Category: UN INSIDER

By Ramesh Jaura

BONN (IDN) – The world’s 48 poorest countries that are particularly vulnerable to climate change are profoundly concerned whether “substantive progress” will be made in the months ahead on implementing the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement in all its aspects.

This was emphasised by Chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group, Gebru Jember Endalew of Ethiopia, as delegates from 140 countries closed the two-week session of the United Nations climate change negotiations on May 18 in Bonn.

The LDCs are a group of countries that have been classified by the UN as “least developed” in terms of their low gross national income (GNI), their weak human assets and their high degree of economic vulnerability.

By Ravi Kanth Devarakonda

GENEVA (IDN) – India says it implements universal human rights as it reckons the world is one family – “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” – in which it is imperative to comply with the existing international rules governing civil, political, economic, and social rights.

But reports prepared by several special rapporteurs of the United Nations Human Rights Council and civil society groups paint a grim picture of continued violations of the fundamental human rights that India had agreed to in various international conventions and treaties.During the recent third cycle Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of India under the auspices of the Council on May 4, 2017, these two clashing narratives came under scrutiny, according to several participants in the meeting.

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) – One of the arguments for commercial whaling is that whales compete with humans for fish – they eat fish that would otherwise be available for human consumption.

According to Gísli Víkingsson from the Icelandic Marine and Freshwater Research Institute, whales eat around six million tonnes off Iceland, which is four to six times the amount taken by the Icelandic fishing fleet. “But of course it’s not all fish. Maybe a third is fish, though little is known for most species,” he says.

By Jaya Ramachandran

BONN (IDN) – Two important United Nations conventions and civil society representatives availed of the climate conference in Bonn to get together and reflect on how to connect the dots between the challenging agendas on climate and land by deliberating on: “Why land degradation neutrality matters for climate?”

The two conventions with headquarters in Bonn, the capital of post-war West Germany until reunification of two German states in 1990, are the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The city hosts some 20 UN agencies and secretariats meanwhile.

BONN (IDN) – Two United Nations agencies, the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat and the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) have launched a significant initiative aimed at preparing young developing country professionals to lead climate action. It will get under way following the UN Climate Change Conference, which runs to May 18.

The fellowship initiative will offer work experience in a vibrant international policy environment at the UNFCCC Secretariat, according to a media release.. The UNU-EHSwill help identify and recruit the young professionals, and provide them with an exciting research environment, the media release added.

Note: This report is based on a UNIDO media release issued on May 15. An independent analysis follows in the next few days. Meanwhile, we invite you to listen to our video interview with Piyush Goyal, India’s Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines. – The Editor.

VIENNA (IDN) – Clean and affordable energy for all will play a vital role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) endorsed in 2015 and translating the 2016 Paris Climate Change Agreement into reality: this was the upshot of expert and high-level sessions of the four-day Vienna Energy Forum that concluded in the Austrian capital on May 12.

The fifth edition of the Forum co-organized by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), the Austrian Government, and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) brought together more than 1,650 participants from 128 countries.

This is the first in a series of three articles on the first session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 NPT Review Conference from May 2-12 in Vienna. – The Editor

By Ramesh Jaura

VIENNA (IDN) – “The urgent importance of bringing the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) into force, as a core element of the international nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime,” was a highlight of the first session of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for the 2020 NPT Review Conference from May 2-12 in the capital of Austria.

The PrepCom’s Chair Henk Cor van der Kwast noted in his factual summary: “The intrinsic link between the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and the goals and objectives of the Treaty was stressed.” 111 States parties to NPT, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons participated in the work of the Committee at its first session.

By Shastri Ramachandaran*

NEW DELHI (IDN) – The Government of India has no clear-cut stand and approach when it comes to campaigning for positions in the United Nations including specialized agencies of the world body and formations such as the Group of 77 (G77). The reason, according to informed sources and diplomats who have had a ringside view of past campaigns, is that the “calculated ambivalence” has served India’s interests “up to expectations and beyond”.

What importance does New Delhi attach to the G77? How much is India interested in G77 comprising 134 developing countries including China? When posed these two questions, all officials — both serving and retired diplomats — agreed to respond on condition of anonymity. The only exception was India’s former UN Under-Secretary General Shashi Tharoor, currently Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram, capital of the southern state of Kerala.

By Amina J. Mohammed

Note: Amina J Mohammed is the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General. Following are excerpts from her remarks as prepared for delivery at the opening of the Vienna Energy Forum on May 11, 2017. The full text was distributed by the Vienna-based UN Information Service (UNIS). – The Editor.

VIENNA (IDN-INPS) – Together, the two ground-breaking agreements (the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change) are a transformative vision for a better world — universal, inclusive and integrated, an agenda for shared prosperity, peace and partnership on a healthy planet.

But realizing that vision means we must address climate change as a matter of utmost urgency.

By Jamshed Baruah

VIENNA (IDN) – While nuclear weapons have not been deployed since 1945 when atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nearly 15,000 pieces of such instruments of mass destruction still exist, posing risks too great to be ignored. In view of this menacing reality, Mayors for Peace are warning that the danger of nuclear proliferation remains real, as seen in the case of continuing nuclear tests by North Korea.

Addressing the first session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 NPT Review Conference from May 2-12 in Vienna, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui expressed concern on behalf of the Mayors for Peace representing more than 7,200 member cities around the world, that nuclear-weapon states and their allies continued to stress the relevance of nuclear deterrence. He voiced strong support for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), especially its Article VI obligation to negotiate nuclear disarmament in good faith.