Peace Talks Occurring in Darfur to End Violence

The AU and UN hybrid mission to bring peace in Sudan has been holding new chats with the Sudanese government and rebel groups in an effort to curb violence in areas like Darfur so that humanitarian aid may be distributed to civilians and peace talks can begin.

The situation in Sudan, especially Darfur, has only worsened over the course of the past five years. The UN African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) was created to help with the implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement in July 2007. Hopefully these talks will be a step forward for the UN and AU and for an end to the violence in Darfur.

To learn more go to:

http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unamid/index.html

Looking at aid on google

Google and many UN humanitarian aid agencies have now teamed up so that you can use Google Earth to look up the locations of aid distribution around the world. The UN High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) has now posted maps that show the refugee camps located in primarily Darfur, Iraq and Colombia.

This partnership is a tool to show Americans and the world the actual work that the United Nations is performing. It brings the work of humanitarian aid home.

This project is a continuance of a number of programs, in partnership with Google, that operate as tools to connect developed countries with the stories of people in developing countries and with the work that international organizations are performing. Such other projects include UNICEF's initiative to share children's stories on www.ourstories.org, a website where children from developing countries can record their journey and share it with the world.

To learn more about this:

Read the original news article:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=24966&Cr=child&Cr1=

Webcasts from the UN

Ever wanted to know what happens within the United Nations Headquarters in New York City? Now you can experience what it is like to be an Ambassador when you go and watch the webcasts that are posted of various meetings and debates on the UN website. Every day at noon, the UN holds a briefing that is streamed online for all to see. You may not be an employee for the UN but you also can find out what is going on and see for yourself all the great work the United Nations is doing.

Check out the webcasts at:

www.un.org/webcast

2.6 Billion People: That's a lot

Today we urge you to read this posting on the New York Times blog which talks about the UN Water team's efforts to deal with the 2.6 BILLION people who don't have access to sanitation.

UNDP and Fortis Team Up

The United Nations Development Program is partnering up with the private sector to encourage increasing use of green technology, thus echoing the carbon-trading strategies specified under the Kyoto Protocol.

UNDP is working with Fortis, a Dutch-Belgian finance group, to promote Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) practices in nations that previously did not embark on such environmentally friendly actions. These efforts support the Millennium Development Goals, which aim to reduce poverty and promote practices that support human development such as acting in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Seb Walhain, leading representative of Fortis Bank, expressed his excitement concerning the reduction of greenhouse gases and the efforts of United Nation member states to promote clean development. In a press release concerning the efforts, he stated that “Fortis is proud to be working with UNDP to spread the benefits of the carbon market to new parts of the developing world.”

To learn more about the UNDP and the private sector are doing to mitigate some of the problems caused by climate change, visit http://undp-usa.org. At that site, you can also get more information concerning an UNDP-USA sponsored event entitled “Fighting Climate Change.”

Insects as a Valuable Food Source

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has recently promoted the idea of using insects as a valuable food source during emergencies. Patrick Durst, a senior forestry officer at the FAO in Bangkok says, “In certain places, insects can very well be seen as part of the solution to hunger.” According to scientists, crickets, caterpillars, and grubs are a reliable source of protein and can safely be eaten as a reliable food source should no other safe option be available. Some restaurants around the world are beginning to put bugs on the menu.

Using insects as a reliable food source during emergencies is becoming an increasingly popular means to combating hunger. However, the challenge lies in organizing insect food operations on the ground in countries most in need. There is almost no infrastructure to raise insects as a food source in the countries that need it most and the challenge of transporting large quantities of these insects’ far distances has not been overcome. There are concerns about the safety of eating bugs and dangers that might come with over-harvesting them. The facts are on the table and many challenges lay ahead, but there is a glimmer of hope for the future of preventable hunger.

Over 6 million children to start a new school year in Afghanistan with the help of the UN

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is implementing a program to ensure that both boys and girls in Afghanistan will be given access to quality education in a safe environment. UNICEF is partnering with local organizations in Afghanistan to build more schools, provide materials for both students and teachers, and providing quality training for teachers.
A major obstacle that remains is gender disparity among boys and girls in schools, child safety, and a limited number of quality teachers. Currently, 32 percent of boys complete primary school while only 13 percent of girls complete primary school. Both UNICEF and the Girls’ Education Initiative are working diligently to enroll an additional 330,000 girls in school this year. “This is a big challenge for all of us, the Afghan nation and the Afghan children, to bring about parity, or equality, for children and ensure that all children, whether they are girls or boys, continue to go to school, and complete their schooling, so that they can contribute not only to their own development, but also contribute to the building of the country,” UNICEF’s Deputy Representative in Afghanistan, Sikander Khan, said at a press briefing in Kabul today.
Recent concerns have arisen in Afghanistan as attacks on schools and community intimidation create serious obstacles that prevent children from attending school The government, local organizations, and UNICEF are partnering to implement ways to protect families and schools from extremist attacks and small progress has been made. This year the number of children enrolled in school is 6.2 million, up from 5.7 million last year. UNICEF and the Afghan government hope to continue making progress by working together to ensure access to education and a safe future for their country and its children.

Nice Awards

Peace and Cooperation, an affiliate of the United Nations, announced its 2008 Peace and Cooperation School Award. The award was announced at UN headquarters. The theme of the award, “water for all” reflected goals promulgated by the United Nations Development Programme and by the Millennium Development Goals, which Peace and Cooperation recognizes as a vehicle that encourages progressive strides toward expanding clean water to people worldwide.

Airline Ambassadors, a humanitarian group affiliated with the UN, is cosponsoring the award. They have also sponsored international school awards relating to human rights, gender equality, and hunger. They hope that recognizing schools worldwide with the support of the UN will help increase awareness of global issues to teachers, students, and other campus affiliates.

The Peace and Cooperation School Award is one of many awards given by this non-governmental organization to recognize humanitarian efforts conducted around the globe.

Go to http://www.peaceandcooperation.org to learn more about Peace and Cooperation’s awards and how they use recognition as an educational tool.

UNICEF Partners with Dubai Cares

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is partnering with Dubai Cares, a program recently launched Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai to support education. Together UNICEF and Dubai Cares hope to increase education programs around the work in an effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

There are 92 million children in the world who are not currently receiving primary education. The Millennium Development Goals express a goal to achieve universal primary education by 2015. The funding from Dubai Cares will be used across the globe in Africa, South Asia, and Eastern Europe to build and upgrade schools.

To learn more about this:

Check out the MDG Monitor to see what the progress is for achieving the Millennium Development Goals:

http://www.mdgmonitor.org/

Read the full article at:

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=25660&Cr=education&Cr1=

WFP and UNDP Support First Inclusive Nepali Female Everest Expedition

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

In an effort to draw attention to climate change on the Himalayas and inspire women all over world to achieve their goals, ten Nepali women will attempt to reach the peak of Mount Everest in the spring, through the help of the United Nations. Both the United Nations World Food Programme and the United Nations Development Programme have raised one quarter of the $200,000 needed for the group to successfully complete their mission and continues to support the First Inclusive Women Sagarmatha Expedition 2008.

These women are hoping to break down some of the barriers that prevent women in Nepal, and other parts of the world from achieving their goals. They hope that by achieving their goals they can play a significant role in promoting education, and building awareness about the affect climate change has in Nepal and around the world.

If you want to get involved visit the FIWSE 2008 team website at http://www.fiwse2008spring.com/.

What you didn't want to know about Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is the fourth largest shopping day of the year for millions of American men and women. Although buying chocolates, flowers, and assorted other goodies for the people we care about gets pretty expensive, it seems that people in the developing world are paying an even higher price than we are. V-Day may be a holiday about caring, but the companies that provide us with ways to show someone we love them seem to have completely forgotten about the people that work for them.

Yesterday (February 14, 2008) the United Nations hosted a briefing to raise awareness about the suffering of farm labourers in Africa and Latin America, some of whom work in near slave conditions to supply goods to a ­predominantly western market. Here are some facts that they thought it was important for us all to realize:

1) CHOCOLATE- According to the International Labor Rights Forum the world’s leading chocolate companies, including Nestle, M&M/Mars and Hershey, had failed to meet a promised 2005 deadline to provide consumers with a “child labour-free chocolate” certification programme and now faced a new agreed deadline of July 2008.

2) FLOWERS- 90% of cut flowers sold in the US come from Venezuela and Ecuador. Most of the flower workers are women who suffer from sexual harassment as well as health problems from the toxic pesticides used.

3) DIAMONDS- Many of our diamonds come from West Africa where diamonds have been identified to fuel armed conflicts throughout the region (that's what people are referring to when they say "blood diamonds"). Although the diamond industry's contribution to such conflicts has decreased in the past few years since the creation of a new certification process, there are still massive problems in the Congo and widespread corruption in countries such as Angola.

So, what can you do...?

Although it is probably too late for this Valentine's Day, there are changes that you can make in your daily life that will ensure your money is not hurting people in the developing world. Fair trade products are everywhere. Although coffee is the most visible, there are also Fair Trade chocolates, bananas, and even flowers (flowers.com sells them!). There are also plenty of causes that you can support through organizations like Global Watch and Oxfam International (just run a google search).

Art in Action

The power of expression was celebrated as over 12,000 children across the globe created priceless pieces of art. After the United Nations Postal Association (UNPA) declared an art competition with the theme “we can end poverty,” children from about 130 nations participated in the International Children’s Art Competition. The competition was held in honor of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

The winners of the competition were granted the honor of designing stamps that will circulate internationally. The UNPA will use 5 stamp designs created by young winning artists from Armenia, China, Indonesia and Zimbabwe to represent the poverty eradication theme.

See the joyous pieces of art and visit the gallery where the pieces are displayed in a slide show.

To learn more about how are can be used as activism on behalf of the United Nations, contact UNDP-USA.

Stopping Traffic

Tomorrow (Wednesday, February 13) the United Nations will hold the first ever global forum on human trafficking in Vienna, Austria. The forum will cover a wide array of topics that fall under this subject heading ranging from forced labor and sexual exploitation to the removal of organs and other body parts.

The three-day conference, which runs through Friday, will bring together 1,200 experts, legislators, law enforcement teams, business leaders, NGO representatives and trafficking victims from 116 countries.

UNODC chief Costa said that "a lack of information and a disjointed response have enabled human trafficking to flourish."He said it was one of the fastest-growing crimes and had many forms, "always in collusion with other unlawful activities like illegal migration, forced labor, pedophilia, child exploitation, civil conflicts and organized prostitution."

"It's time for the world to open its eyes to this modern form of slavery," Costa said.

Workshops will be held on a wide range of topics, from forced labor and sexual exploitation to the trafficking in persons for the removal of organs and body parts.

Although it is incredibly difficult to collect data, according to UN estimates, about 2.5 million people from 127 countries have been trafficked to 137 countries for purposes such as forced labor, sexual exploitation, the removal of organs and body parts, forced marriages, child adoption and begging.

Among those scheduled to attend the conference is pop star Ricky Martin and Suzanne Mubarak, the wife of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Cyberschoolbus

Ever want to choose when you go to school. Pick what books are assigned? Go to recess or take a break whenever you want?

Now, you can.

With the Cyberschoolbus, an online teaching tool/website produced by the UN, you can control your education while exploring global issues, watching webcasts, delving into country profiles, and of course, learning about the UN agencies of your choice.

The site is currently available in six different languages, thus increasing the possibility of having schoolmates with different backgrounds. It fosters ideals that promote diversity and appreciation for international institutions. So stop reading this blog and check out the site at http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/.