Emergency supplies and equipment are still needed to prepare for the fast-approaching tropical storm Tomas, which could affect up to half a million people in Haiti, the United Nations said today.

 

The approaching storm may be the third humanitarian crisis that Haiti faces this year, coming amid ongoing efforts to assist up to a million people left homeless by the earthquake that devastated the country in January, and a cholera outbreak that erupted last month, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

 

The UN's agencies and its stabilization mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH, have been working with the government of Haiti and humanitarian partners to pre-position emergency supplies and equipment, including trucks, water and sanitation materials, shelter, food and non-food items in the areas most likely to be hit by the storm.

 

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During a UNDP roundtable entitled 'Iraq's Development Challenges' in Washington on November 2, Christine McNab, Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, described some of the challenging problems facing the country including functional governance, rule of law, refugees and internally displaced persons, water, climate change and environmental issues, and a weak private sector.

 

Margot Wallström, UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, and Anne-Marie Goetz, Chief Advisor of Governance Peace and Security at the United Nations Development Fund for Women, participated at a US Institute of Peace Women and War Conference at the World Bank on November  4.

 

THE WEEK AHEAD

Lamberto Zannier, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and the head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), meets with US officials during a visit to Washington.

 

Melissa Powell, Head of Strategy and Partnerships at the UN Global Compact, visits Washington.

 

    

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon underlined China's responsibilities on global issues including human rights, climate change, global diplomacy and development, in a speech at China's Central Party School in Beijing on November 2.

 

"With China's rise ... comes great expectations and great responsibilities," the Secretary-General told a roundtable discussion on global governance and harmonious society. "China's voice and example are critical."

 

"The values embedded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are timeless and shared, yet unrealized in far too much of the globe," he said. "We must continue to work together to make those rights real in people's lives. That will take a global effort."

 

Mr. Ban stressed that achieving the "shared goals of human rights around the world is more than an aspiration. It is a foundation of peace and harmony in our modern world. So too is respect for freedom of expression and the protection of its defenders," he added.

 

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The United Nations stands ready to assist the upcoming referendum that will decide whether southern Sudan declares independence from Africa's largest country, an official with the world body said on November 1, with voter registration set to kick off in two weeks.

 

People in southern Sudan are set to register at referendum centers throughout the country and abroad to vote on January 9.

 

Over the weekend, more than 3,000 registration kits for distribution in southern Sudan and 840 kits for the north, along with registration books and cards, were handed over to the SSRC and its bureau in Juba, the southern capital.

 

The UN is helping to transport kits and books from Juba to the capitals of Sudan's states to train nearly 11,000 referendum centre staff.

 

UN Integrated Referendum and Electoral Division's (UNIRED) technical assistance includes designing voter registration forms, developing complaint regulations and designing voter education materials.

 

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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged that the upcoming elections in Myanmar be as inclusive, participatory and transparent as possible to ensure a credible transition to a civilian democratic government, as he met with the country's Prime Minister, Thein Sein.

 

The elections, scheduled for November 7, will be the first in the country in two decades.

 

During the meeting, Mr. Ban reiterated his call for the release of political prisoners and for the lifting of restrictions on pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

 

In his speech to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Hanoi, Vietnam on October 29, Mr. Ban told the gathered heads of state and government that they have a significant stake in seeing Myanmar turn the elections into "an opportunity for peace, democracy and prosperity."

 

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