Strengthening women’s access to justice to take centre stage at upcoming Session of UN General Assembly

Press Release 220/2012
24 September 2012

The first high-level meeting of the General Assembly dedicated solely to the rule of law is taking place during the 67the UN General Assembly next Monday. World leaders will focus on strengthening the rule of law, underlining its role in securing international peace and security, furthering development and in the achievement of universal human rights. The meeting will bring together governments and civil society to review progress made and challenges that exist at the national and international level to strengthen the rule of law.

On 24th September, on the occasion of the High Level Meeting on the Rule of Law, the Governments of Finland and South Africa, along with UN Women, will host a high level event focusing on women’s access to justice. Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Ban Ki-Moon, the President of Finland, Mr Sauli Niinistö and the President of South Africa, Mr Jacob Zuma, Executive Director of UN Women, Ms Michelle Bachelet and Nobel Laureate, Ms Shirin Ebadi are among speakers.

Today, the rule of law often rules women out. Obstacles persist which prevent women from accessing legal protection for their rights, resulting in discrimination and inequality that hamper women’s ability to live free of violence and to contribute as full and equal citizens. These obstacles can be overcome through dedicated action by all. Ahead of the meeting, Governments of Finland and South Africa and UN Women are calling on governments to show strong commitment, and accelerate actions and policies to increase women’s access to justice and foster a responsive justice system that advances women’s equal rights.

At the event, governments will be invited to make concrete commitments to policy actions and highlight initiatives to advance women’s access to justice.

The event will be webcasted live at http://webtv.un.org (on Monday 24 September, at 20.00-21.45 current local time in Finland)

For additional information please contact: Head of Unit Satu Suikkari-Kleven, satu.suikkari-kleven(a)formin.fi, tel. +358 40 760 3578, Counsellor Liisa Valjento, liisa.valjento(a)formin.fi, tel. +358 40 350 6148, Press Secretary Pirjo-Liisa Heikkilä, The Permanent Mission of Finland to the UN, pirjo-liisa.heikkila(a)formin.fi, tel. +1 917 294 3915

Source: Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

Establishing the Magaliesberg Biosphere Area

Finland supports the Magaliesberg Biosphere Area which aims at sustainably balanced relationship between people and the environment. The initiative took a step forward in early June when the North West Department of Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism organised a launching ceremony.

For over a decade Finland has been part of a co-operation scheme between Finnish and South African environmental administrations. The latest, still on-going, mutual effort has been the Support to Magaliesberg Biosphere Initiative. The Initiative has been supported through an Institutional Cooperation Instrument (ICI) project financed by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

The cooperation is based on exchange of experiences and knowledge between the experts of the Finnish Environment Institute, the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for Central Finland and the Gauteng and North West Province administrations in South Africa. The project has aimed at creating a new biosphere reserve in the Magaliesberg mountain area situated in the two provinces. There are already six existing biospheres in South Africa and two in Finland. The establishment process of Lake Päijänne-Vesijärvi biosphere in Finland has also benefited from the ICI-project.

Biosphere reserves are areas internationally recognised within the framework of the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme of the UNESCO. It is an innovative and sustainable approach to managing land and water resources across landscapes made up of one or more bioregions. Biospheres aim at improving livelihoods, enhancing social, economic and cultural conditions, and contributing towards environmental sustainability through means of consolidated land-use guidance and environmentally sound demonstration projects.

Varied Land-Use Forms in the Unique Mountain Area

The Magaliesberg mountain area is situated about 100 km to the north-west of the City of Johannesburg. It has a rich history and biodiversity that forms an important part of the natural and cultural heritage of South Africa. The habitat variety supports more than 130 tree species, 90 mammal species, 80 reptile and amphibian species, and over 450 bird species. The Magaliesberg Mountain along with the Cradle of the Humankind, an area where evidence of the beginning of human race has been traced at, will form the protected core area of the Biosphere.

Many human activities are increasing in the region. Increasing pressures from urbanisation, industrialisation, mining and resulting pollution are major threats to the fragile nature of Magaliesberg.

The zoning of the biosphere defines the allowed and prioritised human activities within the biosphere. A buffer zone usually surrounds the protected core area. In the case of Magaliesberg, voluntary conservancies form the buffer where environmental education, recreation and ecotourism are main activities. The transition zones are areas in which human activities may affect the core and buffer zones and are therefore collaboratively and carefully managed by the various stakeholders to ensure development that is environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.
Constructive Cooperation

The Magaliesberg Biosphere Initiative took a significant step forward in the beginning of June 2012 when the North West Department of Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism organised a launching ceremony during which the province and affected stakeholders formally endorsed the Magaliesberg Biosphere Reserve.

The Premier of the North West Province, Ms. Thandi Modise called on young people to be actively involved in the preservation and conservation of the environment. She urged people to pay attention to the damage being done to the earth and to the impact this would have on future generations.

Premier Modise acknowledged the role of their international funders and partners: "This project could not have been successful without the partnership that we forged with the Finnish Environment Institute and Central Finland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment", she said.

The Chairman of the Magaliesberg Biosphere Initiative Group, Mr. Vincent Carruthers, also expressed appreciation to the Finnish delegation and the funding which made it possible to complete the research and preparations for the UNESCO biosphere application.

The Magaliesberg Biosphere Initiative has nearly reached its main target. The documents for the UNESCO application are being finalised and will be submitted by the national Department for Environmental Affairs to the UNESCO in September. South Africa is expected to celebrate the registration of the Magaliesberg Biosphere in early 2013.

Source: Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

SOVIET ANNOUNCES NUCLEAR ACCIDENT AT ELECTRIC PLANT

The Soviet Union announced today that there had been an accident at a nuclear power plant in the Ukraine and that ''aid is being given to those affected.'' The severity of the accident, which spread discernable radioactive material over Scandinavia, was not immediately clear. But the terse statement, distributed by the Tass press agency and read on the evening television news, suggested a major accident.

The phrasing also suggested that the problem had not been brought under full control at the nuclear plant, which the Soviet announcement identified as the Chernobyl station. It is situated at the new town of Pripyat, near Chernobyl and 60 miles north of Kiev. The announcement, the first official disclosure of a nuclear accident ever by the Soviet Union, came hours after Sweden, Finland and Denmark reported abnormally high radioactivity levels in their skies. The readings initially led those countries to think radioactive material had been leaking from one of their own reactors.

The Soviet announcement, made on behalf of the Council of Ministers, after Sweden had demanded information, said in its entirety: ''An accident has occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant as one of the reactors was damaged. Measures are being taken to eliminate the consequences of the accident. Aid is being given to those affected. A Government commission has been set up.'' The mention of a commission of inquiry reinforced indications that the accident was a serious one. United States experts said the accident probably posed no danger outside the Soviet Union. But in the absence of detailed information, they said it would be difficult to determine the gravity, and they said environmental damage might conceivably be disastrous. The Chernobyl plant, with four 1,000-megawatt reactors in operation, is one of the largest and oldest of the 15 or so Soviet civilian nuclear stations. Nuclear power has been a matter of high priority in the Soviet Union, and capacity has been going into service as fast as reactors can be built. Pripyat, where the Chernobyl plant is situated, is a settlement of 25,000 to 30,000 people that was built in the 1970's along with the station. It is home to construction workers, service personnel and their families. A British reporter returning from Kiev reported seeing no activity in the Ukrainian capital that would suggest any alarm. No other information was immediately available from the area. But reports from across Scandinavia, areas more than 800 miles to the north, spoke of increases in radioactivity over the last 24 hours.

Scandinavian authorities said the radioactivity levels did not pose any danger, and it appeared that only tiny amounts of radioactive material had drifted over Scandinavia. All of it was believed to be in the form of two relatively innocuous gases, xenon and krypton. Scandinavian officials said the evidence pointed to an accident in the Ukraine. In Sweden, an official at the Institute for Protection Against Radiation said gamma radiation levels were 30 to 40 percent higher than normal. He said that the levels had been abnormally high for 24 hours and that the release seemed to be continuing. In Finland, officials were reported to have said readings in the central and northern areas showed levels six times higher than normal. The Norwegian radio quoted pollution control officials as having said that radioactivity in the Oslo area was 50 percent higher. Since morning, Swedish officials had focused on the Soviet Union as the probable source of the radioactive material, but Swedish Embassy officials here said the Soviet authorities had denied knowledge of any problem until the Government announcement was read on television at 9 P.M.

The first alarm was raised in Sweden when workers arriving at the Forsmark nuclear power station, 60 miles north of Stockholm, set off warnings during a routine radioactivity check. The plant was evacuated, Swedish officials said. When other nuclear power plants reported similar happenings, the authorities turned their attention to the Soviet Union, from which the winds were coming. A Swedish diplomat here said he had telephoned three Soviet Government agencies - the State Committee for Utilization of Atomic Energy, the Ministry of Electric Power and the three-year-old State Committee for Safety in the Atomic Power Industry -asking them to explain the high readings over Scandinavia. All said they had no explanation, the diplomat said. Before the Soviet acknowledgment, the Swedish Minister of Energy, Birgitta Dahl, said that whoever was responsible for the spread of radioactive material was not observing international agreements requiring warnings and exchanges of information about accidents.

Tass, the Soviet Government press agency, said the Chernobyl accident was the first ever in a Soviet nuclear power plant. It was the first ever acknowledged by the Russians, but Western experts have reported at least two previous mishaps. In 1957, a nuclear waste dump believed related to weapons production was reported to have resulted in a chemical reaction in the Kasli areas of the Urals, causing damage to the environment and possibly fatalities. In 1974, a steam line exploded in the Shevchenko nuclear breeder plant in Kazakhstan, but no radioactive material is believed to have been released in that accident. Soviet authorities, in giving the development of nuclear electricity generation a high priority, have said that nuclear power is safe. In the absence of citizens' opposition to nuclear power, there has been virtually no questioning of the program. The terse Soviet announcement of the Chernobyl accident was followed by a Tass dispatch noting that there had been many mishaps in the United States, ranging from Three Mile Island outside Harrisburg, Pa., to the Ginna plant near Rochester. Tass said an American antinuclear group registered 2,300 accidents, breakdowns and other faults in 1979. The practice of focusing on disasters elsewhere when one occurs in the Soviet Union is so common that after watching a report on Soviet television about a catastrophe abroad, Russians often call Western friends to find out whether something has happened in the Soviet Union.

Construction of the Chernobyl plant began in the early 1970's and the first reactor was commissioned in 1977. Work has been lagging behind plans. In April 1983, the Ukrainian Central Committee chastised the Chernobyl plant, along with the Rovno nuclear power station at Kuznetsovsk, for ''inferior quality of construction and installation work and low operating levels.'' Donald T. Regan, the White House chief of staff, said today that the United States was willing to provide medical and scientific assistance to the Soviet Union in connection with the nuclear accident but so far there had been no such request.

Source: New York Times