Long-awaited helicopters arrive for UN-African Union mission in Darfur

The joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Sudan’s war-ravaged Darfur region has received five crucial long-awaited helicopters to help it protect civilians in a seven-year conflict between the Government and rebels that has killed at least 300,000 people and driven 2.7 million others from their homes.

One third of Yemen’s 23 million people struggle to find food, UN reports

One out of every three people in Yemen is struggling to gain access to food, making it one of the countries worst affected by hunger in the world, with 12 per cent of the population of some 23 million suffering from severe food insecurity, the United Nations reported today.

Security Council calls on all sides in Darfur conflict to join latest peace accord

The United Nations Security Council today joined Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in calling on all parties in the deadly conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region to join in the peace process following the signing of a cessation of hostilities accord between the Government and a major rebel group.

NEWSMAKER: UN official counters negative media coverage of Haiti recovery effort

A top United Nations official in Haiti says not enough media coverage has been devoted to the progress made by Haitians, humanitarian workers and their partners since the devastating earthquake struck nearly six weeks ago.

Political tensions in Côte d’Ivoire easing, UN envoy reports

The political tension in Côte d’Ivoire that followed the dissolution of the Government and the independent electoral authority is gradually decreasing, the top United Nations official in the divided West African country said today.

UN blue helmets show solidarity with fallen Haitian police officers

Forty days after a massive earthquake struck Haiti, nearly 200 police officers serving with the United Nations peacekeeping mission (MINUSTAH) took part in a special tribute to their fallen colleagues serving with the national force.

Cash cow

On his CAP Reform blog Jack Thurston has a story that illustrates one of the many reasons why reforming the EU’s wasteful and protectionist farming policies is so difficult. The post centres on Henrik Høegh, Denmark’s newly appointed Farming Minister, who is a long-time recipient of EU farming subsidies.

Since 2000, he has received a whopping €604,787.00 from the Common Agricultural Policy and his son and daughter are also thought to be receiving EU cash. Indeed, Høegh is not the only farming minister to have been in receipt of EU subsidies.

In an outright conflict of interest, Mr Høegh is now responsible for signing his own subsidy cheques, but also, as a member of the EU’s Council of Agriculture Ministers, deciding on the future of the CAP.

As Thurston concludes: “With the long-term future of the CAP currently under debate, can the Danish people be confident that Mr Høegh will be pursuing the public interest rather than his own private profits?”

Haiti: UN agency recruits young people to assist with post-quake relief

Hoping to harness the energy and enthusiasm of young people, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has recruited dozens of them to help drive the reconstruction effort in the wake of last month’s catastrophic Haiti earthquake.

Pages From History: Hallie Quinn Brown (1849-1949): A Biography

Hallie Quinn Brown: A Biography

Hallie Quinn Brown was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1849, the daughter of two former slaves, Thomas Arthur Brown and Frances Jane Scroggins. Allowed to purchase his freedom, Thomas was the son of a Scottish woman who owned a Maryland plantation and the plantation’s black overseer.

Frances was freed by one of her grandfathers, a white Revolutionary War officer and plantation owner. Both were well educated, her father became known as “Mr. Brown, the walking encyclopedia”, and her mother was an unofficial advisor and counselor to the students of Wilberforce University, a private, coeducational, historically black liberal arts college. Both Thomas and Frances were actively involved with the Underground Railroad. Her parents’ commitment to the cause would later influence the organizations Brown founded and participated in.

The Brown Family moved from Pittsburgh to Ontario, Canada in 1864 and then to Wilberforce, Ohio in 1870. Brown attended Wilberforce University, and graduated from there in 1873, with a Bachelor of Science degree. After graduation, she began teaching on the Senora Plantation in Mississippi and went on to teach on several plantations during her life. Her efforts focused on improving the literacy levels of black children who had been denied the chance during slavery.

Several years later she moved onto Columbia City Schools and then to Allen University in Columbia. Brown served as the Dean at Allen University from 1885 to 1887. From 1887 to 1891, she taught night school for African Americans in Dayton, Ohio. And in 1892 was appointed principal (Dean of Women) of Tuskegee Institutes in Alabama from 1892-1893, where she worked with Booker T. Washington. Returning to Ohio, Brown taught in the Dayton Public Schools for four years and established an adult class for migrant workers.

In 1893, Brown was the principle promoter of the organization of the Colored Women’s League of Washington, D.C. She also founded the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) that same year. Brown began traveling in 1894 as a lecturer and public speaker for African American culture and temperance. During her travel, she spoke before Queen Victoria (Alexandria 1819-1901 Queen of Great Britain 1837-1901), the 1895 Convention of the World’s Women Christian Temperance Union in London, and the 1899 International Congress of Women, as a representative of the United States.

In 1900, the A.M.E church elected Brown as their Secretary of Education where she became the first woman to serve as a “daughter of the church.” She also served as the President of the Ohio Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs from 1905 to 1912. In 1910, she spoke as a representative to the Woman’s Missionary Society of the African Methodist Conference, which was held in Edinburgh. Brown was also was active in Republican politics during the 1920s and addressed the party’s national convention in 1924 leading to her campaign work among African American women backed by President Coolidge.

She became the 7th National President of the NACW from 1920 to 1924 and acted as its honorary President until her death in 1949. During the time she served as the President of the N.A.C.W., she pursued two major projects: one was dedicated to the maintenance of Fredrick Douglass’ home as a memorial in Washington, D.C., and the other was the establishment of the Hallie Q. Brown Scholarship Fund for the education of women.

Brown died on September 16, 1949, in Wilberforce, Ohio, of coronary thrombosis. Two buildings are named in her honor: the Hallie Q. Brown Memorial Library in Wilberforce, Ohio, and our Community Center.

In addition to her speeches, Brown authored several books and prose collections including: Bits and Odds: A Choice Selection of Recitations, published in 1880; First Lessons in Public Speaking, published in 1920; The Beautiful: A Story of Slavery, published in 1924; Tales My Father Told. Published in 1925 and Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction, published in 1926. Brown’s works commonly address such topics as the importance of history and of social change, often using African American vernacular to stress these messages with the goal of helping to educate.

Of particular note is Homespun Heroines, wherein Brown tells the life story of 60 African American women. In the introduction she states the context: “This book is presented as an evidence of appreciation and as a token of regard for the history-making women of our race.” Within it, Brown includes a description of significant events in each of the women’s lives, along with things they have accomplished. Every story begins with the birth of a distinguished woman and concludes with a statement about the life each has led.

UN chief calls for creative solutions to further decolonization

Lauding Timor-Leste’s independence and the self-determination votes held in Tokelau in the South Pacific, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the United Nations decolonization body to continue its work with the administering Governments and the people of the remaining non-self-governing territories.