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Saturday, November 7, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
RIGHTS: U.N. Chief Gets Tough on Recruiters of Child Soldiers
Alarmed at the continued widespread abuse of children in war zones, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is calling for tough new measures to penalise those guilty of atrocities.POLITICS: Is Beleaguered U.N. Chief Caving In to U.S. Pressure?
A rash of recent headlines in mainstream U.S. newspapers portray a U.N. secretary-general struggling to survive: "Kofi Annan Must Go", "Annan's Post at the U.N. May be at Risk, Officials Fear" and "Criminal Probe Eyes Kofi's Son".POLITICS: New U.N. Force For Sudan Will Skirt Darfur Crisis
Over the next six months, the United Nations is planning to deploy a new 10,000-strong military force to monitor the recently concluded peace agreement in Sudan, which brought to an end the 21-year-old civil war between north and south.POLITICS: Military Gobbles Funds Earmarked for Social Development
The rise in global defence spending and the ongoing war on terrorism are diverting scarce economic resources from social development to the military, says a new U.N. report released here.POLITICS: France Faulted for Manipulating U.N. Over Cote d’Ivoire
France, the former colonial ruler of Cote d'Ivoire, is being lambasted for manipulating the U.N. Security Council to politically and militarily isolate the West African nation, which has been ravaged by an ongoing civil war.POLITICS: U.N. Team Splits Hair Over Sudan Genocide
A U.N. special commission, which refused to declare the widespread killings in Sudan to be acts of "genocide," has been criticised for restraining its condemnation of the massacre of some 400,000 Sudanese in that politically troubled African nation.POLITICS: U.N. Assures No "Mass Firings" of Senior Staff
Top officials at the United Nations, which has recently come under heavy fire for waste and mismanagement, denied widespread rumours of a major shake-up in the higher echelons of the organisation.POLITICS: U.N. Paints Grim Picture of Spreading Crises in Africa
A senior U.N. official warned Thursday that the ongoing conflicts in Africa would continue to have a "devastating impact" on civilians this year - "as it has been for many months, and in some cases, for many years".POLITICS: Six Million Dying of AIDS Amid Tsunami Largesse
Within three weeks after the tsunami disaster ravaged south and south-east Asia, the international donor community responded magnanimously by pledging an unprecedented 5.5 billion to 6 billion dollars for emergency relief and reconstruction.DISARMAMENT: NGOs Seek Treaty to Hunt Lethal Arms
A coalition of human rights and peace activists is urging the United Nations to adopt a legally binding "marking and tracing system" to track small arms from the factory to the user.POLITICS: Race for Next U.N. Chief Sparks Lively Debate
Almost 23 months before a new secretary-general takes office at the United Nations, there is already a vibrant debate on who should succeed incumbent Kofi Annan when he completes his second five-year term in Dec. 2006.TSUNAMI IMPACT: U.N. Vows to Track Massive Aid Spending
With billions of dollars pouring into emergency relief funds and post-tsunami reconstruction projects, the United Nations has pledged not only to police itself but also to ensure that aid money is not diverted to the pockets of corrupt officials or individuals, whether in governments or non-governmental organisations (NGOs).DEVELOPMENT: Way Exists to Slash Poverty, But Is There the Will?
Global poverty is threatening world security and jeopardising international efforts to end violent conflict, instability and terrorism, a team of leading development experts declared in a study released Monday.TSUNAMI IMPACT: Are Oil-Rich States Giving Enough Aid?
The new-rich, oil-blessed nations of the Middle East and North Africa, whose national revenues have skyrocketed in the aftermath of rising oil prices last year, have come under fire for their relatively tightfisted response to the tsunami tragedy in south and southeast Asia.TSUMANI IMPACT: Youngest Victims Suffer the Most
The numbers describing children in the tsunami aftermath are staggering: an estimated 50,000 dead, some 30,000 left without parents, and over 1.5 million directly or indirectly affected by last month's monumental tidal wave disaster.POLITICS: Misdemeanors But No Felonies in UN Oil-for-Food Audit
A series of 58 internal audits of the multi-billion-dollar oil-for-food programme in Iraq has revealed overbilling and management lapses by its U.N. supervisors, but no large-scale fraud.POLITICS: Misdemeanors But No Felonies in UN Oil-for-Food Audit
A series of 58 internal audits of the multi-billion-dollar oil-for-food programme in Iraq has revealed overbilling and management lapses by its U.N. supervisors, but no large-scale fraud.TSUNAMI IMPACT: The Tortured Math of Donor Largesse
U.N. officials are hoping that the overwhelming generosity towards victims of the tsunami disaster will not divert funds from the ongoing humanitarian crises in Sudan, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Burundi, Somalia and eastern Congo, which are desperately in need of help from the international donor community.TSUNAMI IMPACT: Rising Seas, Wild Weather Menace Small Islands
The world's 37 small island developing states (SIDS), which are both economically fragile and perpetually threatened by cyclones and major floods, will make an urgent appeal for better disaster preparedness at an international gathering of world leaders in Mauritius next week.TSUNAMI IMPACT: Rising Seas, Wild Weather Menace Small Islands
The world's 37 small island developing states (SIDS), which are both economically fragile and perpetually threatened by cyclones and major floods, will make an urgent appeal for better disaster preparedness at an international gathering of world leaders in Mauritius next week.TSUNAMI IMPACT: Plan to Help World’s Poor Could Be Washed Out
The tsunami disaster that claimed the lives of over 150,000 people in south and southeast Asia is also threatening to derail the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - including a lofty plan to reduce by half the number of people living in poverty worldwide.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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