Category: UN INSIDER

By Syed Akbaruddin, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York

Following are excerpts from his statement on November 7, 2016 at the current Session of the General Assembly’s Agenda Item 122: ‘Question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and other matters Related to the Security Council.’

While aligning with the statements made by St. Lucia on behalf of the L69 (a cross regional grouping of 42 developing countries from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific) and Germany on behalf of G4 (including Brazil, India and South Africa), he highlighted a few additional issues in his national capacity. Excerpts follow.

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Three days after having congratulated Donald Trump on his election as forty-fifth President of the United States in a statement he read out to the press at the UN Headquarters in New York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has in a phone call on November 12 commended the President-elect’s calls for unity – and this with apparent satisfaction.

On November 9, Ban said in a statement to the press: “In the aftermath of a hard-fought and often-divisive campaign, it is worth recalling and reaffirming that the unity in diversity of the United States is one of the country’s greatest strengths. I encourage all Americans to stay true to that spirit.”

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – In a significant move, UN General Assembly President Peter Thomson has set up an expert team to push for implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ‘leaving no-one behind,’ ensuring human rights for all, and engaging young people.

The SDG implementation team is tasked with motivating everyone at global, regional, national, and community levels to ensure realization of the Goals.

The team is led by Special Adviser Ambassador Dessima Williams of Grenada along with experts from the UN Secretariat and secondees from the UN Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank Group, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and Member States. Ambassador Macharia Kamau of Kenya will serve as the Special Envoy on SDG Implementation and Climate Change.

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – A close look at the voting on a ground-breaking resolution adopted by the Disarmament and International Security Committee of the United Nations General Assembly on October 27 underlines Kazakhstan’s unflinching commitment to a nuclear-weapons free world. And a U.S. foreign policy expert has commended this.

The resolution Taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations approved by 123 votes – as against 38 rejections and 16 abstentions – establishes a UN conference in 2017 “to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”.

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – An array of nations have criticised the Human Rights Council for overstepping its mandate among others by delving into matters that fell within the domestic jurisdiction of States, politicising human rights and unfairly targeting some countries.

As the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) discussed the Council’s annual report on November 4, several other countries – including the U.S. and those from Europe – however spotlighted the link between ensuring fundamental freedoms and achieving sustainable development.

By Jamshed Baruah

NEW YORK (IDN) – Despite differing strategies, the United Nations is committed to strengthening its partnership with regional organizations in Eurasia and Central Asia on peace and security matters, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has told the Security Council.

“That is why it is so important to deepen our strategic dialogue, forge common approaches to emerging crises, and strive to improve our collective responses to peace and security threats,” he said, as the Council discussed on October 28 cooperation between the United Nations and regional and subregional organizations in maintaining international peace and security.

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Nuclear disarmament campaigners have hailed the landmark resolution adopted by the United Nations on October 27 for launching negotiations in 2017 on a legally binding treaty outlawing nuclear weapons. The resolution heralds an end to two decades of paralysis in multilateral nuclear disarmament efforts.

In a historic move, at a meeting of the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, which deals with disarmament and international security, 123 member states of the UN voted in favour of the resolution, 38 voted against and 16 abstained.

The resolution will set up a UN conference beginning in March 2017, open to all member states, to negotiate a “legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”. The negotiations will continue in June and July.

Analysis by Dr Palitha Kohona

Former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York.

COLOMBO (IDN) – As the youth component of the global population increases, a new problem of critical magnitude is slowly creeping up on policy makers, especially in developing countries.

Many developing countries, consistent with their commitments under the Millennium Development Goals, some with great difficulty, have provided basic literacy and health care to their populations. But providing employment to these millions who possess basic literacy has not been successfully addressed.

By Jaya Ramachandran

VIENNA | KABUL (IDN) – The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Yury Fedotov has expressed concern over the rise of 43 percent in opium production in Afghanistan and called “for deepening political commitment within Afghanistan to face down illicit drugs and to stop endemic corruption as well as the proliferation of money laundering and other financial crimes”.

The findings of the Afghanistan Opium Survey 2016 launched in Kabul on October 23 show an increase to 4,800 metric tons in 2016 compared with 2015 levels, which Fedotov said, points to “a worrying reversal” in efforts to combat the persistent problem of illicit drugs and their impact on development, health and security.

By IDN-INPS Africa Bureau

NAIROBI (IDN) – A landmark meting of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has decided to ramp up global efforts to curb desertification and drought that are projected to force 135 million to migrate in the next 30 years.

The fifteenth session of the Committee of the Review of Implementation of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (CRIC 15) concluded its three-day meeting on October 20 in Nairobi, Kenya, with the adoption of an outcome aimed at intensifying efforts to combat desertification.