REFUGEES-IRAQ: The Hidden Face of the War

The United Nations was able, at least for a few hours, to draw public attention away from the bombings and attacks that have become routine in Iraq and direct it towards another, equally painful, aspect of the conflict - the humanitarian crisis suffered by nearly four million refugees and internally displaced persons.

REFUGEES-IRAQ: The Hidden Face of the War

The United Nations was able, at least for a few hours, to draw public attention away from the bombings and attacks that have become routine in Iraq and direct it towards another, equally painful, aspect of the conflict - the humanitarian crisis suffered by nearly four million refugees and internally displaced persons.

INTERVIEW WITH NESTOR OSORIO: COFFEE MISSES OUT ON COMMODITY BONANZA

Though speculation by investment funds has introduced a persistent volatility into the coffee market, executive director of the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) Nestor Osorio holds that it will maintain its current equilibrium and remunerative prices for the present year. The Colombian diplomat, who recently attended a seminar in Geneva on Commodities and Development organised by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), responds below to questions from IPS.

HUMAN RIGHTS: Developing Countries Regain the Initiative in UN Council

The United Nations Human Rights Council's fourth session wrapped up Friday with good results, particularly because developing countries "regained the initiative," said Swiss academic Jean Ziegler, U.N. Rapporteur on the Right to Food.

RIGHTS: Disputes Over Treatment of Displaced People in Sri Lanka

The number of displaced persons within Sri Lanka is increasing, and the international community does not have access to that population, said the representative of the United Nations secretary general on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Walter Kälin.

HUMAN RIGHTS: Children Bring Truce in UN Council

Children's rights was one issue on which the 47 members of the United Nations Human Rights Council have been able to reach a consensus this week, setting aside the differences that have marked their debates in the current session in Geneva.

HUMAN RIGHTS: Brazil Proposes Additional Millennium Goals

Global abolition of the death penalty and other human rights aspirations could be achieved through mechanisms similar to the Millennium Development Goals adopted by the United Nations, according to a proposal by the government of Brazil.

TRADE: The WTO’s Glass Ceiling

This week's election of the chairpersons of the main World Trade Organisation (WTO) bodies for 2007 went largely unnoticed, as part of the global body's routine procedures. But one aspect stood out: none of the appointed chairs are women.

TRADE: The WTO’s Glass Ceiling

This week's election of the chairpersons of the main World Trade Organisation (WTO) bodies for 2007 went largely unnoticed, as part of the global body's routine procedures. But one aspect stood out: none of the appointed chairs are women.

TRADE: Progress Towards South-South Tariff Cuts

A preliminary understanding reached by a bloc of 43 developing nations has opened the prospect of making significant cuts in trade tariffs among countries of the South.

BURMA: ILO Gets Tough on Forced Labour

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has hardened its stance towards the use of forced labour in Burma, and decided to turn to the International Court of Justice because of the regime's reluctance to cooperate in eradicating the practice.

HEALTH: Battle for Cheap Drugs Also Being Lost in WTO

The only concrete result to come out of the 2001 World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar appeared to be the Declaration on Intellectual Property and Public Health, since the rest of the decisions on a new round of trade talks are at a standstill.

HEALTH: Battle for Cheap Drugs Also Being Lost in WTO

The only concrete result to come out of the 2001 World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar appeared to be the Declaration on Intellectual Property and Public Health, since the rest of the decisions on a new round of trade talks are at a standstill.

SRI LANKA: Failure for Government and Rebels, Again

A second round of negotiations for a peace accord between the government of Sri Lanka and the Tamil rebels ended in Geneva without agreement between the two sides, who have been involved in a civil war for over three decades.

HUMAN RIGHTS: U.S. Isolated on Guantanamo

A team of United Nations human rights experts set forth sharply worded arguments Thursday against the U.S. detention centre at the naval base at Guantánamo bay in Cuba and announced that investigations into secret detention centres would continue in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries.

LABOUR-COLOMBIA: Unions Press for Local ILO Office

International labour associations have publicly expressed their support for the call by Colombian trade unions for faster progress towards the establishment of a local office of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in that civil war-torn South American country.

DEVELOPMENT: Countries of the South Urged to Reclaim “Policy Space”

UNCTAD's Trade and Development Report for 2006 urges countries of the South to implement more autonomous policies, and also to further strengthen the global partnership for development to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted by the United Nations for 2015.

LEBANON: UN Human Rights Council Condemns Israel

The United Nations Human Rights Council issued a strongly worded condemnation of Israel Friday for violating human rights and international humanitarian law in its military operations in Lebanon.

TRADE: Requiem for the WTO

Civil society activists, who early on foretold the inevitable collapse of the Doha Round, are now predicting the beginning of the end for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) itself, which sponsored the failed negotiations.

HUMAN RIGHTS: UN Committee Comes Down Hard on US Government

In a strongly worded report, the U.N. Human Rights Committee called on the U.S. government to close down any "secret detention" facilities it operates around the world, and expressed concern about a number of issues, both domestic and international.

TRADE: Noisy Collapse for Doha Round

The breakdown in talks among the leading actors in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) triggered the downfall of the Doha Round Monday, nearly five years after the multilateral trade negotiations were launched - and the European Union and developing countries blamed the United States.