A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Transmutations: "Today's New York Times has an editorial concerning Ambassador Bolton's proposal for the new Human Rights monitoring council. The Times seems to be in favor of reform at the United Nations, but against Bolton's proposal because it does not serve the interests of members states and people who most need the rights to be protected. The leaders of the United States must change their policies and redress the wrongs they have done. Otherwise, they will face the consequences -- both from the United Nations, and possibly from foreign malcontents. As for the latter, I am not condoning this, but simply state the obvious. Both the U.S. and the UN need reforms to participate as responsible leaders in the 21st Century. Enacting the change that the Human Rights Commission proposes would facilitate these reforms. Ambassador Bolton's "couldn't care less" attitude would only exacerbate the problem. Justice is the issue, not politics as usual at the UN."
Payne Hollow: "Here's at least one study that acknowledges the wisdom of peacemaking: A major study by the Rand Corp. published this year found that U.N. peace-building operations had a two-thirds success rate. They were also surprisingly cost-effective. In fact, the United Nations spends less running 17 peace operations around the world for an entire year than the United States spends in Iraq in a single month. What the United Nations calls "peacemaking" -- using diplomacy to end wars -- has been even more successful. About half of all the peace agreements negotiated between 1946 and 2003 have been signed since the end of the Cold War."
The Ruth Group: "Writing in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Andrew Mack reaffirms that UN peacekeeping is having a tangible impact on levels of global violence: "Other international agencies, donor governments and nongovernmental organizations also played a critical role, but it was the United Nations that took the lead, pushing a range of conflict-prevention and peace-building initiatives on a scale never before attempted. The number of U.N. peacekeeping operations and missions to prevent and stop wars has increased by more than 400 percent since the end of the Cold War. As this upsurge of international activism grew in scope and intensity through the 1990s, the number of crises, wars and genocides declined."
Low Level Panel: "Ralph Bunche, the first UN official ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize, said that the UN exists "not merely to preserve the peace but also to make change-even radical change-possible without violent upheaval. The United Nations has no vested interest in the status quo."
CNN: "The Brazilian commander of U.N. peacekeepers in Haiti was found dead on the balcony of his hotel room Saturday after shooting himself in the head, authorities said, in a blow to the 9,000-strong force and efforts to restore democracy in Haiti."
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Kenneth Anderson: "Reuter's carries a story on a report from the UN staff union that attacks on UN workers around the world were up significantly in 2005, here. I discuss the general problem of UN neutrality and values in this Harvard Human Rights Journal article, from 2004, here."
Green Think: "The UN Millennium Eco-System Assessment, the most comprehensive study of its kind ever done, tells us that 60% of the earth's eco-systems are not functioning or are in a state of decline. This is the degradation of our life support systems. The same things that are negatively impacting our health are also having the same impacts on our biosphere."
Coalition for Darfur: "From AFP: "More than 46 000 people have fled fighting in the past two months between army troops and local militia in the southeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a UN aid official said Wednesday. The numbers of the newly displaced come in addition to 121 000 others who fled the war-torn region of the vast central African state in 2005 following continued unrest, UN humanitarian affairs official Anne Egerton told AFP. Egerton, who heads the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Kalemie, in Katanga province, warned that the situation of the new internal refugees was "extremely difficult"."
Intelligence Watch: [Reuters] "The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast needs major reinforcements to cope with the volatile security situation there as the West African nation nears long-delayed elections, the United Nations said on Wednesday. The mission, which now stands at 6,891 soldiers and 697 international police, needs an additional 3,400 soldiers and 475 police officers, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in his latest progress report on Ivory Coast to the Security Council. His appeal, which is certain to meet with resistance in the budget-conscious 15-nation council, was based on the findings of a U.N. team that visited the region in November 2005."
Paper Chase: "The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Wednesday appealed to Egyptian authorities in an attempt to prevent the deportation of 654 Sudanese refugees whom Cairo authorities say are in the country illegally. Also Wednesday, US-based rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to stop the deportations, which were announced earlier this week following a violent dispute on December 30 between Egyptian police and approximately 2,5000 Sudanese protesters. An estimated 27 Sudanese were killed [BBC report] during the violence. Both HRW and UNHCR have sent letters urging Egypt not to deport the refugees, with the concern that some of the refugees may face persecution in Sudan if they are forced to return. Reuters has more. AKI has local coverage."
Syria Comment: "Khaddam is moving to form a government-in-exile, as-Seyassah reports below. Asad and Sharaa have been asked to testify before the Hariri investigators. According to ABC news, Syria has agreed that Sharaa will testify. Anyone interested in what I had to say on the PBS News Hour with Jim Lehrer can read the transcript of the show."
Washington Note: "TWN has been inundated with emails asking why I have not written more about revelations about non-court approved NSA intercepts of electronic phone and email transmissions within the United States and the connection to John Bolton's requests for NSA intercept material when he served as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. My response will no doubt frustrate many, but it is an honest one. I don't believe that John Bolton was involved with electronic monitoring or spying domestically -- with a couple of potential exceptions."
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan:
"The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about the health of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. He is following developments closely and very much hopes that the Prime Minister will make a speedy recovery. His thoughts are with Mr. Sharon and his family, as well as with the Government and people of Israel."
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A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Rob's House: "The sturgeon in the Caspian Sea are almost gone. That means extinct, never to be seen again. The reason? Caviar. It is therefore good news that the United Nations has declared that there is no longer any legal international trade in caviar from wild fish. Henceforth, only farmed caviar is allowed."
Ace of Spades HQ: "UN Investigators Seek Assad Q&A - Go, UN, go!: "A spokeswoman for the United Nations inquiry, Nasrat Hassan, told wire services that investigators had requested interviews with Mr. Assad and with Syria's foreign minister, Farouq Shara, along with others. She said the investigators were awaiting a reply. A preliminary report by the United Nations panel had concluded that the bombing was a terrorist act carried out by high-ranking Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officers." They'll also be interviewing the Syrian ex-VP Khaddam."
Bogosity: "Gwynne Dyer writes great analysis of world news. Here's his 2005 wrapup. 2005 Year Ender - Gwynne Dyer: "First, the good news. In October, a comprehensive three-year study led by Andrew Mack, former director of the Strategic Planning Unit in the office of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, concluded that there have been major declines in armed conflicts, genocides, human rights abuses, military coups and international crises worldwide."
Sudan Watch: UN warns of growing catastrophe in Sudan - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned on Thursday that the security situation in Darfur continued to deteriorate. In his latest monthly report on Darfur, he called it a "deeply disturbing trend" with "devastating effects on the civilian population." "Civilians continue to pay an intolerably high price as a result of recurrent fighting by warring parties, the renewal of the scorched earth tactics by militia and massive military action by the government," he said in the report released on 29 December."
Coalition for Darfur: "From IRIN - via POTP: "An enormous humanitarian crisis is emerging in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Katanga Province, with tens of thousands of people being displaced, but so far the government and the international community are doing little. ... "The number of displaced in central and northern Katanga now exceeds 100,000," said Anne Edgerton, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the town of Kalemie on Lake Tanganyika. "We know of at least 39,000 people who were recently displaced -- they do not include 72,000 displaced earlier in 2005." Edgerton said there might be tens of thousands more people displaced in the north and centre of Katanga Province - people whom aid agencies are unable to reach because of conflict."
Mark A. Kilmer: "The Iraqi Shi'ites, Kurds, and Sunnis want a government. The Kurds had all parties up North for a meeting Tuesday, and the parties are talking and plan will keep discussing matters. A sticking point is still the accusation that the Shi'ites stuffed the ballot boxes: "Though some Sunni Arab leaders say they will protest and reject talks on government roles unless the foreign monitors uphold their claims of fraud, the United Nations has already called the election largely fair and other Sunni politicians are staking their claims to a share of power in negotiations."
Stygius: "The domestic and international power-plays in Syria seem to be further fusing into one big chaotic ball, as both the United Nations requests to interview President Assad himself in the Hariri inquiry, and Syria's former vice president (now in exile) does his best on al-Arabiya to imply official approval of Hariri's assassination, breaking with the Baathist regime."
UN News Service: "Laws aimed at protecting Afghanistan's wildlife, waterways and forests, believed to be the first legal conservation tools in the country, have been developed by the Government with assistance from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the agency announced today."
"The United Nations' refugee agency has received assurances from Egypt that Sudanese refugees would not be deported to Sudan despite media reports to the contrary, a spokesperson for the agency said on Tuesday.
Egypt's state owned Al-Ahram newspaper said in Tuesday's edition that an unspecified number of refugees were being held in a military camp near Cairo airport in preparation for deportation within two days." [More}