Today is World Water Day, declared by the United Nations, and we’re taking a moment out to think about what is historically one of humanity’s greatest problems and where we are with solving it.
In a nutshell, here’s what we “drink”, according to the UN: “There are 7 billion people to feed on the planet today and another 2 billion are expected to join by 2050.
“Statistics say that each of us drinks from 2 to 4 litres of water every day, however most of the water we ‘drink’ is embedded in the food we eat: producing 1 kilo of beef for example consumes 15,000 litres of water while 1 kilo of wheat ’drinks up’ 1,500 litres.”
Geneva, International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance: Before reading about the many problems linked to water where solutions are not in place, look at the wonderful collection of photos from the International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance, from its 2011 global photo contest. The Alliance, based in Geneva, brings together the many groups who are working to ease water shortages by harvesting rainwater, as part of sustainability programmes.
Switzerland: Palestinian refugees in seven camps in Lebanon are receving $2.62 million over two years for a remediation and upgrading of camp water supplies project, a cooperative effort between the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The project began at the end of December 2011.
It is designed to “ensure healthier lives for Palestine refugees by preventing and controlling diseases by providing access to safe drinking water. In addition, SDC will provide UNRWA with three Swiss technical experts for the project,” according to UNRWA.
West Bank:The UN News Centre 19 March published the results of a survey that show significant problems with access to water for West Bank Palestinians, as Israeli settlers move in nearby. “Palestinians have increasingly lost access to water sources in the West Bank as a result of the takeover of springs by Israeli settlers, who have used threats, intimidation and fences to ensure control of water points close to the settlements, according to a new United Nations survey released today.
“Thirty of the springs were found to be under full settler control, with no Palestinian access to the area, according to the survey carried by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) over the course of last year.”
Africa, Yemen: Africa’s continual problem of water shortages and frequent droughts is hugely compounded by fighting in conflict zones. The International Displacement Monitoring Centre in Geneva 21 March issued a statement about the situation in Yemen: ”
Visit “against deteriorating humanitarian aid background” as fighting breaks out in capital
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Jacob Kellenberger, head of the Geneva-based International Red Cross, is in Moscow Monday 19 March to ask Russian authorities for help in getting a two-hour daily break in fighting in Syria.
Kellenberger’s visit “takes place against the background of a deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria,” the aid group said Sunday.
“The humanitarian situation in Homs, Idlib, Hama, Deraa and other areas affected by the unrest remains extremely difficult and could deteriorate further. People have been suffering for several months in some areas, with women and children particularly affected,’ Kellenberger said before leaving
“A daily cessation in the fighting for a period of at least two hours remains essential in order for emergency medical evacuations to take place safely and for aid to reach vulnerable people swiftly,” he noted. “The ICRC is asking for an unambiguous commitment from all concerned to these breaks in the fighting, so that it can reach people in urgent need.”
Moscow said last week it will continue its “military cooperation with Syria”. Russia is reported Monday, by Swedish think tank and research group The Stockholm International Peace Initiative (Sipri), to have supplied 78 percent of Syria’s arms in the past five years – which have increased 580 percent.
Monday fighting in capital heaviest in a year
British embassy personnel withdrawn from
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva voted 38-3 to condemn Syria in a resolution that refers to “widespread and systematic violations of human rights”. China, Cuba and Russia voted against the motion, continuing to argue that intervening in Syria’s affairs will worsen the situation.
The vote came as Syrian forces bombarded the Baba Amro district of Homs, where the plight of rebels and civilians is worsened by the heaviest snow the area has seen in years, according to rebels quoted by Reuters.
The Swiss government Thursday confirmed that it closed its Syrian embassy Wednesday, after weeks of encouraging its citizens there to leave the country. The embassy says that 150 who are registered remain in the country, all but three of them with dual citizenship. Two-thirds of them live in Damascus, with another group in Aleppo.
The UK announced it has withdrawn staff from its embassy in Damascus and it is stopping all diplomatic services.
The Voice of America cites Hillary Clinton at a press conference as saying “There is little doubt that Iran is strongly supporting Assad and his regime,” adding: “The details about what they are or are not doing, we could provide what we know in a classified session, but you are absolutely right that Iran has a lot invested in Assad and will do whatever it can to keep him in power.”
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Thirteen people are reported to be dead from the most recent round of government forces bombarments of Syria’s third largest city, Homs, 9 February. City residents say the situation is “dire”, reports the BBC, with severe shortages of food and water. The UN’s Ban Ki-moon called anew on world leaders to come to an agreement on how to pressure Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to stop killing his own people. The UN is currently considering adopting an Arab League plan to send in observers.
Hillary Clinton, human rights address, UN in Geneva, 6 December 2011
Update 06:00, transcript available GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have surprised more than one person in her audience at the United Nations Palais in Geneva Tuesday evening when her speech on human rights focused, not on the hot topic of Syria, but on a group whose rights rarely get this level of government attention: the gay community, worldwide.
She outlined steps the US is taking to redress wrongs against what she referred to as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community: LGBT persons.
The Department of State, she said, is launching the Secretary’s Global Equality Fund, contributing more than $3 million to the “public-private partnership initiative to advance the human rights of LGBT people”.
The State Department will seek partnership commitments from donor governments, corporations, and foundations.
She also noted that the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) will use the Global Equality Fund to support:
- programmes that document violations of the human rights of LGBT individuals, provide legal assistance
- advocates to provide emergency assistance to NGOs and human rights defenders who face threats from governments or societies
- “public dialogue” that enhances public awareness, such as inclusive civic education and cultural activities
The new initiatives complement existing programmes, the State Department says in a fact sheet issued Tuesday evening. Since 2010, it has provided emergency assistance to over 40 LGBT advocates in 11 countries throughout Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, for example.
Clinton gets standing ovation from the crowd
Clinton receives a standing ovation from the packed room
Clinton, dressed simply in a dark violet-blue suit, arrived on time and delivered her speech in a brightly lit and fully packed Assembly Hall.
She looked quite small in the large room, but her firm voice and 30 minute speech, given without pause or hesitation, held her audience.
She was given a standing ovation at the end of her speech.
Clinton’s address was given at the UN to commemorate Human Rights Day 2011 (10 December).
Her initial tribute to the history of human rights and the UN led her into a long introduction where she kept the focus of her talk a surprise. She described an “invisible minority”, harassed, beaten and killed around the world, “one of the remaining human rights challenges of our times”: the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.
She described this as a “sensitive issue for many people”, an issue on her agenda, a difficult but urgent matter that must be addressed.
Gay and human rights are the same, Clinton tells packed room in Geneva
Gay rights and human rights are the same, Clinton told the crowd, even if the Universal Declaration of 1948 didn’t specifically mention the LGBT community: being an LGTB person doesn’t make you less human.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Nineteen of the 22 members of the Arab League voted Sunday 27 November for sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, effective immediately. The sanctions include travel bans, freezing government assets and end to Arab investments and dealings with Syria’s central bank.
The sanctions come as the number of deaths in Syria is widely reported to have topped 3,500 during more than eight months of fighting. The US and the European Union (and Switzerland) already have sanctions in place.
Reuters notes that “the Arab League has for decades avoided imposing sanctions its members but has been spurred into action by the scale of bloodshed during Syria’s crackdown and by the failure by Damascus to implement an Arab peace plan. The Arab peace plan called for sending in Arab monitors, withdrawing Syrian troops from residential areas and starting talks between the government and opposition. Damascus ignored several Arab League deadlines.”
The League is calling on the United Nations to adopt similar sanctions.
But the New York Times reported Sunday that the impact of the sanctions could be limited: ”
“Analysts said they expected the impact of the sanctions to be limited, in large part because Syria’s largest trading partners will not participate. Economists estimate that about 50 percent of Syrian trade is with the Arab world, but the largest chunk of that is with its immediate neighbors, including Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan.
“Iraq abstained and Lebanon ‘disassociated’ itself from the vote, Mr. Jassem said. Both countries said they would not enforce the sanctions, and Jordan has issued mixed signals.”
China’s Xinhua news agency cites Syrian state news reports that Syrians took to the streets in protest after the news of the sanctions was announced.
Links to other sites: Aljazeera, BBC, Ria Novosti, Xinhua
Mugabe mug, 1981 (photo, © E Wallace)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Robert Mugabe, 87-year-old leader of Zimbabwe, prime minister for 30 years, stepped up his criticism of Switzerland, in comments made 30 October, Sunday, to media at the airport in Harare.
Mugabe, miffed over what he is calling Switzerland’s refusal to issue visas for his entourage, told reporters that his government “is not without means to reciprocate”, which some media in Zimbabwe are interpreting as a threat to Swiss businesses while others appear to see the comment as a reflection of Zimbabwe reportedly filing a complaint with the UN. Ziminfo expanded the quote and pointed directly at Vevey-based Nestle: “Now they are showing that they are vicious and we will reciprocate because they have their properties here. We are not without means to reciprocate.” The news agency added that:
“While Mugabe did not specify which Swiss property he had in mind, but his comments could stir fresh trouble for the Zimbabwean operation of Swiss multinational firm, Nestlé.
“Radical elements from Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party are likely to see his threats as an order to pile more pressure on the giant milk processor to cede control of its Harare plant to black Zimbabweans in line with the country’s controversial economic indigenization programme.
“Nestlé Zimbabwe was already one of the foreign-owned corporations that the government has said should transfer controlling stake to by blacks 2015.
“Under the controversial economic indigenisation and empowerment law that came into force last year foreign-owned firms must sell at least 51 percent shares to indigenous black Zimbabweans or face a host of punitive measures including fines or withdrawal of operating licences.”
Robert Mugabe (photo, wikipedia)
Zimbabwe’s prime minister refused to visit Geneva last week for the ITU World Telecom meeting, and he sent a replacement for the country’s telecoms minister, who is variously reported by Zimbabwe media to have been given orders not to join the Geneva conference or who was too busy.
Switzerland has not responded officially on Mugabe’s remarks or the visa problem, although unnamed officials, presumably Swiss embassy officials in Zimbabwe, have been quoted by the country’s media as saying that visas for Mugabe and one official “were adequate to represent Zimbabwe at the summit,” according to The Zimbabwean.
Swiss Foreign Affairs Department spokesperson in Bern, Pierre-Alain Eltschinger, told GenevaLunch Monday that the ministry generally doesn’t comment on specific visa-decisions. He noted, in an e-mailed statement, that “decisions by Switzerland on visa matters are taken in accordance with applicable law and take account in particular of Switzerland’s obligations as the host state of the ITU. As this is an official delegation to a conference held by an international organization with which Switzerland has concluded a host state agreement, questions that could possibly arise in this context will, if necessary, be discussed with the organization concerned.”
He points out that “in this context, Switzerland will have to reconcile the obligations that it has in international law with the imperatives deriving from sanctions imposed on certain persons.”
Swiss sanctions against Zimbabwe have been in effect since 2002, with the travel restrictions list updated in 2010.
All the states invited to the ITU conference were “able to be represented by a delegation”, says Eltschinger. “As a principle of law, a State is entitled to be represented at international conferences by its head of State.”
Mugabe last week told media that the delegation of five scheduled to join him for the Geneva meeting was refused visas by the Swiss government; all of them, plus his wife, are on the list Zimbabwe individuals with European Union and Swiss travel restrictions, part of the sanctions against Zimbabwe. Mugabe and delegations have previously visited Geneva for UN meetings.
The five are Zimbabwe’s foreign and transport ministers, central intelligence minister, Mugabe’s press officer and his aide.
Nehanda Radio and Zimbabwe Metro are two of several media that picked up a Monday front page story published by the Zimbabwe Herald, a newspaper run by the state:
“‘We were surprised, if not saddened, by what they have done. Much more, the Swiss government has always held itself as a neutral country that did not countenance war as it was neutral in any conflict even during the First and Second World wars,’ he said.
“‘Now they are showing that they are vicious and we will reciprocate because they have their properties here. We are not without means to reciprocate,’ he said. As hosts of a United Nations meeting, Mugabe said Switzerland had no right to bar delegates of any member-state of the UN from attending. ‘It is a violation of rules and regulations governing host countries of UN meetings. They are alongside the United States of America because the main part of the UN is hosted in New York and the other part and agencies related to the UN are in Geneva. As host country, you should undertake not to inhibit or prohibit visits on UN business,’ the Zanu PF leader said.”
UN ends approval of foreign military intervention
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The political security commission of the upper house of parliament is demanding that the Federal Council move as quickly as possible to replace the private security firm guarding the Swiss embassy in Tripoli with a Swiss army unit. The commission said late Friday 28 October that it does not consider the current arrangement adequate; worse, it is embarrassing for the country, with an army unit ready to be deployed the moment the embassy re-opened 15 October.
The private security firm was hired because the government failed to settle a disagreement between the foreign affairs department and the defense department over how the embassy should be guarded, according to the commission.
The embassy was closed in February when the conflict in Libya began to heat up.
The United Nations said Friday it will end its authorization for foreign intervention in Libya, now that the Qaddafi regime has fallen and the transitional government is in place.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The United Nations Wednesday called for concerted action to provide sustainable health, food and other basic services to the world’s growing population. The UN is gearing up for a number of activities to mark the day planet Earth will have 7 billion people, officially 31 October. We will have 10 billion by the end of the 21st century, the UN projects. But given the falling fertility rates in developed and a number of developing countries, notably China, the world’s population will then begin to fall, according to the UNFPA. The world’s population at the start of the 19th century was 1 billion.
The selection of the day on which we cross the magic 7 billion line is fairly arbitrary.
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, “7 Billion Actions”
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Reactions are flowing in to Zimbabwe’s presentation Monday 10 October to the UN Human Rights Commission, part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) that takes place for each country every four years. Zimbabwe’s Justice Minister Patrick Chinawasa presented a “glowing picture” according to Zimbabwe’s The Independent, but critics have had little patience with the report.
The Zimbabwe newspaper, in an editorial, said that “Instead of pointing out areas of progress and problems to paint a balanced picture of the situation, Chinamasa used sanctions as a pretext to exonerate government from human rights abuses and went for the jugular against Western countries. That made constructive dialogue impossible and predictably the report was divisive.” It adds that the result was a session divided mainly along political lines.
SW Radio Africa, in allAfrica, pointed out that the government’s rosy picture is sharply at odds with those from a number of civic society groups that also attended the Geneva review, notably in the area of radio licenses, where the government says progress has been made and others say it isn’t so.
The US Mission in Geneva commended Zimbabwe on progress in some areas but pointed out a number of continuing problems, including the fact that a new human rights commission is not yet up and running. It made four recommendations, including improvements and greater transparency in diamond mining.
Zimbabwe’s government confirmed this week that it does not intend to lift its often-criticized AIPPA (Access to Information and Privacy Protection Act), which has been heavily criticized within and outside the country as limiting human rights.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The US government Friday afternoon 23 September warned its citizens of the possibility of demonstrations worldwide that could turn violent, in the wake of Palestine’s official demand for membership in the United Nations.
Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian president, was greeted with applause Friday morning when he made the official request, which the US and Israel have opposed, saying that Palestine’s recognition by the UN must come as a result of peace negotiations. Abbas told the UN General Assembly that Israel’s race against time to redraw borders is hurting Palestinians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rebuttal follows Abbas’s speech and formal demand.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, opened the UN General Assembly in New York Wednesday with a plea to resolve the Israeli-Palestine impasse, saying that while Israel needs security, Palestine needs statehood. The remarks were made in the presence of US President Obama and Palestine’s President Mahmoud Abbas.
The US insists that Palestinian membership in the UN can come only through a negotiated settlement and says it will use its veto to stop a bid for membership that Abbas says he will announce during a scheduled speech to the UN Friday.
Participants of the 18th session of Human Rights Council in Geneva - Photo Jean-Marc Ferré UNIS
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A panel of five independent UN rights experts reporting to the Human Rights Council unanimously rejected the conclusion of the Palmer Report that says Israel’s blockade of Gaza is legal.
On a statement produced by the UN in Geneva on 13 September, the panel says it rejected the Palmer Report findings because the blockade had subjected Gazans to collective punishment in “flagrant contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law.”
“The Palmer report was aimed at political reconciliation between Israel and Turkey. It is unfortunate that in the report politics should trump the law,” said Richard Falk, Special Rapporteur on human rights, on the statement.
According to the panel, the blockade should immediately cease as “the people of Gaza must be afforded protection in line with international law.”
For the United Nations experts, “decisive steps must be taken to defend the dignity and basic welfare of the civilian population of Gaza, more than half of whom are children.”
Olivier De Schutter, Special Rapporteur on the right to food said at least two-thirds of Gazan households are food insecure, and “evidence has shown that the so-called ‘easing’ of the blockade has not led this to improve.”
AFRICA – An unnamed UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s representative in Kenya has said to the Associated Press that the situation in Somalia could become “simply unbearable” in the coming weeks if people continue to abandon their homes in search of food.
The food crisis in the Horn of Africa is escalating, with 12 million people in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda requiring emergency assistance, said FAO.
Parts of southern Somalia are suffering from famine.
Over the past year, the region has faced two poor rainy seasons, resulting in one of the driest years since 1950. In addition, high local cereal prices, excessive livestock mortality, conflict and restricted humanitarian access in some areas is worsening the situation for Somalis.
A high-level operational meeting has been called for 18 August 2011 at FAO’s Rome headquarters to agree on urgent measures in response to the worsening crisis in the Horn of Africa.
Links to: FAO, the Associated Press
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The US will not intervene militarily and Europe is pushing for a UN condemnation of the Syrian government’s crackdown on its citizens, now in its third day, which included the deaths of a reported 100 people in the city of Hama Sunday 31 July alone. Chinese news agency Xinhua quotes Syrian state media as saying the army has not entered Hama while negotiations continue, and that state media show gunmen killing Syrian security forces.
A late-night session of the UN Security Council in New York Monday 1 August failed to bring about an agreement on condemning the violence, but some diplomats say progress is being made, although China and Russia still fear that a condemnation could lead to military intervention.
Switzerland and Geneva hosted numerous international meetings and dignitaries this week
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – “International Geneva”, as the city likes to profile itself when talking about the UN and other international organizations, has had a more than usually busy week.
Highlights:
Wednesday 15 June: The UN Human Rights Commission looked at allegations of human rights abuses in Cote d’Ivoire and the current situation there, with a large number of countries speaking. Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that in the six months since the UN set up a hotline for human rights abuses in December more than 12,000 calls have been received. UNHRC unofficial report with speakers’ summaries. The UNHRC also passed a statement calling on Syria to give the UN high commissioner access to the country.
Thursday 16 June: The International Labour Organization at its centenary annual Conference, adopted a set of international standards to improve “the working conditions of tens of millions of domestic workers worldwide”. The standards have been two years in the making and, for the first time, take ILO standards into the informal economy. Text of the new Convention
The two week conference has seen a stream of dignitaries and has included presentations by Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The UNHRC adopted a new set of guiding principles on business and human rights drawn up by Professor John Ruggie of Harvard. It covers state but also corporate responsibilities and gives guidelines for meeting them in several areas including the rights of indigenous peoples, women, national or ethnic groups, religious and linguistic minorities, children, persons with disabilities, and migrant workers and their families as well as business adherence to international law in situations of armed conflict.
Friday 17 June: the UN staff magazine, UN Special, carries a new feature on the nine-storey multi-coloured glass front building on the Rue de France that will be completed in November.
At the end of last week the World Trade Organization noted that it had submitted to the G20 an inter-agency report by 10 UN agencies on managing food prices, to the G20, at its request, “Options for G20 consideration on how to better mitigate and manage the risks associated with the price volatility of food and other agriculture commodities, without distorting market behaviour, ultimately to protect the most vulnerable”.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The announcement 6 June by United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon that he will run for a second term was greeted positively Tuesday by US President Barack Obama, who says he will support Ki-moon. The UN’s Secretary General is unopposed at the moment.
“Under Ban’s leadership, the United Nations has played a critical role in responding to crises and challenges across the globe, including most recently supporting democratic transitions in Cote d’Ivoire and earthquake-affected Haiti, the conduct of the referendum on South Sudan’s self-determination, and efforts to resolve the political and humanitarian crisis in Libya,” the US White House says in a statement issued Tuesday.
The White House calls the UN an “an imperfect, but indispensible institution” but notes that under Ban Ki-moon’s guidance important reforms have been made, “such as increasing the hiring of women to senior posts and proposing the deepest reduction in the UN’s budget in more than a decade. The United States strongly supports further efforts for reform to improve effectiveness, streamline bureaucracy, reduce costs, and update business practices to improve the United Nations’ ability to meet its mandate to promote global peace and security, human rights and development.”
The UN leader said, in announcing his intentions at a press conference Monday, pointed to the work ahead that he believes must be the focus for the UN: “In recent years, we have begun to make real progress on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. We must maintain that critical momentum.
“We must redouble our efforts to deliver on the Millennium Development Goals. For hundreds of millions of the world’s people, development means hope. We cannot fall short. And beyond that, we face the “50-50-50” challenge. By the year 2050, the world’s population will reach 9 billion – 50 percent more [than] a decade ago. By that time, the world must cut global greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent.”
Attacks on embassies and United Nations offices in Tripoli, Libya, are prompting international staff to leave: Turkey closed its embassy Monday, the New York Times is reporting, the British embassy was ransacked and burned according to the BBC, and the United Nations says it has told all its staff to leave the country.
The attacks in the past day are being linked by diplomats to the death of the youngest son of Muammar Qadaffi, Saif al-Arab, and three of Qadaffi’s grandchildren, in a Nato-led bombing attack Saturday 30 April.
Britain Sunday expelled the Libyan ambassador in protest against the Qadaffi regime’s failure to protect the British embassy in Tripoli.
Links to other sites: Ria Novosti, Tripoli Post, UN News Centre
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Thirty-two of the 33 passengers and crew on a United Nations plane died when it crashed while trying to land at the Kinshasa Airport in DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) Monday afternoon 4 April. The plane was carrying UN staff, most but not whom all of worked for Monusco, the UN’s stabilization mission in Congo, but the UN news service reports that there were also five people on board who worked for humanitarian organizations.
The plane was trying to land in heavy rain, according to the UN, when it overshot the runway at 13:30, after a flight from Kisangani in the northeast.
A debate is heating up over who will serve as the new Libyan envoy to the United Nations, as defections from the Qaddafi regime mount up.
Two figures whose names were put forwarde as the next envoy have both resigned: former Libyan Foreign Minister Abdessalam Treki and recent Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa, who is now in the UK and facing questioning over his involvement in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. Recent reports suggest that the ex-foreign minister of Nicaragua, Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, may take up the position. However, it is uncertain whether Brockmann, who has only a tourist visa for the US, would be allowed to fill the role.
Libya’s deputy UN ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi claims, “We know that most of the high Libyan officials are trying to defect, but most of them are under tight security measures and they cannot leave the country.”
Links to other websites: CNN, Aljazeera, Wall Street Journal
International meeting ends without further decisions on aiding Libyan rebels
Qaddafi forces push back rebels
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss Federal Council Wednesday 30 March formally adopted the UN Security Council’s measures against Libya, taken 26 February, as well as the European Union’s decisions concerning Libya, 28 February and including EU complementary actions. The move by the Swiss cabinet Wednesday cancels Switzerland’s own moves 21 February to unilaterally block funds that may belond to the Libyan leader and those close to him.
The EU’s decisions in particular duplicate Switzerland’s own actions in the financial area: the EU has voted to forbid supplying any materials that could be used for internal repression in Libya, and the list of people affected by financial sanctions and travel restrictions has been lengthened, from Switzerland’s original list.
The move by Bern also brings to a halt criticism from some corners that Switzerland acted too soon and alone in blocking Qaddafi assets.
The winner, Oerlikon Solar, declared in Geneva at the UN (photo, Zero Emissions Race)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - August 2010 to February 2011, or 80 days of travel time to tour the world using only solar energy: the Zero Emissions “race” that finished in Geneva Thursday 24 February has shown it can be done.
Four cars left the United Nations building in Geneva last 16 August, with the UN Environmental Programme waving off the drivers and providing a kind of home to return to, today.
The three vehicles that completed the race covered 28,000 kilometres and 16 countries. A fourth team had to drop out in Berlin for technical reasons.
The project was the brainchild of Switzerland’s Louis Palmer, the first person to circumnavigate the world in a solar power vehicle.
The race itself was not so much about speed as about energy efficiency. The winners were declared at the UN Palais building in Geneva Thursday:
- third place, Team Trev
- second Team Vectrix
- the winner: Team Oerlikon Solar.
Zero Emissions Race: 80 days, 28,000 km and 16 countries later, back in Geneva (photo, Zero Emissions Race)
“This prize makes Zerotracer officially the most efficient and reliable electric vehicle,” the Zero Emissions web site noted after the prize ceremony. “The teams were presented trophies made from granite and crystal from the Grimsel region of Switzerland.”
The race has spawned offspring with the public invited to join a Zero Emissions Europe race from 3-25 September 2011.
The Guardian has broken the cover on Curveball, the Iraq engineer who defected to Germany in 1995, providing its secret service, the BND, with stories of biological weapons in Iraq in 2000. Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi’s tales, now unmasked as fabrications in a series of interviews with the British newspaper, were cited by US Secretary of State Colin Powell in a historic speech to the United Nations 3 February 2003. Powell used the information, shared by the German government against al-Janabi’s wishes, to justify US military interventon in Iraq. Al-Janabi says he does not regret making up the stories because his actions contributed to the downfall of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Links to other sites: AFP, Jerusalem Post, NowPublic, Mirror, UK, Reuters
UN Flag
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The 65 countries of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament are meeting in Geneva this week, with one big item on the agenda. It’s the same one that’s been there for 15 years: how to start the talks again. The CD has been notoriously stalled since 1996, but it remains what US Ambassador Rose Gottemoeller referred to as the “only standing multilateral negotiating forum for arms control, disarmament, and nonproliferation agreements,” noting that as such “It remains a vital institution for all of us.”
One of the first speakers when the conference opened Tuesday 25 January was Pakistan’s Ambassador Zamir Akram. Pakistan, he said, is more firmly than ever determined not to agree to negotiations on an FMCT (Fissile Material Cutoff Treat) because major powers continue to allow a waiver to “our neighbour”, a not very veiled reference to India, that “will further accent the asymmetry in fissile materials stockpiles in the region, to the detriment of Pakistan’s security interests.”
Fissile material is necessary to build nuclear bombs.
Gottemoeller, came down hard on Pakistan, albeit barely indirectly, in her presentation to the group Thursday.
Current La Niña episode started in June 2010, expected to die down over next four months
Milton Road, Brisbane, Australia January 2011 - part of a collection of Brisbane flood photos on flickr by Eric Veland: www.flickr.com/photos/erikveland
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Geneva has published data confirming that recent heavy rains that led to flooding in Australia are linked to a La Niña “episode” that began in June 2010.
Areas including Australia and Indonesia that have already been affected are warned by forecasters to expect more unusually heavy rain for the next one to two months before the episode dies down.
The WMO is a United Nations organization, whose member countries’ national weather and meteorological services use it to work together.
The WMO says that “during La Niña episodes rainfall is increased across the western equatorial Pacific, including northern Australia and Indonesia during December-February and the Philippines during June-August”.
Below average sea level pressure and above average sea surface temperature in some areas, coupled with La Niña “have led to much above average rainfall in parts of Australia, Indonesia and southeast Asia. This La Niña situation is also believed to be linked to above average rainfall in southern Africa, below average rainfall in eastern equatorial Africa, and below average rainfall in central southwest Asia and southeastern South America.”
It is the opposite of El Niño, which brings unusually warm ocean surface temperatures.” Both events disrupt the large-scale ocean-atmosphere circulation patterns in the tropics and have important consequences for weather and climate around the globe. Once established, they typically last for 9 months or more,” according to the WMO.
UN Director-General Ban Ki-moon and IOC head Jacques Rogge meet in Lausanne
Sports for peace projects include Olympics work on achieving MDGs
IOC's Jacques Rogge with UN's Ban Ki-moon in Lausanne 25 January 2011 (photo ©2011, ioc/Richard Juilliart)
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The heads of the United Nations and the Olympic movement met in Lausanne 25 January to review work they have done together since the UN gave the IOC observer status in 2010.
The move was linked to the IOC starting a number of sports for peace projects. The Tuesday meeting covered new joint efforts to make it easier for Palestinian and Israeli athletes to participate in sports competitions and the adoption by the UN of the Olympic Truce Resolution for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The meeting follows by five days a landmark “modus vivendi” understanding that was reached between the Israeli and Palestinian National Olympic Committees when the two met for the first time in Lausanne last week.
Part of the agreement calls for Israel to help Palestinian athletes train in order to be able to compete in the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Namibia refugee camp project has IOC working on non-competitive sports agenda
Front entrance to the UN in Geneva, with broken chair sculpture and plaza
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The United Nations in Geneva has two administrative working languages, English and French, but French, the language of the host city, is increasingly overlooked, says a group of French-speaking journalists, one of whom was named 10 January as observer to the UN and international organizations.
Documents that should be available in both languages sometimes are not, or the French translation is slow to follow the English version. Presentations outside the official UN debates are not always made in both languages and translations are not always available.
The French language journalists association of Switzerland has designated journalist El Hadji Gorgui Wade Ndoye, accredited correspondent for Senegal’s Walf Fadjri news group, to track and analyze the use of French, a decision made during the November world francophony summit in Montreux.
The language problem is encountered often at press briefings, with some journalists speaking English and not French, or vice versa. At a briefing 11 January Maria Neira of the World Health Organization was reporting on children and lead poisoning in Nigeria.
She began in French, was asked by a journalist to speak in English and she hesitated between the two languages when she had a mixed response she asked if she should switch to English. She continued in French, but the opposite situation is more common at international organizations in Geneva, with English used.
Links to other sites: Walf Fadjri (Fr), GenevaInternational
