On a meeting of the Syrian Opposition Coalition in Istanbul on Monday 18 March, Ghassan Hitto was elected interim prime minister.
Today we are celebrating the international women’s day. This year the 8th of March coincides with the 57th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which takes place these days in New York.
On 6 March 2013 the number of refugees from Syria reached 1 million. Almost half of these have fled the country during the first months of 2013. Meanwhile, more than 4 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance inside Syria.
Human Development Report 2013: The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World. Launch by Minister for International Development Cooperation Christian Friis Bach and UN Under-Secretary-General / UNDP Associate Administrator Rebeca Grynspan Thursday 14 March 3:30-5 p.m.
Universities Denmark is happy to invite all interested students, partners and fellows to the launch of the ‘BSU Scholarship Programme’.
The Danish Minister for Development Cooperation, Mr Christian Friis Bach, co-hosted a successful international high-level conference on 19 February 2013 focussing on the efforts of the international community in addressing global inequality. The conference is part of the common endeavours of the UN and the international community in formulating a new set of global development goals to replace the eight Millennium Development Goals after 2015. A number of ministers from developing, middle income and OECD countries were present at the conference along with high-level representatives from the UN. At the conference participants agreed on a number of recommendations, including focus on human rights and gender, which will feed into the on-going work leading up to 2015.
On the two year anniversary of the popular uprising in Bahrain the Foreign Minister states: “Unfortunately things are moving in the wrong direction. That is why we have to sustain the pressure on the government in Bahrain”.
The inventor of Social Business visited Denmark
The Danish Minister for Development Cooperation, Christian Friis Bach, grants 5.5 million USD in support of the World Food Program’s (WFP) food distribution to Syrian refugees.
With the new Act on Danish Development Cooperation, which entered into force on 1 January 2013, the Minister for Development Cooperation has introduced a number of new initiatives for increased transparency in Danida. These new initiatives have now been launched on the Ministry’s website.
The Government has decided to contribute an initial DKK 12 million to the coming African-led military peace support mission in Mali (AFISMA).
In light of the critical situation in Mali and a French request for Danish support to France’s military intervention in the country, the Danish Government today presented a motion on a Danish contribution in support of the French intervention in the form of a C-130 transport aircraft (Hercules). In this regard, Danish Foreign Minister, Villy Søvndal, states:
The latest military offensive carried out by rebel groups in Northern Mali has resulted in an escalation of the situation in Mali and has led France to carry out a military operation.
Bahrain’s Court of Cassation has upheld the life sentence of al-Khawaja. “I am disappointed, but our efforts will continue” says Villy Søvndal, Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and the Danish embassies are closed between Christmas and New Year.
Foreign Minister Søvndal participates in the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) Ministerial Plenary held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on 14 December 2012. The meeting will launch The International Center of Excellence on Countering Violent Extremism i Abu Dhabi (‘Hedayah')