By Reinhardt Jacobsen VIENNA (IDN) – Japan has announced that it will support eight UNIDO projects aimed at ensuring human security for the most vulnerable populations in Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Liberia, Nigeria, Somalia and the Syrian Arab Republic. Ambassador Mitsuru Kitano, the Permanent Representative of Japan to the International Organizations in Vienna, affirmed on […]
UNCTAD Asks the Caribbean Countries to be Weather-ready and Climate-smart
By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA (IDN) – The Caribbean countries should be weather-ready and climate-smart in view of the rise in global temperatures and extreme weather events threatening to become frequent menacing the region, says Crispin D’Auvergne, who works on climate change and disaster risk management for the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), comprising 10 […]
UN Gathering Pledges to End Gender Injustice & Discrimination
By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) – A landmark global gathering at the United Nations headquarters in New York has come up with a blueprint to ensure the rights and development of rural women and girls around the world. Convened on the heels of an unprecedented global activism and public clamour to end gender injustice […]
UN Intensifies the Quest for Universal Access to Safe Water
By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) – World Water Day turned 25 on March 22. On that day, as UN-Water noted, 1.8 billion people were using a source of drinking water contaminated with faeces, putting them at risk of contracting cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio. And, as Global Citizen pointed out, girls and women around […]
World’s Major Tourism Fair Underlines the Significance of Sustainable Development
By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN (IDN) – The number of tourists around the world grew in 2017 to an all-time record of 7 percent to reach 1.3 billion. Tourism accounts for 10 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP), 10 percent of the world’s jobs, and 7 percent of the world’s total exports. The need […]
Under-representation of Women in UN System is Mendable
By Fausia Abdoel* VIENNA (IDN) – Women are under-represented at the managerial and leadership levels within the United Nations system. The world body intends to mend this situation and achieve gender parity at all levels by 2028. But indications are that it’s going be an uphill task. Statistics published by UN Women, the UN Entity […]
G20 Urged to Root Out Corruption in State-Owned Enterprises
By Sean Buchanan LONDON (IDN) – One of the many challenges facing today’s world is corruption and one sector in which this is particularly evident is that of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Controlled by national governments, SOEs rank among the largest companies in the world, often serving as some of the biggest employers in their country. […]
‘Unequal Realities’ Hold Back Rural Women, Says UN On Eve of Women’s Confab
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – In the run up to International Women’s Day on March 8, the United Nations is renewing its call for concrete actions to address the plight of rural women who make up over a quarter of the world population yet are being left behind in every […]
A Compelling Book on ‘Humanity’s Success in Ruining Nature’
NEW YORK (IDN) – Across the globe, geologists, climate scientists, biologists, chemists and physicists are alarmed, and if there are uncertainties these are whether danger is in the offing very soon or in a few years; about whether our prospects are calamitous or only troublesome. The lack of dread among the general public about the […]
Independent Media and Civil Society Under Assault
By Sean Buchanan This is the fifth in a series of reports highlighting salient aspects of Transparency International‘s latest analysis on challenges posed by corruption around the world as well as successes and failures of efforts targeting a scourge that eats into the vitals of human rights. – The Editor. LONDON (IDN) – Civil society organisations […]