UN attempts Haitian tent camp evacuation
A few hundred of the estimated 6,000 residents of a tent camp in Haiti outside Port-au-Prince were evacuated by UN workers because of the threat of floods and mudslides from Hurricane Tomas.
Moore, Kutcher add star power to UN trafficking effort
Celebrity couple Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher have joined with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to launch a trust fund for victims of human trafficking. The pair also recently launched an initiative with Facebook, Google and other Internet giants to counter online trafficking.
UN charts 4 decades of human progress
Over the past 40 years, the world has made considerable progress in raising levels of income, education and health, while the average life span has increased from 59 to 70, according to the UN Human Development Report released Thursday. However, the effects of war and disease have caused such growth to be uneven.
Ghana gets UNF help on measles campaign
The United Nations Foundation is lending support to a campaign to immunize 4 million Ghanaian children against measles in a bid to cut off a recent resurgence of the disease. Several African countries that conducted immunization programs in the 1990s have seen sudden upticks in measles cases, UNF official Andrea Gay said.
Food aid is lacking for N. Korea children
A UN official says that food aid to North Korea is not enough to counter the chronic malnutrition being suffered by the country’s children. “I saw a lot of children already losing the battle … Their bodies and minds are stunted,” Josette Sheeran, head of the World Food Program, told reporters today.
Pakistan struggles to contain polio spread
The number of polio cases in Pakistan has risen again in 2010, with recorded cases this year already surpassing the 2009 total, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative warns. Pakistan’s battle against polio has been hampered by persistent insecurity, ignorance and lack of infrastructure, health officials say. Mass flooding that forced millions out of their homes this summer is likely to exacerbate the situation.
Racism directed most at world’s migrants
Throughout the world — including Europe and the United States — migrants are bearing the brunt of the “most insidious” forms of xenophobia and racial discrimination, Githu Muigai, special investigator for the UN Human Rights Council, said Monday. “Migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers … are entitled to have all their human rights protected by the state where they live,” he said.
Myanmar’s youth find opportunity for change
Younger generations in Myanmar are using mediums such as hip-hop music and community theaters to sidestep official censors and express their hopes for change. About one-third of Myanmar’s population is in the 15 to 24 year age range, and despite being cut off from the world by a repressive military regime they are taking aim at HIV/AIDS, poverty, political freedom and other challenges they see for their country.
