In addition to regular scoops and stories from inside U.N.
headquarters, Turtle Bay will start
offering a daily roundup of shorter news items reported both here and elsewhere.
Climate crisis
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered a full-throated defense of the U.N.'s assessment
of the perils of global warming, saying that a "very small number of errors"
uncovered in a major U.N. report
does not alter the scientific consensus that climate change is a threat to
mankind.
Ban's remarks came as he announced the creation of outside scientific panel,
led by the Netherlands-based InterAcademy
Council, to review
the procedures of the U.N.'s principal climate panel. The move comes in
response to criticism by climate skeptics of the integrity of the U.N.'s Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change,
particularly following revelations
of some typos, sloppy sourcing, and an overstated claim over how much of the Netherlands
is under sea level.
Ban, who was joined by the climate panel's beleagured chairman Dr. Rajendra
Pachauri, said it was regrettable that the panel had made a few mistakes in its
landmark 2007 Fourth Assessment. But he minimized the errors, saying the final
report was a more than 3,000-page synthesis of complex scientific data.
"Let me be clear: the threat posed by climate changes is real," Ban told
reporters at U.N. headquarters. "I see no credible evidence that challenges the
main conclusions of that report. The scientific basis for climate action
remains as strong as ever. Indeed, evidence collected since the 2007 report
suggests climate change is accelerating."
The InterAcademy Council, which is co-chaired by Dutch physicist Robbert
Dijkgraaf and Chienese scientist Ly Xongxian, will select members of a review
panel that will advise the U.N. on how to avoid mistakes in its next major
climate study. "This will be forward looking," Dijkgraaf told reporters in New
York.
Pirates
The Russian government has proposed establishing an international tribunal
to prosecute Somali pirates caught seizing international vessels off the coast
of Somalia, according to council diplomats. The initiative, proposed by
President Dmitry Medvedev, has received a cool reception from Western
governments who feel it would be too costly to set up a tribunal. Britain and
France favor building up the judicial capacity of Somali's neighbors to
prosecute the cases. So far, the Russian proposal has only been discussed among
the five permanent members of the Security Council. The talks are in "the early
stages," a council diplomat told Turtle
Bay. "They know it won't cost them much because they pay very little."
United Nations
Jamal Benomar, a U.N. career
official and former Moroccan political prisoner, has emerged as a candidate for
the top U.N. human rights post in New York. Benomar, a dual Moroccan and
British citizen, was abducted by Moroccan authorites in 1976, tortured severely,
and held in a secret detention center for a year. He was charged with political
crimes and spent an additional seven years in prison. Benomar subsequently fled
Morocco for Britain, where he received political asylum. Benomar currently
serves as chief of staff to the U.N. General Assembly president, Ali Treki of Libya. (Read Turtle Bay's report on the other candidates.)
Somalia
As much as half of
international food assistance for Somalia is being diverted to corrupt
middlemen, Islamists militants, and local U.N. employees, according to an
investigation by a U.N. panel. The report, which was leaked to the New
York Times, calls on Secretary Ban to open an independent investigation
into the World Food Program's Somalia operations.
Congo
The U.N. peacekeeping mission
in eastern Congo supplied the food, fuel, and logistical support to a Congolese
officer linked to atrocities, including gang rapes, massacres and other abuses,
Stephanie McCrummen reports in the Washington Post.
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