News Briefs: October 19, 2006
Relief in Pakistan falling short
Sunday, October 8, marked one year since a massive earthquake shook parts of Pakistan. The earthquake, the strongest in more than a century, killed some 80,000 people, injured at least 200,000, and left nearly 3.5 million people without shelter. Now, 12 months later, the picture remains grim for many of those affected, with less than two percent of houses in the most seriously affected areas rebuilt. It means that hundreds of thousands of people are preparing to endure another winter without shelter, and there is much evidence to suggest that these communities are facing another humanitarian emergency.
When the earthquake struck, the Pakistani authorities and the international community were quick to respond with lifesaving emergency aid. Yet financial support from the international community soon dried up. Donations have fallen around US$151 million short of the UN’s target for relief and rehabilitation activities.
As a member of Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, Canadian Lutheran World Relief continues to accept donations for rebuilding in Pakistan. For more information click on http://act-intl.org/news/dt_nr_2006/photoessaypakistan0106.html.
– With files from ACT International
Microfinance pioneer earns Nobel Peace Prize
The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank he founded for the simple yet revolutionary idea of loaning tiny sums of capital to the poor and ultra-poor to help them start businesses.
Yunus' notion, today known as microcredit, has spread around the globe in the past three decades and is said to have helped more than 100 million people take their first steps to rising out of poverty. Some bought dairy cows, others bought egg-laying hens. In recent years, money for a single cell phone has been enough to start thriving enterprises in isolated villages without phone lines from East Asia to West Africa.
CLWR recognizes that basic economic development within a community is essential to establishing personal health, security and prosperity. CLWR supports microfinance projects in places like Bolivia, where group leaders are trained in financial management so that group members can effectively leverage pooled savings. Microfinance Day is being celebrated this Friday, October 20.
– With files from Associated Press
LWF recognizes selection of next UN Secretary-General
GENEVA, 13 October 2006 – Lutheran World Federation (LWF) General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, has congratulated South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon on his appointment as the next Secretary-General of the United Nations.
The UN General Assembly appointed Mr Ban, 62, on Friday, October 13, to succeed Mr. Kofi Annan, whose second five-year term expires on December 31, 2006. The UN Security Council had nominated the South Korean for this position early in the week. He assumes office on January 1, 2007.
In a statement issued last Friday, Noko pointed out that Ban will take up his new role “confronted by a formidable set of challenges, perhaps more so than at any previous point in the history of the United Nations.” He will inherit the continuing security and human rights problems posed by international terrorism and the so-called “war against terror,” the LWF general secretary stated.
– Lutheran World Federation
|
|
|
Resources
