Updated 10:00 India has not decided yet whether it will attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony 10 December, according to the Times of India. Some Indian press reports 8 December indicate that the Indian ambassador in Oslo, Norway had confirmed to the Nobel Committee that he would attend, despite strong pressure from China. China has suggested that India’s participation could undermine a visit to India by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao 15 December.
Norway has said that 19 countries have confirmed they will not attend the ceremony this Friday, 10 December, while 44 have confirmed. The United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay has also turned down an invitation to attend because she is hosting a human rights event in Geneva Friday, but she will also not be sending a more junior representative, according to Foreign Policy magazine. The Chinese government reacted angrily to news that the prize is being given to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who is in prison for “endangering state security”. Many of Liu’s friends have been prevented from leaving China in recent weeks and his wife has been put under house arrest to prevent her from receiving the prize in his stead.
Links to other sites: Boston Globe, Hindustan Times
United Nations agencies are coming under pressure to leave Haiti, as crowds protesting their presence spread to the capital, Port-au-Prince, Thursday 19 November. The rock-throwing, tire-burning crowds also appear to be protesting what they see as government inaction. Cholera has now killed some 1,100 people and spread throughout most of the country. Rumours have also spread, that a UN team from Nepal brought the disease, which the UN denies. More than 18,000 people have been hospitalized with the disease and, according to CNN, the 4 percent hospital death rate is far higher than is expected in developed countries. The true numbers are likely far higher, but better data collection is needed to determine the extent of the outbreak, Nigel Fisher, the United Nations co-ordinator of humanitarian affairs in Haiti, told Canada’s CBC.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Santiago Penados de Rivero, 10, wanted to join his mother Thursday morning 11 November, like so many other children in Geneva and Vaud who took part in the bring your kid to work day, which 11 Swiss cantons offered last week. Juliette de Rivero, his mother, is the Geneva advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, an NGO, and her work day included plans to meet with other advocacy groups representatives as well as some UN member government agencies in her role observing the UN Human Rights Council meetings at the UN, reports Foreign Policy magazine. But Santiago was stopped at the door and the pair were told he did not have the right to enter.
The guard told his mother that “Geneva ends when you step foot in this building. This is not Switzerland,” reports Foreign Policy. The UN communications office in Geneva later clarified that while UN employees and diplomats may bring their children, other children must have advance security clearance. Santiago, for his part, sat down and wrote a letter of protest, arguing for his rights.
In canton Vaud in 2010 more than 14,000 children joined their parents at work for the day. Figures for Geneva and for this year are not yet available.
At the Palais des Nations, E – building, Room XVIII.
Location: Geneva
Link out: http://www.unog.ch/unog/website/calendar.nsf/%2…
Start date: 23 Nov 2010
End date: 26 Nov 2010
Three new aspects of development included in 20th anniversary edition of key UN report
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Three “three multi-dimensional measures of inequality and poverty” are for the first time included in the 2010 UN Development Programme’s annual index of human development, the 20th edition of the report. Gender inequality; losses in human development due to inequality in health, education and income; and overlapping deprivations suffered by households in health, education and living standards are the three new areas measured. The overall picture is one of virtual stagnation, with Brazil as the only country showing significant improvement.
The new tools have prompted some shifts in where countries stand with the index. Switzerland, for example, has moved down to 13th place, penalized largely because the number of years of obligatory education, just over 10, is less than in some other countries.
Norway remains firmly at the top of the list, followed in the top 10 by Australia, New Zealand, United States, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Canada, Sweden and Germany.
Human Development Index trends by country (table), 1980-2010
Full report available online
Traffic then security are also issues, with security a growing concern
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Housing is the main worry for expatriates and diplomats in Geneva, a poll run jointly by Geneva police and the Swiss Mission to the United Nations.
More than half of the 1,098 persons questioned said housing was their biggest concern, while traffic problems were listed by 16.3 percent and lack of security by 13.6 percent.
The poll included 318 members of the diplomatic corps, 581 international organization employees and 235 members of staff at multinational companies, with 66 percent of them having lived in Geneva for at least two years. Three-quarters were from Europe
A negative point in the survey was the perception on the part of the foreigners that security is getting worse in the city, with 80 percent of those questioned saying it is.
The report on the poll was presented at an annual meeting on human rights hosted by Geneva for NGOs (non-governmental organizations). This year’s theme was security: how to provide it while respecting human rights.
The report also showed that Geneva nevertheless is viewed well by foreigners living there, with 92 percent saying they would recommend it to their friends and 77.3 percent saying the quality of life is good.
The police are generally viewed positively (60 percent), but around the Cornavin train station in Geneva and the Paquis district 61 percent believe the police are too passive.
Geneva, the authors note, is given a relatively good score when compared to the countries where they previously resided, with seven of them doing better than Geneva on a scale of 10:
- Singapore, 9.1 /10, given the top rating
- Geneva, 7.6
- USA, 6.5
- Great Britain, 5.9
- Brazil, 5.7
- South Africa, 2.6.
Gontard case friction easing with Swiss, Colombian cooperation; $27 billion victim compensation programme high on Colombian gov’t agenda
Vice President Angelino Garzon listens to questions during a sit-down meeting with the press in Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – “Our goal is that in 15 years, lands can be given back to the farmers exiled from their homes and that social programmes will be in place to help them,” Vice-president Angelino Garzon of Colombia told GenevaLunch during a visit to Geneva Thursday 14 October.
The second highest representative of the new Colombian government elected earlier this year, was in Geneva furthering his government’s agenda with the Swiss government, the United Nations and international organizations.
One of the most-talked about topics on his agenda was the “victim compensation programme” that seeks to give land back to the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by violence in Colombia. The UNHCR estimates that over 3 million people have been internally displaced, which is why land restitution is a top priority for the government.
The $27 billion dollar programme has already put 200,000 hectares in the State’s hands. “We are seeking to confiscate an additional 600,000 hectares from armed groups operating illegally in the country,” he added.
Although the long-awaited plan may still be far in the future, Garzon believes that in Colombia the “political will to make this a priority is on everyone’s agenda.”
Implementing a broad land restitution programme with deep pockets may be viewed with distrust in a country where government agricultural subsidies that were geared to fostering peasant land productivity became linked, in some cases, to shady deals for the rich.
Garzon thinks things will be different now. “The government is counting on additional laws to ensure that [once approved] the programme works well,” he says.
“Priority will be given to women who are heads of households, orphans, people with disabilities and the elderly.”
Colombia to “respect the judicial system” over Gontard affair, bilateral talks to start in January Read more…
©2010 Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
The United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) is organizing, together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP), Mandat International and the Geneva Welcome Center, a friendly football (soccer) match to mark the International Day of Peace, the start of the International Year of Youth and the “Stand Up Against Poverty” campaign.
The match will take place on Friday, 17 September from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the Stade de Varembé (Rue de Vermont, 33). A team composed of diplomats from Permanent Missions in Geneva and staff members of United Nations agencies in Geneva will play against a team of local high-school students.
Location: Stade de Varembe, Geneva
Link out: http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/%28httpNews…
Date: 17 Sep 2010
Start time: 12:00
The UN and Pakistan have launched an appeal for $459.7 million over the coming weeks, to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of some 13 million people affected by the floods and to help rebuild the devastated country.
“This is a major catastrophe said John Holmes UN Humanitarian Chief speaking about Pakistan.
According to the UN at least six million flood victims require immediate humanitarian assistance including shelter, food, clean water, sanitation and medical care.
Video appeal – UN
The United Nations offices in Colombo, Sri Lanka, were under siege from the local population Tuesday 6 July after Housing Minister Wimal Weerawansa, member of an ultranationalist party, led thousands of protesters there to argue that the UN has no business investigating possible human rights abuses by the government during the final days of the country’s long and bloody civil war. The protests have continued, with threats of hunger strikes, but UN personnel were able to leave the buildings by the end of Tuesday. The situation remains tense, with UN staff reportedly working from home Wednesday. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in June set up an investigative panel charged with reviewing possible abuses.
Links to other sites: Associated Press, CNN
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) - Key details such as who will lead it and where it will be located are not yet out, but the United Nations General Assembly, meeting in New York Friday afternoon 2 July is expected to adopt a resolution merging four existing UN bodies into a new one, to promote gender equality. The new agency will be operational 1 January 2011. The draft resolution, according to AP, which has obtained a copy, calls for governments to end discrimination against women and close the gender gap in 12 critical areas including health, education, employment, political participation and human rights.
The four bodies that will be combined into the new agency are: the UN Development Fund for Women (Unifem); the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues; the UN Division for the Advancement of Women; and the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (Instraw). The new agency will work closely with several existing large UN agencies that are active in areas that touch on women’s rights, including the UN Development Programme, Unicef and the UN Population Fund, all of which have offices in Geneva.
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women will be known as UN Women and is expected to have a budget in the area of $500 million dollars: 125 million dollars for basic support capacity at the country, regional and headquarters level, and 375 million dollars for country-specific UN programme support, according to IPS news agency.
“In contrast, the 2008 funding available to the four existing gender entities was $6.2 million dollars from the regular budget of the United Nations and 218.5 million dollars from voluntary contributions,” writes IPS, noting that although the new funds are more than double existing ones, the amount is only half of the $1 million demanded by groups who have worked to push for the new agency.
UN film on violence against women, Kenya
Links to other sites: Canadian Press, Gear, UN Women Watch
China is cautiously watching as North Korea (DPRK) a longtime friend, lashes out at the United Nations over its review of the sinking of a South Korean military boat, the Cheonan. Forty-six people died in the 26 March incident. Xinhua, the official news agency, carries several related stories Wednesday 16 June, after North Korea’s ambassador to the UN, Sin Son-ho, held a rare news conference where he appeared to threaten military action if the UN condemns the North for the incident. The Security Council is reviewing reports on the sinking, which North Korea “has rejected as a ‘complete fabrication’” reports Xinhua, which carefully avoids condemning either Korea, as it notes that “the DPRK is vowing to respond with military measures if the UN Security Council releases any official document blaming them for the Cheonan incident.”
Meanwhile, Xinhua reports that North Korean football fans watching delayed TV footage of the World Cup games were cheering for South Korea.
Links to other sites: ABC, Australia, NY Times, RiaNovosti, Russia, Xinhua
Joseph Deiss - UN Photo/JC McIlwaine
(GenevaLunch) - Swiss Joseph Deiss was elected president of the UN General Assembly in New York Friday 11 June. He takes up the role 14 September and will preside over the summit on the Millennium Goals 20-22 September.
Deiss served as president of Switzerland in 2004 and as the country’s foreign minister, where he led efforts to have Switzerland join the United Nations.
The role of the president of the General Assembly is to ensure that meetings run correctly and in an orderly fashion, according to Bern. “He can exercise an influence on the General Assembly’s agenda. In addition, in the event of diverging views among the member states, he assumes the role of facilitator in the search for a consensus position.”
Deiss will serve a one-year term.
The UN Security Council voted 12-2 for new and tougher sanctions against Iran in an effort to force it to stop its nuclear programme. Turkey and Brazil voted against sanctions and Lebanon abstained. The new, fourth round of sanctions since 2006 brings tighter financial controls and an arms embargo that bans exports of such items as attack helicopters and tanks. Iran has reacted by saying nothing will change as a result. It continues to insist its nuclear activity is peaceful, while other countries fear it is trying to build nuclear weapons.
Links to other sites: BBC, CNN, Ria Novosti, Xinhua
Bern, Switzerland / Lagos, Nigeria (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland insists that it does more than any other government to return funds stolen by dictators, and Nigeria is a case in point. But Nigerians are now worried about how to make sure the funds land in the right place in order to put back into the budget money taken out of government coffers illegally.
An editorial published 7 June in This Day/allAfrica notes that
According to a report from Global Financial Integrity, total illicit outflows from Africa between 1970 to 2008 may be as high as $1.8 trillion; Sub-Saharan African countries experienced the bulk of illicit financial outflows with the West and Central African region posting the largest outflow numbers. The top five countries with the highest outflow measured were: Nigeria ($89.5 billion) Egypt ($70.5 billion), Algeria ($25.7 billion), Morocco ($25 billion), and South Africa ($24.9 billion).
The editor says “It is, therefore, cheering to note that the Swiss government now wants to make it difficult for people who loot state treasuries to save looted funds in Swiss banks. We want to believe that that pledge by Switzerland’s Deputy State Secretary of the Swiss Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Pierre Helg, the other day in Abuja is sincere.”
The next step, he argues, is up to Nigeria. “there seems to be no transparency in the in the repatriation of looted funds. Nigerians deserve to know amounts repatriated as they happen and of what use the money is put. This lack of transparency has fuelled speculation that looted funds, if brought back, only meet re-looting.”
Global Forum in Paris this week in response to G-20 demand
Nigerian concern comes as Switzerland leads a two-day international conference in Paris, the Global Forum on the Recovery of Assets and Development, jointly organized by Switzerland, the World Bank and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The forum is part of the lead-up to the G-20 summit in Toronto, Canada 26-27 June.
The United Nations reacted quickly to condemn Israel for its attack on a humanitarian aid boat carrying activists, although few countries went as far as Turkey in their statements. The six ships attacked were carrying Turkish flags. Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, said that “the distance between terrorists and state has been blurred.” The US representative, Alejandro Wolff, said the US was “deeply disturbed” by the attack, but the US and its ally Israel were unable to come up with a joint statement in the hours following the attack. The incident strains relations that have suffered in recent months following Israel’s poorly timed announcement that new housing would go up in the West Bank, during a peace mission by US Vice-president Joe Biden.
“At the very least, Israel has become more isolated than at any time in recent history, an isolation that may undermine global efforts to bring its arch-foe, Iran, to heel over its nuclear ambitions,” writes The Globe and Mail, Canada.
More than 10,000 protesters gathered in front of the Israeli Embassy in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday night.
Links to other sites: Globe & Mail, Huriyet Daily News, Turkey, New York Times, Times of India,
International sports, rugby Sevens, golf
IOC and UN set out list of recommendations
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Preparations are moving ahead to introduce rugby Sevens and golf to the Olympics, starting with the 2016 Games. Officials from international rugby and golf bodies met together for the first time, for two days, 26-27 May, with IOC (International Olympics Committee) officials in Lausanne to review how the Games are managed and the role of the national organizing committees.
Wednesday the IOC and the United Nations announced they had drawn up a list of 19 recommendations to increase the impact of sports on development, including the 2000 Millennium Goals. The two international bodies agreed to work to avoid duplication and to encourage national governmentts “to embed sports” in their development programmes.
Links to other sites: International Rugby Board, IOC on UN meetings, Irish rugby
Title: UN lecture: Nature’s wake-up call: Why we must heed the warning
Location: Geneva
Link out: Click here
Description: The United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) are organizing a series of open lectures on a regular basis at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, entitled The Geneva Lecture Series. The lectures aim to foster awareness of a number of pressing global challenges among audiences in Geneva and beyond, with a focus on how each individual can contribute to resolving such challenges.
Date: 2010-05-26
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss federal government Thursday 20 May approved a package of CHF10 million to increase security around international organizations such as the UN Palais building in Geneva. The host government is responsible, under international law, for securing the outside and approach areas for these buildings, including walls and fences. Bern provided no details about what organizations will have reinforced security.
Security measures have been increasingly stepped up since 2003, following attacks on buildings in Baghdad.
The five countries with veto power within the UN Security Council have agreed to tougher sanctions against Iran over its nuclear plans, and what US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is calling a “strong” draft resolution is being circulated among the 15 members. Iran agreed just a day earlier, Monday 17 May, to a deal with Turkey that Brazil helped broker, which has it sending most of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for enriched fuel for a research reactor, a deal similar to one suggested by other Western countries in 2009.
The US accused Iran Tuesday of trying to deflect criticism of its nuclear programme. The new, fourth sanctions package is a carrot-and-stick solution to dealing with Iran: it offers tough measures against shipping and banking, and would stop any shipments to Iran of conventional arms, but it also encourages Iran to cooperate with nuclear inspections.
Links to other sites: Aljazeera, BBC, Financial Times, Reuters/New York Times
Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay 17 May in Geneva called on the government of Thailand and protesters to “step back from the brink” of disaster and hold talks to end violence there.
Leaders of the two sides reportedly held a brief phone conversation where a ceasefire was proposed, but elsewhere, the Pillay’s words appear to be falling on deaf ears, with former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s foreign minister suggesting Tuesday 18 May that the current prime minister could well be investigated by the ICC (International Criminal Court) for charges against humanity in the wake of shootings by troops in Bangkok.
Links to other sites: Bangkok Post, Sky News, UN news
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Monday 23 March is World Water Day, and Swiss consumer groups are doing their bit by encouraging Swiss consumers and restaurants to favour tap water over bottled water. There is no reason for people in Switzerland to pay for bottled water, they argue, for hygiene or health reasons, and tap water doesn’t require containers so is better for the environment.
Swiss water suppliers offer a search page (F/G/I) on their site where consumers can check details about the source and quality of their water, although smaller towns and villages may be able to check only nearby larger towns.
The diplomatic Middle East Quartet, which met in Moscow Friday 19 March, has issued a strongly worded reaction to Israel’s recent announcement it intends to build 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem. The group of four (the UN, US, Russia and the EU) are calling for Israel to remove settlement homes within 24 months. and for Palestinians and Israelis to negotiate an agreement in the same time period that provides for an independent Palestinian state living next to Israel in peace. “The quartet condemns the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem, “UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon said unequivocally.
The New York Times had earlier reported that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared anxious to lower the temperature after Israel came in for heavy criticism over the housing. “We all condemned the announcement, and we all are expecting both parties to move toward the proximity talks and to help create an atmosphere in which those talks can be constructive,” Clinton said before the Quartet’s statement.
Links to other sites: Guardian, UK, Jerusalem Post, Moscow Times, New York Times
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government remains silent on Libya, while Libya appears to want to stay in news headlines this week: leader Muammar Qadaffi’s declaration of a jihad or holy war against Switzerland last week was firmly rebuffed as unacceptably by the United Nations and Swiss Muslim leaders. Reports are coming in that some Libyans have taken it more seriously, and that anywhere from 1,000 t0 2,000 of them, depending on who is reporting, have gathered outside the Swiss Embassy in Tripoli. Security forces are guarding the building.
Meanwhile, Hannibal Qadaffi has visited Max Goeldi in prison in Libya, in the presence of reporters.
Hamid Karzai, president of Afghanistan, has announced that he now has the power to appoint all five members of the country’s Electoral Complaints Commission, a body that has had until now three foreigners appointed by the United Nations. Western governments are expressing their dismay at the move. The commission played a key role in 2009 in exposing electoral fraud, forcing a second round of presidential voting.
Title: Human rights investigations and their methodologies
Location: Geneva, Graduate Institute
Link out: Click here
Description: Lecture by Navanethem Pillay, UN high commissioner for human rights
Start Time: 18:30
Date: 2010-02-24
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Criticism rained down from Western governments on Iran during its periodic review by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva Monday morning 15 February. The review session was opened by Mohamad Jabad Larijani, responsible for human rights in Iran, but his country’s human rights record was immediately attacked by the United States and other Western governments.
Michael Posner, US assistant secretary for state with responsibility for human rights told the meeting that “the United States strongly condemns the recent violent and unjust suppression of innocent Iranian citizens, which has resulted in detentions, injuries and deaths.
Betty E King, named US ambassador to the UN and international organizations in Geneva
Updated 15 February (photo added) Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The US Mission in Geneva announced late Friday that Betty E King was confirmed 11 February as the new US ambassador to the UN and international organizations. King was nominated to the post in late October 2009 and the confirmation came in a voice vote in the US Senate. Details about when she will take up the post are not yet available. King led an unofficial delegation to the preparatory meetings for the Durban Review Conference in 2009, in addition to the items listed by the US Mission as part of her biography.
Background, GenevaLunch
Credit is easing and property prices are starting to move up in the UK, two of the factors that have led PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute report to name London as investors’ most popular choice for new real estate developmen in Europe. The city moved up several slots on the international scale, a sign of renewed investor faith in both the market overall and the UK’s improved situation.
Links to other sites: PWC and Urban Land report, Reuters
