News Archives » United Nations
No Safe Haven for Tamils in Sri Lanka January 23rd, 2009
A major military campaign by the Sri Lankan government to defeat the LTTE – the Tamil Tigers – is causing immense suffering and increasing civilian casualties among the Tamil population. Fleeing their homes to avoid the fighting, men, women and children have been forced into an increasingly small area in the northeast of the country, near Mullaithivu. With humanitarian workers told by the government to leave the Vanni (north) in September, food and medical supplies are in short supply and information is limited.
We continue to hear from priests and others who have remained in the area, and they are appealing for United Nations intervention to stop the bloodshed. Read the Open Letter to UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon from the Priests and Religious in the Wanni
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Funds Available to Help Victims of Modern Slavery January 22nd, 2009
Are you involved in a program to help victims of modern slavery?
The United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery allocates project grants (for a maximum of US$15,000), for programs of humanitarian, legal and financial assistance to individuals whose human rights have been severely violated as a result of contemporary forms of slavery. Contemporary forms of slavery include trafficking, sexual slavery, child labor and child servitude, debt bondage, serfdom and forced labor, forced marriage and sale of wives etc.
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Doha Financing for Development Conference Calls for Greater Development Financing Despite Economic Crisis January 14th, 2009
Seamus Finn, OMI and Sr. Zelia Cordeiro SSPS of VIVAT International at the Doha Conference
The Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development to Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus was held in Doha, Qatar, on 29 November – 2 December 2008. The Conference adopted the Doha Declaration on Financing for Development with three key messages:
- strong commitment by developed countries to maintain their ODA targets irrespective of the current financial crisis;
- recognition that the United Nations has a vital role to play in addressing new challenges and emerging issues in financing for development; and
- decision to hold a UN Conference at the highest level on the impact of the current financial and economic crisis on development.
Learn more in this summary of the Doha Conference from the NGLS and FFD Secretariats…
