Tag: Unami

Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson of the secretary-general of the United Nations, spoke to Rudaw in an interview on Wednesday in New York about the UN’s role in Iraq’s first census since 1997 and the first official population count including provinces in the Kurdistan Region since 1987. Haq said that the United Nations’ role is entirely “technical” and “it will be the responsibility of the Government of Iraq to use that data in order to create a transparent census.”

A major concern by Kurds with the implementation of the census has to do with it being conducted in areas like Kirkuk which remain disputed under Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution. When asked, Haq responded that “the UN has encouraged the Government of Iraq to reach out to all its communities and be sensitive to all their concerns.”

The mandate for the UN Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) completes at the end of 2025. Haq detailed that “its mandate has been streamlined,” and the census “is not a responsibility of the UNAMI mission.” Haq emphasized that through the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the Iraqi government is being supported technically “to conduct a transparent, a unbiased census.

Below is the transcript for the interview.

Rudaw: Farhan, thank you so much for the opportunity. My first question: How will the United Nations collaborate with Iraq to facilitate the first census since 1997?

Farhan Haq: What the United Nations is trying to do, including through the UN Population Fund – what’s known as UNFPA – is to basically offer contemporary methodologies that will help allow for the best way of disseminating census results, and then using them for the purposes of development data. So, we’re just trying to make sure that this will be, technically, the most up-to-date way of conducting a census.

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TEXAS (KXAN) — Order up! Yelp released its Top 100 restaurants list for 2024, and foodies across the country had plenty of love for the sunbelt region. Top-ranked restaurants in Arizona, Florida and Texas comprised 30% of this year’s list, with notable love for the San Antonio and Houston areas in the Lone Star State.

Here’s a breakdown of all the Texas restaurants included in this year’s roundup.

No. 9: Gino’s Deli Stop N Buy in San Antonio

Located at 13210 Huebner Road in San Antonio, Gino’s Deli Stop N Buy is noted for its Philly cheesesteaks that feature ribeye, provolone cheese, bell peppers, onions and jalapeños. Each day, Gino’s sells almost 250 of those sandwiches, according to Yelp’s coverage.

No. 27: Burger-chan in Houston

Yelp acknowledged this burger restaurant has landed on its Top 100 list for the second consecutive year. Located at 5353 W. Alabama St., Ste. 110 in Houston, Burger-chan is noted for its “unami-powered burgers,” per Yelp’s analysis, adding offerings include beef, chicken, fish and falafel entrees with a secret sauce on top.

No. 38: Tacos Doña Lena in Houston

Twice-recognized Tacos Doña Lena returns to Yelp’s rankings. The fast-casual spot at 8788 Hammerly Blvd., Ste. G in Houston, features tacos, tortas, handmade gorditas, sopes and birria tacos.

No. 61: Avesta Persian Grill in Houston

For nearly a decade, Avesta Persian Grill has been serving up stews, kabobs, rice, curries and appetizers. Located at 11165 Westheimer Road in Houston, owner Zaffar Anvari’s restaurant pulls recipes from his home country of Tajikistan, per Yelp.

No. 63: Pappa Gyros in Katy

RELATED: Austin food truck named best taco spot in Texas by Yelp

Pappas Gyros marries midwestern comfort diner…

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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) on Wednesday welcomed the start of the Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary elections campaigning period and called for a peaceful process.

“The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) welcomes the commencement today of the campaign period for the upcoming Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections scheduled for 20 October 2024,” UNAMI said in a statement.

The UN mission emphasized the need for a campaign free of violence and intimidation.

“UNAMI looks to all candidates, other political actors and the media to foster a climate of respect, inclusivity and open dialogue throughout the campaign,” continued the statement.

Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) on Tuesday announced September 25 as the first date of election campaigns which will last until midnight on October 15.

A total of 1,191 candidates are vying for the 100-seat Kurdistan parliament, according to IHEC. That number includes 823 men, 368 women, and 38 candidates from minority communities.

Nearly 2.9 million people are eligible to vote, including around 215,000 early voters. There will be 1,400 polling stations, including locations in the disputed areas and most Iraqi provinces, for eligible voters.

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Tuesday called on the political parties to run a peaceful campaign, while remaining respectful to women and the symbols of ethnic and religious minorities.

Early voting for security forces and internally displaced persons (IDPs) is scheduled for October 18, while the general vote will take place on October 20.

The electoral process has faced numerous challenges, with interference from Baghdad exacerbating tensions between the Kurdistan Region’s political parties, particularly between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). 

The Kurdistan Region last held elections in 2018. The upcoming elections were initially scheduled for 2022, but have been delayed several times.

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Published: 2:00 pm EDT September 23, 2024Published: September 23, 2024Updated: 1:00 pm EDT September 23, 2024

Image via Desis of Doylestown, Facebook.

Desis of Doylestown welcomed more than 200 people for its Garba Fundraiser event held on September 20 at Unami Middle School in Chalfont,

Desis of Doylestown welcomed more than 200 people for its Garba Fundraiser event held on September 20 at Unami Middle School in Chalfont, writes Emily Neil for WHYY.

The Bucks County nonprofit, which counts among its members people of Bangladeshi, Indian, Nepali, Pakistani, and Sri Lankan descent, organized the fundraiser to raise money for its fourth annual free Diwali celebration. The upcoming event will be held at Pearl S. Buck House on October 27.

Garba is an Indian circle community dance that celebrates the divine feminine supreme Durga — a Hindu goddess — and marks the passage of time. On Friday, participants dressed up in their best sarees and ghagras and danced in concentric circles as they provided a glimpse into what the nine-day festival looks like in India.

Desis of Doylestown’s youth group planned the event with the aim of educating and sharing more from both within and beyond the local South Asian community to make sure that the children do not feel like they are outsiders.

“Desis are Pennsylvanians, part of this community,” said Desis of Doylestown co-founder Sheela Rai. “We are integral to the community.”

Read more about the Garba fundraiser and how Bucks County’s South Asian community is celebrating their culture in WHYY.

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Baghdad – INA
 
Hussein Al-Alawi, advisor to the Prime Minister, stated on Sunday that Prime Minister Muhammad Shia’ Al-Sudani will lead Iraq’s delegation at the United Nations General Assembly, where he will discuss key sustainable development indicators and advocate for productive diplomacy for international cooperation and concluding the UNAMI mission.

Al-Alawi confirmed that the Prime Minister will formally present Iraq’s comprehensive development strategy during the Assembly sessions.
In remarks to the Iraqi News Agency (INA), Al-Alawi articulated, “Iraq is embracing a proactive diplomatic approach designed to foster sustained international cooperation within the global framework, while simultaneously facilitating the transition for ending the mission of UNAMI. This effort is complemented by ongoing collaboration with various United Nations agencies.”

He underscored Iraq’s commitment to leveraging the opportunity presented by the 79th session of the UN General Assembly in 2024 as a global platform for dialogue. This session will enable the Iraqi government to communicate its policies and development strategies effectively, allowing for discussions on progress across multiple sectors, including labor, social issues, and governance.
Al-Alawi highlighted the government’s focus on developmental renaissance through the announcement of a five-year plan, alongside initiatives to adapt to climate change and combat the effects of global warming.
He also noted the launch of the “Zero Flame” initiative aimed at eliminating gas flaring, which the government has actively pursued for the past 23 months, emphasizing that these initiatives have invigorated the oil, gas, and renewable energy sectors, setting Iraq on a transformative path toward a new era. Furthermore, he mentioned that the government is targeting an increase in the utilization of flared gas from 69% to 75%, with aspirations to position Iraq among the world’s top five gas producers. Ongoing efforts are also directed toward enhancing energy production and establishing a robust industrial environment reliant on gas to achieve…

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Executive Summary

Iraq is among the world’s most climate vulnerable countries because of its geographic location and existing environmental fragility which interact with socio-economic and institutional factors. While Iraq is enjoying its most stable period since 2003, governance challenges, instability and violence still exist. Climate change has the potential to exacerbate these existing tensions to undermine peace and increase the risk of conflict. This report identifies four primary localised climate, peace and security risk pathways in Iraq. It further proposes entry points for climate, peace and security interventions and provides recommendations for addressing climate, peace, and security risks.

The primary localised climate, peace and security risk pathways in Iraq are: 1) direct competition for natural resources, 2) exploitation of natural resources by armed actors, 3) limited and politically motivated assistance for climate-displacement and 4) non-participatory, centralised natural resource management.

Direct competition for natural resources manifests itself as regular inter-community conflicts, primarily disputes about surface and ground water. Community conflicts in Iraq are often referred to as tribal conflicts. However, this oversimplifies the climate, peace and security relationships since the groups in conflict often have access to significant weapons and have affiliations with other armed groups and political parties. As a result, water conflicts can escalate quickly, leading to injuries and fatalities. Better natural resource management and governance, especially the reduction of water loss and pollution, is needed to reduce the risks of conflict. Integrated water resource management initiatives supported by the UN and the Government of Iraq should be clearly informed by climate, peace and security risk analysis to ensure positive peace and security impacts.

The exploitation of natural resources by armed actors is a significant and growing climate, peace and security risk in Iraq. It is reflective of the wider integration of armed groups in the social, political…

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Tahar Boumedra, President of the Justice for Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI) spoke passionately at the Iranian Resistance conference about his experiences witnessing human rights abuses in Iraq, particularly against residents of Ashraf.

Drawing on his time with the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), Boumedra recounted his unrestricted access to Camp Ashraf and the harrowing abuses he witnessed there. He described his role as often being reduced to counting the bodies of victims, a grim duty that eventually led to his resignation from the UN in protest. Boumedra also detailed his defiance against attempts by the UN Legal Affairs Department to silence him, underscoring his commitment to speaking out against injustices.

Boumedra praised Professor Javaid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, for his courage and impartiality in documenting human rights violations. He emphasized that Rehman’s work is widely appreciated and assured him of global support from advocates of peace and justice.

In closing, Boumedra reaffirmed his dedication to exposing human rights abuses and standing in solidarity with the Iranian people and the Iranian Resistance.

The full text of Tahar Boumedra’s speech follows:

Thank you. Thank you very much, brothers and sisters in Ashraf 3. I salute you warmly. Let me say that I thank very much the speakers who took the floor before me, and I’m not going to repeat the legal issues that they addressed.

I’m just going to share with you probably what I would call a testimony, reporting to you exactly my experience in a very short way because I hope that Professor Javaid Rehman will benefit from what I went through…

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The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) revealed new details on Sunday regarding the “Speicher Massacre” in Salah al-Din Governorate, which occurred during the control of ISIS over the province in 2014.

In a report obtained by Shia Waves Agency, the mission stated that “in the compounds of the presidential palaces, after consulting with ISIS’s top leadership, the ruler of Salah al-Din, affiliated with the terrorist group, ordered that repentance be offered to Sunnis while Shias were to be killed. Members of ISIS were then deployed to four or five execution sites throughout the complex.”

The report further explained, “The captives were gathered in groups and taken to execution sites where they were either lying on the ground or kneeling before being shot at close range. The bodies were buried in mass graves within the palace complex or thrown into the river.”

It continued, “The bodies of the victims who were executed and thrown into the river floated on the surface of the Tigris for days after the incident. The remains of the buried victims that were recovered indicate that 97% of those executed were young males aged 35 or younger, most of whom were wearing civilian clothes.”

The report also highlighted that “the killings continued for at least three days, involving the active participation of about 100 to 150 ISIS members. Among the perpetrators were ISIS fighters who initially entered Tikrit on June 11, escapees from prisons, and local sleeper cells affiliated with the terrorist organization.”

The killings were documented by ISIS, which later released at least two videos showing shocking scenes of abuse and execution. One of the videos, titled “Camp Speicher: The Mass Killing Method and the Intent of Genocide—Kill Them Wherever You Find Them”, clearly illustrates ISIS’s genocidal policy against Shias.”

The mission also noted…

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Karbala’, 31 August 2024

Ladies and gentlemen,

Distinguished audience,

It is a great honour for me to address this learned audience today. I am particularly pleased as I have written on the philosophical foundations of human rights and have worked on these issues for more than 30 years. During this time I learned the values of humility and of listening to those with different views than mine.

In this spirit of open dialogue, allow me today to briefly talk about the role of the United Nations on the protection and promotion of human rights globally, as well as some of the contemporary challenges, before offering some observations relating to Iraq.

Ladies and gentlemen,

As you know, the key United Nations human rights document is the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This document has opened the way to many important international treaties on this subject. I welcome the fact that Iraq today is a party to all core international human rights treaties.

The Universal Declaration has also inspired regional initiatives such as the 1990 Cairo declaration on human rights in Islam adopted by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Despite differences between them, the two declarations share common values such as the emphasis on the inherent dignity of all individuals – the right of every person regardless of who they are.

I wish to stress here that international human rights standards are not Western standards. Many have indeed attained near-universal acceptance, as they reflect fundamental principles such as human dignity, fairness, compassion and non-discrimination that are rooted in many cultures and religious traditions, including Islam.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Among contemporary challenges is the poor record of implementation of the existing human rights treaties across the world. Take for example torture: just about every state condemns it, but it is still…

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