10 stories the world should hear more about.

The annual list of "10 Stories the World Should Hear More About" was launched for the second time in 2005, drawing attention to the important stories around the world that have been sidelined by such big news events as the war in Iraq and the tsunami in the Indian Ocean. As in 2004 when the "ten stories" initiative was inaugurated, the United Nations introduced the second set on World Press Freedom Day, which since 1994 is celebrated annually on 3 May (see UN Chronicle, Issue 2, 2004).

The list, prepared by the United Nations Department of Public Information in consultation with UN field offices and specialized agencies, includes stories from a range of less known issues and underreported regions, focusing on situations and humanitarian challenges, as well as vital areas in health, human rights and development.

CAMEROON

Farming in the dark

Poor cocoa and coffee farmers in Cameroon have little chance of getting a fair price for their produce if they do not have the knowledge of the markets beyond their villages. The Internet is levelling the playing field, giving farmers in remote areas access to the latest market news.

GRENADA

A small island State struggling to recover from devastation

Three months before the tsunami, Hurricane Ivan devastated the island paradise of Grenada. The world responded generously, but most of the country's housing still remains in ruins, showing that disaster recovery needs the sustained support of the international community.

SIERRA LEONE 

Building on a hard-won peace

They have ended the conflict, disarmed thousands of combatants, freed thousands of child soldiers and watched over democratic elections. But now that the UN peacekeepers are leaving Sierra Leone, the world must remain committed to helping the country overcome the many challenges to its fragile peace.

SOMALIA

Steps on a path to fragile peace in a shattered country

Somalia is looking at its best chance for peace in 15 years, as the reconciliation process moves into a new and crucial phase and with the United Nations poised to ramp up its humanitarian assistance. However, rampant insecurity poses a steep challenge to this endeavour.

UGANDA

A humanitarian crisis that demands sustained focus

While the situation in Uganda has received growing international scrutiny over the past year, continued and sustained attention to the tragedy of civilians, particularly children, caught in the deadly conflict in the north remains a high priority.

A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE

Curbing illicit drugs through development

About 4 million peasant farmers are harnessed by poverty and drug lords to the cultivation of coca leaf and opium poppy. Most of the farmers would rather be doing something else, and the United Nations is showing them a way out.

ACTORS FOR CHANGE

The growth of human rights institutions

Defending human rights has a new tool in its arsenal. More than 100 national institutions have emerged in recent years to protect the rights of vulnerable groups and are increasingly active in human rights causes, from the prevention of torture and discrimination to conflict resolution.

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

Violence against women

Violence against women and girls is a universal problem of epidemic proportions, but its human cost often remains invisible. At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime.

ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

New insights into the spread of infectious diseases 

Scientists have offered the world another good reason to protect the environment. They have identified a loathsome catalogue of infectious diseases that have revived and thrived in places where natural habitats are altered or degraded by loggers, road and dam builders, as well as urban encroachment.

OBSTETRIC FISTULA 

Tragic blind spot in health care for women

A little known campaign to prevent crippling childbirth injuries could spare tens of thousands of women each year from incapacitating health problems and social ostracism caused by obstetric fistula.

SOMALIA

STEPS ON A PATH TO FRAGILE PEACE

Somalia, which used to dominate coverage a decade ago as a symbol of a collapsed State, has been left out of the media limelight lately, although the nation is facing a crucial challenge. The ongoing fragile reconciliation process represents the Somalis' best hope since the 1990s of rebuilding their nation in peace. At great risk, a fledgling government-in-exile, formed through a national conference involving most of the rival factions, is trying to establish itself in the country from its base in neighbouring Kenya. However, rampant insecurity, fuelled by arms embargo violations and continued factional violence, poses steep challenges to this endeavour. The insecurity has kept the presence of international media to a minimum at a time when this story needs a bright light from the outside, helping to put all parties on notice that the world is watching. Greater media exposure can also help to mobilize humanitarian aid to Somalia, which continues to face drought and famine, in addition to the deaths and damage to its coastline and fishing villages from the recent Indian Ocean tsunami.

Meanwhile, the United Nations is providing humanitarian and development assistance as best it can under the conditions while preparing a stepped-up political presence that could solidify the reconciliation process and help Somalis establish a working government. The Security Council has welcomed the establishment of the Transitional Federal Government and has urged the international community to lend political and economic support.

* Somalia is the only country in recent history to endure a prolonged period of State collapse. The capital, Mogadishu, is still awash with guns.

* Home to 400,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 800,000 returnees, the country continues to suffer from intermittent clan conflicts and recurrent droughts.

* Somalia consistently ranks among the lowest in the world on key indicators of human development, amid high mortality and malnutrition rates.

* Although recent rains have provided some respite, four consecutive years of drought have led to massive livestock losses. Overall, the drought has resulted in a livelihood crisis, indebtedness and economic stagnation.

* According to UN relief officials, aid priorities include water, sanitation, the health and education sectors, especially to the most vulnerable groups, including IDPs, returnees and minorities, who represent 20 per cent of the population.

Useful link: http://www.reliefweb.int

OBSTETRIC FISTULA

TRAGIC BLIND SPOT IN HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN

"It is better to be blind than have fistula", said one young woman, "... at least people help you". Fistula--unknown to most people in the western world--is an entirely preventable medical and social tragedy. Caused by complications during childbirth when emergency obstetric care is not available, the condition results in long-term, chronic incontinence and can lead to kidney failure and even death. Damage to the nerves in the legs leaves some women unable to walk, and in 95 per cent of cases, the baby dies. Women suffering from fistulas are ostracized by their communities and abandoned by their families. Without treatment, prospects for work and family life are greatly diminished. Many become beggars in order to survive.

The World Health Organization estimates that more than 2 million women in developing countries are living with fistula, and an additional 50,000 to 100,000 new cases occur each year. Doctors campaigning to bring world attention to the dimensions of fistula say it could be prevented if young girls gave birth later, had adequate medical care during pregnancy and received emergency obstetric care during complications. In developing countries, however, only 58 per cent of women give birth with the assistance of a professional midwife or doctor, and only 40 per cent in a hospital or health centre. "Obstetric fistula is a double sorrow because women lose their babies and also their dignity", says Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). "We hope that the Global Campaign to End Fistula will eventually make the condition as rare in Africa and Asia as it is in other parts of the world."

* The Global Campaign to End Fistula, launched two years ago by UNFPA and its partners, is able to provide only partial support to about 30 countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.

* At risk are women living in remote rural areas with little access to medical care.

* It costs only $300 to restore the health and dignity of a woman suffering from fistula, but that is way beyond the means of people in countries where the annual income is much less than that amount. The success rate for fistula repair can be as high as 90 per cent.

* In February 2005, the Global Campaign and the Government of Nigeria supported restorative surgery for 545 women in just two weeks; there may be as many as 800,000 women with fistula in that country.

* If current demand for family planning services in developing countries were met, maternal deaths and injuries could be reduced by 20 per cent or more.

* Fistula has been eliminated in Europe and North America through improved obstetric care.

Useful link: http://www.endfistula.org

UGANDA

A SUSTAINED HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

While the situation in Uganda has received growing international scrutiny over the past year, continued and sustained attention to the tragedy of civilians, particularly children, caught in the deadly conflict in the north of the country remains a high priority. UN relief officials have repeatedly expressed concern about the neglected humanitarian crisis in northern Uganda, where up to 1.6 million persons have been displaced by the conflict with the rebel Lord's Resistance Army, notorious for its campaigns of lootings, murders, mutilations and abduction of children to serve its militia.

To provide context, the number of internally displaced persons in the area is close to that of Darfur, Sudan, but the plight of Ugandan children is especially troubling. "It is mind-boggling how little international attention there has been and how difficult it has been over the years to fund the work for the children, the reintegration of the children who have escaped, and a real response to the crisis in the north", says Jan Egeland, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Conditions in the IDP camps across the north are poor, despite improvements over the last year and a half. Medical care, water and sanitation are well below standard. Insecurity has been a major limiting factor, and this is linked to the relatively small humanitarian presence in the north.

* Uganda has rich agricultural potential, but more than half the population lives in abject poverty with insufficient food.

* The World Food Programme in 2004 provided emergency supplies to a record 2.8 million persons, but a shortfall on resources threatens its delivery capacity in 2005. In the northern Karamoja district, the number dependent on food assistance was expected to quadruple, from 117,000 in March to 570,000 people in April.

* Families living outside the camps continue to keep their children in secure lodgings for fear that the rebels will raid their villages at night. According to the United Nations Children's Fund, there were 11,000 of these "night commuters" in the district of Gulu alone in March 2005.

* The United Nations sought $158 million for Uganda in 2004 as part of its overall $1.7 billion appeal for 2005; most of the funds were targeted to providing basic goods and services, such as clinics, clean water and sanitation, food and supplies.

Useful link: http://www.reliefweb.int

ACTORS FOR CHANGE

THE GROWTH OF HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS

What does an improved status of the Tsaatan minority in Mongolia have in common with the rescue of child soldiers in Uganda, the probe into cases of forced disappearances in Mexico, or the documents on police training in Northern Ireland? These examples reflect a promising trend: a growing role and effectiveness of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights. "Building strong human rights institutions at the country level is what in the long run will ensure that human rights are protected and advanced in a sustained manner", Secretary-General Kofi Annan stressed in 2002. Since the General Assembly unanimously adopted in 1993 the so-called Paris Principles--minimum standards concerning national human rights institutions--many countries have worked with the United Nations to establish or enhance such bodies. The majority of existing national institutions can be grouped in two broad categories: human rights commissions and ombudsmen. Less common but no less important are the "specialized" national institutions, which function to protect the rights of vulnerable groups. Already numbering more than 100, they complement the work of UN human rights organs and are increasingly active in a wide range of human rights causes.

* The Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan in January 2005 launched a report titled A Call to Justice. Afghans for the first time were asked to express their views on vital issues of peace, security and justice.

* The Danish Institute for Human Rights is creating a knowledge database to raise awareness of the specific impact and consequences of anti-terrorism legislation.

* In Mexico, the official probe into the forced disappearance of 532 persons during the 1970s and 1980s had limited results until the National Human Rights Commission intervened and was able to throw light on that tragic episode.

* The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, established as an outcome of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement of 1998, has investigated and supported through courts key cases on issues covering all political and religious viewpoints.

* The National Human Rights Commission of Mongolia has made a significant contribution to securing the rights of the Tsaatans, the smallest ethnic minority in the country, residing in an isolated mountainous area.

* The Ugandan Human Rights Commission, despite the challenges of working in conflict areas, has investigated reports of recruitment of child soldiers and made recommendations on their reintegration into society.

* The National Human Rights Commission in India has made efforts to create an environment in which economic, social and cultural rights could be better promoted and protected.

Useful links: http://www.nhri.net/

http://www.ohchr.org/english/countries/institutions/index.htm

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Violence against women and girls is a universal problem of epidemic proportions. At least one out of three women worldwide has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime. The abuser is usually someone known to the victim. A World Bank report estimates that such violence was as serious a cause of death and incapacity among women of reproductive age as cancer, and a greater cause of ill health than traffic accidents and malaria combined.

In 2002, the Council of Europe declared violence against women a public health emergency and a major cause of death and disability for women 16 to 44 years of age. A 2003 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that the costs of intimate-partner violence in the United States alone exceed $5.8 billion per year: $4.1 billion in direct medical and health care services, and almost $1.8 billion in productivity losses. For the most part, the human cost of gender-based violence is invisible. Fear and shame continue to prevent many women from speaking out, and data collected is often insufficient and inconsistent. Even in countries that enjoy relative peace and prosperity, many women are living in a constant state of insecurity. Countries reporting the incidence of violence are often the ones doing the most to counter it.

* Violence against women occurs in all regions and countries and much of it is invisible. Police around the world say that many rape victims do not report the crime.

* In the Dominican Republic, reports indicate that in cases of violence against women, the aggressors are either current or former partners of the victims in 40 to 68 per cent of the cases. In Georgia, it has been reported that 50 per cent of families experience some form of domestic violence; while in India, statistics indicate that 14 wives are murdered by their husbands' families every day.

* According to a 2002 WHO report, studies in Australia, Canada, Israel, South Africa and the United States have shown that 40 to 70 per cent of murdered women were killed by their intimate partners, usually in the context of an abusive relationship. In the United Kingdom, 40 per cent of female homicide victims are killed by their husbands or boyfriends.

* A study in Sweden found that 70 per cent of women had experienced some form of violence or sexual harassment. Statistics from the Netherlands show that about 200,000 women are subjected to violence each year by their intimate partners.

* It has been reported that 6 in 10 women in Botswana are victims of domestic violence, while in Moldova 31 per cent of girls and young women, aged 16 to 19, are reported to have experienced sexual violence.

Useful links: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw

http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/women/rapporteur

http://www.unifem.org/campaigns/november25/issue.php

http://www.who.int/svri/en

SIERRA LEONE

BUILDING ON A HARD-WON PEACE

After a five-year mission that has brought peace and raised hopes for a better future, UN peacekeepers are leaving Sierra Leone. But while the media focus might have shifted to other crises, the world must remain committed as the country battles to overcome the many challenges that remain.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) has been one of the world Organization's most visible successes, having been deployed in the wake of a brutal civil conflict that left at least 75,000 dead and many more maimed. The United Nations disarmed more than 72,500 combatants, including some 20,000 child soldiers, and guided a peace process towards the creation of a new national government. It has worked to help regulate the nation's trade in diamonds--the fuel for its bitter conflict--for the benefit of the entire country. However, the UN-supported peace in the country is fragile, and Sierra Leone remains one of the world's poorest. Its borders are porous, the surrounding West African subregion is unstable, unemployment in the country is widespread and there is a large pool of ex-combatants who could again take up arms.

* The remaining peacekeepers in Sierra Leone are to leave by December 2005. At its maximum strength, the United Nations deployed 17,500 so-called blue helmets to maintain security as government forces were reconstituted, while UN civilian workers disarmed combatants, oversaw democratic elections and resettled thousands of refugees.

* Peace is not sustainable without justice. The UN-established Special Court for Sierra Leone began war crime trials in 2004 against 13 indictees, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission recently completed its work, recommending compensation for war victims and reconciliation among factions.

* Sierra Leoneans remain concerned that the closure of the UN mission would threaten the fragile peace and give reason for supporters of war crimes indictees to cause trouble.

* Unemployment, especially among the youths who make up the majority of the population, is rampant. Mismanagement of natural resources, including diamonds, could be a source of new conflicts as poverty levels rise.

* A border dispute with neighbouring Guinea, which is teetering on the brink of violence, could threaten stability if it remains unresolved. External security is less than assured unless the army is well-equipped and better-trained.

Useful links: http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unamsil

http://www.sl.undp.org and http://www.sc-sl.org

ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

NEW INSIGHTS INTO INFECTIOUS DISEASES

The impact of human activity on the environment takes numerous forms, many well publicized, but experts seem to have now identified another side effect of this interaction that has direct implications for people's health. The United Nations Environment Programme cautions that the loss of forests, road and dam building, the spread of cities, the clearing of natural habitats for agriculture and mining, and the pollution of coastal waters are promoting conditions under which new and old pathogens--bacteria, viruses and micro-organisms causing diseases--can thrive. UNEP notes that intact habitats and landscapes tend to keep infectious agents in check, whereas damaged, altered and degraded ones shift the natural balance, thereby triggering the spread of new and existing diseases to people. It also points to possible linkages with climate change, which can alter temperatures to the advantage of carriers such as mosquitoes, or stress the environment and alter habitats to such a degree that people migrate as "environmental refugees". WHO has noted the appearance of at least 30 new diseases in the last two decades which threaten the health of hundreds of millions of people.

* Mosquitoes transmit more than 100 viruses known to infect humans, including encephalitis, dengue fever, yellow fever and haemorrhagic fever. A recent study found that even a 1-per-cent rise in deforestation in Peru increases the number of malaria-bearing mosquitoes by 8 per cent. It shows that the insects "ran wild" after 30 to 40 per cent of the forest was destroyed.

* Rapid, unplanned urbanization has been identified as the major driving force behind an explosion of dengue fever, from less than 1,000 cases per year in the 1950s to a situation in which some 2.5 million people are at risk today.

* The highly pathogenic Nipah virus, which was found until recently only in Asian fruit bats in Indonesia and Malaysia, has been tied to forest loss. A UNEP report observes that forest fires in Sumatra and deforestation in Malaysia forced bats into closer contact with domestic pigs that gave the virus its chance to spread to pig farmers in the late 1990s.

* A study on gem-mining areas in Sri Lanka has shown that the shallow pits left behind by the miners are ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes and are epicentres of malaria.

* In the United States, cases of the tick-borne Lyme disease have surged as humans have moved into forested areas where tick-carrying deer thrive.

Useful links: http://www.who.int/topics/en

http://www.unep.org/dpdl/Themes/health_environment.asp

http://www.cdc.gov/node.do/id/0900f3ec8000e035

CAMEROON

FARMING WITH THE HELP OF THE INTERNET

Lack of knowledge about markets and prices is a key factor in keeping poor farmers "dirt poor". African producers of cocoa and coffee earn as little as one twelfth of the international market rate for their crops. In the dark over prices being realized in local and world markets, they remain at the mercy of middlemen, traders and corporations. What is true in Africa is equally true in Asia or Latin America.

Increasing farmers' access to information on markets and prices, central in efforts to break out of the poverty cycle, is now given a massive boost by opportunities that new technology can provide in bringing knowledge to even the remotest farming community. INFOSHARE, a technical assistance project run by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, gives commodity producers access to the information they need to negotiate better prices and get their produce into high-paying markets. Cameroon, with about 900,000 cocoa and coffee smallholders, is testing the system, and early interest indicates it will expand into other countries and crop sectors as soon as 2006. Villagers without access to the Internet will be able to get the information twice daily from national radio broadcasts and use it to set fair and realistic prices. It is estimated that greater market transparency in Cameroon will enable small-scale farmers to increase their returns by 10 to 15 per cent.

* When average world commodity prices rise, profits tend to go mostly to large trading companies, not to small-scale farmers. In 2003, the prices of cocoa and coffee rose 27 per cent, but coffee farmers saw their share fall from 37 per cent in the early 1990s to between 6 and 8 per cent in the new millennium. Cocoa producers get about 7 per cent of the supermarket value.

* Another reason poor farmers do not profit from price increases on the world market is that they must sell at harvest because they cannot afford to stockpile. Any gains go to middlemen and traders.

* Without information on which to base their production, small-scale farmers have no way to hedge against overproduction, but with advance information they could plant less or attempt to diversify.

* INFOSHARE is an information-sharing database system that is part of INFOCOMM, an UNCTAD Internet portal that provides pricing, product and market information free of charge on some 20 commodity sectors, used by 12-15 million people worldwide, with 60 per cent in developing countries.

* Several other Internet projects are helping the poor improve their lives worldwide. Infothela, a project in rural India organized by the Indian Institute of Technology, is a vehicle resembling a rickshaw that uses a pedal generator to keep an onboard computer running, providing free wireless Internet access to people in remote villages.

Useful link: http://unctad.org/infocomm

GRENADA

STRUGGLING TO RECOVER FROM DEVASTATION

Oceans away from the December 2004 tsunami, Grenada is living proof of how difficult it can be to translate outpourings of international assistance into recovery and reconstruction.

In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan swept the Caribbean, taking 80 per cent of Grenada's infrastructure with it and devastating its spice and tourist industries. The international community responded generously to the calamity, which left 90 per cent of 28,000 houses in shambles. But seven months later, the "Spice Island"--known for its nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, ginger and cloves--is still struggling to pull itself back together. Most of the nutmeg trees that made Grenada the world's second-largest producer were uprooted by Ivan, and although cruise ships are returning with tourists, most of those who serve them have yet to rebuild their homes.

Grenada's experience is mirrored in the city of Bam, Iran, as it struggles to recover from the 2003 earthquake. Both make clear that disaster recovery is a long-term affair that needs sustained support from the international community.

* Grenada's housing target in 2005 is the reconstruction of 1,000 homes; as of March, only 23 had been rebuilt with government assistance and another 50 under construction. It is estimated that some 10,000 homes will need to be constructed with public aid.

* With thousands of people traumatized by the hurricane, the need to deal with its psychosocial dimension has become an important element of the recovery process, which the Government is trying to address by formulating a national wellness programme.

* Among positive developments, having received relatively high funding and attention from the international community, the education sector is on the road to recovery. All schools have reopened, although some are operating in shifts and most buildings have made at least temporary repairs.

Useful link: www.reliefweb.int

A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE CURBING ILLICIT DRUGS THROUGH DEVELOPMENT

The fight against illicit drugs hardly lacks media spotlight, especially when authorities intercept a large shipment or arrest a drug kingpin. Far less visible but no less important are efforts to curb the cultivation of illicit drug crops, such as coca leaf and opium poppy, which often remain the sole source of income for an estimated 4 million desperately poor farmers worldwide. "Alternative development"--a process supported by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) that offers legal options to communities dependent on income from illicit activities--is often the only way to combat illicit activities from inside, working on farmers' well-being rather than on their fears.

Turkey and Thailand were the first countries in the world to succeed in the sustainable elimination of illicit opium cultivation. The Thai Government worked closely with the United Nations on projects in the nation's highlands that offered poor ethnic minority villagers and farmers economic alternatives to drug crops. In Colombia, the UN agency teamed up with the Government and the supermarket giant Carrefour to wean farmers from illicit crops by assuring them of income from legal activities. Carrefour gives free space in its supermarkets for the produce from such projects and even buys the products at a loss during market downturns. In the Lao People's Democratic Republic, UNODC is helping the Government to meet a pledge to end opium cultivation by the end of 2005, removing some five tons of heroin from the international drug market. For the world's third highest illicit opium-producing country, this is a steep challenge, but remarkable gains have already been made.

* There are an estimated 4 million growers of illicit crops, most living below the poverty line, with roughly 50 per cent of their income realized through drug-crop cultivation. But experience has shown that given alternative income options, farmers are quick to abandon drug cultivation and embrace legitimate opportunities to make a living.

* Turkey has been free of illicit opium cultivation. Licit poppy cultivation is continuing without diversions to serve medical needs since 1974.

* Thailand has been opium-free since 1993. In less than a decade, Laos and Myanmar have reduced opium production by 78 per cent.

* Colombia is the world's leading supplier of coca/cocaine. In 2003, it produced 67 per cent of the global supply of cocaine, but has decreased its coca cultivation by nearly 50 per cent, from 160,100 in 1999 to 86,000 hectares in 2003.

* Goods produced as part of the UNODC alternative development programme in Colombia generated $2 million in 2004, with Carrefour accounting for over half of those sales.

* In Afghanistan, an alternative development project includes promotion of opportunities for self-employment and small-scale commercial enterprises, introduction of a rural credit system, and training programmes for women in basic family health and livestock production, but daily the country faces the challenge presented by continued instability and insecurity in many areas.

Useful link: http://www.unodc.org/unodc/index.html