Category: UN INSIDER

TORONTO | NEW YORK (IDN) – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has commended Kazakhstan for signing the Paris Agreement under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The signing comes as Kazakhstan prepares to host EXPO 2017, which will focus on sustainable energy for the future.

In a meeting with Kazakhstan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Erlan Idrissov, Ban congratulated the Central Asian country on its June 28 election as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is concerned about the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) facing “a desperate funding shortfall” and has asked Governments to help achieve a funding target of $300 million at its pledging conference in September.

The Fund was established in 2005 through resolutions of the General Assembly and Security Council to stand alongside the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) and Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) and “support activities, actions, programmes and organizations that seek to build a lasting peace in countries emerging from conflict”.

NEW YORK (IDN) – “Kazakhstan always stands ready to build peace in Africa as a steady and trusted mediator and partner”, the country’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Barlybay Sadykov told the Security Council during an open debate on ‘Peacebuilding in Africa’.

Kazakhstan was elected on June 28 as non-permanent member of the Security Council for 2017 and 2018.

In a statement on July 28, Sadykov urged the international community to develop and implement a coherent assistance strategy to rebuild Africa and declared that as a Member-Observer of the African Union and strong supporter of Africa’s revival, “Kazakhstan fully supports the vision of Africa 2063 to make the region conflict-free”.

Analysis by Dr Palitha Kohona

Ambassador Dr Palitha Kohona is former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York- He chaired the negotiations on the Colombo Declaration on Youth.

COLOMBO (IDN) – On July 15, the United Nations observed the UN World Youth Skills Day designated by the General Assembly to highlight the need to rapidly develop marketable youth skills. On the same day, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) released the World Youth Report on Youth Civic Engagement. There were many events held around the world to mark this special day.

The UN event was an important milestone in a process that began in 2013 when the then President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, in his address to the General Assembly, with great foresight, called on the world body to allocate a special day to highlight the need to develop youth skills.

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – Does ‘the inalienable right to self-determination for countries and peoples living under colonialism and foreign occupation’ sound relevant to the 21st century? Yes, says an overwhelming number of 193 member states of the United Nations.

It is not surprising therefore that those member states have expressed “deepest disappointment” at a landmark omission in the UN General Assembly’s resolution on ‘follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the global level’.

The resolution, which was adopted in “consensus action” on July 29, disregards reference to the inalienable right to self-determination for countries and peoples living under colonialism and foreign occupation.

Analysis by Jaya Ramachandran

BERLIN | ROME (IDN) – The UN Security Council is faced with a critical if not an unprecedented situation: it has been warned that “protracted conflicts affecting 17 countries” have now driven more than 56 million people into either “crisis” or “emergency” levels of food insecurity and are hindering global efforts to eradicate malnutrition.

At the same time, according to a recent report by UNEP and the World Resources Institute (WRI), about one-third of all food produced worldwide, worth around US$1 trillion, gets lost or wasted in food production and consumption systems.

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The new president of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Frederick Musiiwa Makamure Shava of Zimbabwe, intends “to dedicate enough time on the question of infrastructure development and industrialization, especially in the context of support for African development, and as a high priority for all the countries in special situations”.

Shava, Zimbabwe’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, was elected on July 28 to head the 54-nation body during its 2017 session. ECOSOC is the principal organ for the socio-economic and related work of the United Nations.

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – In a setback for the Group of Four (G4) countries – India, Japan, Germany and Brazil – a decision on the long-pending issue of UN Security Council reform has been postponed to the forthcoming 71st session of the UN General Assembly which begins on September 13.

Speaking on behalf of the G4, Brazil’s Permanent Representative (PR) to the UN in New York, Antonio de Aguiar Patriota described Security Council reform as one of the most pressing issues still pending on the General Assembly’s agenda – since 1992.

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – More than 10,000 specialist doctors have left Syria, which is plagued by a persistent conflict now in its sixth year. About 40% of the population is therefore without access to primary healthcare, according to Syrian doctors representing the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM).

The situation is rather critical in Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, which is home to about one million civilians. It is left with one doctor each for more than 3,300 civilians. In the eastern part of the city, which is besieged by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, more that 7,350 people have just one doctor at their service.

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR has expressed great concern about the precarious security situation in South Sudan, where some 4,000 people are currently fleeing every day to neighbouring Uganda. 90 percent are women and children.

South Sudan’s conflict erupted in December 2013, and it has produced one of the world’s worst displacement situations with immense suffering. Some 1.69 million people are displaced inside the country, while 831,582 South Sudanese refugees are abroad, mainly in Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda.