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UN AND PARTNERS RELOCATE REFUGEES IN SOUTH SUDAN TO RELIEVE OVERCROWDING
New York, Jun 12 2012 6:10PM
The United Nations refugee agency and its partners have relocated 8,000 Sudanese refugees from a transit site in the north-east of South Sudan to relieve overcrowding.

The move over the weekend follows several deaths, and the prospect of new arrivals of up to 15,000 refugees into South Sudan's Upper Nile state, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Adrian Edwards,told reporters in Geneva.

South Sudan is currently hosting more than 150,000 refugees from Sudan, many of whom have fled conflict and lack of food in their homeland. Over 112,000 of these are in Upper Nile state, while a further 51,000 are in settlements further west in Unity state.

Last week, the non-governmental organization Médecins Sans Frontières reported seven deaths among recent arrivals at the transit site of Hofra, about 25 kilometres from the border with Sudan.

"The deaths are believed to be linked to the weak state the refugees arrived in after walking for weeks from Blue Nile state with little to eat or drink," said Mr. Edwards, adding that these risk factors are amplified by the dwindling supply of water in Hofra.

The weekend emergency relocation began after food and other relief items had been distributed to all 32,000 refugees in Hofra. UNHCR took the refugees to another transit site called Kilo 18, where an estimated two weeks of water supply is available. From Kilo 18, the refugees will be relocated permanently to UNHCR's newest camp in Upper Nile state, called Yusuf Batil.

UNHCR is working with the South Sudanese authorities and local communities to identify additional refugee sites outside Maban county, where the refuges are currently hosted.

"We are searching for a suitable site in Melut county where water would be sourced from the Nile – the hope being to relocate refugees from Jammam camp to ease the pressure on limited water supplies," Mr. Edwards said.

OSCAR-WINNING ACTRESS TO PROMOTE TECHNOLOGY FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS IN NEW UN ROLE
New York, Jun 12 2012 6:10PM
The United Nations telecoms agency has designated Academy Award-winning Hollywood actress Geena Davis as a special envoy to promote the empowering role technology can play in the lives of women and girls.

Among her duties will be to promote the 'Tech Needs Girls' campaign of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) – a three-year campaign that seeks to raise global awareness of the role information and communication technologies (ICTs) can play in empowering women.

"I am delighted that Ms. Davis will be joining us in our campaign to help expand the opportunities open to women and girls, and redress the current gender imbalance in the ICT industry," <"http://www.itu.int/net/pressoffice/press_releases/2012/38.aspx">said ITU's Secretary-General, Hamadoun Touré.

The new Special Envoy for Women and Girls in the field of technology said she is "thrilled" with her latest role with the ITU.

"This role will enable me to take the work I'm doing to a much bigger scale globally, through developing and consulting on strategies to advance gender equality and the empowerment of girls and women in ICTs," said Ms. Davis.

"It's incredibly important to get more women and girls connected to technology, and a big factor in making this happen is going to be ITU's work," she added.

The 'Tech Needs Girls' campaign aims to highlight the potential of technology to transform women's lives, whether it be through ICT-based career choices or by improved access to services like e-health, e-education, e-commerce, e-banking and a host of new applications and devices that can help girls and women address their day-to-day challenges, ITU stated in a news release.

It seeks to do this with the help of high-profile ambassadors such as Ms. Davis, as well as with an extensive programme of online multimedia content, major advocacy events around the globe and key partnerships with industry, government, civil society and other UN agencies.

Earlier this year, the Geneva-based ITU launched a multilingual web portal focused on helping girls and women access training, job opportunities and career information in the ICT sector.

The Girls in ICT Portal houses over 400 programmes, including over 100 scholarship programmes and an equal number of contests and awards, some 60 training and internship opportunities, over 100 online networks offering career support and mentoring, as well as tech camps and other activities.
Jun 12 2012 6:10PM