Full Coverage: United Nations

30.12.2005 UNITED NATIONS, Dec 30 (OneWorld) - Overwhelmed with the challenges posed by a series of natural disasters that occurred in 2005, United Nations officials responsible for delivering humanitarian aid are urging international donors to get prepared for the next year now.

30.12.2005 The military situation in the Temporary Security Zone separating Ethiopia and Eritrea remains “tense and potentially volatile,” according to a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission there, which has been forced to relocate some staff because of Eritrean demands.
* OneWorld UK Guide to Ethiopia and Eritrea

27.12.2005 UN Secretary-Generals, 1945-2006: 3 Europeans, 2 Africans, 1 Latin American, 1 Asian, 0 Women.

25.12.2005 Breaking a damaging diplomatic deadlock, the General Assembly adopted a $3.79 billion budget for 2006-2007 while limiting first-year expenditures by the Secretary-General, who welcomed the compromise with a pledge for further reform.

23.12.2005 Kosovo’s Ombudsperson Marek Antoni Nowicki voiced his concerns, during a farewell conference today, on the situation of human rights in Kosovo, emphasizing that they are still far from the international standards.

23.12.2005 Internet governance should be free of government control and corporations should respect freedom of expression online, says a joint declaration by the UN and OAS special rapporteurs on freedom of expression and the OSCE representative on media freedom.

22.12.2005 Organic food production is booming in China and India, which together host more than half the world’s farming households. according to a study by the International Fund for Agriculture and Development, which says organics can offer a route out of poverty for poor farmers.

20.12.2005 Continuing violence and instability are blighting the lives of more than 3 million children in Darfur, with about 1.25 million completely out of reach of help, according to a shocking new report by the UN Children's Fund.

19.12.2005 Agency for Gender Equality of BiH, of the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will organize the first Gender Equality Week (Gender Week) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, taking place from 19th until 22nd December, 2005.

18.12.2005 UNITED NATIONS, Dec 19 (OneWorld) - As the first-ever international treaty to fight worldwide corruption comes into effect, a top U.N. official has urged rich nations to return funds deposited in their banks by the corrupt rulers of developing countries.

16.12.2005 More than 66 million of the world's poorest people, 84 percent of them women, received tiny loans last year to start or expand micro businesses, according to a report released by the Microcredit Summit Campaign. The Campaign, a project of the U.S.-based non-governmental organization RESULTS Educational Fund, seeks to reach 100 million of the world's poorest families with microcredit by the end of 2005. End of 2005 data will be released at the Global Microcredit Summit to be held November 2006 in Halifax.

16.12.2005 The first-ever Security Council debate on Burma was welcomed today by campaigners, who warned that it was just a first step.

16.12.2005 Hundreds of millions of children are suffering from severe exploitation and discrimination and have become virtually invisible to the world, says a new UN Children's Fund report.

16.12.2005 A renewed call for universal ratification and implementation of the UN Migrant Workers Convention - which emphasises the human rights of migrant workers and their families and underlines the fundamental principle of non-discrimination - is made on the occasion of International Migrants Day on Sunday.

15.12.2005 Unicef's flagship report - The State of the World's Children - that documents global trends affecting children says that hundreds of millions of children are suffering from severe exploitation and discrimination and have become virtually invisible to the world. It says that millions of children disappear from view because of trafficking or when they are forced to work in domestic servitude.

15.12.2005 UNITED NATIONS, Dec 14 (OneWorld) - The United States and France are pushing the United Nations Security Council to harden its stance on Syria as an independent probe points to further leads on the possible involvement of Syrian officials in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

14.12.2005 Gender groups in Tajikistan will receive US $100,000 in assistance in 2006 from the United Nations to improve implementation of legislation aimed at curbing violence against women.

12.12.2005 The War Crimes Council of the District Court in Belgrade pronounced the sentences for 14 of the 16 accused for war crimes at Ovcara, near Vukovar. Two persons were released from the charges of execution of prisoners of war in November 1991.

12.12.2005 The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal concluded with the adoption of more than forty decisions that will strengthen global efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

12.12.2005 Environment conservation does not help only the rich, but is beneficial for the survival of the poor as well. Acknowledging this for the first time in a report, World Health Organisation (WHO) showed that poverty was the prime cause of malnutrition and diseases caused by lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation.