Most Clicked UN Wire Stories
1. Elders focus on bridging divides ahead of Rio+20
UN Wire | May 29, 2012
Two members of The Elders, a group of eminent global leaders, write that June's Rio+20 Conference "provides a historic opportunity to chart a sustainable future for the world." Governments can "accelerate the progress of the past two decades" and bridge divides over how to curb unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, write Gro Harlem Brundtland, former prime minister of Norway, and Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil, who identify five areas upon which they believe the Rio summit should focus. Guardian (London), The (05/28)
2. Mexican women finds themselves trafficked for sex
UN Wire | May 23, 2012
The cycle of vulnerable young women in Mexico who are forced into prostitution, then trafficked into the U.S., is depicted in this report by the BBC. The women live in fear and frequently are assaulted. BBC (05/22)
3. UN's Ban addresses global challenges ahead of Rio+20
UN Wire | May 25, 2012
Negotiations are "painfully slow" less than a month before the Rio+20 sustainable development summit, said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and even added days of talks may not dislodge national interests. Ban is looking to leaders of global industry to help steer negotiations, a departure from the 1992 gathering in Rio de Janeiro that spawned the Kyoto Protocol. "Two decades later, we are back to the future. The challenges facing humanity today are much the same as then, only larger," Ban writes in The New York Times. Guardian (London), The (05/24) Bloomberg Businessweek (05/25) New York Times (tiered subscription model), The (05/23)
4. Crisis-stricken Yemen on the brink
UN Wire | May 23, 2012
Poverty and lawlessness in Yemen, where nearly 500,000 people have been displaced by fighting, are pacing a food crisis that aid agencies warn could reach "catastrophic proportions" if donors do not do more to meet an appeal by the United Nations for humanitarian assistance. Only 43% of that funding goal has been secured. Saudi Arabia on Tuesday pledged $3.25 billion in aid but did not detail how the money would be used. Guardian (London), The (05/22) AlertNet (05/23)
5. Law of the Sea faces resistance in U.S. Senate
UN Wire | May 29, 2012
Some conservative U.S. senators are seeking a postponement of any vote on the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea until after the November elections. The treaty requires a two-thirds approval in the Senate. Washington Post, The (05/28)
6. UN's Pillay wins new term
UN Wire | May 25, 2012
The term of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay was renewed Thursday for two years, not the typical four, under a compromise deal with the U.S. South Africa's Pillay won the endorsement of European powers, however, and Philippe Bolopion, UN director for Human Rights Watch, said "some of the attacks ... seem misguided and portray her record unfairly." ForeignPolicy.com (05/24) Reuters (05/24)
7. Global anti-polio effort is declared an emergency
UN Wire | May 24, 2012
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative has launched an emergency action plan to boost immunization against polio in Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the disease is endemic. "If eradication fails, we are going to see an huge and vicious upsurge of this disease with consequences that it is very difficult even to foresee right now," said Bruce Aylward of the World Health Organization, who added that some vaccination campaigns have been halted because of funding shortfalls. BBC (05/24)
8. Attack on Afghan school poisons 120 girls, 3 teachers
UN Wire | May 23, 2012
Reuters (05/23)
9. Revolution in reverse for Egypt's women
UN Wire | May 25, 2012
Counting is under way in Egypt after two days of voting in the first free presidential elections, but the early promise of the revolution that made the poll possible could be increasingly out of reach for the country's women. Women hold significantly fewer seats in parliament than under President Hosni Mubarak, and legal protections -- such as the right to sue for divorce and to dress as they wish -- are under threat by groups that want to lower the legal age of marriage for girls from 18 to 13. Washington Post, The (05/21) BBC (05/25)
10. UN: Deaths of Japan reactor workers were not due to radiation
UN Wire | May 24, 2012
CBS News (05/23)
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