UN observes International Earth Day
Safeguarding Earth crucial to development, human well-being, Secretary-General stresses
Marking International Earth Day on April 22, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed the need to respect and care for the Earth, noting that safeguarding the environment will impact efforts to achieve development goals and ensuring the health and well-being of its inhabitants.
 Environmental sustainability - the wise management of the Earth's bounty - is one of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that world leaders have pledged to try to achieve by 2015, along with other ambitious targets to halve poverty, hunger and disease.
Mr. Ban noted that protecting the Earth must be an integral component of the strategy to achieve the MDGs.
"Without a sustainable environmental base, we will have little hope of attaining our objectives for reducing poverty and hunger and improving health and human well-being," he stated in a message.
"For all of human history we have depended on nature's bounty for sustenance, well-being and development. Too often we have drawn on nature's capital without putting back. We are now beginning to see the consequences of failing to safeguard our investment," Mr. Ban said.
Read more
|
|
Chad and UN officials agree on extension, downsizing for peacekeeping force
United Nations and Chadian officials have agreed on a major initial reduction of peacekeepers in Chad after the government had called for the withdrawal of the UN mission's military component.
The 3,351 troops now stationed as part of UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) will be downsized to 1,900 as a first stage, mission spokesman Penangnini Touré said.
 In calling for the end of the military component in February, Chad said the force had served its purpose.
"The government took note of the full range of responsibilities associated with the protection of civilians in accordance with international law," Mr. Touré said of the April 23 talks, the third in a series on the mandate and future configuration of MINURCAT. "The government is expected to fully assume these responsibilities starting May 16, 2010.
"The two parties have identified areas of support in which MINURCAT may have a role once a new mandate is granted," he added, noting that the tasks of this new force have also been redefined in line with the downsizing.
The results of the talks are to be presented to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and through him to the Security Council for a final decision.
|
|
Secretary-General renews support for US envoy's Middle East peace efforts
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and United States Special Envoy George Mitchell discussed continuing efforts to get the Israelis and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table, as well as the situation in Gaza.
 During their conversation on Monday, the two men discussed the proposal put forward several months ago by Mr. Mitchell, who was in the region recently for meetings, for the Israelis and Palestinians to begin indirect talks with US mediation.
The Secretary-General thanked Mr. Mitchell for his determined efforts and reiterated the UN's support.
At its meeting in Moscow in March, the diplomatic Quartet promoting Middle East peace - comprising the UN, European Union, US and Russia - called on the Israeli and Palestinian sides to resume negotiations as soon as possible with the aim of reaching a settlement within two years.
|
|
Week in Pictures
UNAMID Helps Build School in North Darfur
April 19 - The Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Section of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) delivers 40,000 liters of water to Tora village, approximately 50 km north of El Fasher, North Darfur. The water is used to make bricks for the construction of a village school which will house 30 former child soldiers. UN Photo/Albert Gonzalez Farran
_______________________________
DPKO Officials Arrive in Bacau, Timor-Leste
April 21 - Dmitry Titov (fourth from left), Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), and Nina Lahoud (third from left), Deputy Director of DPKO's Asia and Middle East Division, arrive in Bacau, Timor-Leste, where they are met by the Commander of the UN Police's Bangladeshi Unit (right of Mr. Titov). Also pictured is Idris Ibrahim (second from left), Acting UN Police Commissioner in Timor-Leste. UN Photo/Martine Perret
_______________________________
April 26 - An internally displaced person (IDP) from Helmand waits to receive assistance from donors in Qargha, Kabul. Many of Helmand's residents fled their villages due to military operations that began in February in Nad Ali and Laskhkar Gah. Read more about the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. UN Photo/Fardin Waezi |
