UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE

UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE

DAILY NEWS

In their latest expression of concern over strife in Nepal, United Nations human rights officials today urged both the Government and opposition protesters to refrain from violence in demonstrations planned for tomorrow to impel King Gyanendra to restore suspended parliamentary rule and democratic rights.

“To the security forces, I stress that it is precisely during times of large demonstrations that the observance of international standards requiring minimum necessary force and restrictions on the use of firearms is most essential,” the Nepal representative of the Office of the UH High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Ian Martin, said in a statement.

“I call on the commanders and all members of security forces to fulfil their legal obligations in policing these demonstrations, to prevent injury, and to respect and preserve human life,” he added of the two-week-long protests in which 14 people are reported to have been killed and scores injured.

“To the organizers and participants of the demonstrations, I call upon them to make every effort to ensure that demonstrators respect the rights of others, including the right to life and security of person,” he said, adding that they should not throw rocks and other projectiles, destroy public property, or attack people believed to be Government infiltrators.

It was the latest of a series of statements issued by OHCHR-Nepal in recent days in which the office has deplored the “grossly excessive use of force” by police and army troops. The office said it “is deeply concerned by the growing number of instances in which security forces have fired live ammunition as well as rubber bullets.”

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said hospitals in Kathmandu, the capital, are reported to be overcrowded, with victims injured by bullets and batons. Tear gas-induced respiratory tract problems are the most common ailments.

Human rights officials are keeping a list of prominent journalists and civil society leaders who have been arrested after taking part in peaceful demonstrations. OHCHR-Nepal is concerned that the conditions under which they are being kept are not adequate or suitable for prolonged detention.

The new expressions of concern were the latest in a series voiced by UN officials from Secretary-General Kofi Annan on down as worsening violence has marked the pro-democracy demonstrations against the king's suspension of parliamentary rule.

Mr. Annan, who has been calling for the restoration of “democratic freedoms and institutions” ever since the king dissolved parliament, imposed a state of emergency and suspended civil liberties in February 2005, called on him earlier this month to take “courageous steps” to find a way avoid further bloodshed in the impoverished, strife-torn kingdom.

With donors balking at funding the Hamas-led Palestinian Government, tension between that administration and President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah, increasing violence and lawlessness, and continued settlement expansion by Israel, the situation in the Middle East has reached a volatile juncture, a United Nations official said today.

“We are witnessing a potentially dangerous deterioration of the situation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Alvaro de Soto, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told the Security Council in the monthly briefing on the issue.

Mr. de Soto said that the funding crisis was a result the failure of the new Palestinian Government to commit to the principles of non-violence, recognition of Israel's right to exist and acceptance of previous commitments and obligations.

He said lawlessness had already become endemic in Palestinian areas, and is “worsening amid uncertainties concerning command and control of the security forces within the new dispensation.” There are signs of a struggle between the Presidency and the new Government, with President Abbas cancelling the Hamas appointment of a wanted militant to a senior position.

At the same time, he pointed to an alarming increase in violence since 30 March, with 29 Palestinians and 10 Israelis killed. The Israeli fatalities, along with the deaths of three internationals, resulted from two suicide bombings that, although condemned by President Abbas, were called legitimate resistance or a natural consequence of the Israeli occupation by Palestinian Cabinet ministers and spokesmen.

The Palestinian fatalities and injuries were the consequence of a range of Israeli military operations, including air strikes, artillery and tank shelling in northern Gaza, targeted killings, and ground operations in the West Bank. Israel claimed all these operations were against militants, but at least three children died, he said.

Israel has continued to “create facts on the ground” including settlement expansion and a route of the Barrier which deviates from the 1967 borders. The envoy warned that this raises “serious concerns” as to the possibility of achieving a viable and contiguous Palestinian State.

“The first challenge is to stabilize the security environment, where the primary responsibility rests with the parties,” Mr. de Soto said. “Both parties must abide by their obligations under international law, and refrain from actions that further escalate the situation and put civilians at risk.”

On the humanitarian side, he said it is likely that, in light of current developments, the scale of UN activities will increase. “UN programmes and agencies will continue to interact with their Palestinian Authority counterparts, to ensure that the United Nations serves the interests of peace and meets the needs of the Palestinian people as effectively as possible,” he said.

Mr. de Soto added that political and diplomatic contacts with the Palestinian Government may take place at the discretion of Secretary-General Kofi Annan. “The UN will continue to work with all concerned to try to find ways to ensure that the needs of the Palestinians are met,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Annan has invited the principles of the Middle East diplomatic Quartet – the United States, the European Union and the Russian Federation in addition to the UN – to New York on 9 May, to discuss the “new realities” of the long-running conflict.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on the people of the Solomon Islands to refrain from violence and re-commit themselves to a peaceful and constitutional resolution of their differences after post-election disturbances in the South Pacific country.

In a statement issued by his spokesman in New York, Mr. Annan pledged UN assistance to regional efforts to find a solution.

“The Secretary-General expresses concern over civil disturbances in the Solomon Islands following the election of the Prime Minister on 18 April,” the statement said.

“He calls on the people of Solomon Islands to refrain from acts of violence and reaffirm their commitment to a peaceful and constitutional resolution of their differences in a spirit of goodwill which they convincingly demonstrated during the general elections.

The statement welcomed support provided to the Government of Solomon Islands by the Pacific Islands Forum, which has deployed a Regional Assistance Mission to the country to restore order, and pledged to complement those efforts.

Congratulating Iraq's new political leadership, the senior United Nations envoy to the country today called on the elected officials to form a government of national unity.

In a message delivered on behalf of Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Special Representative Ashraf Jehangir Qazi voiced hope that the election of Iraq's Presidency, Prime Minister and Speaker “leads to the strengthening of democratic institutions and consolidation of the political process,” according to a statement released by the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI).

Iraq's political leaders should “seize this new political momentum to form a government of national unity in a manner that will heal political and social divisions,” said Mr. Qazi, calling on all Iraqis “to unite in a spirit of national reconciliation and compromise to foster the establishment of peace and stability in Iraq.”

Mr. Qazi offered his best wishes to Mr. Talabani, as well as to Adel Abdul Mahdi and Tareq al-Hashemi on their election by the Council of Representatives as President and Vice-Presidents of Iraq; Jawad al-Maliki, the Prime Minister designate; and Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, Khaled al-Atiyya and Arif Tayfour as Speaker and Deputy Speakers of the new Iraqi Council of Representatives.

He said the UN looks forward to working with Iraq's newly-elected leaders towards the goals of fostering peace and stability in the country.

Aiming to build on impressive progress made by Timor-Leste since the United Nations helped it to independence in 2002, Secretary-General Kofi Annan is advocating the establishment of a follow-on office after the termination in May of the current UN mission to help strengthen the “fragile democracy” in the world's newest country.

In his final report to the Security Council on the UN Office in Timor-Leste (UNOTIL), which closes on 20 May, Mr. Annan notes that the country's leaders have requested such a new UN political presence to include four components: an electoral assistance unit; police training advisers; military liaison officers; and civilian advisers in critical areas that require continued assistance.

Furthermore, President Xanana Gusmão has indicated that the Government would welcome the deployment of human rights officers “to monitor and report on the human rights situation” leading up presidential and parliamentary elections to be held in 2007, Mr. Annan says, recommending that the new integrated UN office have a 12-month mandate.

“Given the considerable investment of the United Nations in Timor-Leste over more than six years, it is in the interest of the international community to assist the country in consolidating the achievements thus far,” he writes of the various UN missions that saw the Southeast Asian nation through independence after it voted to break away from Indonesia, which took over the former Portuguese colony in 1975.

“With the provision of assistance through the proposed integrated United Nations office, as has been requested by the Timorese leadership, the Organization can better enable the Government to make further advances in fostering peace, stability and democracy at this critical juncture,” he adds.

UNOTIL itself succeeded the UN Mission of Support in Timor-Leste (UNMISET) last May and the new office would run for one year, beginning on 21 May.

“It is my sincere hope that the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for 2007, the first since the country's independence, will be a significant step forward in the process of strengthening this fragile democracy,” Mr. Annan writes.

“The transparency of the process and the conduct of the elections in a credible manner, with maximum participation of the Timorese electorate, will directly affect the legitimacy of the outcome of the elections.”

The new integrated office would be headed by a Special Representative of the Secretary-General and number up to 65 staff members. It would help the Government to ensure that the elections meet international standards; consolidate democratic development and political stability; and aid Timorese national police in preparing electoral-related security arrangements. In addition, the impartial presence of UN military liaison officers would help the Government in liaising with the Indonesian military for the conduct of border security operations during the electoral period. The office would also help to build the capacity of Government institutions to protect human rights and promote justice and reconciliation.

The senior United Nations envoy to Haiti has hailed parliamentary elections in the country as a major step towards consolidating democracy while decrying clashes that resulted in the closure of three voting centres.

“I am very satisfied with the way these elections have been held,” said Juan Gabriel Valdés, head of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), which worked with the National Police to provide electoral security.

Voters cast ballots at 804 voting centres to elect 27 senators and 83 deputies on Friday. As expected, participation was lower than the first round of elections, when René Préval was elected president, the mission reported.

Mr. Valdés hailed Haitians for completing the process, saying they have “restored democracy to Haiti.”

But he also noted that disturbances in Grande Saline and Grand'Anse had resulted in three voting centres being closed. “It is very regrettable that local confrontations between political groups have prevented voting in some places,” he said. “Recourse to violence dishonours the genuine national aspiration for real democracy.”

The calm atmosphere in which the second round of Haiti's parliamentary elections took place on Friday represents a crucial step towards placing the impoverished and strife-torn Caribbean country on the path to peaceful and stable development, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today.

“It will be essential for the country's progress that all elements of Haiti's political spectrum and the various branches of Haiti's Government work in a spirit of close cooperation to ensure that this opportunity is fully grasped,” he added in a statement issued by his spokesman.

The statement paid tribute to the “excellent collaboration between Haiti and the international community that resulted in an exemplary logistical and technical process.”

The UN helped organize the poll, together with February's presidential vote, as part of its peacekeeping mission in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

The UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) was established in 2004 after an insurgency forced elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to go into exile. Former President René Préval won the February's election.

Citing the need for diplomatic efforts to break the impasse over Western Sahara Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called for a six-month extension of the United Nations mission (MINURSO) deployed in the disputed territory which is claimed by Morocco.

In a new

The project's groundwork was set at a meeting of UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna in February attended by the Iraqi Minister for Science and Technology, representatives from 16 countries, including the United States, and the European Commission.

“This is a huge task, one that could take many years,” the IAEA safety expert in charge of the effort said in an update, noting that among the first steps is the need to identify, cordon off and prioritize contaminated areas that pose the most risk to the public.

Some of the challenges include determining now unknown locations where contaminated equipment and materials might be buried, and recovering lost records about the contents of radioactive materials stored in waste containers.

“Given the magnitude of the task ahead, the project needs to be carried out through a combined effort between Iraq organizations and the IAEA's Member States,” Mr. Reisenweaver said.

One of the major known sites is the Tuwaitha complex that was inspected and largely dismantled during IAEA-led weapons inspections in the 1990s and subsequently bombed in the 2003 United States-led war, after which it was looted, making media headlines when barrels containing low-level uranium ore concentrate known as 'yellowcake' were stolen.

The barrels were emptied and sold to local people who used them for storing water or food, or to wash clothes. Under its nuclear safeguards agreement with Iraq, the IAEA inspected the site, noting that the missing material posed no proliferation concern and that efforts were required to recover the dispersed material.

At present 1,000 Iraqi men, women and children in the village of Ishtar near the site, 20 kilometres south of Baghdad, are living inside an area contaminated by radioactive residues and ruins, where levels of radiation are known to be higher than normal and prolonged exposure could prove risky over time.

During the project's first phase, it is expected the IAEA will assist with training, equipment and analysis of data to prioritize sites and facilities that need to be decommissioned first on radiation safety grounds.

The agency is also aiding Iraq in several areas related to radiation safety and waste management. They include regional technical cooperation projects to upgrade capabilities for controlling radiation sources and responding to radiation emergencies.

Aiming to tackle the myriad environmental, health and security problems associated with the dilapidated United Nations Headquarters complex, the General Assembly budget committee today recommended authorizing over $100 million for a massive refurbishment that is widely considered to be long overdue.

The seven buildings and 17-plus acres of the UN complex employs systems that are well past their useful life as well as hazardous materials, including asbestos. Standards of building safety in key areas, like sprinklers, are not up to code and energy goes wasted as a result of poor efficiency.

The “capital master plan” aims to address what Secretary-General Kofi Annan has termed the “unacceptable deterioration, building and fire code deficiencies, deficiencies in modern security requirements and standards and environmental problems” that plague the New York Headquarters.

Approving a draft resolution for adoption by the Assembly, the Administrative and Budgetary (Fifth) Committee appropriated $23.5 million for financing the design and pre-construction phases of the plan.

For the whole 2006-2007 biennium, the Secretary-General would be authorized to enter into commitments of up to $77 million to provide for the construction, fit-out and related requirements of a conference “swing space” building – the facility to be used during construction – on the North Lawn of the Headquarters complex. That allocation would also fund the leasing, design, pre-construction services and related requirements of library and office swing space.

The General Assembly has not yet decided on how the refurbishment will proceed but further action on the issue is expected next month.
UN official on mission to Horn of Africa to aid victims of drought and conflict

With the situation of 8 million poverty-stricken and conflict-affected people in Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia giving rise to serious concern this year, the top United Nations relief official for the region begins a week-long mission tomorrow to confer with the authorities, donor representatives and partner agencies.

While there, Special Humanitarian Envoy for the Horn of Africa Kjell Magne Bondevik is expected to travel to drought-stricken areas to assess the situation first-hand.

Several years of successive rainfall failures and the concomitant rapid erosion of assets and livelihoods have left the people in parts of the five countries to suffer from water shortages and declining access to food, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The predominately pastoral and agro-pastoral communities are being forced to travel vast distances to find grazing for their animals. Meanwhile, reduced agricultural production has led to a dramatic increase in the price of food commodities, particularly of cereals. Without assistance many people face malnutrition, significantly increased risk of disease, loss of livelihoods and even death.

As part of the response to the situation, Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik as Special Humanitarian Envoy for the Horn of Africa in February. The UN has also launched a $426-million appeal for the Horn of Africa to support the urgent needs of more than 8 million affected people.

Virtually every country in the world is affected by the crime of human trafficking in millions of people for sexual exploitation or forced labour, and governments must take serious steps to eliminate a scourge whose main victims are women and children, according to a new United Nations report released today.

“The fact that this form of slavery still exists in the 21st century shames us all,” UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said of the report - Trafficking In Persons: Global Patterns.

“Governments need to get serious about identifying the full extent of the problem so they can get serious about eliminating it,” he added, noting that organized criminal gangs behind the trafficking are often multi-national in their membership and operations.

The UNODC report identifies 127 countries of origin, 98 transit countries and 137 destination countries. It shows that global efforts to combat trafficking are being hampered by a lack of accurate data, reflecting the unwillingness of some countries to acknowledge that the problem affects them.

“It is extremely difficult to establish how many victims there are world-wide as the level of reporting varies considerably, but the number certainly runs into millions,” Mr. Costa said. “It is difficult to name a country that is not affected in some way.”

He outlined three main challenges for governments:

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  to reduce demand, whether for cheap goods manufactured in sweatshops, under-priced commodities produced by bonded people in farms and mines, or services provided by sex slaves;
  
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  to target the criminals who profit from the vulnerability of people trying to escape from poverty, unemployment, hunger and oppression;
  
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  to protect trafficking victims, especially women and children.
  

“Efforts to counter trafficking have so far been uncoordinated and inefficient. The lack of systematic reporting by authorities is a real problem. Governments need to try harder,” he added of the traffic, usually from poor countries to more affluent ones.

“Traffickers capitalize on weak law enforcement and poor international cooperation. The low rate of convictions for the perpetrators of human trafficking is a matter of serious concern which needs to be addressed.

“Protecting the victims may sound obvious, but in practice they are all too often treated as criminals who may face charges for violating immigration or anti-prostitution laws. Humane and sensitive treatment is not just a moral imperative - it also increases the likelihood that victims will overcome their understandable fear and testify against their abusers,” he declared.

The report lists countries on a scale from “very low” to “very high” as countries of origin, transit and destination.
New Macalester College Institute in US will foster global understanding – Annan Returning to the United States college that he graduated from over three decades ago, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has hailed the inauguration of its newly created Institute for Global Citizenship as a step forward in fostering international understanding.

Addressing a convocation ceremony at Macalester College in Minnesota on Saturday, Mr. Annan said the mission of the Institute – to advance internationalism, multiculturalism and understanding – is more important than ever in today's world.

“Its launch could hardly come at a more crucial time in the life of the international community in general, and the United Nations in particular. More than ever before, the human race faces global problems – from poverty and inequality to nuclear proliferation, from climate change to bird flu, from terrorism to HIV/AIDS, from ethnic cleansing and genocide to trafficking in the lives and bodies of human beings. We need to come together and work out global solutions,” he said.

Mr. Annan added that those benefiting from the Institute would in turn contribute to refuting prevailing myths about the United States. “However you choose to carry out your mission as global citizens, I know you will keep demonstrating the fallacy of a certain perception of America – the perception of an insular America with no interest in or understanding of the world beyond these shores,” he said.

“As you do, I hope you will always look to the United Nations as a forum in which Americans, along with all the world's other peoples, can work together for freedom, prosperity and peace.”

The Secretary-General earned a bachelor's degree at Macalester in 1961.

An improved tool to fight hunger and rural poverty by using satellite imagery, spatial databases and interactive maps to help developing countries isolate the causes of food shortages was launched today by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The new version of the FAO GeoNetwork, with access to satellite imagery, interactive maps and spatial databases from FAO, the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the 64-member Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and others, marks the start of a new era for spatial data sharing among UN agencies.

“This new version of GeoNetwork is faster and more reliable than the previous one,” the Assistant Director-General of the FAO Sustainable Development Department, Alexander Müller, said. “In addition, several other UN agencies have joined the network, thus adding an impressive amount of valuable UN system-wide geospatial information.”

Satellite imagery and spatial databases assist countries to fight hunger and rural poverty. Users overlay maps from multiple servers housed at development institutions worldwide to create customized thematic maps on their own computers covering such variables as land cover, soil quality, vegetation, population density and marketing access.

“When an emergency occurs, the maps created by the different agencies in their respective fields of expertise can be combined to see the relationship between different factors affecting the populations and the environment,” FAO’s expert in remote sensing, Jeroen Ticheler, said.

The launch coincides with the release of a new version of the WFP GeoNetwork, which contributes substantially to the effective sharing and dissemination of geographical datasets with major emphasis on food security and vulnerability issues. The WFP network includes nodes at WFP headquarters, regional bureaus and country offices.

FAO GeoNetwork is a collaborative effort to provide a free and open source software based spatial data management system that is widely distributed and used. It adheres to international standards for geographic data sharing.

As demonstrations continued in Nepal today, security forces in several locations violently dispersed protestors, according to United Nations officials who visited the injured and criticized the excessive use of force in the troubled kingdom.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had five monitoring teams moving throughout the Kathmandu area, where thousands – and perhaps tens of thousands – of people turned out to express discontent with an address made by the King on Friday evening. A wide cross-section of Nepalese society was represented in the marches that continued to build even as a hailstorm swept across the troubled capital city.

OHCHR-Nepal officials said in at least four places, demonstrations were violently dispersed by the security forces using teargas, lath (long stick) charges on demonstrators, and the shooting of rubber bullets.

OHCHR-Nepal also had a team visiting hospitals following up on serious injuries from the use of force by security forces in previous days. OHCHR-Nepal teams witnessed injuries to demonstrators, including head injuries from either laths or rubber bullets.

In one clinic visited by OHCHR-Nepal team, a doctor advised that he had treated 43 demonstrators, including five with injuries from rubber bullets. Once again, head injuries were an unacceptable consequence of the excessive use of force by security forces, UN officials said.

Visiting demonstrators injured by security forces in Kalanki on Thursday – when at least three people were killed – an OHCHR-Nepal team saw three others who were critically injured.
UN helps Angola fight rising cholera outbreak

United Nations agencies are helping the Government of Angola fight a cholera outbreak that is showing signs of soaring after already infecting nearly 14,000 people, killing almost 650 of them, since February.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN World Health Organization (WHO), and government partners, primarily the Ministries of Health and Energy and Water, as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), have teamed up to provide medicines, clean water and case management.

The number of cases has increased sharply with continued heavy rains, reaching a rate of 700 to 850 a day. Contaminated water is major vehicle for infection.

Cholera, an acute intestinal disease caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, causes copious, painless, watery diarrhoea that can quickly lead to severe dehydration and death if treatment, including rehydration, is not given promptly. Vomiting also occurs in most patients.

Apart from significant human suffering, the disease disrupts social and economic structures and puts tremendous strain on already precarious national health systems. Seasonal factors, such as the rainy season, contribute to the disease's spread.

UNICEF has distributed 217,300 sachets of Oral Rehydration Salts as well as 1,780 kilos of Calcium Hypochlorite to treat water at source for distribution to communities, benefiting 200,000 people daily.

It has also supplied and installed 50 10,000-litre water tanks and 20 10,000-litre water bladders, with stand-posts, in Luanda, as well as 70,000 packets of water treatment kits to supply treated water for 70,000 households for 10 days, and 17,000 jerry cans.

The agency is continuing to distribute soap, boots, gloves, aprons, first aid kits, essential drugs and hypochlorite of calcium in affected provinces, and providing technical assistance, tents and basic equipment for establishing cholera control treatment centres.

UNICEF is training social mobilizers and disseminating social communication materials such as training manuals, posters, leaflets and CDs, to affected communities.

Comprehensive reform of the United Nations, now underway, should help boost support for the world Organization, which has been plagued by the perception of a gap between its ideals and the international community's ability to unite to deliver results, a top UN information official said today.

“One of our key challenges, therefore, is to close this gap and once again make the UN not only a symbol of our collective hope, but also a powerful instrument for translating that hope into everyday reality,” Under-Secretary-General Shashi Tharoor told the opening session of the Committee on Information meeting at the UN's New York Headquarters

People's faith in the “idea” of the UN as a universal Organization leading global collective effort for the common good is still firm, he said.

However, faith in the UN as a “reality” has weakened, he added. “With horror unfolding daily, and the world unable to stop it, Darfur is a good example of this gap between intent and reality.”

But due to ongoing reform, he said “signs of renewal are everywhere,” and it is important for the UN to communicate them to the global public. The flurry of activities that has followed the 2005 World Summit include revitalization of human rights machinery through creation of the Human Rights Council, and better post-conflict coordination through the Peacebuilding Commission and the Democracy Fund.

In addition, he said that “a comprehensive review of UN mandates is on the anvil, creating a unique opportunity to strengthen and adapt the Organization to new priorities,” and Secretary-General Kofi Annan has proposed measures for a fundamental overhaul of the rules, systems and culture of the UN Secretariat.

The Department of Public Information (DPI) had itself been undergoing reform over the past three years, Mr. Tharoor said, targeting its delivery of information, making better use of new technologies and building an expanded grass-roots support base through partnerships with civil society organizations around the world.

Such efforts are paying off, he said, noting that the estimated reach of UN radio programmes has more than doubled to some 300 million a week, its multilingual websites are used by millions of people every day, and visitors leave UN guided tours with a better understanding of the work of the Organization and more support for it in 9 out of 10 cases, according to evaluations.
UN demining official warns of budget gap if no new donors come forward

After benefiting from a surge in funding following the fall of the Taliban at the end of 2001 and consequently clearing over half the minefields in Afghanistan, the United Nations Mine Action Programme for the country (MAPA) is currently projecting a funding shortfall in 2006, one of its officials said today.

“If no new donor commitments are made, we will be forced to reduce the number of demining teams employed in the field,” John Flanagan, Deputy Director of the United Nations Mine Action service, said at a press conference in Kabul.

Mr. Flanagan said that the shortfall would come at a critical time for demining in the country, since responsibility for the programme is being shifted to a mine action agency being created within the national Government.

MAPA has already cleared more than 1 billion square metres of land since 1990. Around a further 716 million square metres of land remain to be cleared, according to estimates.

Almost 329,000 anti-personnel mines, more than 18,000 anti-tank mines and nearly 7 million items of unexploded ordnance have been destroyed, Mr. Flanagan said.

In addition, a nationwide survey of contaminated land in Afghanistan has been completed, and the number of highly-impacted communities has been cut by almost half since the initial data was collected through a combination of clearance, marking and mine risk education.

“We hope that our donors will allow us to hand over a mine action programme that has enough sufficient financial resources to meet its many important targets in the future and one of those is an Afghanistan free of the threat of mines by 2013,” Mr. Flanagan concluded.

With the deadly avian influenza virus found in four provinces in Afghanistan, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is moving forward with the nationwide public information campaign to raise awareness about measures to protect human health and contain any possible outbreak.

Cases of the deadly H5N1 strain have been detected in Kapisa, Kabul, Logar and Nangahar, UN spokesman Adrian Edwards told a press briefing in Kabul.

The Government has identified 20 priority provinces for immediate community-based communication activities, including seven – Kabul, Kapisa, Parwan, Wardak, Logar, Nangarhar and Laghman – considered highest risk. Those will receive a full range of interpersonal communication materials this week, including flip charts, posters and leaflets, according to Mr. Edwards.

“The interpersonal communication approach is considered vital to ensuring that the preventative messages on avian influenza are fully understood,” he said.

National television and radio are continuing regular information broadcasts, Mr. Edwards added. “In the coming weeks, the next phase of the communication strategy will get under way, reaching the remaining 14 provinces, involving private sector media, and looking at more vehicles for community outreach,” he said.

Globally, more than 200 million domestic birds have died from the virus or through culling in the current outbreak that began over two years ago. There have been 192 human cases, 109 of them fatal, ascribed to contact with infected birds, but experts fear H5N1 could mutate, gaining the ability to pass from person to person and in a worst case scenario unleashing a deadly human pandemic.

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