United Nations

03 July 2007 -- U.N. agencies say that Mozambique is undergoing a severe drought. They say hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people will need increased humanitarian assistance over the coming months to help them survive until next year's harvest in April.

Mozambique has been lurching from one natural disaster to another. The current drought follows heavy flooding and a devastating cyclone earlier this year. Those disasters affected hundreds of thousands of people. Homes, crops and livelihoods were destroyed.    » read more »

June 27, 2007 -- Washington, DC – The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed Chairman Joe Biden’s (D-DE) legislation today that would allow the United States to fully pay its dues to UN Peacekeeping missions, and ensure that we do not accrue additional debt through 2008.    » read more »

27 June 2007 -- A UN agency says humanity will have to undergo a “revolution in thinking” to deal with a doubling of urban populations in Africa and Asia.

The UN Population Fund says the number of people in African and Asian cities will grow by 1.7 billion by the year 2030. And worldwide, the number of city dwellers will reach five billion or 60 percent of the world’s population.    » read more »

26 June 2007 -- The following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro’s address to the seventh Global Forum on Reinventing Government, as delivered in Vienna, today, 26 June:    » read more »

26 June 2007 -- Afghanistan's poppy harvest is growing rapidly and this year's yield could exceed last year's record crop. Top counter narcotics officials from the United States and Britain say Afghanistan's growing trade in illegal drugs is firmly linked to the Taleban insurgency.

In the recently released World Drug Report, the United Nations says Afghanistan produced dramatically more opium in 2006, increasing its yield nearly 50 percent from the previous year.

The report says more than 90 percent of the world's heroin now comes from poppies grown in Afghanistan.    » read more »

27 June 2007 -- Japanese media say North Korea will allow United Nations inspectors to visit the main reactor at the center of its nuclear weapons program.

Olli Heinonen, the International Atomic Energy Agency's chief inspector, told Kyodo news Wednesday his team will visit the Yongbyon nuclear facility Thursday.

Heinonen's team arrived in Pyongyang Tuesday for a five-day visit - the first since the U.N. watchdog was expelled in 2002.

The team is trying to negotiate the closing of the Yongbyon nuclear reactor and its nuclear materials reprocessing plant.    » read more »

25 June 2007 -- The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

The Secretary-General is deeply saddened by, and condemns in the strongest possible terms, the terrorist attack on a United Nations patrol in south Lebanon yesterday that killed six and injured two other United Nations peacekeepers belonging to the Spanish contingent. He calls for a full investigation into this very disturbing incident and hopes that the Government of Lebanon will succeed in its efforts to bring to justice those responsible.    » read more »

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, to be observed on 26 June:

The International Day in Support of Victims of Torture is an occasion to highlight the unambiguous and absolute prohibition on torture and all forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. It is also an opportunity to express solidarity with the suffering of torture victims and their families, and to reaffirm the need for a global commitment to rehabilitate all victims of all such abuse.    » read more »

20 June 2007 -- In marking this year's observance of World Refugee Day, the U.N. refugee agency is warning more countries are closing their doors to refugees because of growing intolerance and a fear of terrorism. The agency says genuine asylum seekers are being turned away and refused a safe haven at a time when an increasing number of people are fleeing violence, persecution and oppression.    » read more »

Supportive States Should Invest Further to Strengthen Council

(Geneva, June 19, 2007) – The United Nations Human Rights Council ended its disappointing first year by agreeing on a package of procedural measures that lay a foundation for its future work, but fall short of providing it a firm footing, Human Rights Watch said today.    » read more »

19 June 2007 -- On the eve of World Refugee Day (June 20), the U.N. refugee agency says the number of refugees in the world is increasing dramatically, largely due to the crisis in Iraq. A new report shows the percentage of refugees rose last year by 14 percent, to almost 10 million, the highest level since 2002. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.    » read more »

19 June 2007 -- The U.N. Human Rights Council has overcome last minute objections by China and set new rules for investigating some of the world's worst human rights offenders. The compromises agreed on do not totally satisfy all council members, but they allow the body to end its first year of existence with a mandate to continue its work as the U.N.'s principle guardian of human rights.    » read more »

17 June 2007 -- The World Food Program says the tiny South African country of Lesotho needs urgent international assistance to prevent a major food crisis this year. A report by WFP and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization finds cereal prices in Lesotho have skyrocketed after this year's main cereal harvest was ravaged by one of the worst droughts in 30 years. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.    » read more »

17 June 2007 -- A U.N. Security Council delegation visiting Sudan says the Khartoum government has agreed to the deployment of a United Nations and African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur.

South African ambassador Dumisani Kumalo made the announcement Sunday following hours of talks with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in Khartoum.

He says Mr. Bashir has agreed to allow the speedy deployment of around 20,000 U.N. and African Union peacekeepers.    » read more »

15 June 2007 -- The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Marie Okabe, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon. I’m sorry I’m late. I was waiting for a statement.

**Guest at Noon

We have today a guest from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Saahir Lone, Senior Liaison Officer of the UNRWA Office in New York. He will be updating you on the situation in Gaza and UNRWA’s emergency assistance there.

**Secretary-General’s Statement on Middle East    » read more »