[vandana.jain]

Concerned that some issues continue not to receive sustained media attention or slip off the radar screen, the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) has unveiled a new list of "Ten Stories the World Should Hear More About."
"The media and the UN share an interest in getting information about what is happening in our world to the public," says Shashi Tharoor, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. "But journalists are often inundated with stories, all competing for their -- and the public's -- attention. Our aim is to make it easier for them to see that important issues do not fade from the headlines."
The initiative, first launched in 2004, is not meant to be representative of the Organization's agenda. As in previous years, the 2006 list covers a spectrum of issues and geographical regions, some of which draw on troubling humanitarian emergencies and conflict situations (such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nepal) while others focus on such vital areas as human rights (asylum law and child prisoners) and development (Liberia and water as a shared resource).
While the stories are enumerated from one to ten, their ranking is not a reflection of their relative significance. In this year's list, some stories focus on conflicts that may have been in the media spotlight - but highlight a perspective that does not usually get much play. Although DPI takes responsibility for the final list, it was arrived at following extensive consultation with UN departments, field offices and programmes.

The Stories are as follows:


,
Liberia: Development challenges top agenda as the nation recovers from years of civil strife

The Story
As Liberia emerges from the shadows of a devastating 14-year civil war, the aftershocks of its past history of ethnic hatred, violence and corruption, and the arrest on war crimes charges of former president Charles Taylor, tend to draw the most intensive media attention. There is, however, an equally dramatic story of the formidable challenges facing the country in its efforts to bring a semblance of normalcy to what has been a non-functioning state with no civil services of any kind. The effects of economic mismanagement, corrupt government, administrative abuse and infrastructure collapse were compounded by the socio-economic and humanitarian impact of sanctions. The importance of this undertaking is hard to overestimate since any progress towards greater stability and security depends on how quickly basic services are restored and the economic engine restarted. "Experience has taught us that an incomplete effort in consolidating the peace is often a prelude to renewed conflict," says Alan Doss, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative in the country and head of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), which played a vital role in the stabilization of the country and remains a key force in laying the foundation for durable peace and stability.
Africa's first woman head of state, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who won the recent UN-organized elections, faces numerous pressing tasks ahead as the nation attempts to get past the trauma of its long civil war and proceed with its development agenda. These include the reintegration of ex-combatants, the resettlement of internally displaced persons and returning refugees, creating jobs and other income-earning opportunities, the repair and rehabilitation of infrastructure destroyed during the war, the restructuring and reform of the armed forces and police service, the consolidation of State authority throughout the country, and the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. A major key to revenue growth is installing mechanisms to meet the conditions for lifting the UN-imposed sanctions on exports of Liberian timber and diamonds, which would provide revenues for national reconstruction and economic recovery.
The Context

• Liberia is staggering under an external debt of $3.7 billion, a per capita GDP that is estimated to have declined 90 per cent from US$1,269 in 1980 to $163 in 2005, and an unemployment rate of over 80 per cent.
• There are no functioning public utilities, and the vast majority of Liberians have no access to electricity, water and basic sanitation facilities, or health care. Almost all medical services are provided by international non-governmental organizations and UN agencies.
• Roads and bridges, which are needed to open up markets, increase employment, sustain humanitarian access to rural areas and expand the overall protection environment, are in dire need of repairs. While UNMIL engineers and members of the UN country team have undertaken rehabilitation work on important road networks to facilitate the return of internally displaced persons and refugees, much more remains to be done.
• The education system is dilapidated, with a dearth of qualified teachers and available resources to rehabilitate school buildings.
• Liberia has no effectively functioning judicial system; outside of the capital, Monrovia, most courts have been destroyed and trial-by-ordeal is not unheard of. The culture of impunity that has developed in the absence of justice must be replaced by respect for human rights and the rule of law.
• During the civil war the country's human resources suffered from a 'brain drain' and crisis-related deaths. Vital socio-economic infrastructure was swept away as bad governance, embezzlement, smuggling out of natural resources and economic mismanagement took their toll.
• At the end of civil war, there were 314,000 registered internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country and 340,000 refugees registered with UNHCR in neighbouring countries. While the UN-backed return process for IDPs came to an end in April 2006 and the majority of the refugees have returned to the country, the job of resettlement continues as returnees struggle to rebuild their lives and communities.

[vandana.jain]

2nd Story
Lost in migration: Asylum seekers face challenges amid efforts to stem flows of illegal migrants


The Story
In recent years, with the number of migrants in a rapidly globalizing world reaching an estimated 200 million, the important distinctions between migrants, asylum seekers and refugees have been blurred. With it, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), has come a growing degree of "asylum fatigue" in various parts of the world, a process that has threatened and in many cases undermined the protection that the 1951 UN Refugee Convention was intended to provide to refugees and asylum seekers. While illegal migration and security are problems that no state can afford to ignore, the UN refugee agency stresses that control policies should distinguish between illegal migrants seeking better economic opportunities and those people who are in need of international refugee protection.

Unfortunately, an increasing number of industrialized countries -- as well as some developing nations -- are making no such distinctions, says UNHCR. Ever more often, asylum seekers are portrayed not as refugees fleeing persecution and entitled to sanctuary, but as "illegals", potential terrorists and criminals. A frequently overlooked fact, however, is that asylum seekers and refugees comprise only a very small proportion of the tens of millions of people on the move today, yet they are being inextricably linked with the question of international migration. In a context where governments and electorates are unable to draw a clear distinction between the victims of persecution and the perpetrators of terrorist violence, argues UNHCR, there is an evident need to safeguard the principle of asylum.

The Context

A constant feature of human history, the notion of asylum had been progressively incorporated into international law, culminating in the establishment of the 1951 Refugee Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. By the second half of 2005, no fewer than 146 of the 191 UN Member States had acceded to these international instruments, which are promoted and supervised by UNHCR.
The codified principles of asylum set out the rights and obligations pertaining to people who have been obliged to leave their own country and are in need of international protection because of a 'well-founded fear of persecution' on account of their 'race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.'
Asylum applications in industrialized countries fell sharply in 2005 for the fourth year in a row. The number of asylum applications submitted in 2005 totaled 336,000, or 15 per cent fewer than in the previous years.
The largest drop in the number of asylum seekers in the last five years was recorded outside Europe. Canada and the United States received 54 per cent fewer asylum requests in 2005 than in 2001, while asylum applications in Australia and New Zealand plummeted by 75 per cent in the same period.
The largest group of asylum seekers in 2005 was from Serbia and Montenegro, which includes asylum seekers from Kosovo.
Of the ten leading asylum-seeker nationalities, Iraqis and Haitians rose the sharpest in 2005, both by 27 per cent, while the number of asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Turkey continued to drop steadily.

[vandana.jain]

3rd Story

DR of Congo: As the country moves boldly towards historic vote, humanitarian concerns continue to demand attention

The Story
This is a year like no other in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. After 45 years of dictatorship and intermittent wars that have claimed roughly 4 million victims in the last five years alone, the DRC is bravely preparing for its first multiparty poll, scheduled for July. Thanks, in part, to the efforts of MONUC, the UN Mission in the country, large swathes of the nation are now at peace, while the registration of 26 million Congolese voters has testified to their commitment to change and the hope they place in the elections.

But while the country is on the verge of changing the course of its destiny, peace is fragile and the infrastructure is sorely inadequate, with many of the hospitals, schools, factories and railroads in a state of ruin. Today and every day, 1,200 people die from largely preventable causes -- the equivalent of a tsunami toll every six months. Yet, the immense human suffering implicit in these numbers all too often remains outside the glare of sustained media attention. Funding for humanitarian aid in the DRC also falls short of the country's staggering needs. Warning about the risks of neglecting this situation, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs points out recent UN funding appeals for the DRC have received only slightly more than half of the amount necessary to meet the most minimal requirements.

The Context

The DRC is Africa's third largest country, comparable in size to Western Europe. It is five times larger than Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone combined, with more than twice their population - nearly 56 million.
The UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC) is the largest peacekeeping operation fielded by the world body today. It has an authorized strength of some 17,000 uniformed personnel, as well as civilian specialists in such areas as human rights, humanitarian affairs, child protection, political affairs and medical support.
Preparations for the scheduled July vote, which is aimed at cementing the DRC's transition from a six-year civil war to political stability, constitutes the biggest and most complex electoral-assistance mission the UN has ever undertaken.
About half of the 56 million Congolese are under the age of 18 and children are particularly affected by the crisis. Some 20 per cent of children do not live until the age of 5, while 38 per cent suffer from malnutrition -- 20 per cent severely. Half of those between 6 and 11 years old do not attend school and nearly 10 per cent are believed to have lost one or both parents to the AIDS pandemic. An estimated 20,000 have been child soldiers.
At 1,300 deaths per 100,000 live births, DRC has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in Africa.
With nearly 80 per cent of the population trapped in extreme poverty and more than 70 per cent undernourished, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has appealed for $50 million to support the agricultural rehabilitation of the vast country.

[vandana.jain]

4th Story

Nepal's hidden tragedy: Children caught in the conflict

The Story

With its recent political turmoil, Nepal, a poverty-stricken landlocked country known largely for tourism and mountaineering, has been once again thrust into the media spotlight as banner headlines and television images focus on the dramatic events in the streets of the capital city, Kathmandu. However, as was the case with previous coverage of the struggle between Maoist rebels against government forces, this explosion of interest has shone little light on a lesser-known problem - the plight of the nation's children.

As a result of the strife, children's rights are violated and their lives are profoundly disrupted on a daily basis. According to a 2005 report by Child Workers in Nepal, cited by UNICEF, over 40,000 Nepalese children are estimated to have been displaced over the course of the Maoist uprising. Tens of thousands have been abducted for short periods for political indoctrination by the Maoists. Some of these children have then been recruited into the Maoist forces or militia. Education has suffered, particularly due to enforced closures during strikes, which have cut the school year to nearly half in some areas. Teachers have been threatened, assaulted and even killed. Schools in conflict-affected areas have been used for political meetings and enforced indoctrination sessions, have been bombed or attacked, and some have been turned into barracks. There are also reports that mines and other explosive devices have been placed in and around school buildings and playgrounds. In response, UNICEF and its partners have urged all parties in Nepal to ensure that schools and classrooms remain free of weapons and explosives and serve as politically neutral zones, where children will not be subject to indoctrination, abduction, harassment as political suspects, or threatened with detention.

The Context

Nepal today has a shot at ending the 10-year old armed insurgency of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and achieving durable peace. Towards the end of April 2006, after almost three-weeks of a general strike and street protests around the nation against direct royal rule, King Gyanendra gave up executive powers of state, which he had assumed in February 2005, restored the last Parliament and allowed the formation of a government composed of the Parliamentary parties.
A reciprocal ceasefire, government-Maoist negotiations and the election of a constituent assembly to decide the future form of government will hopefully be the key milestones of an emerging peace process.
In the last 10 years of the armed Maoist rebellion, some 13,000 civilians have died in the violence in remote regions and rural areas.
Eighty-six per cent of the population of Nepal lives on less than $2 per day.
Nepal's infant mortality rate, although substantially reduced in the last decade, continues to be high - some 59 per 1000 for children under one year of age.
Half a million children do not attend school at all.
According to a UN human rights monitoring mission established in Nepal, breaches of international humanitarian law by the Maoists include continued use of children within the People's Liberation Army, despite denials by the Maoists that they were recruiting children under 18. While children have been arrested and tortured on suspicion of being linked to the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), numerous juveniles are currently in detention under anti-terrorist legislation by the state authorities. Meanwhile, there is also evidence of children being used by the Royal Nepalese Army as informants or spies.

[vandana.jain]

5th Story

Somalia: Security vacuum compounding effects of drought

The Story
As United Nations aid agencies are sounding an alert about the Horn of Africa, where over 8 million people are in grave danger from a devastating drought, the situation in one of the affected countries, Somalia, remains of particular concern and in urgent need of special attention. Despite some recent progress towards reestablishing a central government, the persistent insecurity makes combating the effects of drought very difficult, further complicating political reconciliation and leaving Somalia especially vulnerable to renewed destabilization. The two elements - the political peace process on the one hand, and the precarious humanitarian situation on the other - present two different momentums, but they are interlinked, says Christian Balslev-Olesen, UN's Acting Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia. Somalia is facing the decade's most severe drought-related emergency, which is "coming on top of a situation where you already have all the most difficult indicators for human development," Balslev-Olesen adds. In March, the UN Security Council expressed its growing concern over "severe livelihood distress and the rising civil and food insecurity" and urged all Somali leaders to ensure complete and unhindered humanitarian access, as well as provide guarantees for the safety of humanitarian aid workers.

Today, some 2.1 million Somalis are totally dependent on international aid. Not surprisingly, the bulk of the recent UN humanitarian appeal for the Horn of Africa -- $327 million out of a total of $426 million - is targeted for Somalia. Aid workers, however, face unique difficulties in reaching all those in need as they try to provide assistance amidst constant threats, piracy, abductions and roadblocks. Without help, the parched southern areas could see 10,000-12,000 human deaths each month, while up to 80 per cent of the nation's livestock could die. As food reserves diminish, requiring ever greater reliance on external aid, the competition for these scarce resources will grow, leading to increased inter- and intra-clan fighting, hijacking, looting of convoys, extortion and demands for "protection fees," a recent UN report warned.

The Context

Several years of successive rainfall failures have particularly affected pastoral and agro-pastoral communities that are being forced to travel vast distances to find grazing for their animals. Meanwhile, reduced agricultural production has led to a dramatic increase in the price of food commodities, particularly cereals.
The 2.1 million people dependent on aid represent 25 per cent of the population and include 400,000 internally displaced persons, many of whom are at risk of dying of malnutrition if the crisis is not addressed. Families in some areas are spending 70 to 80 per cent of the little money they have just to buy water.
There are over 1,000 national and international staff from all the UN agencies working in the country. However, there are no international personnel in the major cities of Mogadishu and Kismayu.
Up to 80 per cent of schools in drought-affected areas are closed in a country where only 20 per cent of children have access to education under normal conditions.
Security remains the greatest challenge to the Somali peace process. It also continues to impact on the dire humanitarian situation, worsened by the regional drought. The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has made considerable progress in overcoming differences between the different Somali factions, however, several challenges could unravel the fragile peace process. Recent fighting in Mogadishu has deepened tensions, as has the presence of some armed militias in the vicinity of Baidoa, the temporary seat of government. The need to canton these groups and provide food, water and shelter for them, is being addressed by Somali leaders and the TFG with aid from donors.

[vandana.jain]

6th Story

Protracted refugee situations: Millions caught in limbo, with no solutions in sight

The Story
While worldwide refugee numbers have fallen to their lowest level in 25 years, a larger percentage of asylum-seekers are spending a longer time in exile in an often-overlooked plight of subsistence living in a virtual state of limbo. "The majority of today's refugees have lived in exile for far too long, restricted to camps or eking out a meagre existence in urban centres throughout the developing world," says the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in its 2006 report on the state of the world's refugees.

Today, there are at least 33 so-called "protracted refugee situations" involving groups of 25,000 people or more who have been in exile for over five years. According to UNHCR data, altogether they account for 5.7 million of the world's 9.2 million refugees. Those figures do not include the world's oldest and largest protracted refugee situation, Palestinian refugees, who fall under the mandate of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The vast majority of these exiles are to be found in the world's poorest and most unstable regions, often the result of neglect by regional and international actors amid declining donor support. Trapped in these forgotten situations, the refugees cannot return home because of continuing violence or persecution, while facing significant restrictions on their rights in the places of asylum. At the same time, UNHCR warns, their presence raises political and security concerns among host governments and other states in the region. As such, protracted refugee situations represent a significant challenge both to human rights and security.

The Context

Since the early 1990s, the international community has focused largely on refugee emergencies in high-profile areas such as the Balkans, the Great Lakes region of Africa and, more recently, Darfur ( Sudan ) and Chad . Yet more than 60 per cent of today's refugees are trapped in situations far from the international spotlight.
The root causes of long-standing refugee populations stem from the very states whose instability engenders chronic regional insecurity. Most of the refugees in these regions - be they Somalis, Sudanese, Burundians or Burmese - come from countries where conflict has persisted for years.
East and West Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Middle East are all plagued by protracted refugee situations. Sub-Saharan Africa has the largest number, 17, involving 1.9 million refugees. The countries hosting the biggest groups are Guinea, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
In Asia (China, Thailand, India and Nepal) there are five protracted situations and some 676,000 refugees. Europe has three major cases involving 510,000 refugees, primarily in the Balkans and Armenia.
Although the measure of at least 25,000 refugees in exile for five years is traditionally used to define such situations, UNHCR argues that other groups should not be excluded. For example, of the Rohingya who fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh 12 years ago, 20,000 still remain. Similarly, there are 19,000 Burundians in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 16,000 Somalis in Ethiopia, 15,000 Ethiopians in Sudan and 19,000 Rwandans in Uganda.
While today there are fewer refugees in protracted situations, the number of such situations has greatly increased. According to UNHCR, they are also spending longer periods in exile. It is estimated that in 2003 major refugee situations, protracted or not, averaged 17 years -- nearly twice as long as in 1993.

[vandana.jain]

7th Story

South Asian earthquake: Relief effort saves lives, stems losses, but reconstruction tasks loom large
The Story
On 8 October 2005, a devastating earthquake struck South Asia killing tens of thousands and leaving many more homeless and in danger as a bitter winter approached. An intensive effort to find, rescue and feed survivors was closely followed by the media around the world due to the sheer scale of the disaster - 73,000 people perishing in Pakistan and 1,300 in India, a crisis that UN Emergency Coordinator Jan Egeland characterized as the "worst logistical nightmare" the world body had faced. Despite the challenges, the concerted international and national effort succeeded in preventing a feared second wave of deaths, massive population movements and breakouts of epidemics as the harsh winter spread across the region. Thanks to the massive relief effort, recorded mortality in the affected areas was no higher than during the previous winter. A nutrition survey showed no major food deficiency compared to the pre-earthquake level.

Today, nearly seven months after the disaster struck, the post-quake efforts are at another crucial junction that deserves close attention by the media and the public. As the recovery effort shifts from relief to reconstruction, UN officials warn that the most difficult part of the job may be only just beginning. Experience from other countries shows that still desperately needed donor support often ebbs once relief phases out. If this were to happen, many quake survivors could face another precarious situation next winter. As the humanitarian community strives for a smooth transition from relief to early recovery and reconstruction, a painstaking task of restoring livelihoods and rebuilding lives should not be allowed to elude media focus.

The Context

As part of the UN-coordinated international response to the quake, more than 500,000 tents were delivered, some 5 million iron sheets were distributed, over 6 million blankets/quilts were provided.
Safe water was restored to over 700,000 people, and thousands of latrine slabs were installed. Over 1 million children were vaccinated against measles. Countless helicopters flights -- from the Pakistani military, NATO, US, other countries and the UN -- airlifted food and non-food items.
The Earthquake Reconstruction & Rehabilitation Authority of Pakistan, in collaboration with the UN and several civil society partners, has agreed to the basic framework of an Early Recovery Plan, a set of operational programmes, aimed at supporting the longer-term road to recovery and minimizing the gap between relief and reconstruction, for which an estimated $188 million is required over the next 12 months.
The major challenges foreseen in the coming months are a successful return process, road accessibility in remote areas, potential landslides, continued assistance for vulnerable people, and ensuring the broadest possible reach of basic services.

[vandana.jain]

8th Story

Behind bars, beyond justice: An untold story of children in conflict with the law

The Story
"No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. - So states the Convention on the Rights of the Child, one of the seven core treaties forming the international human rights framework. But, according to UNICEF, an alarming number of children around the world are being deprived of their liberty, held in detention without sufficient cause. Similarly, while the Convention stresses that imprisonment of a child shall be used "only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time,¡± many children have been rounded up simply for being a nuisance or perceived as a threat. Moreover, most of them have not been tried, and yet are being held for months, and in some cases years, often without access to legal aid. In some countries, the great majority of children coming into conflict with the law are from disadvantaged communities and are criminalized for simply trying to survive. Frequently, the children are held under deplorable and inhumane conditions. Physical abuse is common and children suffer deep trauma resulting from torture and interrogation. Child victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation are often re-victimized.

While the unanimous adoption of the child rights convention by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989 gave a major impetus to worldwide efforts to protect children's rights and brought media spotlight on many of the underlying issues, UN experts are warning that a troubling development with serious implications for children's well-being has not received enough attention. To address this problem, UNICEF is working with a number of countries to bring juvenile justice systems in line with international standards and to safeguard the rights of children who come into contact with the law.

The Context

The term 'children in conflict with the law' refers to anyone under 18 who comes into contact with the justice system as a result of being suspected or accused of committing an offence. Most children in conflict with the law have committed petty crimes or such minor offences as vagrancy, truancy, begging or alcohol use. Some of these are known as 'status offences' and are not considered criminal when committed by adults.
UNICEF estimates indicate that more that 1 million children worldwide are living in detention as a result of being in conflict with the law.
The majority of children who end up in the criminal justice system are from particularly deprived communities and families, often from discriminated minorities.
Putting children in prison instead of seeking alternatives stigmatizes them as delinquents, robs them of opportunities for jobs and scholarships and exposes them to others who have committed more serious crimes. It also increases the likelihood of children breaking the law once again.
Are there alternatives to detention? Yes, says UNICEF, recommending a number of responses, including: Don't imprison children simply trying to survive; divert children who have committed minor crimes away from the criminal justice system; use detention only as a last resort; when children are imprisoned they should be kept separate from adults; governments should monitor the situation very closely, at a minimum having records of how many children are in jail and how long they have been there.

[vandana.jain]

9th Story

From water wars to bridges of cooperation: Exploring the peace-building potential of a shared resource

The Story
Water, a vital source of life, has been known for centuries to be a major cause of tensions or conflict -- within countries, as well as among nations. With world demand for water increasing six-fold over the 20th century, there was no let-up in disputes over transboundary water issues, prompting some experts to predict that the wars of the 21st century will be fought over water. While freshwater's propensity to strain relations among countries frequently makes headlines, the other side of the coin - water as an agent of cooperation - rarely gets sufficient attention. Nevertheless, research has shown much more historical evidence of water playing the role of a catalyst for cooperation, rather than a trigger of conflict. There are examples of workable accords on water reached even by States that were in conflict over other matters, including the cases of India and Pakistan, and Israel and Jordan.

With more than the 260 water basins in the world transcending national borders, it is hardly surprising that the situation is widely perceived as being fodder for hostility. On the other hand, as UN experts point out, given water's importance for practically every aspect of life - health, environment, economy, welfare, politics and culture - it is well beyond the scope of any individual country to resolve many of the issues unilaterally. This offers an opportunity to transform a situation fraught with conflict into an opening for mutually advantageous solutions. What are the practical ways of reaching that goal? In an effort to find answers to this question, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launched a project, From Potential Conflict to Co-operation Potential (PCCP), as part of a UN-wide initiative to promote water security in the 21st century. The project aims to foster cooperation between stakeholders in the management of shared water resources, while helping to ensure that potential conflicts do not turn into real ones. Addressing the challenge of sharing water resources primarily from the point of view of governments, it focuses on the development of tools for the anticipation, prevention and resolution of water conflicts.

The Context

There are more than 3,800 unilateral, bilateral or multilateral declarations or conventions on water: 286 are treaties, with 61 referring to over 200 international river basins.
The past half century has witnessed more than 500 conflict-related events over water, seven of which have involved violence.
According to UNESCO, 145 nations have territory within a transboundary basin, and 21 lie entirely within one. Twelve countries have more than 95% of their territory within one or more transboundary basins. Approximately one third of the existing 263 transboundary basins are shared by more than two countries.
In a case study demonstrating the effectiveness of the cooperation approach, Bolivia and Peru, the two countries sharing Lake Titicaca, have recognized how crucial it is to work together on management of the water resources of the basin through the creation of the Autonomous Water Authority.
The Northern Aral Sea is being successfully restored after its surface had shrunk to less than half its original size as a result of a massive diversion of water under the Soviet Union, which had drained the two rivers feeding it and devastated the surrounding environment. The Aral Sea is shared by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, but its fresh water basin also encompasses Afghanistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Thanks to a World Bank project, the sea has now begun to fill up following the completion of the Kok-Aral Dam. Newly rehabilitated waterworks along the Syr Darya River are benefiting farmers by irrigating their lands. The next step is to improve the irrigation efficiency of two-thirds of the land in the Kazakh part of the Aral Sea basin. Better water resources management will benefit Central Asian countries by allowing them to address energy and conservation needs more efficiently and potentially even earn revenue from the sale of hydropower to upstream countries.
Women, who produce between 60 and 80 per cent of the food in most developing countries, are major stakeholders in all development issues related to water. Yet they often remain on the periphery of management decisions and planning for water resources.

[vandana.jain]

10th Story

Côte d'Ivoire: A strike away from igniting violence amidst a faltering peace process

The Story
As the world marked the twelfth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide this April, some media reports in Côte d'Ivoire seem frighteningly reminiscent of how the media had been used by leaders to trigger devastating acts of violence. Following a series of coups, dating back to 1999, a September 2002 troop mutiny in Côte d'Ivoire escalated into a full-scale revolt, as northerners rebelled against southern dominance, with thousands killed in fighting between rebels of the Forces Nouvelles and the Government. Although fighting has stopped, the country remains divided between the government-held south and the rebel-controlled north. In 2004, the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) was set up to monitor the ceasefire and support the implementation of peace agreements, holding together a shaky peace.

The virulent targeting of political opponents in the national press and television, as well as on national and local radio, has long been a feature of the Ivorian media scene. Journalists, struggling to maintain their independence, often fall victim in a country where partisan politics and resorting to hate messaging are commonplace. Although the media environment is ostensibly free, in the last few years, journalists have been victims of harassment, threats, arrest and even murder. Journalists enjoy little editorial autonomy, with political affiliations often dictating coverage.

During a February 2006 visit, the UN Emergency Coordinator Jan Egeland said that civilians in this country were among the most unprotected in the world. He called for immediate action "when hate media in a Rwandan style asks for attacks against defenceless civilians, for minorities being chopped up and for international humanitarian organizations to be attacked, people should be brought to justice." Without the possibility of meaningful and severe sanctions against those engaging in inflammatory messages, hate media will continue to be a serious threat to peace and national reconciliation.

The Context

Côte d'Ivoire gained independence in 1960 and enjoyed several decades of economic growth and unity, gaining a reputation as an African success story. Democracy was introduced in the 1990s, but disaffection among some groups resulted in a series of coups which led to full-fledged civil war by 2002. A peace deal brokered by France was reached in 2003 but this shaky peace was not consolidated.
In 2004, UNOCI set up its own radio station to counter the effect of inflammatory propaganda and messages of hate. Initially available in Abidjan, the station has extended its reach to cover rebel-held towns in the north. In December 2004, a new Press Law was adopted which provides the means to sanction poor journalistic practices and inculcate journalistic ethics.
Charles Konan Banny was appointed interim Prime Minister in December 2005. His nomination was supported by African mediators and the UN as likely to move forward Côte d'Ivoire's stalled peace process. He faces difficult tasks, including disarming rebel forces and pro-government militias, identification of voters and organizing elections by 31 October.
In January 2006, UN forces and property came under attack by members of a political group, the "Young Patriots", following which international staff were temporarily withdrawn. Even more alarming, these attacks were incited in some locales by militia and prefecture leaders who took over local radio stations and used them to air hate messages that encouraged the destruction. The Security Council has imposed sanctions on two youth leaders and one rebel commander. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Pierre Schori, has warned that, "Preaching violence is tantamount to working for the failure of the peace process."
Secretary-General Kofi Annan has condemned the resort to hate media and demanded that all parties and leaders desist from such acts. The Security Council called for sanctions on those who would incite violence and hatred, including by resort to the media.
The Secretary-General has flagged the preparation of elections and the role of media as outstanding current issues. Concrete and dynamic action needs to be taken to begin implementing the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programme, to dismantle the militia, redeploy State authority, identify voters and prepare for the elections.
A report released by OCHA on 27 April shows an estimated 700,000 persons have been displaced since the beginning of the current crisis in 2002 when an aborted coup against President Laurent Gbagbo led to civil war. Ninety per cent of those persons are living with other families in five large urban areas, putting severe economic strain on many of their hosts, the report says. Additionally, the report shows that 50 per cent of those displaced say their health situation has worsened, while 30 per cent of displaced children lack the means to attend school.