January 14: International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
With the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea acting as the arbitrator, Malaysia and Singapore reach an agreement in a dispute over Singapore’s land reclamation project in the Johor Straits. Under the agreement, Singapore will continue its reclamation works, but it will cooperate with Malaysia to ensure navigational safety and environmental protection of the water passage. Singapore embarked on the project in order to accommodate its expanding population.
January 31: United Nations
After investigating reports about crimes committed by the Janjaweed militias in Sudan’s western region of Darfur, a United Nations five-man panel led by Italian judge Antonio Cassese issues a statement ruling out genocide. More than 70,000 people have been killed and two million displaced from their homes in Darfur. If the panel found the crimes to be genocide, the UN would be legally obliged to take action.
February 5: G-7
The G-7 finance ministers agree at a meeting in London that some of the poorest countries should be granted 100 percent relief on the debt owed to international organizations, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the African Development Bank. This decision is an important new initiative that would help achieve the main objective of the Millennium Development Goals, which is cutting poverty in half by 2015.
February 16: Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol, which aims at reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases responsible for global warming, comes into effect. One-hundred-forty-one countries, accounting for 55 percent of greenhouse gases, have ratified the treaty and have pledged to cut these emissions by 5.2 percent by 2012. The U.S. has not signed the treaty.
February 25: International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia/Bosnia-Herzegovina
Radivoje Miletic, a former Bosnian Serb general and an aide to a most-wanted wartime fugitive, General Ratko Mladic, surrenders to face war-crimes charges at the UN tribunal at The Hague. Miletic is accused of taking part in the Srebrenica massacre in 1995, one of the worst atrocities of the 1990s Balkan wars.
March 8: International Women’s Day
A series of rallies around the world celebrates the International Women’s Day, trying to raise awareness of the discrimination and abuses still faced by women. A march in São Paulo, Brazil, starts the commemoration of the Women’s Global Charter for Humanity, which will be carried across 50 countries. International women’s groups that are part of the feminist global network, World March of Women, signed the charter last December, calling for changes in social structures.
March 24: International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
Former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski is transferred to the International Tribunal at The Hague, where he has been indicted for war crimes. He faces charges relating to the killing of seven ethnic Albanians in the village of Ljuboten during an ethnic Albanian rebellion in Macedonia in 2001.
March 31: World Bank
U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz is confirmed as the new head of the World Bank after getting crucial European support. His nomination has been controversial because of his instrumental role in the Iraq invasion plans and lack of development experience.
April 1: United Nations
The United Nations Security Council agrees to try war-crime suspects in Sudan’s Darfur region in the International Criminal Court (ICC). The United States decides not to veto the resolution after it receives assurances that no U.S. members of any peacekeeping operation in Sudan would be prosecuted.
April 15: International Monetary Fund (IMF)
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reports that last year 20 Sub-Saharan African countries achieved more than five percent growth, with inflation the lowest in 25 years. However, the IMF also warns that African economies are still not growing fast enough to reduce poverty levels.
April 21: NATO
A Russia-NATO Council session in Vilnius, Lithuania, ends with agreements on joint military exercises in the Kaliningrad region and military troop transit through one another’s territory. NATO ministers also agree to help Ukraine prepare for possible membership in the alliance, contingent on its military and democratic reforms.
April 30: United Nations
The United Nations says it has received enough money pledged by UN members to set up a tribunal to try Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge leaders. The first trials are expected to begin next year. The Khmer Rouge regime led by Pol Pot persecuted political opponents and minority groups, and is responsible for deaths of more than one million people. Pol Pot died in 1998.
May 20: World Economic Forum
Jordan’s King Abdullah II opens the World Economic Forum in the Jordanian resort of Shuneh. About 1,200 political, business, and civil society leaders from 45 countries gather in the Dead Sea town for the summit, aimed at helping leaders seize the moment of political, economic, and social change that has begun in the region.
May 27: Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
A month-long conference to review the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), attended by delegates from 187 countries, ends in deadlock. The talks aimed at stopping the spread of nuclear weapons, achieving disarmament, and promoting nuclear energy. Currently, the treaty does not contain punishment for countries that leave the treaty. Also, non-nuclear countries accuse nuclear powers of not upholding their commitment to negotiate the dismantling of nuclear weapons. The deadlock means that the U.S. will engage in unilateral actions outside the treaty to counter nuclear threats.
July 8: G8
The eight major industrial nations conclude their G8 summit with an agreement to increase aid to Africa by $50 billion. The G8 leaders also agree to cancel the debt of the 18 poorest African nations, as well as achieve universal access to HIV treatment drugs in Africa by 2010. The nations of the G8 include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
July 8: G8
Leaders of the G8 pledge $3 billion in aid for the Palestinian Authority in preparation for Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The aid money will be spent on housing and infrastructure and is meant to help Palestine and Israel coexist in peace.
July 22: United Nations
A UN report declares the Zimbabwe government’s Operation Drive Out Rubbish, a slum clearance program, to be in violation of international law. Zimbabwe has demolished hundreds of thousands of homes and evicted the residents in a move that the government claims is a crackdown on black market trading and criminal activity. The UN report criticizes the demolition for being haphazard and inhumane.
July 25: International AIDS Society
At the International AIDS Society conference, scientists report that countries in Central Asia and Eastern Europe, such as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova, face a threat of epidemic explosion of HIV/AIDS, as the disease follows the route of heroin traffic from Afghanistan. Prevention methods are scarce in the region, and some, such as safe needle exchange programs, are illegal.
August 10: United Nations
Iran breaks the UN seals at its nuclear plant in Isfahan after declaring that it will resume its nuclear program. The country had suspended its nuclear operations since 2004, and has been engaged in talks with the U.S. and EU. Iran maintains that it has a right to peaceful nuclear activity under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
August 29: United Nations
The United Nations reports that Afghanistan has registered a 21 percent reduction in opium cultivation and production, the first decrease since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. The organization had previously feared Afghanistan becoming a “narco-state” if it did not take control of the drug trade. In 2004, 90 percent of the world’s opium came from Afghanistan.
September 5: Chernobyl Forum
The Chernobyl Forum reports that the cumulative death toll from the effects of the 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear plant located in Ukraine is estimated at 4,000. The previous estimates pointed to hundreds of thousands. The report also states that there is no convincing evidence that the accident has caused the rise in cancer. The Chernobyl Forum, which was established by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the World Health Organization (WHO), UN agencies, and the governments of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine, traces the impact of the Chernobyl accident.
September 16: International Organization for Migration
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that human trafficking in southeastern Europe is increasing. It also identifies new trends in human trade, including new recruiting methods and different strategies for crossing borders. An increasing number of trafficking victims are male, smuggled for work or begging, and a larger number are from farther away locations, such as China and Lebanon. In order to tackle the problem, the IOM calls for greater cooperation between governments.
October 7: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
The Nobel Peace Prize committee grants its 2005 peace prize jointly to the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its director, Mohamed ElBaradei. The UN agency is honored for its work on promoting safe nuclear energy and deterring the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The IAEA is currently investigating Iran’s nuclear program, and has dealt with nuclear crises in Iraq and North Korea.
October 31: United Nations
The army of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), supported by UN peacekeeping troops, begins an operation to eject Rwandan rebels from the Virunga national park on the border with Rwanda. Nearly 15,000 Rwandan militiamen are camped out in the park, having fled their country after the 1994 genocide. Rwanda has invaded the DRC twice over the presence of the rebels, and threatens to do so again if the rebels are not disarmed.
November 11: World Trade Organization (WTO)
After twelve years of negotiations, the World Trade Organization (WTO) approves Saudi Arabia’s membership. As part of joining the free-trade regime, Saudi Arabia must adopt all WTO legislations and liberalize its restricted economy. It also has to rescind its boycott of Israel.
November 21: United Nations
A new UNAIDS report says that the number of people living with HIV/AIDS jumped to 40.3 million worldwide, with five million infected in 2005. The situation is still most dire in Sub-Saharan Africa, where two-thirds of the infected people live. The report also says that more people worldwide have access to antiretroviral drugs for HIV, exceeding 80 percent in countries, such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Cuba. However, treatment is not widely available in the poorest countries.
December 8: United Nations
After his four-day trip to Zimbabwe, Jan Egeland, the United Nations’ Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, says the country is in a dire situation. Since 1990 life expectancy in Zimbabwe has halved to 30 years, 20 percent of adults are HIV positive, inflation has reached 500 percent, about 500,000 people have been left homeless after the government’s demolition program, and three million people will need food aid over the next year. Egeland calls Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s policies criminal.
December 14: East Asia Summit
Sixteen East Asian nations gather at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to establish a new regional forum, the East Asia Summit (EAS). The EAS will hold annual summits to cooperatively promote peace and economic growth among its members. The organization includes the countries of Southeast Asia, East Asia, India, Australia, and New Zealand.
December 15: United Nations
The last United Nations (UN) peacekeeping troops leave Sierra Leone, bringing a five-year mission to an end. UN troops first came to Sierra Leone to end civil war and initially suffered military defeats, but after a British military intervention they continued their mission, and eventually succeeded in restoring security and democracy. The international community sees the Sierra Leone mission as a positive indication for the feasibility of peacekeeping worldwide.
December 15: World Trade Organization (WTO)
Tonga becomes the 150th member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), hoping fuller integration with the world economy will help the country’s economic development. Critics fear that liberalization will cut off some poorer Tongans from health and education services.
December 18: World Trade Organization (WTO)
A World Trade Organization meeting ends in Hong Kong with an agreement to gradually phase out agricultural subsidies by 2013. However, members reached no accord on eliminating import tariffs or reducing U.S. domestic subsidies for cotton. Protesters made appearances throughout the six-day summit and critics say rich countries betrayed the interests of poorer countries.
December 23: International Monetary Fund (IMF)
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) grants US$3.3 billion in debt relief to nineteen of the world’s poorest countries, twelve of which are in Africa. While this is only a portion of the countries’ total debt, many praise the move because it frees up governments’ resources to spend on poverty, education, health, and other programs. To qualify for the debt relief, countries had to demonstrate improving budgetary policies.
December 30: NATO
Polish NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) pilots begin patrolling the air space of the three Baltic states. Poland is the first former Warsaw Pact country to take up the rotating NATO mission and it is the first time Polish pilots will patrol air space bordering Russia. Some fear that Russia will use the opportunity to test the skills of Polish pilots. Relations between Poland and Russia have deteriorated following, among others, Poland’s support of the Ukrainian Orange Revolution.