News (Consolidated) - UNSOM

KABUL - The United Nations in Afghanistan is highlighting the importance of de-mining as part of the global activities for the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, which is observed each year on 4 April. UN Mine Action chief, Maxwell Kerley recently visited projects in…

4 April 2009 - I have visited many countries that face the scourge of landmines. I have seen the devastation caused by these indiscriminate weapons, which hamper reconstruction, damage the environment and cause grievous injuries and death for decades after conflicts end. Conditions may vary from…

4 April 2009 - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today expressed his happiness at the safe release of a United Nations staff member who was abducted in Pakistan two months ago, voicing his appreciation for the efforts of Government officials and others in securing his release. John Solecki, who heads…

KABUL - A new housing development area for Afghan refugees near Kabul is being cleared of mines, with the urgency of the project becoming more acute as people are already living in the district and many more are continuing to arrive. Like other mine-contaminated areas in Afghanistan the village of…

2 April 2009 - A new law in Afghanistan seriously curtailing women’s rights, even explicitly permitting marital rape, is a “huge step in the wrong direction,” the United Nations human rights chief said today, calling for its repeal. Not yet published, the law, which was passed by the two houses of…

KABUL - One the eve of World Health Day a senior UN official has called for hospitals and medical staff to be protected in Afghanistan. “WHO would like to take this opportunity to call on all actors involved in the conflict to respect the neutrality of health facilities and health workers,” said…

7 April 2009 - Sign language in Afghanistan is leaping ahead with the publication of 4,000 signs for the deaf and hard of hearing to use. A few years ago only 2,000 signs existed, but with the introduction of additional signs communicating for many thousands of people is gradually becoming easier…

8 April 2009 - The United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon has urged President Hamid Karzai to abolish a controversial family law which applies to Afghanistan’s minority Shi’a community members. “I want to take this opportunity again, the laws which were taken in Afghanistan, I would urge…

8 April 2009 - Plans are underway in Mazar-i-Sharif for the rebuilding of the city’s main hospital which burnt down two years ago. On 19 September 2006 a sudden fire from an electrical spark in the wiring system of the hospital swept through the central building. Within a few hours the fire had…

KABUL - More than 200,000 people will benefit from a newly constructed hospital in the Kama district of the eastern province of Nangarhar. “Before the establishment of this hospital we used to travel for several hours to take our patients to health facilities, but now we can easily take patients to…

12 April 2009 - A US$ two million project underway in the north-eastern province of Baghlan is helping poor Afghan farmers become self-sufficient. 6,600 fruit trees such as almond, apricot, peach and plum and four types of saplings of American non-fruit trees have been distributed in over 100…

KABUL - Nearly nine million Afghans will benefit from United Nation’s World Food Programme (WFP) projects in 2009. WFP distributed over 21,000 tons of food to more than 1.5 million Afghans in all 34 provinces of the country last month it announced today at the weekly United Nations Assistance…