Africa/Global: UN to boost its support for human rights protection in numerous countries

The United Nations is set to launch a new initiative to strengthen its support in promoting and protecting human rights in countries around the world. Known as "Action Two," the plan is a response to a report by Secretary-General Kofi Annan on ensuring that the world body devotes its attention to the priorities identified by its Member States. The scheme ultimately aims to develop a common understanding of the linkages between human rights and development or humanitarian actions, establish thematic groups to deal with human rights issues in UN country teams, and have UN agencies develop cooperative programming arrangements to support national efforts to foster a culture of human rights, including through education.