"The Secretary-General is gravely concerned about the continuing heavy fighting in Mogadishu, which has reportedly killed more than 250 people and forced more than 320,000 from their homes in the past six days alone," spokesman Michele Montas told reporters in New York.More
The United Nations has announced that Rwanda will participate in the "One UN" pilot program that aims to better coordinate development activities nationally.
The scheme will test how the greater UN family can ensure efficient and more effective development operations, while aiming to speed up activities to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight targets for tackling poverty, hunger and other social ills by 2015. The reform projects - also set to be carried out in Albania, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Pakistan, Tanzania, Uruguay and Viet Nam - will consolidate the UN's presence by replacing current structures with one leader, one programme and one budget, thus allowing various UN agencies to play to their strengths while also building on the strengths of different members of the UN family.Rwanda's Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, James Musoni, says that "Rwanda is proud to have been selected as a pilot country for the implementation of the One UN Reform at country level...The efficiency of the UN agencies is crucial to the success of Rwanda's development endeavors." More
The post of UN Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide -- currently held by Juan E. Méndez of Argentina -- will be upgraded to a full-time position, Mr. Ban said in a message marking the anniversary of the start of the genocide. The UN Advisory Committee on Genocide Prevention will also be boosted, the Secretary-General said, adding that Africa has taken its own steps as well, such as the proposed Pact on Security, Stability and Development for the Great Lakes Region, which contains measures on genocide prevention and punishment.Ban said "Preventing genocide is a collective and individual responsibility...Everyone has a role to play: governments, the media, civil society organizations, religious groups, and each and every one of us." More
Today, International Mine Action Day, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on Member States to continue efforts to eliminate landmines.
The International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action "is a reminder that millions of people in nearly 80 countries still live in fear of landmines and explosive remnants of war," Mr. Ban said. But thanks to the work of Member States, the UN, non-Governmental organizations (NGOs) and countries affected by mines, "we have made real gains in our mine actions," he said.More
Shashi Tharoor, formerly the Under Secretary General for Communications and Public Information, resigned from the United Nations yesterday. Tharoor was a legend at the UN. And in his inimical style (Tharoor also happens to be an award winning novelist) he takes to the pages of the Times of India to reflect on 29 years at a changing United Nations.
I joined the UN in 1978 as an idealistic young man of 22, hoping to serve refugees and discover the world.Tharoor will certainly be missed. Continue reading his essay.
I did a bit of both. But how much the institution I joined has changed! If I had suggested to my seniors at that time that the UN would one day observe and even run elections in sovereign states, conduct intrusive inspections for weapons of mass destruction, impose comprehensive sanctions on the entire import-export trade of a member state, or set up international criminal tribunals and coerce governments into handing over their citizens to be tried by foreigners under international law, I am sure they would have told me that I did not understand what the UN was all about. Indeed, since those were the late 1970s, they might well have asked me, "Young man, what are you smoking?"
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon traveled to Iraq today to discuss ways to expand the UN's on-the-ground presence there. In Baghdad, a joint press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was interrupted when a rocket struck an adjacent building. No one was hurt, but the video is fairly compelling.