|
UN Calendar |
August 6
, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon participates in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony in Japan, becoming the first UN Secretary-General to do so.
August 9
August 12
International Youth Day
August 19
World Humanitarian Day
September 20-22
UN MDG Summit, a high-level meeting on the Millennium Development Goals, takes place in New York | |
|
|
UN Reports |
Secretary-General's Reports
For a complete listing of new reports, visit: | |
|
|
Did You Know...
The United Nations mobilizes $7 billion in humanitarian aid to help people affected by emergencies.
|
| UN Washington Online |
 |
|
| |
July 29, 2010 - Flood victims in Jalalabad, Afghanistan take out belongings from their destroyed homes. UN agencies and partners are currently carrying out an assessment of the damage caused by massive floods in Nangarhar, Kunar and Laghman provinces caused by torrential rain on July 28. Photo: Tilak Pokharel/UNAMA |
|
|
UN rushing aid to victims of deadly floods in Pakistan, Afghanistan and DR Congo
Working in two continents, United Nations agencies have begun providing relief assistance to thousands of families in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and separately in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who were affected by floods that have followed torrential rains.
 The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has begun distributing food to more than 35,000 families in northwest Pakistan and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) is supporting the local authorities in providing clean drinking water to 700,000 people.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on top of the aid that the world body is already providing, up to $10 million will be disbursed from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).
In Afghanistan, UNICEF said it is working with the Afghan government and other UN agencies and partners to respond to the hygiene, nutrition and primary health needs of up to 4,000 families in the affected regions.
In the DRC, floods have destroyed nearly 300 homes and left an estimated 1,500 people homeless.
The flooding also damaged latrines, causing water contamination, and destroyed fields, striking a blow to people's livelihoods in an area where 80 percent of the population depends on agriculture for survival.
UNICEF has already provided water purification materials, as well as 100 emergency kits with household goods.
Read more on Pakistan
|
|
UN chief announces panel of inquiry on Gaza flotilla incident
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced the launch of a panel of inquiry on the May 31 incident in which Israel raided a six-ship convoy in international waters that was carrying humanitarian goods and activists and heading for Gaza.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) meets with Ehud Barak, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of Israel on July 30 at UN headquarters in New York. | "This is an unprecedented development," said the United Nations chief, who has been engaged in intensive consultations for the past two months on setting up an inquiry into the tragedy, which resulted in the deaths of nine civilians and the wounding of at least 30 others.
The aid flotilla, which included three Turkish-registered vessels, was trying to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza, which has been subject to a three-year blockade by Israel for what it called security reasons after Hamas took power in the territory in 2007.
The former New Zealand prime minister, Geoffrey Palmer, will serve as chair of the panel and the outgoing President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, will be vice-chair.
The panel will have two additional members, one each from Israel and Turkey, and will begin its work on August 10. It is expected to submit the first progress report by mid-September.
|
|
New UN climate change chief calls on governments to act
With the future of humanity at stake, governments must continue building common ground to further progress on climate change, the new United Nations chief on the issue said in the latest round of international negotiations in Bonn, Germany on August 2.
 "Whether we succumb to the storms of climate change or work together to reach the far shore is up to us to decide," Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said, invoking the journey made by Christopher Columbus more than five centuries ago.
This was her first address to UN climate change talks as head of the UNFCCC since taking over from Yvo de Boer last month.
"As individuals, as governments, as a global community, we must all exceed our own expectations, simply because nothing less will do," Ms. Figueres told delegates.
Science, she said, has shown when and by how much greenhouse gas emissions must drop to avert climate change's worst impacts.
|
|
New cultural sites inscribed on the UN World Heritage List
The United Nations agency mandated to conserve the world's heritage has inscribed new cultural sites in Mexico, Vietnam, China, Tajikistan, France, the Netherlands, and Brazil on the World Heritage List.
Everglades National Park (United States) - © UNESCO  | The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) also inscribed three natural sites in China, Kiribati and Reunion Island, France.
The Thang Long Imperial Citadel in Vietnam became the 900th site to be inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List.
Also inscribed is the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro in Mexico, also known as the Silver Route. The property consists of 55 sites and five existing World Heritage sites lying along a 1,400-kilometre (km) section of a 2,600 km route, that extends north from Mexico City to Texas and New Mexico in the United States.
Meanwhile, the Everglades National Park in Florida returned to the World Heritage List of Sites in Danger while the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador) was removed from this List.
|
|
Week in Pictures
July 29, 2010 - More than 6,200 children attending a summer camp in the Gaza Strip run by the United Nations agency assisting Palestinian refugees broke their own world record for the number of kites flown at the same time. The feat comes exactly one week after more than 7,200 children bounced basketballs simultaneously for five minutes, doubling a 2007 record set in the United States. Both record-breaking events were part of the Summer Games program organized by UNRWA in nearly 150 locations across Gaza over a period of six weeks, beginning on June 12. Around a quarter of a million children participate in the Games, which include sports as well as recreational and cultural activities.
_______________________________
Afghan National Sport of Buzkashi
August 2, 2010 - The Afghan national sport of Buzkashi during the second annual Silk Road Festival in Bamyan aimed at promoting tourism. Five of Bamyan's six districts are peaceful but lack of transport infrastructure is stalling its economy. The provincial government - with support from the Ministries, the United Nations and partners - has projects underway to develop the province. Photo: Eric Kanalstein/UNAMA.
_______________________________ |
|
|
About the United Nations in Washington
As the United Nations office in Washington, D.C, the UN Information Center serves as the focal point for UN news and information to advance understanding of the UN and its work, and to serve as a resource for United States government officials, NGOs, civil-society organizations and the American people.
United Nations. It's your world.
|
|
|
