Haiti: As Hurricanes Loom, UN Urges World to Give

Haiti needs continued generous support from the international community, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, said during a visit to Port-au-Prince Sunday. Just over two months after an earthquake destroyed much of the capital and surrounding areas, only 49 per cent of the $1.4 billion dollar flash appeal for funds to help reconstruction efforts has been subscribed by international donors.

“For the foreseeable future, the government will need international assistance to simply cover its payroll– teachers, police, doctors and nurses.” said Ban. “The international community has been extraordinarily generous. Our challenge is to maintain this spirit of solidarity through the upcoming donors conference and beyond. ” added Ban, after meeting Haitian President Rene Preval to discuss the agenda for the international donors conference at UN headquarters on March 31st.

Finding shelter for those left without a home by the quake is still a top priority, the Secretary General said. He estimated UN agencies have provided tents and tarps to approximately 60 percent of the 1.3 million people believed homeless and that the remaining number would get temporary shelter by the end of April.

“We are planning on building more durable collective or community housing for the largest number of people possible before the start of hurricane season in June. If there is one thing Haiti does not need, it is another humanitarian catastrophe.” Weather forecasters are already predicting an active hurricane season in the Atlantic this year.

John Holmes, Head of the UN’s OCHA (Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), recently returned from a mission in the Middle East. He met with Palestinian and Israeli officials to talk about the blockade of shipments into Gaza, the latest Israeli settlements of 1600 new homes in East Jerusalem, and the wall in the West Bank. (2:20)

 

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Some 40 people have been killed as a a result of the precarious Iraq elections held this week. At the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon repeatedly stated that UN electoral monitors have things under control and will be able to ensure transparency for a draft outcome due out this Thursday. This is the first parliamentary election held in over 5 years.

“The peaceful conduct of these elections is of paramount importance and should contribute to national reconciliation in Iraq. A strong voter mandate will be a powerful message in support of stability and prosperity for all Iraqis and will build on the political progress that has already been achieved,” he said in a statement issued on the eve of the elections on March 7.

Several rockets, grenades and bombs went off in Baghdad on election day and the death toll throughout the country is steadily rising. The Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, condemned the attackers. And Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr urged Iraqis to stay away from violent attacks and to use their voting rights: “Even if a choice in the shadow of an occupation is not legitimate, I urge Iraqis to participate in order to prepare the ground for a termination of the occupation,” he said.

Some 19 million Iraqis were eligible to cast their vote for a new parliament from a choice of 6,200 candidates from many political parties. There are 325 seats open. Over 2000 candidates are women.

The Iraqi government hopes to have a newly elected national assembly to move ahead with what UN Representative to Iraq,  Ad Melkert, told reporters this afternoon via videoconference a “satisfying” election outcome. Melkert said some 60 percent of eligible voters have submitted their ballots.

“Of course, there are still certain issues and they are systematic in nature. But the voter education that took place took place on a relatively massive scale. We have called on all candidates and parties to unite in accepting results and to set the example for a cultural democracy. We call on those newly elected to move towards forming a majority coalition.”

The Iraqi electoral information network has over 18,000 observers all over the country to monitor polling stations. Working in partnership with the United Nations, the network claimed this week that some observers were denied access to polls by security forces.

On International Women’s Day, Mrs. Maha Abu-Dayyeh Shamas, Head of the Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC) talks about daily life in Palestine for women.

WCLAC was established by a small group of women in Jerusalem in 1991 as a Palestinian, independent, non-governmental, non-profit organization. Its foundation came in a context of the emergence of professional and political Palestinian women’s organizations, which had proliferated in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s as a result of the increasing involvement of women’s groups in the national struggle. The women address needs in the context of occupation and militarized oppression of the community, realizing the connections between militarized patriarchy and an increase in women’s oppression in private and public spheres.

The United Nations commemorated International Women’s Day (celebrated annually on March 8th) today with activities spanning from human rights of women in Palestine to panels which featured indigenous women and ministers for gender equality. Behind the curtain, the UN spokesperson remained hush-hush with a “no comment” about the high profile sexual harassment case between Mr. Rudd Lubbers, former Chief of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and his employee, American Cynthia Brzak.

Brzak charged Lubbers with sexual harassment by alleging he groped her during a meeting in his Geneva office in 2003. Lubbers also served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

The case has taken years to get to a US appeals court which upheld a previous ruling that the United Nations has full immunity from such lawsuits. The ruling this week, shocked many women’s rights advocates who repeatedly called for action against Lubbers and demanded the set up of preventive measures to avoid future sexual harassment cases.

Lubbers was forced to resign from his post after weeks of bad press and allegations that retaining his post may damage UNHCR’s credibility.

Brzak is a US citizen and former UN employee. Her attorney has pledged to appeal in a written statement.

“As the retaliation against (her) by officials within both UNHCR and the UN…(she has) no choice but to seek vindication of (her) constitutional and other rights before the US Supreme Court. The aim is to end the impunity exercised by UN officials everywhere who are placed beyond the reach of national laws by the UN’s outdated immunity… and on behalf of the many UN staff who have suffered and continue to suffer illegal and/or criminal acts in the workplace…”

“If there was sexual harassment, we know this is widespread, then the UN  should be a role model. Peacekeeping forces should be better behaved than other groups. It is unacceptable to me the UN should be exempt from this type of violence against women.” said Tarcila Rivera Zea, Enlance Intercontinental de Mujeres Indigenas, at a briefing this afternoon during the Commission on the Status of Women.

This case has brought attention to the slew of UN staff and personnel who have been raped and harassed by UN peacekeepers in refugee camps in Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Occupied Territories (Gaza) and Sri Lanka–to name a few.  Critics of the sexual harassment monitoring system at the UN say the organizational bureaucracy is just too thick to be able to accurately represent these cases. The UN office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) is tasked with ensuring transparency and accountability, but to avoid scandal and embarrassment, pushes the accused out of the system through retirement or reassignment–before justice is served.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has acknowledged the troubled system for investigating these cases and plans to set up a new internal structure this summer to deal with all employee vs. employee actions. Among those agencies recently accused of sexual harassment: UNDP, UNICEF, UNHCR, DPKO (Department of Peacekeeping Operations), and UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency in Palestine)–and those are just the cases that have been reported. Many women remain silenced for fear of losing their jobs or suffering the same fate as Brzak.

In response to a UNAIDS plan of action (2010-2014) launched today to tackle corruption and to promote accountability, Aids Activist Annie Lennox says UN needs to be more visionary in order to tackle the disease.

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Catherine Bragg, UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator reassured reporters this morning of Chile’s capability to handle the earthquake crisis with minimal long term effects. Confirmed deaths now stand at 723 and over 1.5 million homes have been damaged. Bragg appeared confident and underscored the Chilean government had recovery operations under control.

“This is the best disaster prepared country in Latin America”,  she added.

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was in the country this morning to provide desperately needed satellite equipment and to help step up communications to the badly hit area of Concepcion, some 200 miles south of the capital, Santiago. Bragg said the UN is also working with its agencies in the country to set up field hospitals and kitchens, dialysis centers, and to provide generators for power outages.

 

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Islamic Conference Decries Israeli Move On Holy Sites
By Staff

On a day when Israeli security forces and protestors clashed in the West Bank city of Hebron, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) condemned Israel’s decision to include Ibrahami Mosque in Hebron and Bilal Mosque in Bethlehem to the list of Israeli national heritage sites.

Also knows as Patriarch’s Cave and Rachel’s Tomb, both are important holy site to Muslims, Jews and Christians. Since announcing they would be included on the list, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given assurances that members of all faiths would be able to visit the sites freely.

But many Palestinians see the decision as an Israeli attempt to strengthen its grip on the occupied territories, where US and international pressure has failed to convince Israel to stop the expansion of settlements.

Members of the OIC have called on the General Assembly, the Secretary General and the Security Council to take the necessary measures to force Israel to revoke its decision. “We think this Israeli unilateral aggression aims at deviating public attention from the assassination in Dubai as well as undermining all remaining chances of the peace process.” said Bashar Ja’afari, Syria’s permanent representative to the United Nations.

Ibrahimi Mosque was also the site of 1994 shooting rampage by American born Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein that left 29 Muslim dead and several dozens more injured.

The United States is still the largest market for illegal drugs in the world, says the latest report from the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), noting that marijuana and prescription drugs such as Oxycontin and Vicodin are the most widely used drugs in the country. The report says use of cocaine declined last year.

“The board is concerned with what we see as the creeping normalization of the use of cannabis in the United States” said INCB member Melvyn Levitsky at the release of the organization’s annual report today.

Levitsky also raised a red flag about cannabis users requiring emergency medical care as a result of drug use.

“If you look at the US statistics, for a long time, there were no instances of people going to emergency rooms for being “strung out” on marijuana. Now, the largest number of emergency room visits, in terms of drug abuse, have to do with marijuana”

Levitsky says indirect advertising and promotion of drugs in the media as well as medical marijuana initiatives in some US states have lead to a weakening of controls and will on the matter.

“Medicinal marijuana, something that is not backed up by a scientific base, is decided in some cases by referendum rather than through the normal system for testing and evaluating”

The INCB report recommends that all elements of prevention , including drug education in schools, should become a focal point for governments. The INCB also supports alternative sentencing and treatment for drug users instead of jail time. It estimates that between170-250 million people around the world used an illegal drug in the past year.

Beginning March 1st, the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will meet at United Nations headquarters in New York to undertake a fifteen-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Much of the focus will be placed on overcoming remaining obstacles as underscored in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Member States, representatives of non-governmental organizations and UN agencies will participate to discuss best practices and to highlight country case studies.

The United Nations Foundation has been leading the global campaign to boost girl’s overall rights. The Foundation has raised some 100 million in grants from partners across the globe. The UN’s Girl Fund, provides funding to improve girls education–over 70 percent of the world’s 130 million of out of school youth are girls. Recent studies show that every year of schooling increases a girl’s individual earning power by 10 to 20 percent.

The Fund also supports adolescent girls’ access to sexuality education, HIV prevention and reproductive health.  Eighty-two million girls in developing countries between the ages of 10 and 17 will be married before their 18th birthday.

“Being a woman from Africa, achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) are a part of our day to day concerns.” said Dr. Migiro, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations.  Dr. Migiro, a native of Tanzania, emphasized the need for a stronger commitment from countries to invest in girls. She stressed that maternal and newborn health were ailing gaps in achievement worldwide and more must be done.

The eight Millennium Development Goals underscore a girls rights to education, health, economic access and opportunity. Dr. Migiro is working with the UN Foundation to promote The Girls Fund in the lead-up to the CSW in early March. The goal is to get Member-States and donors to recommit to the investments promised for girls at the Beijing Platform for Action 15 years ago, and to work harder to promote the MDG’s in advance of the MDG summit in September.