RIGHTS-US: UN Hears Complaints of Justice System’s Racism

United States-based human rights organisations have requested United Nations (UN) intervention in confronting the racial discrimination they say guides the rulings issued by the country's criminal justice system.

DISARMAMENT: Geneva Conference May End in ‘Sweet Nothingness’

The United Nations Conference on Disarmament (CD) began its final period of sessions for this year by reinstating the inactivity that has plagued the international forum for more than three years - the result of its failure to adopt a "programme of work."

DEVELOPMENT: Drought Spreads through Poorest Nations

Human suffering caused by droughts increased dramatically over the last decade, primarily affecting the poorest sectors of already impoverished countries, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported Tuesday.

DEVELOPMENT: Drought Spreads through Poorest Nations

Human suffering caused by droughts increased dramatically over the last decade, primarily affecting the poorest sectors of already impoverished countries, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported Tuesday.

HEALTH: Big Tobacco Infiltrated UN Agencies, Says Study

The World Health Organisation (WHO) lashed out at transnational tobacco corporations Wednesday, accusing them of sabotaging efforts to control tobacco consumption through pressure tactics against the agency and other international organisations.

RIGHTS: NGOs Demand Stricter Hand with Transnationals

A group of civil society organisations is pressing the United Nations (UN) to strengthen the commission entrusted with investigating the effects of transnational corporate activity on human rights.

HEALTH: New Treatment for AIDS

One of the most intriguing innovations presented this month at the International AIDS Conference consisted of a method that reduces the levels of human- immunodeficiency virus (HIV) through successive interruptions of the treatment with medication.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Geography Conspires against Progress

Geography is a major obstacle for economic growth on the African continent, which is far from the world's trade centres and major trade routes, and most of its population lives in landlocked areas where there are few navigable rivers.

COLOMBIA: Government, ELN Hold ‘Pre-Peace Talks’ in Geneva

Representatives of the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) - the second-largest rebel group active in that war-torn South American country - began Monday in Switzerland to work towards an agreement on holding a future national convention to hammer out an agenda for peace talks.

/REPEAT/TRADE: Uncertain Future for Aid to Poorest Countries

The international community's plan to reverse the exclusion of the least developed countries (LDCs) from the multilateral trade system is limited in scope and its chances for success are in doubt.

WESTERN SAHARA: Pro-Independence Front Leery of UN Proposal

Negotiations on the disputed Western Sahara continue down a winding road that most likely will lead to a referendum, but now face a possible detour down a different route, one suggested by United Nations (UN) secretary-general Kofi Annan.

TRADE: Developing Countries Protest Quotas on Textile Imports

A bloc of developing nations that export textiles and clothing lashed out against the industrial powers for failing to live up to their commitments to free up trade in the textile and apparel industry.

TRADE: European Liberalisation Neglects Developing South

The European Union (EU) has opened its markets to imports, except in areas are fundamental for developing economies, such as agriculture and textiles, according to a World Trade Organisation (WTO) panel entrusted with assessing the trade policies of its member nations.

TRADE: European Union Announces Calculated Liberalisation

The European Union (EU) chose a significant moment, one that coincides with talks at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on liberalising the European economy, to announce the further integration of its textile and clothing sector into the international system.

DEVELOPMENT: Annan Responds to World Council of Churches Rebuke

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said a report on poverty that drew heavy criticism from civil society was not "a policy document but a compendium of desireable targets and objectives."

DEVELOPMENT: UN’s Bold – if Vague – New Formulas Against Poverty

The fight against poverty still presents vague aspects, despite a 2015 deadline set by the United Nations General Assembly to cut the number of the world's poor in half and novel formulas suggested for reaching that target, such as a foreign debt moratorium for countries in crisis.

/SOCIAL SUMMIT 2000/DEVELOPMENT: A Few Advances Toward Applying Anti-Poverty Plans

A week of negotiations by the special session of the United Nations general assembly on the question of fighting poverty led to a few significant results, like the idea of studying new formulas for financing development or for freezing the foreign debt at current levels.

/SOCIAL SUMMIT 2000/ DEVELOPMENT: US Blocks Cheap AIDS-Fighting Medicines

One of the critical issues taken up by the United Nations (UN) Social Summit, underway here this week, is how to provide medicine and treatment for the millions of people facing death from HIV/AIDS, but it hit a snag Wednesday in Working Group II when the United States objected to a proposal by a group of developing countries.

/SOCIAL SUMMIT 2000/ DEVELOPMENT: Democracy Begins at Someone Elses Home

The worlds industrialised countries got everything they wanted when it came to democratisation policies for developing countries, but did not give up one iota when the United Nations (UN) took up the issue of democratising international financial institutions during the
Social Summit underway in this Swiss city.

//SOCIAL SUMMIT 2000//DEVELOPMENT: Long-standing North-South Divisions Crop Up

The opening speeches at the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on social development Monday in Geneva demonstrated broad agreement on the aims of eradicating poverty, unemployment and social exclusion.

/SOCIAL SUMMIT 2000/ DEVELOPMENT: NGOs Denounce Kofi Annan’s Poverty Report

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan's report on poverty, presented at the Social Summit underway here, known as Copenhagen Plus Five, set off a wave of protests by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) against the inclusion of multilateral financial institutions in the preparation of the document.