UN NAMES 10 MOST UNDER-REPORTED STORIES FOR 2006
9 July 2006

Every year, the United Nations publishes a list of the 10 most serious stories most overlooked by global press, world governments and international bodies. The list often includes multiple crisis situations which could degenerate into full-scale war. Developing nations, whose situations are often misunderstood or dismissed by news media, as too complicated, intractable, or of marginal relevance, take the spotlight this year.

The new list features several political and strategic situations on the African continent. Liberia's efforts to speed development and the challenges it faces in the newborn postwar period are key to building a viable democracy and could mark how events will progress in the region.

Another vital issue, lost amid the efforts of wealthy nations to slow the inrush of undocumented foreign workers, is the impact such policies have on asylum seekers. The asylum arbitration regime has long depended on anecdotal evidence and first-person testimony, as oppressive regimes are unlikely to favor their subjects' flight and often strip them not only of political rights, but of documentation and the freedom to travel.

Now, due to lack of paperwork, asylum seekers are being detained without charge or hearing, pending "background checks" and evaluation of their status, and are increasingly sent back to brutal crisis situations, even where they are thought likely to face harassment, physical or economic abuse, or worse: disappearance.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, which lost 4 million people —mostly civilians— to its recent civil war and related chaos, faces and important vote, which could determine the future stability of the nation, its people and its borders.

It is an opportunity to move forward and possibly to get beyond the factional violence which brought about the bloodiest conflict the world has seen in decades. But, factional rivalries, armed militia, interference from neighboring countries and a climate of thinly veiled institutional chaos continue to put the population at serious risk for human rights abuses.

In Nepal, a protracted conflict between the monarchy —which had imposed absolute rule since disbanding the parliament— and Maoist insurgents —who recently supported the mass protests which forced King Gyanendra to reinstate parliament, with powers to reform the constitution and possibly dissolve his position— threaten not only the nation's stability, but also the welfare of its children.

Children in Nepal have been "caught in the conflict" by way of forced service in rebel groups, the loss of parents or family members, food scarcity and the uncertainty about public services. Even now, it is unclear if the once-again fledgeling democracy will act to remove its monarch and if it can withstand pressures from loyalists and from Maoist rebels at the same time.

While recent media coverage has highlighted the security concerns of the US and the EU about the hard-line Islamist tendencies of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), whose militia have taken control of Mogadishu, possibly ending 15 years of chaos and brutality at the hands of tribal and feudal warlords, the magnifying effect of violence on drought in Somalia has been largely overlooked.

The security vacuum, stemming from the inability of an "interim government" exiled from the capital to govern, has severely compounded the effects of one of the worst droughts the region has seen in recent decades. Food is not only scarce, but has been under the control of militia leaders, who use it for political leverage and to extort allegiance from local populations.

Lack of maintenance for vital infrastructure and the dangers of travel have made it difficult for aid to arrive in remote areas, sharply increasing the immediate risk from water shortages and crop failure.

The UN report cites the growing problem of protracted refugee situations, which leave millions in political, cultural and economic limbo, with no
solutions in sight, and aid access increasingly threatened by instability and ambush in many conflict zones.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees is looking at ways to tackle the problem and hopes to announce soon an action plan to create an international standard system for dealing with large migratory crises, and to provide security, food and medical aid and expedite repatriation and conflict resolution.

Media have tended to overlook these situations after they drag on, treating the sometimes increasing desperation of refugees unable to return to their homes as old news or as too far from a solution to be fodder for political debate. Economic interests and the depressing and destabilizing effects of mass migrations are also frequently overlooked or ignored altogether.

The South Asian earthquake that took so many lives also led to a much-heralded relief effort. But while the relief effort did save many lives, and did help prevent the spread of epidemics or malnutrition to potentially devastating numbers of affected and displaced people, redevelopment costs are potentially daunting, and continue to be underfunded.

Naming the problem "behind bars, beyond justice", the UN report seeks to highlight the story of children who find themselves on the wrong side of the law. Often locked in prisons without the legal protections adults might use in their defense, and often unable to understand the powers that control their fates, such children may languish in detention facilities for years without properly humane care and in highly abusive conditions.

Peace out of water conflict is a largely unexplored topic in global media. While the mounting threat —and frequency— of cross-border clashes related to water usage has garnered increasing coverage, the clean water crisis itself is still not given the coverage necessary to convey its real political weight.

But some situations have shown encouraging signs of the possibility that cooperation in dealing with water crises can lead to enhanced stability and cooperation on other fronts, making friends of states that might otherwise descend into conflict. Building bridges where some might be tempted to use violence is a potential solution to a geopolitical future likely to be dominated by disputes over the world's major fresh-water reserves.

Côte d'Ivoire approaching civil war: The UN reports the west African nation is now "A strike away from igniting violence amidst a faltering peace process". The positions of various factions appear to be hardening as concessions become increasingly unlikely and increasingly necessary to prevent a descent into armed conflict.

The world continues to lament the slaughter of innocents in Rwanda when a little-known ethnic conflict morphed into a genocide-by-machete that took lives faster than Nazi Germany's years of mass killing. But the world press has continued to overlook the millions of civilians who have been dying since then in DR Congo, at astounding rates.

Press coverage is a big part of what motivates not only public opinion but also the priorities of national leaders. It is vital to the peace and stability of whole regions and the dignity of humanity as a whole that all people find a way to learn about and to motivate action in response to crises that relegate human life to a matter of mortal fact and brutality.

It is equally important that we in the news media make an effort to not only convey the desperation of some intractable political conflicts and the manner in which they are actually ongoing sources of suffering for individuals, but also to report the manner in which innovative ideas, compromise and cooperation can lead to improbable solutions for serving all involved. [s]

• UN: 10 Most Under-reported Stories, 2006

OTHER UNDER-REPORTED STORIES:
4 MILLION KILLED IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO SINCE 1998
OUT OF SIGHT OF WORLD MEDIA, MILLIONS HAVE BEEN KILLED BY ONGOING CONFLICT, DISEASE, POVERTY
12 February 2006

Ongoing armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo has taken an estimated 4 million lives since 1998. Estimates range from attributing 2 to 4 million deaths to the 5 year war, to placing 3 million during the war and 1 to 2 million more in fractious post-conflict unrest and deprivation. The Lancet reports 36,000 people per month are still dying from armed conflict, criminal violence, disease and malnutrition. [Full Story]

POVERTY DISGUISED BY DISTANCE
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF POVERTY IN US & CONGO YIELD FEW CLUES AS TO MEASURE OF HAPPINESS
31 December 2005

The Economist magazine has published an article, in the 20 December edition, dealing with the subject of poverty relative to environment. It examines the economic situations of two men, one an impoverished elderly man in remote Appalachia, the other an accomplished surgeon in Kinshasa, DR Congo. The two men earn roughly the same income per month, but live broadly different lives, juxtaposed in possibly surprising ways. [Full Story]

CHINA PLANS "SMOKELESS WAR" AGAINST PRESS, DISSIDENTS
26 September 2005

In a high-level Communist party meeting, China's president Hu Jintao has reportedly called for an intensive crackdown on media liberties. While China's government has sought to project an image of a more market-oriented, open system, it continues to forbid basic press freedoms and still persecutes journalists at an alarming rate. [Full Story]