Category: UN INSIDER

By Kairat Umarov

Ambassador Kairat Umarov is Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United Nations. He was a member of the Security Council Visiting Mission to the Lake Chad Basin from March 2 to 7, 2017. The Permanent Representatives of France, UK and Senegal led the Mission. Kazakhstan joined the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member for the two-year period 2017-2018.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The situation across the Lake Chad Basin is extremely fragile and volatile. Triggered by a deteriorating humanitarian situation, the crisis has worsened and is now the fourth largest on Earth, though barely known worldwide.

By Fackson Banda

Fackson Banda is Programme Specialist in the Bureau of UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC).

PARIS (IDN) – As social media expands, journalism is more special than ever: This is the conviction expressed by participants at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) colloquium, aptly titled ‘Journalism under fire: challenges of our times’.

The event took place on March 23, a day after the bureau of UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) wound up its 61st meeting, having approved support for almost 50 media projects especially in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Interview with Jorge Chediek, Director of the UN Office for South Cooperation (UNOSSC)

NEW YORK (IDN) – South-South and triangular cooperation forms an integral part, complementing North-South Cooperation, of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by Member States of the United Nations on September 25, 2015 to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all.

How is the UN Office for South Cooperation (UNOSSC) – as the global and United Nations system-wide focal point for South-South cooperation – engaging in advocacy, policy development, knowledge sharing and innovative programmatic activities? Ramesh Jaura, Editor-in-Chief and International Correspondent of IDN, flagship agency of the International Press Syndicate group, asked UNOSSC Director Jorge Chediek this and related questions in an e-mail interview. Read the Q&A in full:

By Shanta Roy

Women make 77 cents for every dollar men earn. Up to 90 percent of women workers are informally employed. Advancing women’s equality in total could bring a potential boost of 28 trillion dollars to global annual gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The statistics unveiled at an annual meeting of women at the UN were disturbingly revealing: On a global average, women only make 77 cents for every dollar men earn.

There is still a “myriad of laws” in over 150 countries which openly discriminate against women, affecting more than three billion worldwide – and relating to virtually every aspect of women’s lives.

By Guy Berger

Guy Berger is Director, Division of Freedom of Expression and Media Development at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). He is responsible for the Organization’s global work on press freedom, safety of journalists, internet freedom, media pluralism and independence, gender and media, media and information literacy, and journalism education.

PARIS (IDN) – While global controversies around “fake news” continue unabated, UNESCO is holding two events at its Paris HQ, which will give more insight into the issues.

First up is an annual meeting on media development, held by the eight UNESCO Member States who serve on the Bureau of the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC).

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – With conflicts driving the desperation and disorder that enables human traffickers to thrive, Security Council has held an open debate on human trafficking, modern slavery and forced labour and highlighted the need for three P’s: Prevention, Protection, Prosecution.

The dimensions of the challenge are huge. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) suspects victims in 106 countries. The International Labour Organization (ILO) reports that 21 million people around the world are victims of forced labour and extreme exploitation. The perpetrators of such crimes cash profits of some $150 billion annually.

By Germán Velásquez*

GENEVA (IDN-INPS) – The World Health Organization (WHO) is in the most critical crossroad of its history but actions can and should be taken, to ensure its public health mission. This is the challenge for the new Director-General to be elected in May 2017.

This year is the last year of the mandate of the current Director-General, Margaret Chan, who fought for 9 years, to maintain a public agenda for the organization, that a small group of industrialized countries and philanthropic foundations had difficulty in accepting and supporting.

By J Nastranis

This is the first in a series of reports analysing U.S. policy towards multilateralism in general and the UN in particular. – The Editor

NEW YORK (IDN) – While United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed strong disapproval of President Donald Trump’s plans to slash funding to the world Organization, an eminent Jewish leader has warned that the budget proposal embodies “dangerous bias against diplomacy, hurts Americans and Israelis”.

The scathing criticism comes from Jeremy Ben-Ami, President of ‘J Street’, “the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans who want Israel to be secure, democratic and the national home of the Jewish people”.

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (IDN) – Earlier this year, addressing a ministerial-level open debate of the UN Security Council on conflict prevention and sustaining peace, newly-elected UN Secretary-General António Guterres outlined his intention to pursue diplomacy for peace, saying “prevention is not merely a priority, but the priority”.

“The best prevention for conflict and the best prevention for other negative impacts on societies is, of course, sustainable and inclusive development,” Guterres said on January 19 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.