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Issue DH/7281 Tuesday, 8 November 2016

In the headlines:

• ISIL forces civilians towards Mosul airport; UN

rights office probes reports of mass graves

• UN-backed cholera vaccination campaign kicks off

today in Haiti

• DR Congo: Explosion in Goma kill one civilians,

wounds peacekeepers, UN Mission reports

• Past five years hottest on record, says UN weather

agency

• New direct funding available for low- and middle-

income countries to regulate tobacco – UN

• General Assembly President outlines strategy for

stepped-up implementing UN 2030 Agenda

• MARRAKECH: Civil society vital to drive momentum

on Paris Agreement targets, say ‘Climate

Champions’

• Aiming to curb pregnancy risks and improve

experience, UN launches new prenatal care model

• Positive outlooks mired by divisive rhetoric in

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Security Council told

• UNESCO chief deplores killing of television

journalist in Afghanistan

ISIL forces civilians towards Mosul airport; UN rights office probes reports of mass graves

8 November – Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) fighters have forced 1,500 families towards the airport in Mosul, the United Nations human rights wing said today, adding that it is also looking into reports of mass graves near the city, where military operations are under way to oust the terrorists.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) received reports on 25 October that 50 former Iraqi police officers had been killed in a building outside Mosul city, and “that building was the same agricultural college that has now been cited as the site of those mass graves,” Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the Office told reporters in Geneva.

“However, OHCHR does not have information about the mass graves,” she added.

Ms. Shamdasani said the UN continues to receive information about civilians being forcibly moved by the ISIL, as well as abductions and killings of civilians.

In response to a question, she said that as of 4 November, ISIL had forcibly moved about 1,500 families from Hammam al-Alil towards Mosul airport. OHCHR also has information about dead bodies found, but that has not yet been sufficiently verified.

A family displaced by fighting in the village of Shora, 25 kilometres

south of Mosul, wait by the roadside at an army checkpoint on the

outskirts of Qayyarah. Photo: UNHCR/Ivor Prickett

UN Daily News

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UN News Centre • www.un.org/news

UN Daily News 8 November 2016

The spokesperson also said OHCHR has information that between 1 and 4 November, 195 former Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) members had been reportedly abducted by ISIL in several villages in Tal Afar, and on 3 November, another 100 former ISF officers had been abducted from Mawali village about 20 kilometres west of Mosul. The fate of these 295 civilians is unknown.

On 2 or 3 of November, ISIL allegedly abducted at least 30 sheiks in the Qayrawan sub-district of Sinjar district, who were taken to an unknown location, she added. One report said that 18 of them were killed in Tal Afar district on 14 November, but the information has not yet been verified.

Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that he talked this morning with the WHO team in Erbil Hospital, which is delivering medical supplies for more than 90,000 beneficiaries, including trauma kits and surgical supplies for 300 trauma and surgical interventions.

Erbil Hospital is the main referral hospital in the area, about 1 hour from Mosul, where injured people were being brought.

Since the military offensive began on 17 October, they had received 29 trauma injury cases, 10 of them for bullet injuries, four for mortar shell injuries, two for mine injuries; 11 were women and six were children, he said.

In other areas, WHO is trying to provide health care with mobile clinics. In some cases, those mobile clinics are the first responders to arrive on the scene. Five days after Tlol Nasir village, south of Mosul, became accessible, a WHO mobile health clinic was the first health provider to arrive. The main cause of medical consultation continues to be respiratory tract infections due to smoke inhalation, as some 20 oil wells continue to burn.

WHO had also conducted assessment missions to the two nearest referral hospitals to Mosul, closer to Mosul than Erbil, which were Qayyarah Hospital south of Mosul and Hamdaneya Hospital east of Mosul. Those hospitals are not functional right now, but WHO is working with the health authorities to ensure that emergency and reproductive health departments are rehabilitated in the coming days and weeks, to ensure referral care for trauma and complicated deliveries.

In response to a question, Mr. Jasarevic said that WHO has not received any reports on the use of chemical weapons so far. WHO has trained 90 medical staff on mass casualty management and decontamination of patients.

In response to a question about the situation in Mosul and the possible targeting of bridges to prevent the movement of people, Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that the humanitarian community has not yet reached inside Mosul. He said that as a general note, civilian infrastructure must be spared in accordance with international humanitarian law.

Leonard Doyle, a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that 34,860 people have been displaced from Mosul and adjacent districts, up from 7 November. Over the past weekend, IOM Director-General William Lacy Swing has been in the area on a two-day visit to the conflict zone, looking in particular at the emergency camps which have been established.

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UN-backed cholera vaccination campaign kicks off today in Haiti

8 November – A vaccination campaign against cholera began today in the areas of Haiti hit hard by Hurricane Matthew, with support from the United Nations and other institutions.

“Today in Haiti marks the first day of a vaccination campaign against cholera in areas ravaged by Hurricane Matthew,” Stéphane Dujarric,

the spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, told reporters in New

York, noting that the campaign is supported by the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and others.

“The target population is estimated at 820,000 people over one year of age. Activities will focus on municipalities most vulnerable to cholera outbreaks in the two southern departments of Grand’Anse and Sud, where there have been significant destruction of water and other

supply systems,” Mr. Dujarric said.

According to a news release from PAHO/WHO, the decision of WHO and other members of the Global Task Force for

Cholera Control to approve the request of the Haitian Ministry of Health (MSPP) to bring one million doses of oral vaccine against cholera is based on the goal of reducing the burden of cholera cases on health care facilities, and of reducing deaths in the departments of the Sud and Grand’Anse.

In the release, PAHO-WHO Representative Dr. Jean-Luc Poncelet stressed the importance of the leadership of MSPP in this vaccination campaign.

Some municipalities in the southwest peninsula have reported outbreaks of cholera since the hurricane hit on October 4, “so it is important to work together and with partners to build local capacity for clinical management of cases in the cholera treatment centres,” he said.

Mr. Poncelet noted that PAHO-WHO will support the Ministry of Health in activities including development of tools and technical support as well as reception, storage and transport of the vaccines and supplies in departments, municipalities and institutions.

PAHO/WHO will also support training of vaccination staff supervisors and operators, and the coordination, collection and analysis of information, monitoring and evaluation, he added.

“The vaccine is an additional intervention which will help us to save lives, but does not replace the efforts that the Government supports in the field of water and sanitation,” emphasized Dr. Daphne Benoit, Haiti’s Minister of Public Health.

Earlier in the day, Alessandra Vellucci, the Director of the UN Information Service in Geneva, told reporters that as of 7 November, the appeal for Haiti was still only 36 per cent funded.

Delivery of cholera kits in Les Cayes, Haiti, after the area was

ravaged by Hurricane Matthew. Photo: PAHO/WHO

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DR Congo: Explosion in Goma kill one civilians, wounds peacekeepers, UN Mission reports

8 November – The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has confirmed that an explosion in Goma killed a girl and wounded 32 Indian peacekeepers, five of whom are in serious condition, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, told reporters today.

All victims of the explosion, including UN peacekeepers and Congolese civilians, are receiving medical treatment in Goma, which is located in the restive eastern part of the vast central African nation.

According to early reports, the explosion was caused by an improvised explosive device (IED). A MONUSCO Quick Reaction Force and an investigation team with explosives experts have been deployed to the scene.

“The Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the DRC is expected to travel to Goma to assess the situation on the ground,” Mr. Dujarric said at the daily briefing at UN Headquarters in New York, adding that more information will be available later today.

“Our thoughts are with the family of the victim and our colleagues who were injured.”

MONUSCO troops near Kibumba in North Kivu along the Goma -

Rutshuru road, Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC. Photo:

MONUSCO/Sylvain Liechti

Past five years hottest on record, says UN weather agency

8 November – In a new detailed analysis of the global climate between 2011 and 2015 – the hottest 5-year period on record – the United Nations weather agency has found an increasingly visible human footprint on extreme weather and climate events with dangerous and costly impacts.

The record temperatures were accompanied by rising sea levels and declines in Arctic sea-ice extent, continental glaciers and northern hemisphere snow cover, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a news release today.

“This report confirms that the average temperature in 2015 had already reached the 1 degree-Celsius mark. We just had the hottest five-year period on record, with 2015 claiming the title of hottest individual year,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas in a

news release announcing the report.

“Even that record is likely to be beaten in 2016,” he added, recalling that the Paris Agreement on climate change aims to limit the global temperature rise to well below 2 degree-Celsius.

Further in the report, WMO, the UN system’s authoritative voice on the state and behaviour of the Earth’s atmosphere, also highlighted some of the high-impact climate events.

These included the east African drought (2010-2012) that caused an estimated 258,000 deaths; the southern African

drought (2013-2015); South-East Asia floods (2011) that killed 800 people and caused more than $40 billion in economic

World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General

Petteri Taalas. Photo: WMO/Kate Chumak

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losses; heatwaves in India and Pakistan (2015) that claimed more than 4,100 lives; Hurricane Sandy (2012) which

resulted $67 billion in economic losses in the United States; and Typhoon Haiyan (2013) which killed 7,800 people in the

Philippines.

According to the agency, the five-year timescale allows for a better understanding of multi-year warming trends and extreme events such as prolonged droughts and recurrent heatwaves than an annual report.

The report further examined whether human-induced climate change was directly linked to individual extreme events.

Many individual extreme weather and climate events recorded during 2011-2015 were made more likely as a result of human-induced climate change, WMO said. In the case of some extreme high temperatures, the probability increased by a factor of ten or more.

The WMO report was submitted to the Twenty-second Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on

Climate Change (UNFCCC), known as COP 22, meeting Marrakech. The agency added that will release its provisional

assessment of the state of the climate in 2016 on 14 November to support the discussions at COP22.

2011-2015 Weather: Hot and wild

Further in the news release, temperatures for the 2011-2015 period were 0.57 degree-Celsius (1.03 degree-Fahrenheit) above the average for the standard 1961-1990 reference period. The warmest year on record to date was 2015, with temperatures 0.76 degree-Celsius (1.37 degree-Fahrenheit) above the reference period.

Additionally global ocean temperatures also rose at unprecedented levels and sea-surface temperatures for the period were above average in most of the world, except in some parts of the Antarctic Ocean and the eastern South Pacific Ocean.

The period also saw a decline in the Arctic sea ice coverage. Averaged over 2011-2015, the mean Arctic sea-ice fell 28 per-cent below the 1981-2010 average. The minimum summer sea-ice extent of 3.39 million square-kilometres in 2012 was the lowest on record.

By contrast, for much of the period 2011– 2015, the Antarctic sea-ice extent was above the 1981-2010 mean value, particularly for the winter maximum.

Surface melting of the Greenland ice sheet also continued at above-average levels and mountain glaciers also continued their decline.

Northern hemisphere snow cover extent was well below average in all five years and in all months from May to August, continuing a strong downward trend, said WMO.

Rising sea levels

Referring to studies, WMO said that the contribution of continental ice sheets, particularly in Greenland and west Antarctica, to sea-level rise is accelerating.

It noted on satellite record (from 1993 to present), sea levels have risen approximately 3 mm per year, based on tide gauges, compared to the average 1900-2010 trend of 1.7 mm per year.

“As the oceans warm, they expand, resulting in both global and regional sea-level rise,” the agency explained, adding that increased ocean heat content accounts for about 40 per cent of the observed global sea-level increase over the past 60 years.

Extreme Weather

The news release also mentions some examples of “extreme weather” which include record high seasonal and annual

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temperatures in the United States in 2012 and in Australia in 2013, hot summers in eastern Asia and western Europe in 2013, heatwaves in spring and autumn 2014 in Australia, record annual warmth in Europe in 2014, and a heatwave in Argentina in December 2013.

Pointing to a study of a 2014 drought in south-eastern Brazil that found that similar rainfall deficits had occurred on three other occasions since 1940, the agency said that the impacts in 2014 were, however, exacerbated by a substantial increase in the demand for water, due to population growth.

Such impacts show an increased link to human vulnerability, noted WMO.

New direct funding available for low- and middle-income countries to regulate tobacco – UN

8 November – New funding is now available to support tobacco control implementation for low and middle income countries through

the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) , currently the strongest global

instrument to control tobacco.

If current patterns continue, tobacco will kill about one billion people during the 21st century. By 2030, 80 per cent of those who die due to tobacco use will be those who live in low- and middle-income countries.

The new project will be delivered by the WHO FCTC through a collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other partners. 179 countries and the European Union are

Parties to the Convention. The partnership will provide support to low- and middle-income countries as they move to implement new control strategies and policies. The Convention is expected to greatly reduce tobacco use if implemented properly.

In developing countries, the deleterious effects of tobacco are primarily treated as a health matter, which, though important, overlooks serious secondary impacts on social, economic, and environmental progress. Tobacco control is a development issue and successful regulation relies on the contributions from sectors such as commerce, trade, finance, justice, and education. This is why the international community has agreed to incorporate the implementation of the WHO FCTC

throughout the entire 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), not only Goal 3, which addresses

health and wellbeing.

“The implementation of the WHO FCTC is critical in advancing sustainable development,” said the Head of the FCTC Secretariat, Dr. Vera Luiza da Costa e Silva. “Through the new project, we will take implementation of the WHO FCTC to a new level by providing support and guidance to developing country Parties.”

Through the new initiative, low- and middle-income countries will be able to create and strengthen coordination mechanisms and action across sectors to implement the WHO FCTC. Examples include treaty obligations to ban tobacco advertising and promotion, guarantees that tobacco packaging comes with health warnings, putting an end to smoking in enclosed public spaces and in the workplace, tax increases for tobacco products, and safeguards to keep public health policies free from tobacco industry interference.

Prior work by the UN and Parties to the Convention has revealed support in a number of areas related to social and economic development. Efficient tobacco control measures can have positive impacts on investment and country-specific plans for increasing non-health sector engagement in order to protect health policies that are integral to the implementation of the SDGs.

Douglas Webb, Team Leader on Health and Innovative Financing at the UNDP also welcomed the project: “There is a

Photo: WHO/S. Volkov

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growing recognition that current tobacco trends and sustainable development cannot coexist. As a committed partner, UNDP welcomes this opportunity to advance tobacco control through better support to national planning, good governance, and protection against tobacco industry interference in policy making.”

Over the next five years, the project will call upon governments from low- and middle-income countries to join in implementing the WHO FCTC. The United Kingdom is helping to make the project possible through generous financial contributions.

General Assembly President outlines strategy for stepped-up implementing UN 2030 Agenda

8 November – General Assembly President Peter Thomson briefed

United Nations Member States today on the implementation strategy

for implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the transformative 17-point framework for ensuring peace and prosperity for all on a healthy planet.

He spoke of transforming our world by eradicating poverty and

generating collective prosperity, addressing inequalities – particularly with regards to gender and the advancement of rights for women and girls, creating a safer and more just world, and combatting climate change and protecting the natural environment.

The 2030 Agenda “was grounded,” he said, “in the principle of ‘leaving no-one behind,’ ensuring human rights for all, and engaging young people.”

Mr. Thomson, briefing Member States informally, reaffirmed the commitment he made when he took the Oath of Office

in June of this year, which he says is “rooted in my deep belief that only through the attainment of sustainable development will sustainable peace and human rights be realized for all.”

“And in turn,” he added, “sustainable development will only be achieved by sustaining peace and the full realization of human rights.”

Mr. Thomson announced that in order to motivate actors at global, regional, national, and community levels, he had appointed an SDG implementation team, to be led by Special Adviser Ambassador Dessima Williams along with experts from the UN Secretariat and secondees from the UN Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank Group, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and Member States. Ambassador Macharia Kamau will serve as the Special Envoy on SDP Implementation and Climate Change.

The team will focus on three key tracks:

Raising the global public’s awareness of the importance of SDG implementation; Strengthening momentum in the implementation of each of the 17 SDGs; and Supporting the UN and related agencies in making their maximum contribution to SDG implementation at all levels.

The President of the General Assembly acknowledged that while responsibility for implementing the SDGs lies primarily with Governments, the UN has a central support role in order to see that the Goals are put into action.

“Part of that role,” he explained, “is to activate and align all relevant partners in the universal and integrated pursuit of the SDGs – international financial institutions, multilateral bodies, regulatory authorities, the private sector, philanthropic foundations, civil society, women’s organizations, academia, local authorities, and people everywhere.”

General Assembly President Peter Thomson briefs delegates on the

strategy of his office to support the implementation of the Sustainable

Development Goals. UN Photo/Manuel Elias

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“Dedicated workshops, meetings and events, at both expert and high levels, will be organized throughout the session,” he added.

In order to ensure that the first track – which seeks to raise awareness – is met, Mr. Thomson and his team advocate including the SDGs in school curricula around the world, maximizing online communication, working with young advocates, and promoting high-level advocacy through events and workshops in order to engage the public and attract new stakeholders to the movement.

The second track aims to strengthen the momentum of implementing each goal, for which Mr. Thomson outlined specific objectives and strategies to accompany each of the 17 goals. For example, he spoke of collaborating with the private sector, organizing new meetings, promoting new technologies, securing commitments from new actors, convening leading thinkers and academics, promoting local leader participation in international agenda-setting, and more.

The second track will focus efforts in the six specific following areas:

Aligning increased private investments and capital flows with the SDGs, including through “greening” the financial system and its regulatory mechanisms; Strengthening domestic resource mobilization capacity; Convening a joint meeting with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on global economic governance; Mobilizing young innovators including on the margins of the ECOSOC Forum on

Science Technology and innovation; Fostering further work on South-South and Triangular cooperation, and; Collaborating with partners in the margins of the UN Statistical Commission on how concrete and targeted assistance can help countries improve their data-systems and overall capacity in this area.

Finally, track three, supporting the UN and its agencies in order to ensure a maximum contribution to the SDGs at all levels, will be achieved by convening regular briefings with the new Secretary-General, Member States, and the members of the UN Chief Executive Board as well as maximizing the role of the General Assembly in SDG implementation and strengthening the UN’s engagement with civil society, the private sector, and other important stakeholders.

“I hold myself accountable to this Strategic Plan,” said Mr. Thomson, who will report on the progress in July 2017.

To the General Assembly, he said, “I welcome cooperation, partnership, and positive input towards the fulfilment of this Strategic Plan, by and from all those who believe in the need for real momentum to be achieved for the Sustainable Development Goals.”

“A universal effort is required if our world is indeed to be transformed towards a sustainable future for human kind,” he concluded.

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MARRAKECH: Civil society vital to drive momentum on Paris Agreement targets, say ‘Climate Champions’

8 November – Beyond the work of governments, other stakeholders such as businesses, cities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have a crucial role to play in implementing the Paris Agreement on climate change, ‘Climate Champions’ Laurence Tubiana and Hakima El Haité said today in Marrakech, where the

United Nations conference known as ‘COP 22’ is under way.

Ms. Tubiana, French Ambassador on climate change, and Ms. El Haité, Moroccan Minister in charge of Environment, were appointed Climate Champions by the Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris last

year (COP 21), where nations adopted the landmark Agreement,

which calls on countries to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future, and to adapt to the increasing impacts of the phenomenon.

The two high-level Champions were tasked with heeding the call made at COP 21 and taking forward the idea that mobilizing stronger and more ambitious climate action by all Parties and non-Party stakeholders is urgently required if the Paris goals are to be achieved.

Just last week, on 4 November when the Paris Agreement entered into force, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon convened

at UN Headquarters in New York a special meeting with civil society representatives, thanking them for their courage,

persistence and leadership in realizing the Paris Agreement and calling on them to “keep up the fight,” to press for action and to hold governments accountable.

Ms. Tubiana and Ms. El Haité have meanwhile set out a detailed agenda to boost cooperative action between governments,

cities, business, investors and citizens to cut emissions rapidly and help vulnerable nations adapt to climate impacts and build their own clean energy, sustainable futures.

They have also launched a consultative process in order to seek the views of governments and non-State stakeholders on this vision. During COP 22, several thematic days have been planned, including on forests, water, cities, energy, transport and agriculture.

“In Paris, it was about momentum, enthusiasm and political commitment. Now the question is how we will implement and how we will conduct a race against time,” said Ms. Tubiana during a press conference in Marrakech on about the launch of the Champion’s ‘Global Climate Action Agenda’ to mobilize non-State actors.

The [Agenda] “is really the response to this race against time that everyone, governments first, but also cities, businesses, civil society, indigenous people, youth, women movements” is part of, she added.

“We can’t be complacent,” underscored Ms. Tubiana. “We have everything to do, we are lagging behind.” She added that the [Action Agenda] “is a way to accelerate the movement, to accelerate action, develop cooperation, to do it faster, better, cheaper and to get everyone on the same page […] It is about concrete action on the ground, how to transform the transport, how to have better cities, how really to stop deforestation,” she added.

Ms. El Haité stressed that 80 per cent of the decisions on climate action are implemented by non-State actors. “I think it is very important for all of us to recognize that the non-State actors are already moving and there are many [actions], initiatives

High level champions, Ambassador Laurence Tubiana (left) and

Minister-Delegate Hakima el Haite hold a press conference in

Marrakech, Morocco, to explain in detail their plans for climate

action during COP 22 and beyond. Photo: UNFCCC

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and coalitions and they are very active,” she said.

“This is the first time we are building a real partnership between the non-State actors and the actors,” she added. “We think it is very important to have these partnerships. We have built for many years walls between the negotiators and the parties and the real world and the non-State actors. Today we need to build bridges between them.”

Asked by the UN News Centre about the link between climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Ms. Tubiana noted that there is a “single development agenda” and that climate is “a part of that development agenda.”

“No doubt the negotiations on implementation are more advanced in the climate area than in other areas, but it is all the same thing […] There is one agenda that governments must implement and this new development model should really be supported by the citizens, the businesses, the financial sector in each country, and internationally,” she added.

Aiming to curb pregnancy risks and improve experience, UN launches new prenatal care model

8 November – The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) has introduced a new prenatal care model, designed to enhance pregnancy the experience for women, and reduce the risk of stillbirths and other complications.

According to the WHO, last year around 303,000 women died from

pregnancy-related causes, and 2.7 million babies died within the first month of life, in addition, 2.6 million babies were stillborn.

“If women are to use antenatal care services and come back when it is time to have their baby, they must receive good quality care throughout their pregnancy,’ said Dr. Ian Askew, Director of Reproductive Health and Research at WHO in a news release yesterday. “Pregnancy should be a positive experience for all women and they should receive care that respects their dignity.”

Antenatal, or prenatal, care enables health providers to deliver critical care to pregnant women, including good nutrition, family planning counselling, and healthy lifestyle promotion.

WHO developed the new recommendations on antenatal care to enable women to have more contacts with their health

care providers throughout their pregnancy. According to recent evidence, this model is expected to reduce likelihood of still births, due to providing more opportunities for health care providers to detect and manage potential problems.

By example, the agency noted that a minimum of eight contacts for antenatal care can reduce perinatal deaths by up to eight per 1,000 births, when compared to a minimum of four visits.

“More and better quality contacts between all women and their health providers throughout pregnancy will facilitate the uptake of preventive measures, timely detection of risks, reduces complications and addresses health inequalities,” said Dr. Anthony Costello, the WHO Director of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health. “Antenatal care for first time mothers is key. This will determine how they use antenatal care in future pregnancies.”

WHO predicts that the new model also increases maternal and foetal assessments to detect problems, increases the likelihood of positive pregnancy outcomes, and improves communication between health providers and pregnant women.

“Counselling about healthy eating, optimal nutrition and what vitamins or minerals women should take during pregnancy can go a long way in helping them and their developing babies stay healthy throughout pregnancy and beyond,” stated Dr. Francesco Branca, the Director Department on Nutrition for Health and Development, WHO.

A midwife examines a pregnant woman at a health clinic near

Moyamba, Sierra Leone. Photo: UNICEF/Kate Holt

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In addition, the agency aims to provide flexibility for countries to adopt the new antenatal care model, and adjust it to their specific needs.

Sample recommendations include, among others:

• Antenatal care model with a minimum of eight contacts recommended to reduce perinatal mortality and improve women’s experience of care;

• Counselling about healthy eating and keeping physically active during pregnancy;

• One ultrasound scan before 24 weeks’ gestation (early ultrasound) is recommended for pregnant women to estimate gestational age, improve detection of fetal anomalies and multiple pregnancies, reduce induction of labour for post-term pregnancy, and improve a woman’s pregnancy experience; and

• Health-care providers should ask all pregnant women about their use of alcohol and other substances (past and present) as early as possible in the pregnancy and at every antenatal visit.

Positive outlooks mired by divisive rhetoric in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Security Council told

8 November – Briefing the United Nations Security Council, High Representative Valentin Inzko said that though there have been some positive developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, these have been overshadowed by parties focusing exclusively on the ethnic distribution of the population around the country.

In particular, Mr. Inzko noted the commitment of the Bosnia and

Herzegovina’s leadership to reform, but added that certain political actors have continued and even accelerated their actions and rhetoric aimed at the further division of the country, expressing concern at a referendum held in the Republika Srpska (RS), calling it “a serious and direct challenge to the Dayton-Paris Peace Accords and the rule of law.”

“The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is also Annex 4 of the Peace Agreement, states explicitly that decisions of the

Constitutional Court are ‘final and binding’, and that the entities are bound to comply with the decisions of the state authorities,” said the High Representative.

“For this reason, I consider the referendum of 25 September to be a grave violation of the Peace Agreement and the rule of law. It was held against decisions of the court, including a direct order suspending the referendum,” he added.

Mr. Inzko recalled that in his reports to the Security Council he compiled a clear pattern of statements and actions to this effect, which have included calls for secession and said that in the current reporting period (16 April to 21 October), the RS President and officials from his party described the September referendum as the first in a series, to possibly include referenda against the State institutions, on the status of the RS, and on independence.

He further added that a recent move by the RS National Assembly and its speaker to decorate a number of war criminals,

including Radovan Karadzic, who was sentenced to 40 years of imprisonment for genocide, crimes against humanity and

violations of the laws or customs of war by a UN tribunal, exacerbated tensions, deeply offending the survivors of ethnic cleansing and many others.

“This act of officially decorating war criminals and architects of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Herzegovina seems intentionally designed to open the wounds and the divisions of the past,” said the High Representative.

Mr. Inzko further informed the Council of recent local elections in the country and noted that though largely peaceful, some

The Security Council unanimously adopts resolution 2315 (2016),

renewing authorization for the European Union-led multinational

stabilization force in Bosnia and Herzegovina, known as EUFOR

ALTHEA, for a further 12 months. UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

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The UN Daily News is prepared at UN Headquarters in New York by the News Services Section

of the News and Media Division, Department of Public Information (DPI)

irregularities were reported, including a suspension of the vote in the southern town of Stolac and said that the polling there would need to be repeated as soon as possible.

Outlining such challenges, he highlighted that the presence of the European Union (EU) military force, with an executive mandate, is essential to building confidence and strengthening stability.

Moving forward, the High Representative called on the international community to send a strong message to those authorities and leaders in the country who “reject rule of law and seek to reopen the wounds of the past” that they will not lead their constituencies to prosperity or integration with Euroatlantic structures.

“The leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina – with the help and guidance of the International Community – must recommit to make [it] a peaceful, stable, functional, multi-ethnic country, fully and irreversibly integrated into European structures,” he said.

The Security Council began its work today by renewing its authorization of the European-led multinational stabilization

force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUFOR ALTHEA) for another year through the unanimous adoption of a resolution urging all parties to abide fully by their commitments under the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

UNESCO chief deplores killing of television journalist in Afghanistan

8 November – The head of the United Nations agency tasked with defending press freedom today spoke out against the murder of a broadcast journalist in Afghanistan's Helmand province on 4 November.

“I deplore the killing of Nematullah Zahir,” said Irina Bokova, the Director-General of UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO), in a statement. “It is essential that the

authorities as well as media organizations in Afghanistan do all they can to improve the safety of media workers.”

Nematullah Zahir, a reporter for Ariana TV, was killed by a bomb near the city of Lashkar Gah while driving on a reporting assignment.

She said that as part of the drive to save lives and enable the media to continue informing the public, UNESCO and its

partners have published a guidebook for journalists in high-risk environments, which she called on all concerned to heed.

The Director-General of UNESCO issues statements on the killing of media workers in line with resolution 29 adopted by UNESCO Member States in 1997, entitled “Condemnation of Violence against Journalists.”

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

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