Cebo.org is a collegial approach to information sharing between ethics-based
organizations with NGO status at the United Nations. Please contact member parties regarding the
positions of their respective organizations on matters expressed in this online journal.
March 29, 2005
Posted 7:42 AM
by Mary
Reinventing "we the peoples" Salon.com March 26, 2005 Saturday By Ian Williams … Instead of rewriting the charter -- which would almost certainly lead to a weaker document than the briefly united Allies could achieve in 1945 -- what Annan proposes is in effect a reinterpretation of the charter to meet modern circumstances. Instead of being primarily about avoiding a repetition of World War II, he suggests that the United Nations should now focus on the new threats to peace. In the biggest reinterpretation, he asks the Security Council, in place of the traditional sacrosanctity of national sovereignty, to deem mass murder, repression and ethnic cleansing to be threats to international peace and security that the international community has the right to intervene to stop -- and to adopt a set of principles to ensure that such intervention takes place only when there is no other option. In another bold step, he proposes a succinct definition of terrorism and the creation of an international convention against it, along with strengthened controls on weapons to stop terrorists from getting their hands on them… He also wants a more effective, and tyranny-free, Human Rights Council, to replace the current Human Rights Commission (whose members have included notorious violators of human rights), and new attention to building democracy and reconstructing failed states. While many developed countries have already called for such changes, Annan recognizes that a large majority of the world body still needs convincing, so he presents the package of reforms as a "deal" between the blocs of members. The developed world and the United States get what they've been asking for, in return for agreeing to put truth in the promises they made to the developing world five years ago about meeting specified goals to reduce poverty and underdevelopment with direct aid, loan forgiveness and an end to trade barriers, and to help combat AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. As Annan says eloquently in his report, "We will not enjoy development without security, we will not enjoy security without development, and we will not enjoy either without respect for human rights... While some will see pandering to neo-imperial pretensions in Annan's proposals to have the Security Council explicitly accept principles for humanitarian intervention, the John Boltons of this world will see its obverse -- an attempt to set limits on U.S. action without Security Council approval, like the invasion of Iraq. Equally, one can doubt that the report's robust support for the Kyoto Protocol and other measures against climate change, for the International Criminal Court, and for the land-mine and small-arms conventions is exactly what Bolton and his colleagues in the Pentagon have in mind when they talk about U.N. reform. Nor will the call for developed countries to send 0.7 percent of their gross domestic product in aid to developing countries exactly be music to congressional ears: That would involve a fivefold increase in current levels of U.S. aid, which have already risen since their low point under President Clinton…
March 27, 2005
Posted 5:14 PM
by Mary
Poverty leads 10 million children to an early grave New estimates add weight to the urgency of Africa's needs James Meikle, health correspondent Friday March 25, 2005 The GuardianAbout 10.6m children under five die each year, most from preventable causes, World Health Organisation advisers estimate. Almost four in 10 die within 28 days of birth and more than four in 10 deaths are in southern and western Africa. The figures, published soon after Tony Blair's Commission for Africa called for huge injections of aid to improve health on the continent, confirm the size of the global public health disaster international bodies such as the G8, the WHO and Unicef are trying to tackle.
Posted 3:16 PM
by Mary
"SG Offers the World a Deal" Says UN Chief of Staff, Mark Malloch Brown UN Secretary-General unveiled his plan for UN reform with the release of his report entitled "In larger freedom - towards security, development and human rights for all" (A/59/2005). The report is the basic document for the heads of government Summit in September and calls for the most far-reaching changes of the UN since it was set up 60 years ago. Presenting the report to civil society representatives, Mark Malloch Brown, the Secretary-General's Chief of Staff, characterized the policy commitments and institutional reforms as a "package deal" that needs to be held together. He emphasized the September deadline for decisions on the implementation of the global partnership to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, the expansion of the Security Council, and converting the Human Rights Commission into a Human Rights Council to be elected by a two thirds majority of the General Assembly and to meet throughout the year.
Posted 3:08 PM
by Mary
IN Larger Freedom, SG reportHere is the just-released report of the UN Secretary-General "In Larger Freedom: Towards Security, Development and Human Rights for All" (A/59/2005). The report represents the Secretary-General's contribution to the Millennium Summit+5 that will take place from 14-16 September 2005. As part of the preparatory process, the General Assembly will hold Hearings with Civil Society, NGOs and the Private Sector from 24-25 June 2005. NGLS, in cooperation with UN and NGO colleagues, is playing a central role on the Civil Society/NGO track of the preparatory process and would like to invite you to send your comments, observations and viewpoints on the Secretary-General's Report and the issues at stake when the World's Heads of States meet at the Summit in September. Should there be sufficient inputs from you, NGLS will compile and produce a report for distribution at the June 'Hearings' and for posting on our website. For further background reading, see: Resources, including the Report of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change (A more Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility), and the Report of the Panel of Eminent Persons on United Nations–Civil Society Relations, (We the peoples: civil society, the United Nations and global governance). The cut-off date for your inputs is 30 April. Please keep your commentaries brief and to the point and send them to Ms. Anne Kawuki at the following email address: anne.kawuki@unctad.org. And please mark your subject box "commentaries".
Posted 12:35 PM
by Mary
Human Rights Record of the US in 2004 from China's State Council 03 March 2005 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In 2004 the atrocity of US troops abusing Iraqi POWs exposed the dark side of human rights performance of the United States. The scandal shocked the humanity and was condemned by the international community. It is quite ironic that on Feb. 28 of this year, the State Department of the United States once again posed as the "the world human rights police" and released its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2004. As in previous years, the reports pointed fingers at human rights situation in more than 190 countries and regions (including China) but kept silent on the US misdeeds in this field. Therefore, the world people have to probe the human rights record behind the Statue of Liberty in the United States. US/CHINA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT
March 23, 2005
Posted 10:27 PM
by Mary
France Puts U.S. in Tight Spot on Sudan Trials Wed Mar 23, 2005 08:57 PM ET By Evelyn Leopold UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - France put the United States in a tight spot on Wednesday by calling a vote on a measure referring perpetrators of atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region to the International Criminal Court, which Washington rejects. The French draft, expected to be brought up in the U.N. Security Council on Thursday afternoon, would also exclude nationals of any state that had not ratified the treaty setting up the Hague-based court -- including American citizens -- from prosecution for participating in any U.N. operation in Sudan. The United States, which on Tuesday split its draft resolution on Sudan into three parts in an effort to break a Security Council deadlock on Sudan, decided to seek a vote on Thursday only on the part authorizing 10,000 peacekeepers for southern Sudan, which was virtually assured of passage. That would delay action on the two other resolutions dealing with Darfur -- one offering three options on how to prosecute Darfur atrocities and one seeking sanctions targeting government and rebel leaders involved in fighting there. Diplomats said as many as 10 of the council's 15 members could end up backing the French draft. That would leave Washington with an unpalatable choice. It could either abstain, and thus let a measure go through that it has vowed to oppose, or veto it, preventing a crackdown on what the United States says is a genocide by the only tribunal able to start an immediate investigation. French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere insisted Paris did not intend to force Washington into an embarrassing veto. "The Security Council -- and we're one of those with a very strong position on this issue -- says it is absolutely essential to act against impunity," de la Sabliere told French radio RFI. "It's essential because the victims need justice, but also because it is the best way to prevent further crimes. We had to act now, and France has shouldered its responsibilities today." After closed-door talks, council members said Russia, China and Algeria appeared to back the U.S. approach. The nine council members that have ratified the ICC treaty -- Argentina, Benin, Brazil, Britain, Denmark, France, Greece, Romania and Tanzania -- expressed support for the French draft. Japan and the Philippines were uncertain, they said. The ICC, the world's first permanent tribunal for genocide, war crimes and mass human rights violations, was recommended as the best place to try Darfur suspects by an international commission set up at the council's request. But the Bush administration proposed a new U.N.-African Union tribunal as an alternative. Nigeria, president of the African Union, then suggested a special panel to both hear war crimes cases and foster reconciliation in Sudan. President Bush wants nothing to do with the ICC, fearing U.S. officials and soldiers serving abroad could be targets of politically motivated prosecutions. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in a two-year-old rebellion against the government in Darfur. Thousands are dying every month in miserable camps that house nearly 2 million people who have fled their homes after attacks by Arab militias, at times backed by the government. The U.S. peacekeeping resolution would authorize a U.N. mission to monitor an accord ending a separate 21-year civil war between the Khartoum government and rebels in south Sudan. The second U.S. draft resolution, which is not now being put to a vote, would strengthen an arms embargo on Darfur and order sanctions against human rights violators and those who undermine a cease-fire in the region. Russia and China, which have veto power, as well as Algeria and other nations have objected to some of those measures.
March 20, 2005
Posted 6:31 PM
by Mary
http://www.alertnet.org/UN Sees East Congo as Worse Crisis Than Darfur By Robert Evans ,Reuters Wednesday 16 March 2005 Geneva - Eastern Congo is suffering the world's worst current humanitarian crisis, with a death toll outstripping that in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region, a top United Nations official said on Wednesday. U.N. emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland said that over the last six years the toll in the Democratic Republic of Congo's amounted to "one tsunami every six months" - a reference to the December disaster which left about 300,000 people dead or missing in Asia. "In terms of the human lives lost ... this is the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world today and it is beyond belief that the world is not paying more attention," he told a news conference. Egeland was speaking during a visit to Geneva for talks with U.N. and other relief workers on improving the global humanitarian aid system can be improved. On Tuesday he came under fire from the Sudanese government over estimates transmitted through his spokesman that up to 180,000 people may have died from hunger and disease in Darfur, western Sudan, over the past 19 months of fighting. At his Geneva news conference, he insisted the figure was a reasonable assumption - given that an average of 10,000 civilians had been dying each month since the start of the conflict between local rebel groups and government forces backed by militias. But the rate was declining now that the Sudanese authorities had allowed foreign aid teams into the country to help about 1.8 million people driven from their homes and largely living in refugee camps, Egeland said. He spoke before a U.N. envoy in Khartoum said all international staff in part of Western Sudan were being pulled back to the local state capital because of threats from the pro-government Janjaweed militia. Asked if too much emphasis was being put on Darfur by the international community, and especially big Western powers, Egeland said: "The amount of focus on Darfur is correct, but there is too little on (eastern) Congo." Egeland, fresh from a tour of the region, said he had impressed on the Sudanese government and rebels that they had to negotiate seriously for peace. He had also expressed indignation to the government in Khartoum that some women raped by Janjaweed fighters and now pregnant were being persecuted for violating Islamic sharia law against sexual relations outside marriage. "That is the ultimate insult for women who have been raped," he declared. Egeland said the problems in eastern Congo arose because of the complexity and variety of the fighting groups there, which included regular soldiers, militias and criminal groups. Among the fighters in eastern Congo are ethnic Hutus who fled Rwanda after the 1994 genocide there - many of them accused of involvement in the violence in which an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed. The United Nations has mounted a major relief operation in the region, where Egeland said some 3 million civilians buffeted by the conflict are in need of help to survive, and this week gave militia fighters two weeks to disarm. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UN Vows to Act in Congo http://news.scotsman.com Thursday 17 March 2005 Militiamen fighting in north-east Congo grilled bodies on a spit and boiled two girls alive as their mother watched, UN peacekeepers claimed today. "Those responsible for atrocities will be brought to justice," said General Patrick Cammaert, the Dutch Navy commander of UN forces in Congo, as he presented a report on abuses allegedly committed by the Patriotic Resistance Front of Ituri. Cammaert said peacekeepers were working to cut off weapons supplies to the group, who apparently entered the country from neighbouring Uganda.
March 14, 2005
Posted 10:41 PM
by Mary
Annan attacks erosion of rights in war on terror US and Britain in UN secretary general's sights Jonathan Steele Friday March 11, 2005 The Guardian The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, launched a fierce attack on Britain and the US yesterday for weakening human rights in the name of the war on terror. "We cannot compromise on core values," he said in Madrid on the first anniversary of the train bombings that killed 191 people in the Spanish capital. "Human rights and the rule of law must always be respected." Addressing a three-day conference which included about 20 heads of state and government as well as terrorism experts, lawyers and journalists, Mr Annan laid out five elements in what he called a "principled, comprehensive strategy" to fight terrorism. He proposed a UN special envoy to monitor whether governments' counter-terrorism measures conformed to international human rights law. Guardian
March 10, 2005
Posted 9:50 PM
by Mary
Published on Thursday, March 10, 2005 by the New York Times U.S. Says It Has Withdrawn From World Judicial Body by Adam Liptak Prompted by an international tribunal's decision last year ordering new hearings for 51 Mexicans on death rows in the United States, the State Department said yesterday that the United States had withdrawn from the protocol that gave the tribunal jurisdiction to hear such disputes. It's a sore-loser kind of move. If we can't win, we're not going to play. Peter J. Spiro law professor at the University of Georgia The withdrawal followed a Feb. 28 memorandum from President Bush to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales directing state courts to abide by the decision of the tribunal, the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The decision required American courts to grant "review and reconsideration" to claims that the inmates' cases had been hurt by the failure of local authorities to allow them to contact consular officials. The memorandum, issued in connection with a case the United States Supreme Court is scheduled to hear this month, puzzled state prosecutors, who said it seemed inconsistent with the administration's general hostility to international institutions and its support for the death penalty.
March 9, 2005
Posted 11:49 PM
by Mary
Human rights watchU.N.: U.S. Seeks to Delay Justice for Darfur Annan Convenes Security Council; ICC Referral Needed Now (New York, March 7, 2005) – After its meeting today with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Security Council should take urgent steps to protect civilians in Darfur and refer the situation to the International Criminal Court, Human Rights Watch said. Meanwhile, the United States has proposed a 45-day delay in taking a decision on justice for Darfur’s victims. Today at 10 a.m., Annan will convene a meeting with the Security Council to discuss options for more decisive action to stop ongoing killing and rape in Darfur. Twelve of the Security Council’s 15 members are on record in support of referring Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC) as part of a Sudan resolution that is currently under negotiation. However, the Bush administration opposes an ICC referral because of its ideological aversion to the court. The United States has instead proposed creating a new ad hoc tribunal for Sudan that has serious flaws, Human Rights Watch said. In the face of no support for this proposal, the United States is now seeking a 45-day delay to make a decision on accountability. Human Rights Watch would oppose any attempts to split the Sudan resolution in order to defer justice for later consideration. “As killing and rape continue in Darfur, the United States now proposes further delay,” said Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch. “The Bush administration’s rearguard campaign to avert an ICC referral is putting innocent civilians at risk in Darfur.”
March 4, 2005
Posted 7:42 AM
by Mary
Drug Policy.Org: "U.S. Gag on Needle Exchange Harms U.N. AIDS Efforts Before U.N. Narcotics Meeting, Groups in 56 Countries Assail U.S. Tactics NEW YORK, NY -- March 2 -- U.S. efforts to force the United Nations to withdraw support for needle exchange programs endanger global efforts to prevent the spread of HIV, a group of AIDS organizations, human rights groups, scientific researchers, and policy analysts from 56 countries said today. The groups urged the United Nations to stand firm at a crucial international policy meeting on narcotic drugs to be held next week in Vienna. 'Silencing the U.N. on needle exchange is deadly diplomacy,' said Jonathan Cohen of Human Rights Watch's HIV/AIDS Program, one of the signatories of an open letter released today to urge delegates of the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs not to capitulate to U.S. pressure. 'The United States should be encouraging proven HIV prevention strategies, not attacking them.'"
Posted 7:36 AM
by Mary
UN-NGLS - Civil society observer Newsletter: "NGOs Rally Behind UN Plan to Slash World Poverty
20 January 2005
by : Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - Development groups are rallying behind a new UN plan unveiled Wednesday that concludes that, with sufficient support from wealthy donor nations, goals aimed at halving the number of people living in abject poverty around the world by 2015 are still achievable.
If wealthy nations double their aid to an average of 0.54 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP), not only will the number of absolute poor be sharply reduced over the next decade, but also, other goals set forth at the Millennium Summit in 2000 will be realized. U.S. economist Jeffrey Sachs--main author of 'The Millennium Report' that outlines the new Plan--and non-governmental groups believe that even the goal of reducing maternal and infant mortality can be achieved within that time frame.
'The cost is low. The benefits are huge,' Jonathan Hepburn of the international development agency, Oxfam, told OneWorld. He cited the unprecedented US$4 billion in aid commitments that followed last month's catastrophic tsunami as evidence that citizens of donor nations were willing to meet the needs of poor people.
The Sachs report--a summary of the 3,000-page project titled 'A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals' (MDGs)--comes as British Prime Minister Tony Blair assumes the presidency of the Group of Seven (G-7) industrialized nations which represent the world's 22 major donor countries. The Plan was developed by more than 200 leading scientists and development specialists from both developed and developing nations
In the run-up to his presidency, top British officials, including Blair himself, have vowed to bring new momentum and focus to the fight against global pov"
March 3, 2005
Posted 9:42 PM
by Mary
Reuters AlertNet - MSF International President shocked by mass rape and violence: "Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) - International
Website: http://www.msf.org
'I was appalled by the constant flow of these defenceless casualties of a war that has stopped being noticed by the outside world.' - Dr Rowan Gillies
The increased violence in Ituri, which also proved fatal for the nine Bangladeshi UN peacekeepers last Friday, is hampering relief efforts to the point that MSF had to suspend its aid to tens of thousands of people in need.
MSF: Geneva - Dr. Rowan Gillies, M?decins Sans Fronti?res' International President, has recently returned from Bunia, the capital of Ituri District in northeastern DR Congo, where he worked as a surgeon treating war victims, general and accident trauma, and obstetric emergencies. He is shocked by the relentless abuse.
'Rape and gross violations against civilians continue unabated, and today we find ourselves unable to reach them because of the extreme levels of violence in the area,' said Dr Gillies. 'Each week 40 raped girls and women seek MSF's help in Bunia. Many, many more never reach us. "
Posted 9:42 PM
by Mary
Reuters AlertNet - World's women worse off in past decade - report: "World's women worse off in past decade - report
03 Mar 2005 18:36:17 GMT
By Deborah Zabarenko
UNITED NATIONS, March 3 (Reuters) - Life for many of the world's women has become tougher in the decade since a global U.N. conference in Beijing agreed to push for equality and economic development, a grass-roots group said on Thursday.
The report, released as some 6,000 women's activists converged at the United Nations, blamed governments for failing to act on pledges to improve conditions for women in the final document from the 1995 Beijing conference, known as the Platform for Action."
Posted 9:39 PM
by Mary
Reuters AlertNet - UNICEF chief defends "feminism" in aiding children: "UNICEF chief defends 'feminism' in aiding children
01 Mar 2005 02:38:00 GMT
UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy speaks in Beijing.
Photo by ALFRED CHENG JIN
By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 28 (Reuters) - The outgoing director of the U.N. Children's Fund fired back on Monday at critics accusing her of 'radical feminism,' saying if women were not strong, their children would be in jeopardy.
Carol Bellamy, a lawyer and former Peace Corps director under the Clinton administration, has been attacked by conservatives for furthering sex education for young people and endorsing access to emergency contraceptives for refugees. "
Posted 8:17 PM
by Mary
: "U.S. Drops Anti-Abortion Line at UN Women's Meeting
Thursday, March 03, 2005 4:57:23 PM ET
By Deborah Zabarenko and Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States dropped controversial anti-abortion language from a proposed U.N. women's rights document on Thursday, acknowledging it got no formal support from other delegations at a global meeting.
At a two-week conference on the status of the world's women 10 years after a landmark gathering in Beijing, the United States removed the unpopular language on abortion, but proposed instead a line to say that documents from the China meeting 'create no international human rights.'
But this change, which is a U.S. code word for abortion, was rejected by all other nations at a closed-door negotiating session at the United Nations, including those from Latin America, European Union and the African Union, envoys from these groups told Reuters."
March 2, 2005
Posted 8:47 PM
by Mary
Reuters AlertNet - Europeans oppose US anti-abortion push at UN meet: "Europeans oppose US anti-abortion push at UN meet
02 Mar 2005 03:04:59 GMT
By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS, March 1 (Reuters) - European countries are opposing a move by the United States to push a U.N. conference into stating that women do not have the right to abortion, French and British officials said on Tuesday."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"War does not determine who is right--only who is left." - Bertrand Russell
| 
