UN and African Union envoys have highlighted a new regional strategy that they hope will bring an end to the activities of Joseph Kony and his rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The Secretary-General's Special Representative and head of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), Abou Moussa says its success depends on the willingness [...]
As the violence in Syria continues, details of the contact group meeting that the UN-Arab League Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan wants to hold are still being worked out. On Tuesday, the UN Security Council got a closed door briefing from the head of UN peacekeeping Herve Ladsous and the Deputy Joint Special Envoy for [...]
The number of deaths caused by the influenza virus H1N1 has been underestimated, says the World Health Organization (WHO). The virus reached pandemic proportions in 2009-2010. The pandemic occurred among younger people, including those who were otherwise healthy. Donn Bobb reports: Duration: 1’22″
Organized crime and illicit drugs are impeding development, says the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Yuri Fedotov told the General Assembly while launching the 2012 World Drug Report on Tuesday that drugs and crime represent a severe impediment to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, the MDGs. Gerry Adams [...]
Worldwide about 27 million people or one in every 200 is a problem drug user, according to the annual report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The 2012 World Drug Report released Tuesday, also finds that roughly 200,000 people die every year from narcotics abuse, with cannabis remaining the most popular drug of [...]
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a livestock disease has already killed 75,000 goats and is threatening neighboring countries, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Julie Walker reports. FAO says the epidemic is the worst the agency has seen in a decade and is mobilizing emergency support to contain it. [...]
Platinum, gold, copper and coal: these are some of the minerals extracted from the rich ground in South Africa. But what happens when all the treasures buried deep in the Earth are gone, and the multinational mining corporations move on? South Africa's National Union of Mine Workers is hoping commitments made by governments at the [...]
Twenty-five years after the Convention against Torture went into effect, the cruel and dehumanizing practice remains pervasive and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wants states to do more to stop it. Charles Appel reports on the international day in support of victims of torture observed on 26 June. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling on countries to provide [...]
The World Health Organization (WHO) says the official death toll from the 2010 H1N1 flu pandemic is still subject to intensive research around the world. WHO however says official records put the number of deaths listed as having been caused by the H1N1 virus at 18,500 worldwide. The organization says the actual number of deaths [...]
Nearly 400,000 people still remain in displacement camps two years after the January 2010 devastating earthquake in Haiti, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). At the peak of the displacement crisis, camp populations peaked at 1.5 million people. IOM says despite the sharp reduction in the numbers of displaced people, there was need [...]
