Rajiv Chandran deliveres the UN Secretary-General's message

To mark World Water Day, the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in association with UNICEF and Hindustan Unilever Limited organized a National Workshop on Water Conservation and Water Quality Challenges: Towards Adaptive Strategies, at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. 

The United Nations Infor-mation Centre (UNIC) New Delhi National Information Officer Rajiv Chandran delivered the message of the UN Secretary-General.  Other speakers included:  Ashok Jaitly, Director, Water Resources Division, TERI; Laxman Prasad, Adviser & Head, Mission Cell: Water & Solar Energy, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India; Rajendra Singh, Water activist and Magsaysay Awardee; and Lizette Burgers, Chief of Water and Environmental Sanitation, UNICEF.

Namibia Defence Force

On 21 March Namibia celebrated the country’s 20th Independen-ce Anniversary with style, pomp and flair. The red carpet was rolled out for the VIP’s, while Windhoek was filled with floats driving through the streets of Khomasdal, Katutura, mid-town and the CBD. And the Namibian Defence Force displayed its firepower on Independence Avenue with one of the biggest military displays yet seen so far.

Namibia’s greatest achievement of the past 20 years is peace, according to Martti Ahtisaari, overseer of the country’s final steps to Independence as the United Nations’ Special Representative and as chief of the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) in 1989-1990.

Ahtisaari, who attended the Independence celebrations at the invitation of President Hifikepunye Pohamba, told the media “the fact that Namibia is a peaceful as it has been” is remarkable. “It is not easy for any country to come out of such a long phase of a liberation struggle and build peace”, the former UNTAG chief said.

Commenting of Namibia’s progress since Independence, Ahtisaari said Namibia “has done well.” The country fares well in international and regional benchmarks like the Mo Ibrahim Index and the United Nations Development Index. “I have no problem with President Hifikepunye Pohamba’s priorities,” he said.

“Of course that doesn’t mean that there aren’t problems,” he added, referring to high unemployment, HIV prevalence and income differentiations.

Youth unemployment he said, is a global crisis which is anticipated to reach epic proportions within the next 10-15 years with around 1.2 billion youths estimated to be unemployed.

The veteran diplomat and recipient of the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize said he is rallying international communities to pay more attention to this growing problem.

“Any government must candidly recognize what must be done to deal with its priorities,” said Ahtisaari.

The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon congratulated President Pohamba on his re-election, and pledged the UN’s continued support.

“Twenty years ago today, the United Nations concluded its most historic mission in Namibia. Today, Namibia contributes its own experts, troops and police to a half dozen United Nations missions around the world. Then, Namibia was a promise kept. Now, Namibia is a shining example of progress. I am confident that Namibia will continue to inspire the world even more,” the UN Secretary-General said.

The UN Department of Public Information is represented in Namibia by the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Windhoek.

Eritrean delegation participating in the Universal Periodic Review

Eritrea has participated at the 13th Session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of working group in Geneva on 17 March 2010.

During the 6th Session of the UPR that was held on 30 November 2009, the Working Group on the UPR made 137 recommendations to Eritrea. The Eritrean delegation has grouped the recommendations into 28 clusters. Eritrea accepted close to 50% of the recommendations while rejecting around 15% of them. According to the report submitted to the Human Rights Council, 40% of the 137 recommendations were not labeled accepted or rejected.

Accession to the convention against torture, the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and the convention on the protection of the rights of all migrant workers and members of their families are some of the recommendations accepted by Eritrea.

The Eritrean delegation indicated that Eritrea accepted the principle of establishing a national institution to promote and protect human rights. Also, the delegation stated that Article 32, sub article 11 of the Eritrean constitution provided the National Assembly to establish a standing committee in order to protect the rights of citizens.

Reports indicate that the Human Rights Council of the United Nations was established in 2006 by the General Assembly. The mandate of the Human Rights Council is to review all Member States' obligations and commitments to human rights in a manner which ensures the universality of coverage and equal treatment of all states.

The Resident Coordinator's Office and the UN Country Team, including UN office Asmara, have been involved in different phases of the UPR process by providing relevant information and support to the Government of the State of Eritrea.

At a roundtable meeting

In observance of World Water Day, the Office of the UN Department of Public Infor-mation in Azerbaijan (UNO Baku) teaming up with the Fund of Monitoring of Environmental Situation in Azerbaijan (FMESA), conducted a roundtable meeting to draw greater public attention on addressing water-related issues in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The event was attended by the representatives from the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, local non-governmental organizations engaged in environmental projects, youth organizations and media representatives.

The roundtable discussions commenced with the welcoming notes of Mr. Rauf Sultanov, Head of FMESA, who highlighted the importance of stronger commitments from the government, business sector and ordinary Azerbaijani citizens to ensure the environmental sustainability.“It is an important occasion to remind everybody that concrete efforts to shelter and increase awareness of world-wide environmental problems and of the solutions can help make the difference”, he said.

Mr. Igrar Aliyev, UN DPI Public Information Associate, in his turn, reminded about the uniqueness of this year’s World Water Day observance since it is marked in the International Year of Biodiversity. “Biodiversity is the rock on which we stand. Our lives heavily depend on ecosystem diversity, and poor water quality means unhealthy ecosystem, affecting the health and welll-being of people. Therefore, the theme of this year’s observance is Clean Water for a Healthy World”, he said.

The presentation raised the participants’ interests and was followed by an interactive discussion on the importance of awareness-raising as a tool to develop environmental culture in the society.

Ms. Lala Dadashova, representative of the Ministry of Education, stated that environmental challenges faced by humanity should be more profoundly reflected in the educational institutions curricula, and suggested that the UN agencies should provide support in supplying the respective information materials.

Mr. Aliyev, explained that it is not only the government’s responsibility to address these issues but each and everyone should promote and practice environmental culture. He invited all the participants to contribute to the work of the UN by simply disseminating the logo of the International Year of Biodiversity and the Azerbaijani text of the Secretary-General’s messages on the International Year of Biodiversity and World Water Day through mass-media and social networking platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace, to boost broader awareness of the Azerbaijani people about environmental challenges to be addressed.

Overall, the event reaffirmed that ensuring sustainable water resources and biodiversity is not only an environmental issue, but also is a development issue relating to poverty reduction, food security, economic development, health, human rights, governance, and equality. It is an MDGs issue!