DUBAI, 9 December 2007 (IRIN) - Contents:

GLOBAL: "Political will" needed to change climate GLOBAL: New tool to evaluate donors MIDDLE EAST: Doors of tolerance begin to open for gay Muslims GLOBAL: More on hair care than climate conditioning

IRAQ: More aid needed for the displaced in Anbar Province IRAQ: Government to cut items from its free food handouts IRAQ: "Honour killings" persist in Kurdish north ISRAEL-OPT: Watching their flocks - Palestinian shepherds' livelihoods in jeopardy ISRAEL-OPT: Gaza's medical sector feeling impact of Israeli sanctions, restrictions ISRAEL-OPT: Fewer resources for a worsening situation – UNRWA ISRAEL-OPT: Only 41 percent of Gaza's food import needs being met JORDAN: Iraqi asylum-seekers fall victim to resettlement scams LEBANON: Syrian workers living "in a world of enemies"

LEBANON: Human Rights Watch highlights plight of Iraqis YEMEN: Painstakingly slow progress on poverty reduction - international report

GLOBAL: "Political will" needed to change climate

Officials stressed the need for "political will" to stem the impact of global warming as the United Nations Climate Change Conference got underway on the Indonesian island of Bali on 3 December.

The joint meeting of the 192 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 177 Parties to the Kyoto Protocol are expected to prepare the ground for a new deal on climate change to be put in place after 2012.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75653

GLOBAL: New tool to evaluate donors

A unique new benchmarking mechanism that looks at the performance of humanitarian aid donors has put Sweden in the lead. Developed by DARA International, an evaluation agency based in Madrid, Spain, the Humanitarian Response Index (HRI) is the first of its kind to focus on the quality and quantity of humanitarian aid by individual members of the group of 23 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75658

MIDDLE EAST: Doors of tolerance begin to open for gay Muslims

Suhail Abu al-Sameed looked calm, yet he was shaking inside. He was seated before a row of ulama, distinguished Islamic scholars, from Afghanistan to Yemen at the International Consultation on Islam and HIV/AIDS, organised by the charity, Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), in Johannesburg, South Africa, last week.

The previous day, several of them had denounced homosexuality as un-Islamic and evil. Today, Abu al-Sameed had something to tell them.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75673

GLOBAL: More on hair care than climate conditioning

Industrialised countries have only paid about US$163 million towards helping the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) adapt to global warming - less than what Canadians spent on hair conditioner last year - says a new report by the UK-based development agency, Oxfam. But less than $10 million of this has been dispensed so far, the UN Development Programme's Human Development Report 2007/2008 pointed out.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75684

IRAQ: More aid needed for the displaced in Anbar Province

Displaced families in Anbar Province, west of Baghdad, lack essential supplies, including tents, food parcels and medical care, local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) say.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), there are over 60,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the province, but local aid groups say their plight has been relatively neglected.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75654

IRAQ: Government to cut items from its free food handouts

From the beginning of 2008 the quantity of national food rations delivered freely to all Iraqi families will be further reduced - from 10 to five items, due to lack of government financial support, Trade Minister Abid Falah al-Soodani said on 3 December.

The food rations' system, known as the Public Distribution System (PDS), was set up in 1995 as part of the UN's Oil-for-Food programme after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait 17 years ago. However, it has been crumbling since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 due to insecurity, poor management and corruption.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75677

IRAQ: "Honour killings" persist in Kurdish north

At least 27 Iraqi Kurdish women have been murdered for having illicit affairs in so-called "honour killings" in Iraq's northern semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan over the past four months, an official from the regional government said on 4 December.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75714

ISRAEL-OPT: Watching their flocks - Palestinian shepherds' livelihoods in jeopardy

Palestinian herders in the southern part of the West Bank are facing increased poverty due to rising costs of fodder and water, as well as limitations on their access to grazing land, the herders and UN officials said.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75582

ISRAEL-OPT: Gaza's medical sector feeling impact of Israeli sanctions, restrictions

Health officials in the Gaza Strip say they are concerned about hundreds of patients unable to travel to Israel or other countries for vital treatment, and that local hospitals lack essential medical equipment, drugs and fuel.

Only about one in seven patients who used to travel through the Rafah terminal to Egypt for treatment are now able to access medical care in Israel, according to World Health Organization (WHO) statistics.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75693

ISRAEL-OPT: Fewer resources for a worsening situation – UNRWA

The UN agency supplying basic services for Palestinian refugees is in a funding crisis, and is facing a difficult year as the political situation continues to hamper its work in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

Despite initial pledges towards the 2008 budget from 22 donors at a meeting in New York on 4 December, some US$1.21 billion is still required.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75717

ISRAEL-OPT: Only 41 percent of Gaza's food import needs being met

Food imports into the Gaza Strip are only enough to meet 41 percent of demand, the World Food Programme (WFP) has said, though critical UN humanitarian food supplies are being allowed in.

The cost of many basic items, such as beef, wheat and some dairy products have increased significantly, while locally grown produce is fetching extremely low prices on the local market, as exports are banned, threatening the livelihood of farmers.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75726

JORDAN: Iraqi asylum-seekers fall victim to resettlement scams

Many Iraqi asylum-seekers in Jordan have fallen victim to resettlement scams in which they are approached by individuals claiming to guarantee their resettlement in a third country with the help of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), according to UN officials and Iraqi residents.

There are no exact figures about the number of those who have been defrauded but testimonies of individuals and police records show they are in the thousands.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75715

LEBANON: Syrian workers living "in a world of enemies"

Radwan was fast asleep when three men broke down the door of his flat. They beat him. They broke one of his ribs. Then two held his arms while the third slashed his head with a knuckleduster. His crime, they told him, was to be a Syrian working in Lebanon.

After Radwan - who like all Syrians interviewed by IRIN gave a false name for fear of retribution - went to the police, the thugs came back. "They told me I had to tell the police I'd lied, or I'd be going back to Syria in a coffin," he said. He did as he was told.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75651

LEBANON: Human Rights Watch highlights plight of Iraqis

Many Iraqi asylum-seekers in Lebanon face the choice of jail or deportation to their homeland, where their lives could be at risk, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on 4 December.

Lebanon does not recognise the refugee status of the estimated 50,000 Iraqis it hosts, and treats them as illegal immigrants. If they are found by the authorities, they can be arrested for lacking residency papers or work permits.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75697

YEMEN: Painstakingly slow progress on poverty reduction - international report

From what was historically known as 'Arabia Felix' - a land of prosperity and happiness - Yemen has become the most impoverished Arab country, a top-level international report says. It concluded that overall poverty reduction had been painstakingly slow and that people in urban areas had fared better than those in rural areas.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75656

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