UNA-UK News and comment on the UN & UNA-UK Autumn 2012 // £3.00 Invisible issues Hidden people, hidden problems WITH Lord Loomba on widows / Etienne Krug on road safety / Amy Fehilly on access to education in Iran / M. Sohail and Sue Cavill on sanitation / Arms Trade Treaty negotiations / the responsibility to protect / UN Day 2012 UNA-UK is the UK’s leading source of independent analysis on the United Nations and a grassroots movement campaigning for a safer, fairer and more sustainable world Together with our members and supporters, we: • Connect people in the UK and beyond with the work and values of the UN • Influence decision-makers and opinion-shapers to promote UN goals • Stimulate debate and action on ways to make the UN more effective A child washes himself in a slum in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka. A billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, while 2.5 billion lack basic sanitation © UN Photo/Kibae Park UNA-UK To find out more and to become a member, visit www.una.org.uk Autumn 2012 // www.una.org.uk New World is published by UNA-UK, bringing news and comment on the UN to the UK This issue’s contributors Contents Sue Cavill Water and sanitation specialist Amy Fehilly History and Persian student, School of African & Oriental Studies Ruki Fernando Sri Lankan human rights defender Aldo Henriquez International civil servant Etienne Krug Director, Violence and Injury Prevention, World Health Organisation © UN Photo/Stuart Price © UN Photo/Stuart Raj Loomba CBE Peer and founder of the Loomba Foundation “ When I first went to Mogadishu two years ago I was Barrie Oxtoby in a military truck … Today, the streets are full of human Co-Chair, UNA Church Stretton beings” Augustine Mahiga, UN envoy for Somalia M Sohail Professor of Sustainable Infrastructure, Loughborough University 4 Editorial 16 Feature Natalie Samarasinghe and Beyond intervention UNA-UK 3 Whitehall Court, London SW1A 2EL / www.una.org.uk Jeremy Greenstock Alexandra Buskie on the The United Nations Association UK is a charitable responsibility to protect company limited by guarantee (no. 1146016) 6 In brief Chairman – Sir Jeremy Greenstock 18 Correspondence and notices Executive Director – Phil Mulligan Deputy Director (Finance & Governance) – Carol Hodson 8 Opinion On Harold Stern, Rohingyas, Syria, Deputy Director (Policy & Communications) – Natalie Samarasinghe The plight of widows collecting and outreach grants Membership & Business Development Manager Raj Loomba on the campaign for an – Rich Nelmes Peace & Security Programmes Manager International Widows Day 20 Feature – James Kearney Arms Trade Treaty Communications & Campaigns Officer – Ben Donaldson Administration & Policy Support Officer – Hayley 9 Opinion negotiations Richardson Road safety Ben Donaldson on possible Responsibility to Protect Officer – Alexandra Buskie Etienne Krug on a WHO initiative that routes ahead New World is published by UNA-UK could save millions of lives Editor – Natalie Samarasinghe, [email protected] Sub-editor (print) – Cormac Bakewell, Soapbox 22 The UN & the UK Sub-editor (online) – Hayley Richardson 10 Advertising – Please call Natalie Samarasinghe on Opinion Report on UN Forum 2012 and 020 7766 3451 Iranian students UNA-UK policy activities The deadline for submission of material for the next Amy Fehilly on access to education issue of New World is noon on 12 December 2012. All submissions should be typed and sent by email where 24 UNA-UK Members possible. Photos should ideally be 300dpi resolution. The 11 Opinion Uniting for peace and prosperity next issue will cover the period January to April 2013. Subscription Reinventing the toilet Barrie Oxtoby on UNA Church Copies of New World are included in the membership fee M. Sohail and Sue Cavill on sanitation Stretton’s vision for UNA-UK Designed by Soapbox www.soapbox.co.uk 12 Essay 25 UNA-UK Young Professionals One every five days Interview with UN staffer Aldo Ruki Fernando on disappearances in Henriquez This issue of New World is printed using vegetable-based inks on 100 Sri Lanka per cent recycled chlorine- and acid- 26 UNA Youth free paper. When you are finished with the magazine, please recycle it 14 Do something Freshers' fairs and youth campaign pack or, better yet, pass it on to a friend. UN Day 2012 Phil Mulligan on supporting the UN 27 Become a UNA-UK supporter Cover photo: An Afghan Hazara widow mourns her deceased husband, who provided for her and her seven children. UNA-UK NEW WORLD // 3 © FARZANA WAHIDY/AFP/Getty Images Editorial Natalie Samarasinghe on invisible issues This month, the Philippine government signed a peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to end – hopefully – a conflict that has spanned four decades and killed over 120,000 people. Like other events in the country, this historic deal has received only patchy media coverage. Last year, Google listed more news stories on the death of Apple CEO Steve Jobs than on the Philippines (52,000 to 37,900 respectively). Author Bernard Cohen observed that the press “may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about”. Several studies have demonstrated the correlation between news coverage and the importance accorded to issues by the public. Often, lives are at stake. The status of UN emergency appeals shows that the most underfunded situations relate to countries Muslims take part in a peace rally near that rarely make headlines: Lesotho, the Philippine presidential palace as Djibouti and Mauritania, for instance. a peace agreement is signed between the government and separatist Moro So who sets the media agenda? In the Islamic Liberation Front UK, the Leveson Inquiry has highlighted © Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images the relationships between politicians, media moguls and lobbyists. But although these groups wield great influence, the media environment is more complex. For one, coverage is self-reinforcing. People This double edition of New World of the lessons Brazil holds for global tend to believe that what is reported (which serves as both the Autumn and development. reflects what others feel is important, Winter 2012 issues of the magazine) And our UN Day 2012 campaign is so they are more inclined to read and seeks to address all three points. In the featured in both publications. On pages write about these issues. The web, often following pages, we cover a host of 14-15 of this magazine, our Executive cited as an information democratiser and under-reported issues – from road safety Director, Phil Mulligan, calls on New World multiplier, throws up the same dilemma. to toilets, from widows to the disappeared readers to support the UN this October With so much out there, people rely on – and focus on others that receive poor by: signing our petition, displaying a poster, trusted sites, often major news outlets, or confusing coverage, such as the and recruiting supporters to UNA-UK. to point them in the right direction. responsibility to protect. Campaign resources are available at Yes, there are plenty of under-reported In our ‘special issue’ we look at some www.una.org.uk/UN-Day-2012 and for stories online but how does one find them wider trends: David Bosco of Foreign Policy those who prefer hard copies, our ‘special without knowing what to look for? magazine writes on the BRICS countries, issue’ includes a UN Day pull-out section. The media has a crucial role to play the new UN Under-Secretary-General Too often, the media concentrates in holding governments to account and for least-developed countries looks at the on the political failures of the Security we all have a duty to be responsible impact of climate change on the world’s Council and forgets to celebrate the media consumers. At UNA-UK, we feel poorest states and former UNA-UK life-saving work that the UN is engaged this responsibility is three-fold: raising Chairman David Hannay reflects on in every day. Of course the UN should awareness of ‘invisible issues’, reflecting Britain’s changing role in global affairs. be more effective, but in order to achieve on trends that can get overlooked in our We interview Alexander Yakovenko, this, we need to convince our governments 24-hour news flurry, and ensuring that the Russia’s ambassador to London, on the that we care enough about the UN for UN is not forgotten. country’s UN agenda, and I outline some them to prioritise strengthening it. 4 // UNA-UK NEW WORLD Autumn 2012 Is the glass filling or emptying? Jeremy Greenstock, UNA-UK's Chairman, sets the scene for this double issue of New World Sometimes the world seems like it’s going Governments have to follow as well as to purgatory at a steady lick; sometimes lead, or else they risk widening the gap the Good Samaritan stories appear with their constituencies. Whether in ascendant. The media focus on disasters Israel or Palestine, stagnant autocracies rather than successes because they sell or established democracies, what ordinary copy. But what is really happening? Is the people think, say and get exercised about glass filling or emptying? makes an impact. Removing the obstacles Of course it is a bit of both in the tide to independent creativity is just as vital as of human affairs. Just as a warmer climate building rules-based structures. The job produces stronger storms, so intensive of those in authority is to get the balance globalisation and the pace of cross-border interactivity can magnify the peaks and “Time for new elections?”, troughs of economic cycles and political change. Our institutions have neither the I asked. “What’s the installed capabilities nor the adaptability to provide answers and leadership; and point”, was the response of the diffusion of power among nations the younger Palestinians, and within societies is redefining the legitimacy of those who try to command.