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» Report of the Secretary-General's High-level Panel
   
# 200
August 22, 2003

In this issue:


UNITED NATIONS IN KYRGYZSTAN

  • The UN family in the Kyrgyz Republic expresses deep sorrow following deaths of the UN colleagues in Baghdad

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP)

  • Visit to UNDP target villages
  • Training for women councils in the Naryn province: getting ready for elections 2004-2005

UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN’S FUND (UNICEF)

  • Technical support in developing Kyrgyz Children’s Code

THE WORLD BANK (WB)

  • The World Bank supports the Kyrgyz National Statistical System

UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME (UNODC)

  • An international seminar on "International and National Measures of Control over Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances and Precursors"
  • The press conference dedicated to the recently founded Kyrgyz Drug Control Agency held

UNITED NATIONS EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND CULTURE ORGANIZATION (UNESCO)

  • Mission of Deputy Director of the Nordic World Heritage Foundation, and Coordinator of the Swedish National Heritage Board

UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS AND UN JOINT PROGRAMME ON EXPANDED RESPONSE TO HIV/AIDS

  • Web-Editor Training for Volunteers

UNITED NATIONS IN KYRGYZSTAN

The UN staff in the Kyrgyz Republic expresses deep sorrow following the deaths and injuries of UN staff caused by the attack on UN Headquarters in Baghdad earlier this week.

On 20 August, at a joint UN staff meeting in Bishkek, Richard Young, UN Resident Coordinator a. i. and UNICEF Representative in the Kyrgyz Republic condemned the despicable attack against the UN and humanity. In a hall of deep silence with flags lowered to half mast, the UN family grieved for the international staff and Iraqi people killed and expressed most sincere sympathy and condolences to their loved ones.

It is still not known how many UN staff perished in this bombing. Currently, it is said to be 20 people. What we do know is that the United Nations lost some of its most outstanding public servants who were working hard in supporting the Iraqi people to reconstruct their country and regain control of their own destiny. Among them was Sergio Vieira de Mello, the top United Nations envoy in Iraq and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The UNICEF Programme Coordinator in Iraq, Mr. Christopher Klein-Beekman, was also killed.

Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello, a Brazilian, had worked with the UN for more than 30 years, particularly in negotiating peacekeeping and nation-building in difficult situations, such as Kosovo and East Timor. In his statement, Mr. Annan said Mr Vieira de Mello impressed everyone with “his charm, his energy, and his ability to get things done – not by force but by diplomacy and persuasion”. Mr Annan remarked that Mr de Mello’s death is a bitter blow to him personally, to the UN in general and to humanity. He urged that the perpetrators of this heinous crime be brought to justice.

Mr. Christopher Klein-Beekman, a Canadian aged 32, held a senior position in Iraq and was Officer-in-Charge for UNICEF at the time of his death. His colleagues knew Chris as an energetic, incredibly talented young man who made a huge impact in Iraq in a difficult time.

19 August 2003 is a dark day for the UN family and all the people in the world. It is an irremediable tragedy for the families of those lost. All those who wish to express condolences can do so by writing to the Online Condolence Book opened for UN Special Representative Sergio Vieira de Mello and other UN staff killed in Baghdad through www.un.org site. The UN House in Bishkek has also opened a condolence book which is available in the reception area.

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP)

On August 20, representatives of the Prime-minister office namely from the economic policy and external affairs departments together with the staff of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection have visited Nurmambet and Epkin target villages of the UNDP Poverty Reduction Programme located in Chui oblast.

The purpose of the visit was to demonstrate to government officials the results of social mobilization activities of the Programme in practice. During the meeting self-help groups’ members described what had been done from the very beginning: how they established SHGs, what trainings they went through, how they do their income-generating activity, what problems they face, their partnership with local self-governments and future plans.

Among the issues discussed there were employment possibilities and social passports. Discussions were followed by the session of questions and answers and officials, interested by the progress made by villagers within the UNDP activities, also asked questions. The major problem revealed at the meeting was lack of communication between government structures and local self-government.

According to the mission members, it was very useful information exchange between policy and grass root level. Government officials as well as representatives of different departments of the Ministry agreed that some of the issues raised by the beneficiaries will be reflected at the policy level. The government representatives are planning visits to other oblasts as well.

For more information please contact Saltanat Dospaeva, UNDP Poverty Reduction Programme Manager a.i. Phone: (996 312) 66 38 85, 66 18 04. E-mail:

Training for women councils in the Naryn province: getting ready for elections 2004-2005

On 6 of July 2003 UNDP together with the OSCE presented by the Office for Democratic Institutes and Human Rights (ODIHR) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation for joint implementation of the project aimed at supporting the capacity of women councils. Within this project, during 2003 training seminars and regional conferences for representatives of women councils is envisaged to be organized. The project’s target groups are comprised of women-leaders at the village, rayon, town and oblast levels, as well as women-officials responsible for women’s issues in regional state administrations.

Given the importance of increasing women’s participation in politics, the first of the trainings was held recently in the Chui province. As a continuation of the series of similar seminars, the training in the Naryn province was organized during 15-16 August 2003. The seminar was conducted by experienced trainers from the Agency of Social Technologies and by regional trainers from the network “Women Can Do Everything!” with the support form UNDP and OSCE.

During the training held in the form of short lectures, discussions and role plays, participants analyzed the traditional and modern roles of women in the society and the importance of women’s participation in the processes of decision making under trainers’ guidance; they also learned skills of conducting election campaigns and techniques of women promotion in politics.

The analysis of women council activities demonstrated that most of their time women councils are engaged in social and economic issues. Political issues take least of all time. Likewise, it was mentioned that women do not take part in decision-making but only have to execute decisions. The analysis of women council functions resulted in a conclusion that women councils replicate many of the functions of NGOs, thus losing their uniqueness.

Through the general discussion technique, the trainers suggested the participants identifying barriers and obstacles impeding political activities of women councils. Among other problems, the participants mentioned lack of time due to housework, lack of coordination within women councils, inadequate professionalism and knowledge in women councils in the area of gender and politics, lack of connection and cooperation with women’s movement, limited financial, material and technical resources and the like.

Participants developed recommendations for women councils for overcoming the above barriers and analyzed the recommendations and specific advice as to how an election campaign should be planned and carried out.

For more information please contact: Anara Salamatova, Manager of the UNDP Self-Governance programme. Phone: (996 312) 66 11 76. Fax: (996 312) 66 48 64. E-mail:

UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN’S FUND (UNICEF)

Technical support in developing Kyrgyz Children’s Code

On 21 August 2003, Mr. Richard Young, UNICEF Representative in the Kyrgyz Republic, handed over two computers to the Deputy Minister of Justice Mr. E. Mamyrov to facilitate the work on the development of the Kyrgyz Children’s Code.

Mr. Richard Young stressed the importance of the new Children’s Code in promoting and protecting children’s rights. The Children’s Code is believed to help further improve legislation related to protection of rights of children, especially vulnerable groups and children in conflict with law, to strengthen comprehensive child care and education system reform, to reduce a number of street children and number of crimes committed by adolescents.

Development of the Children’s Code was started in September last year as part of the State Programme on Relalization of the Children’s Rights “New Generation” and the National Strategy on Poverty reducation by joint efforts of governmental, non-governmental, and international organizations. International organizations are widely supporting participation of young people in the development process.

Protection of children is one of the main priorities of UNICEF in Kyrgyzstan and all over the world. Richard Young confirmed UNICEF’s commitment to continue providing technical assistance, sustaining capacity building activities for child friendly law enforcement and facilitating children’s participation in discussions. In a week, the Ministry of Justice will receive some more equipment, and later this year, UNICEF plans to support round table discussions with participation of children prisoners.

For more information, please contact Richard Young, UNICEF Resident Representative, at ; or Galina Solodunova at (996 312) 61 12 24, 61 12 25, 61 12 26;

THE WORLD BANK (WB)

The World Bank supports the Kyrgyz National Statistical System

The World Bank, as administrator of the multi-donor Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity Building, made a grant in the amount of US$ 279,600 to the Kyrgyz Republic for strengthening organizational structure and statistical capacity of the national statistical system.

The grant is made in response to the request of the Kyrgyz Republic to assist the National Statistical Committee (NSC) to (i) modernize the organizational structure of the statistical system including information technology; (ii) adopt new techniques and methodologies to produce quality statistics; (iii) improve the link between the users of data and the NSC in order to enhance the efficiency of the data collection process.

The World Bank has previously provided assistance to the NSC within investment projects and by providing grant funds.

For additional information please contact Jyldyz Djakypova, External Affairs, WB Country Office in Bishkek. Phone: (996 312) 610 650; e-mail:

UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME (UNODC)

An international seminar on "International and National Measures of Control over Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances and Precursors" was held in Almaty on 11 – 15 August 2003. The seminar was jointly organized by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) and the UN ODC/Regional Office for Central Asia. Licit Drug Control Specialists from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Russian Federation participated in the seminar. Among participants there were also representatives of the UN ODC: Senior Legal Adviser, Regional Project Coordinator and National Project Officers from four Central Asian countries and Kazakhstan. Deputy Secretary of INCB, Head of the INCB Narcotics Control Department and Specialist of INCB Psychotropic substances Control Department represented the International Narcotics Control Board.

Three main subjects were discussed within the framework of the seminar:
1. International control over precursors;
2. International systems of narcotics control;
3. Harmonization of Legal, Administrative measures of control over narcotics in the Central Asian countries.

It has been agreed that Central Asia and Russia will further deepen and strengthen the regional cooperation in the field as well as enforce the UN anti-narcotics conventions and improve the international reporting systems.

For additional information please contact: Mr. Bakhtiar Mambetov, National Coordinator; UNODC Sub-Office for the Kyrgyz Republic. Tel. +996 (312) 66 56 82, 66 05 22, e-mail:

The press conference dedicated to the recently founded Kyrgyz Drug Control Agency was held on 19 August 2003 at "Kabar" News Agency. The Program Coordinator of the UN ODC Regional Office for Central Asia, Roberto Arbitrio and the UN ODC National Project Officer on Drugs and Crime, Baktiar Mambetov, told journalists about the aims of establishing the Agency and the first steps of its activity.

Kyrgyzstan has its own raw material basis - tens of thousands of hectares of wild growing hemp and ephedera. According to official data, about 6,000 drug addicts have been registered in our country, but their actual number is 10-15 times as many.

Founding the Agency, - a mobile and highly professional structure having modern equipment, cars and financial base - became a necessity.

Another reason for establishing the Agency for Drug Control is the fact that the countries of Central Asia are often chosen as trafficking routes for drugs from Afghanistan. It is also forecasted that a large crop of opium poppy may be collected this year in Afghanistan.

In the first 6 months of 2003, over 2,000 kilos of drugs were seized in our country. Opium dealers were trying to transfer it through our Republic to other countries.

For the last two months the Agency has been holding job interviews on a competitive basis. 64 people applied for 9 vacancies. To ensure transparency and international standards when selecting employees, the representatives of the UN ODC and the USA were invited to take part in the selection panel.

The second phase of DCA staff recruitment is in progress at the moment.

UNITED NATIONS EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND CULTURE ORGANIZATION (UNESCO)




Mission to Kyrgyzstan of Ms. Synnove Vinsrygg, Deputy Director of the Nordic World Heritage Foundation, and Mr. Ulf Bertilsson, Senior Project Coordinator, Swedish National Heritage Board

Kyrgyzstan joined the World Heritage Fund in 1999. Kyrgyzstan has been implementing the UNESCO World Heritage Convention during a number of years. Kyrgyz National Commission for UNESCO submitted the Tentative List of 6 cultural sites to be considered for inscription in the World Heritage List: the Issyk-Kul natual-cultural landscape, Saimaly-Tash Petroglyphs, Sulaiman-Too natural-cultural landscape, Shakh-Fazil architectural monument, Uzghen historical-architectural complex, Burana Tower.

Within the framework of cooperation with the World Heritage Centre, on 19 August 2003 in Kyrgyzstan came on official mission Ms. Synnove Vinsrygg, Deputy Director of the Nordic World Heritage Foundation, and Mr. Ulf Bertilsson, Senior Project Co-ordinator, Swedish National Heritage Board. They will visit the Sulaiman-Too cultural-natural site and will extend their assistance in preparation of the nomination dossier for Sulaiman-Too to be submitted for inscription in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS AND UN JOINT PROGRAMME ON EXPANDED RESPONSE TO HIV/AIDS

Web-Editor Training for Volunteers

From August 4th to 14th UN Volunteers Resource Center (UNVRC) hosted a web-editor training course called “Young People to Young People about HIV/AIDS” (Ìîëîäåæü ìîëîäåæè î ÂÈ×/ÑÏÈÄå) for volunteers from five organizations organized by Mr. Michael Unland, an International UNV Specialist on Mass Media who works for the Joint Programme on Expanded Response to HIV/AIDS.

The training was planned in order to let young people participate in the process of information provision on HIV/AIDS and deliver localized actual information for their own age group. The Seminar tried out a new form with theoretical and a practical part, the latter under realistic journalistic conditions with deadlines, provision of mobility and production equipment.

What the volunteers in this defined of freedom managed to create can be looked at in a first draft under www.aids.undp.kg/molodesh_ru.htm .

The trainees were chosen among volunteers with good English language skills and journalistic background, who work for active organizations in the field of HIV/AIDS, including Alliance for Reproductive Health, Children’s Media Center, GTZ project “Learning By Doing,” Red Crescent Society and UNVRC. Most of them are university students of their age at around 20.

50% of the trainees have more than two years experience of working as a volunteer, 25% have more than a year and the rest have several months. All of them are deeply involved in their organizations with certain responsibilities and duties, e.g., training instructor, community communication, activity coordination, website design and journalistic work.

During the first several days they learned the basic technical skills with different trainers on how to create a website in html language, how digital photography works, how to collect information effectively via Internet and how to interview and write articles in different styles.

Then they got in touch with reality. From a list of eight topics they chose three of the most interesting ones for them: “AIDS Test”, “Condoms” and “PLWH” (People Living With HIV/AIDS). They made three groups and each group did research on their topic with technical support from the trainers. They visited different NGOs, institutions and people to find out answers to their questions – some of them even made the HIV-Test to get as close as possible to the subject they are reporting on.

The participants had a follow-up meeting at VRC on August 20th to proofread the revised reports/articles.

UNVRC will play a role as their base for the participants to continue and expand their friendship and partnership in working on HIV/AIDS issue in the Kyrgyz Republic.

For more information, please contact Mr. Michael Unland, UNV Specialist on Mass Media, Joint Program on Expanded Response to HIV/AIDS in the KR, 8 Logvinenko Street, Bishkek, Tel: (996-312) 620445, E-mail: , Website: http://www.aids.undp.kg

Contact: Tomoko Matsui, UNV Specialist, Coordinator, UN Volunteers Resource Center, c/o UN House, 160 Chui Avenue, Bishkek, Tel: (996-312) 611275, E-mail: , Website: http://www.unv.org.kg/rc


     Millennium Development Goals Progress Report - 2003

     Common Country Assessment - 2003

 
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