Americas

UN peacekeepers improve security in Haiti, work with civil groups

30 December 2004
Security, one of the main concerns of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti, has greatly improved in the Caribbean nation, allowing UN teams to work with their Haitian counterparts on such pressing civil issues as the HIV/AIDS pandemic, a mission spokesman said.

Haiti: Government pays demobilized soldiers following UN-supported meeting

28 December 2004
The Interim Government of Haiti today began paying former soldiers who have since demobilized following on agreements reached during talks supported by the United Nations mission in the country (MINUSTAH).

As UN nears full troop strength in Haiti, lull in violence is reported

23 December 2004
Violence-wracked Haiti, which was plunged into political turmoil earlier this year and then further destabilized by natural disasters, has seen a lull in the violence in recent days, while the United Nations mission in the country (MINUSTAH) is nearly up to full military capacity.

Haiti: UN helps remove ex-soldiers occupying Aristide house

20 December 2004
United Nations peacekeepers took less than an hour last Friday to move an armed group of demobilized soldiers who were squatting in the house of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a UN spokesman said today.

New UN publication advises how to reduce deaths from cervical cancer

20 December 2004
Many of the quarter of a million deaths a year from cervical cancer worldwide could be avoided if women got affordable early screening and treatment of pre-cancerous lesions, according to a new manual endorsed by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO).

UN-backed climate change conference ends with package of new measures

18 December 2004
The tenth-anniversary United Nations Conference on Climate Change concluded today in Argentina after adopting a package of measures aimed at helping countries to prepare for climate change.

Thousands at risk of displacement in Colombia due to armed groups – UN

17 December 2004
Thousands of people in an area of northwestern Colombia that was the site of a church massacre two years ago are living in fear and are at risk of displacement because of the growing number of irregular armed groups in the region, the United Nations refugee agency reported today in its latest update on the situation.
Kofi Annan

In Washington DC, Annan says UN is best placed to tackle global ills

16 December 2004
Delivering a speech in Washington, DC today, Secretary-General Kofi Annan sought the support of the United States in adapting the United Nations to better respond to emerging global threats, while emphasizing the world body's central role in this endeavour.

Latin America and Caribbean GDP surprises with 4 per cent growth in 2004 - UN

16 December 2004
Even though average capital inflows declined, the overall economy of Latin America and the Caribbean and the regional gross development product (GDP) grew much more than expected in 2004, with Venezuela showing the most spectacular increase, the United Nations agency which tracks the economies of the area says.

UN calls on Haitian armed groups not to act under cover of official deployment

16 December 2004
The United Nations mission in Haiti has called on armed groups in the country to refrain from occupying spaces or taking part in its large-scale deployment to maintain order in Cité Soleil, one of the low-income districts in the capital, Port-au-Prince.