Tag Archives: UN
13 February 2014
Over the next two and a half years, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) will provide technical assistance to Belarus in managing its stocks of obsolete pesticides. The effort is part of a joint plan with the European Union, launched in 2012 throughout the former Soviet Union, to build capacity to minimise the threats from hazardous waste to human health and the environment, as well as to strengthen legislation and build capacity in the management of pesticide containers.
An estimated 200,000 tons of obsolete pesticides (around 40 per cent of the world’s stockpiles) can be found in thousands of unprotected sites in Belarus and the 11 other former Soviet republics, according to the FAO. These sites “pose a serious threat to peoples’ health and the environment”. According to the World Bank, there is significant risk that pesticides could pollute the groundwater in parts of Belarus, affecting well water, along with rivers and other bodies of water in the entire region.
The UN agency will first identify and assess the most highly contaminated sites in the country. In addition to also mobilising resources for risk reduction, the plan also promotes alternatives to the most hazardous chemicals in use.
Source: UN News Centre | UN agency, EU partner to reduce risks from pesticides in Belarus
Source: FAO | FAO and EU to help Belarus reduce risks from dangerous pesticides
28 January 2014
Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, and John Ashe, General Assembly President, encourage developing countries to work together to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Mr. Ban noted that there are less than two years until the MDGs’ 2015 deadline and stated that it is important that states work together to eradicate poverty, improve social and economic well-being and plan for a sustainable future. President Ashe emphasised the importance of working together to lay the foundations for a post-2015 development plan. Furthermore, President Ashe commended the group for its commitment to working together thus far and said of the group, ‘[y]ou are an example of the might of South-South cooperation, and a harbinger of greater collaboration that is yet to come.’
Source: UN News Centre | Senior UN officials urge ‘Group of 77’ nations to work collectively on anti-poverty goals
22 January 2014
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a stronger response to prevent further human suffering in the Central African Republic (CAR), describing it as ‘a crisis of epic proportions’.
Mr. Ban’s deep concern and call for action were echoed by the UN Human Rights Council in a resolution adopted unanimously, which characterised the current situation in CAR as a total breakdown of law and order. The deteriorating security situation has forced one-fifth of the population to flee their homes, and more than half the population now needs humanitarian assistance. Mr. Ban noted that the UN has scaled up its emergency response, but the humanitarian appeal remains woefully underfunded. The UN and its partners urgently require 152 million US dollar to fund an emergency intervention plan, which aims to provide vital relief and protection to 1.2 million people across the country over the next three months. ‘By acting collectively and in unity, we can uphold our responsibility to protect the people of the CAR and help them move from destitution and despair to a more hopeful path’ he said. ‘We must act together – and act now – to pull the CAR back from the brink of further atrocities.’
Source: United Nations | Secratary-General Ban Ki-moon | Latest Statements | Secretary-General's message for Human Rights Council Special Session on Central African Republic [delivered by Mr. Michael Møller, Acting Head of the United Nations Office in Geneva] | Geneva, Switzerland, 20 January 2014
Source: UNOG News | Human Rights Council Concludes Special Session After Appointing Independent Expert On The Central African Republic | 20 January 2014
9 January 2014
The removal of the most critical material for destruction began on 7 January 2014, a week after the deadline for its completion set by an agreement brokered by Russia and the United States under which Syria renounced its chemical weapons material and joined the 1992 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons. ‘This movement is very important because it’s the first important step in an expected process of continued movement for the onward destruction out of country’ Sigrid Kaag, head of the Joint Mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations told reporters after updating the Security Council on the accord, which set 30 June for the elimination of all materials. (more…)
Source: UN News Centre | Security Council expects Syria to meet June deadline for chemical weapons removal, official says
17 December 2013
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the signing of long-awaited accords between the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the M23 rebels it has been fighting until last month, and called on all other armed groups in the country to lay down their weapons and join the political process.
Talks between the M23 (mostly composed of soldiers who mutinied from the DRC national army in April last year) and the government have been held in Uganda, under the auspices of the Chairperson of the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, the mediator, as well as Ugandan Defence Minister and Facilitator, Crispus Kiyonga. (more…)
Source: UN News Centre | Ban welcomes signing of declarations between DR Congo-M23