United Nations Washington
In This Issue
UN rushes aid to victims in Kyrgyzstan
Former Swiss leader elected as next president of General Assembly
UN to observe World Refugee Day on Sunday
Food prices could soar up by 40 percent in next decade, UN reports warns
Week in Pictures

UN Calendar

June 16

 

The Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington hosts an event entitled, A Critical Moment in Sudan: Views from President Thabo Mbeki and SRSG Haile Menkerios, at 4 p.m.

 

June 20

 

World Refugee Day

 

June 23

 

United Nations Public Service Day  

2010 UN World Drug Report is launched at the National Press Club in Washington at 10 a.m.

 
 

UN Headlines 

 
 

UN Reports

Food and Agricultural
Organization
(FAO)

 

Food Outlook: Global Market Analysis

 

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

 

Nuclear Power Reactors in the World

 

International Labour Organization (ILO)

 

Offshoring and working conditions in remote work

  

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

 

Humanitarian Action in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Weekly Bulletin

 

Humanitarian Update Southern Sudan Issue

 

Somalia Humanitarian Overview

 

Pakistan Humanitarian Update Issue

 

Colombia: Humanitarian Bulletin

 

Ethiopia: Humanitarian Bulletin

 

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)

 

PWR Guatemala National Emergency Situation Report

 

Secretary-General's Reports

 
 

Report on Kuwait

 

 UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

 

 G20 Investment Measures

 

Investment Policy Review Sierra Leone

 

Empowering MDG Strategies through Inclusive Economic Development

 

UN Development Programme (UNDP)

 

Millennium Development Goals Report 2010 - Turkey

 

Development and Transition issue

 

'Scoring for Africa - An Alternative Guide to the World Cup'

 

UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

 

Measuring Energy Access: Supporting a Global Target

 

UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)

 

Haiti 2010-2011 Mid-Year Review of 2010 Humanitarian Action Report

 

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

 

Trees only move in the wind: A study of unaccompanied Afghan children in Europe

 

World Food Programme (WFP)

 

Afghanistan market price bulletin - June 2010

 

World Health Organization (WHO)

 

Pandemic (H1N1) 2009

 

The global prevalence of hepatitis A virus infection and susceptibility

 

For a complete listing of new reports, visit:

 
UN Washington Online
UN Washington YouTube Page
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(File Photo, March 2010) - In the Kara Suu district of southern Kyrgyzstan, a donkey cart stands ready for its owners to transport the wheat flour and vegetable oil back to their home. The food was provided by the United Nation's World Food Programme. WFP Photo/Aisha Maitmamat Kyzy
WFP Food Distribution in Kyrgyzstan
 
UN rushes aid to victims in Kyrgyzstan
 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has spoken with the head of Kyrgyzstan's interim government regarding the crisis in the south, as United Nations agencies launched operations to assist the thousands of civilians affected by the violence.

 

Kyrgyzstan MapMr. Ban told Roza Otunbaeva that the UN is closely coordinating with other organizations and players to respond to the crisis, in which more than 100 people have reportedly been killed, at least 1,300 injured and some 75,000 displaced as a result of the clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks that erupted last week.

 

The World Food Programme (WFP) has launched an emergency operation to provide logistics and feed civilians caught in the crisis, while calling on all sides to allow the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian supplies, particularly in the southern city of Osh.

 

WFP currently has 3,000 metric tons of food pre-positioned in Kyrgyzstan - enough to feed 87,000 people for two months.

 

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) offered its assistance to Uzbek authorities who are already dealing with needs of the displaced.

 
 
Former Swiss leader elected as next president of General Assembly

A former leader of Switzerland who was instrumental in his country joining the United Nations eight years ago has been chosen by the world body's 192 member states to serve as the next president of the General Assembly.

 

Joseph DeissJoseph Deiss, 64, who was elected this morning by acclamation, will succeed Ali Treki when he takes over the presidency in mid-September as the General Assembly's 65th session begins.

 

Accepting the post "with great hope and solid conviction," Mr. Deiss told the Assembly that the world has entered an era of increasing interdependence.

 

"Everything is moving faster and coming closer," he said. "New global challenges have also emerged - climate change, economic and financial crises, terrorism and global crime, extremism of all kinds - in addition to the perennial problems of war and poverty."

 

Mr. Deiss' first major event as president will be the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) summit in September, where world leaders will be asked to accelerate progress to reach the anti-poverty goals by their target date of 2015.

 
 
UN to observe World Refugee Day on Sunday
 

United Nations officials will mark World Refugee Day on Sunday, June 20 with news that the number of refugees voluntarily returning to their home countries last year plummeted to their lowest levels in two decades, according to a new United Nations report.

 

World Refugee Day 2010Only 251,000 refugees - out of a total of 15.2 million - repatriated in 2009, compared to an average of half a million annually for that past 10 years. Two thirds of refugees come under the mandate of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), with the rest falling under the responsibility of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

 

"The theme of this year's observance -- "Home" -- highlights the plight of the world's 15 million refugees, more than three-quarters of them in the developing world, who have been uprooted from their homes by conflict or persecution," United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a message for World Refugee Day.

 

"On World Refugee Day, let us reaffirm the importance of solidarity and burden-sharing by the international community.  Refugees have been deprived of their homes, but they must not be deprived of their futures."

 
 
Food prices could soar up by 40 percent in next decade, UN reports warns

Global prices of food could climb by as much as 40 percent in the coming decade, as the global population continues to surge, a new United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report released today says.

 

Food CrisisThe Agriculture Outlook 2010-19 anticipates that wheat and coarse grain prices could jump to levels of between 15 and 40 percent higher than they were between 1997 and 2006, while vegetable oil and dairy prices are also projected to rise by more than 40 percent.

 

Spikes in livestock prices are not expected to be as marked, even in the face of rising global demand for meat which is set to outpace demand for other commodities as some segments of the population in emerging economies alter their dietary habits due to increased wealth.

 

The report, jointly published with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, notes that global agricultural output will ease in the next decade, but food production will meet the demand generated by surging population growth by 2050.

 

Read more

 
Week in Pictures

 
UNAMID Philippine Contingent Medal Ceremony 
  
UNAMID Philippine Contingent during Medal Ceremony  
 

June 9, 2010 - Officers of the Philippine contingent of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) stand in formation during a medal ceremony at UNAMID's Super Camp in El Fasher, Sudan. UN Photo/Albert Gonzalez Farran

 
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Women in Cameroon Welcome Secretary-General
 
Women in Mbalmayo, Cameroon Welcome Secretary-General 
 
 
June 10, 2010 - Women in Mbalmayo, Cameroon, clad in dresses with the image of Cameroonian President Paul Biya, welcome United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to their community. Mr. Ban visited Mbalmayo to see first-hand several projects related to the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
 

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