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Posted 1:07 PM
by Mary
t r u t h o u t - U.N. to Further Reduce Staff in Iraq
UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations will drastically reduce its remaining international staff in Iraq because of security concerns following the bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad and continuing violence, U.N. officials said Friday.
There are currently about 400 international staff members in the country, including about 110 in Baghdad. U.N. officials want to cut the number by nearly 90 percent to a ceiling of 40 to 50 essential international staffers, the U.N. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Posted 8:41 PM
by Mary
UN HRC SERGIO VIEIRA de MELLO KILLED IN IRAQ BLAST
UN NEWS CENTER
19 August – The top United Nations envoy in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was killed today when terrorists blew up the UN headquarters in Baghdad, killing at least 14 others and injuring dozens more in what Secretary-General Kofi Annan denounced as an inexcusable "act of unprovoked and murderous violence."
Mr. Annan immediately cancelled his holiday in Europe to return to UN Headquarters in New York, where he is expected to arrive tomorrow, and the Security Council held emergency consultations, condemning in the strongest terms the "terrorist criminal attack" and vowing to further intensify its efforts to help the people of Iraq.
Mr. Vieira de Mello, a 30-year Brazilian veteran of many UN peacekeeping operations from the Balkans to East Timor to Africa, had been trapped in the rubble of the devastated Canal Hotel, which served as UN headquarters in the Iraqi capital. He was 55 and was UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Mr. Annan mourned his death as "a bitter blow for the United Nations, and for me personally."
Posted 7:57 PM
by Mary
UNHRC tells Israel to stop building wall
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations Human Rights Committee said on Friday Israel should halt construction of a fence around Palestinian land, calling it a violation of a pact on free movement of people.
In a report on two days of closed-door discussions with an Israeli delegation last month, it also called for an end to "targeted killings" of Palestinian militants and to the destruction of homes where they lived.
An 18-member committee of independent experts said the fence "imposes additional and unjustifiably severe restrictions on the right to freedom of movement of...Palestinians within the Occupied Territories."
Posted 9:31 AM
by Mary
US VS NGOS IN AID RELIEF BATTLE: UN FRUSTRATED
Reuters AlertNet - VIEWPOINT: Wrong-headed U.S. aid policy hits the neediest:
Reuters Alternet 04 Aug 2003 VIEWPOINT: Wrong-headed U.S. aid policy hits the neediest
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Washington's difficulties in coping with the humanitarian consequences of its military intervention in Iraq come at a time when the Bush administration's neo-conservatives are reordering priorities in development spending, relief aid and funding for HIV/AIDS work while rewarding trusted companies and attacking NGOs' independence and neutrality.
U.S. NGOs in Iraq wrote to President George W. Bush to complain that his forces had not delivered a peace that allowed them to work, Iraqis to recover and democracy to develop.
However, they forgot to mention the outrageous efforts of their biggest paymaster, Andrew Natsios, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), to control charity contact with the media in Iraq and force them to become Bush cheerleaders.
Perhaps under pressure to prove his loyalty or angered by criticism of his too-little, too-late approach on Iraq, Natsios has threatened to take back grants unless agencies actively promote their American funding, a move that could put lives at risk.
USAID itself faces the loss of existing and potential funding, with a Bush promise to add $5 billion a year to overseas aid turning into the creation of a Millennium Challenge Corporation to separate that spending from usual aid flows.
The corporation will help not the poorest, most vulnerable or those trapped in failed states, but selectively deliver aid to perhaps fewer than 20 countries that fit Washington's selected rules about governance, investment and economic liberalisation.
'NO SEX PLEASE, YOU'RE AFRICAN'
Also separately from USAID, the former head of a drug firm will run the much heralded $15 billion budget for HIV/AIDS with a "no sex please, you're African" wish list set out by the White House as "abstinence, be faithful, or use condoms, in that priority".
A third of it is not actually new money, but will come from reduced spending on health infrastructure, which NGOs say will make it harder to use funds well. USAID plans cuts in work on infectious diseases, child survival and maternal health.
Even the small positive sign of $375 million over two years to go via USAID on microfinance will not make much of a dent in the multi-billion cost to poor countries of debt repayments and the barriers to trade imposed by the United States and others.
