UN INSIDER Archives - Page 111 of 113

UN INSIDER2016-02-112023-07-10

Rescuing Multilateral Disarmament

KANDY, Sri Lanka (IDN) – The International Peace Institute, since its inception as the International Peace Academy in 1970, has focused on strengthening the multilateral process in the conduct of international affairs with the United Nations as its focal point. It is appropriate that in the 70^th anniversary year of our indispensable global institution, the UN, an Independent Commission on Multilateralism should be established by the IPI to address 16 topics of relevance to the global agenda.

It is a necessary corollary to the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals that the international community has agreed to pursue. I welcome especially the Commission’s choice of “Weapons of Mass Destruction, Nonproliferation and Disarmament” as one of them.

Seventy years ago on January 24, 1946, the United Nations General Assembly meeting in London adopted its very first resolution and, significantly, by consensus. This historic resolution established a commission of the UN Security Council to ensure:

The “control of atomic energy to ensure its use only for peaceful purposes,” and

“The elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction.”

UN INSIDER2016-02-082023-07-10

Fearing a Veto Threat, Security Council Delays Action on North Korea

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – When the 15-member UN Security Council (UNSC) met at an emergency session on February 7, a non-working Sunday afternoon, to discuss the most recent defiance by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the outcome was predictable.

After “urgent consultations”, the UNSC “strongly condemned” DPRK for launching a rocket which could lead to the future development of intercontinental ballistic missile technologies.

But the Council stopped short of penalizing a country that continues to defy the world body despite several previous resolutions – and a rash of U.S. economic sanctions.

UN INSIDER2016-02-082023-07-10

Japan Promotes Low-Carbon Technologies Through UNIDO

VIENNA (IDN) – While several member states have been withdrawing their support to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) over the years, Japan agreed on January 27 to replenish its financial contributions to the agency for encouraging the utilisation and dissemination of new low-carbon technologies particularly in Africa.

Japan’s Permanent Representative to the international organisations in Vienna, Ambassador Mitsuru Kitano, and the UNIDO Director-General Li Yong, signed an agreement on the second replenishment of about $2.5 million for the Low Carbon Low Emission Clean Energy Technology (LCET) Programme implemented by UN agency, among others, in Ethiopia and Kenya.

UN INSIDER2016-02-072023-07-10

Burundi President Defies UN and the African Union

BERLIN | ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – Within less than a week of African leaders rejecting repeated demands to deploy troops of the African Union in strife-torn Burundi, the 54-nation group has appointed a high-level delegation of five African presidents to negotiate with factions in the East African country over the possible deployment of an African peacekeeping mission.

Much to the disappointment of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the U.S. and the European Union, the 54-nation African Union (AU) summit in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa dismissed on February 1 the proposal to deploy the group’s troops in Burundi – if necessary, without the consent of the landlocked country in the African Great Lakes region of East Africa.

UN INSIDER2016-02-052023-07-10

ACP Symposium to Focus on Empowering Women and Youth

BERLIN | BRUSSELS (IDN) – The 79-nation ACP Group’s secretariat is joining hands with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the UN to focus on South-South and Triangular Cooperation to achieve development goals that were adopted by the international community in September 2015 in Agenda 2030.

One such critical goal is rural development that reinforces women and youth empowerment by way of creating jobs and encouraging entrepreneurship. With this in view, the African, Caribbean and Pacific group’s secretariat is organising a symposium in Brussels on February 11-12, under the theme: Integrated Rural Development: Strengthening Women and Youth Empowerment through Jobs and Entrepreneurship.

UN INSIDER2016-02-042023-07-10

Devastated Timbuktu Mausoleums Rebuilt

PARIS (IDN) – The Timbuktu mausoleums, destroyed by radical Islamists four years ago, are back on their feet now, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Irina Bokova told the people of Mali on February 4.

The UNESCO chief’s message coincided with a consecration ceremony of the Timbuktu mausoleums, last held in the 11th century, celebrated at the initiative of the local community. It marked the final phase of the United Nations-backed cultural rebirth of the age-old Sahara city after the destruction wrought by radical Islamists in 2012.

UN INSIDER2016-02-042023-07-10

Narcotics Board Calls for Closing the Global Pain Divide

BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) – About 92 percent of morphine used worldwide is consumed by only 17 per cent of the world population – predominantly in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

While consumption in those countries has increased significantly since the early 1990s and there is growing concern about prescription drug abuse, more than 75 per cent of the people in several low and middle-income countries have no medical access to narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

With this in view, the International Narcotics Board (INCB) has warned countries that inadequate access contradicts the notion of article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including the right to medical care, which also encompasses palliative care. This warning comes ahead of the Special Session of the UN General Assembly on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS), which will take place in New York in April 2016.

UN INSIDER2016-02-012023-07-10

Japan and Kazakhstan Campaign for Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

VIENNA | TOKYO (IDN) – As the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) prepares to convene a ministerial meeting in June, Kazakhstan and Japan have reaffirmed their commitment to intensify their efforts toward entry into force of the Treaty.

During the first week of the symposium ‘Science and Diplomacy for Peace and Security’ from January 25 to February 4, representatives of the two countries in Vienna assured that they would set forth their efforts initiated by their respective foreign ministers in September 2015 at the United Nations headquarters in New York. READ IN JAPANESE

UN INSIDER2016-02-012023-07-10

UN Prepares for a Better Tomorrow for World’s Youth

VIENNA (IDN) – The UN General Assembly will hold a Special Session (UNGASS) on the world drug problem in April 2016 with a view to achieving the goal of “a better tomorrow for world’s youth”.

In preparation of this session, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has reiterated the importance of a balanced approach to drug control policy and practice, in order to work towards the health and welfare objectives of the three international drug control treaties.

UN INSIDER2016-01-312023-07-10

Mugabe Claims Two Permanent Security Council Seats for Africa

ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – Africa’s veteran, though highly controversial leader, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has reiterated the call for reforms of the UN Security Council saying the continent should have the same powers as the five permanent members – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

In his opening address to the 26th African Union (AU) Summit on January 30-31 – as outgoing chairperson of the bloc – he repeated the African leaders’ demand who have been pushing for the continent to have at least two permanent seats in the Security Council, with equal veto power.