A call to investigate the alleged involvement of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in the poaching of African elephants has been welcomed by the UN agency dealing with stopping trade in endangered wildlife. The call was made by the Security Council in a presidential statement on 19 December which condemned the destabilizing activities of the [...]
It is not enough to physically disarm former combatants and reintegrate them into security forces, according to the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zainab Bangura. Ms. Bangura is just back from the Central African Republic, the first country she has visited since she was appointed as special envoy in June. She tells [...]
United Nations Member States on the 20th of December approved a draft resolution aimed at ending the harmful practice of female genital mutilation. Female genital mutilation or cutting, also known as FGM/C, refers to several different harmful practices involving the cutting of the female genitals for non-medical reasons. The UN World Health Organization (WHO) estimates [...]
The Joint Special Representative of the United Nations and the Arab League, Lakhdar Brahimi, has reiterated his call for all parties in Syria to reach a solution that would in his words "meet the aspirations of the Syrian people." Brahimi met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Monday to exchange views on the [...]
Asia-Pacific countries have adopted a five year Regional Plan of Action for the application of space technology to address natural disasters and achieve sustainable development. The countries met in Bangkok, Thailand, from 18 to 20 December under the auspices of the UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The plan calls on ESCAP [...]
The Caribbean tourism industry continued to show signs of recovery during 2012, fuelled by improvements in the United States and Canadian markets. However, the region's tourism development agency, the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), says the region continues to face challenges in Europe, particularly the United Kingdom market from which the numbers have been falling. [...]
Newly published reports on the number of displaced persons remaining in camps show that almost 360,000 Haitians are still living in 496 sites throughout the country. The IOM Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) registration analysis for 2012, produced by IOM, Haiti and its partners, shows that between January and August 2012, at least 84% of the [...]
