Category: UN INSIDER

By Devinder Kumar

BANGKOK (IDN) — The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) highlights in a new report that the region’s trade flows are wavering amid sluggish global economic and trade growth, downward movement of world commodity prices and an uncertain policy environment.

According to ESCAP’s Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report 2016 released on November 29, the volume of exports of goods increased by 3 per cent in 2015, the nominal value of exports and imports by the region experienced a significant decline, of 9.7 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively.

By Jaya Ramachandran

VIENNA (IDN) – Germany and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) have agreed to intensify and expand their relations. UNIDO will establish an Investment and Technology Promotion Office (ITPO) in January in the Bonn UN Campus. Germany will also provide funds to UNIDO for implementing three projects.

German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Gerd Müller and the Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), LI Yong signed an agreement on November 21 to establish ITPO in Bonn. The signing ceremony took place on the margins of UNIDO’s 50th Anniversary celebrations at the Vienna International Centre.

NEW YORK (IDN) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon extended on November 26 condolences to the Cuban people and to the family of former President Fidel Castro Ruz on behalf of the United Nations. Fidel Castro passed away overnight at the age of 90. He served as Cuba’s President from 1976 to 2008.

“At this time of national mourning, I offer the support of the United Nations to work alongside the people of the island,” Ban told reporters in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, where he was attending the Global Sustainable Transport Conference. He offered his particular condolences to Cuban President Raúl Castro Ruz, UN News reported.

By Arc International*

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – The United Nations mandate of the Independent Expert Vitit Muntarbhorn on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) has been safeguarded despite hostile contestation at the 71st Session of the 3rd Committee of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City.

LGBTIQ activists and organizations around the world quickly mobilized to voice their concerns on the implications of the hostile resolution to national governments as well as at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

A joint statement endorsed by 850 organizations from 157 countries around the world, highlighted the need for states to respect the authority of the Human Rights Council and to vote in favour of upholding the SOGI Independent Expert mandate.

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – For the second time within two months, UN Secretary-General has said that he is “deeply concerned” about the deterioration of the situation along the Line of Control in Kashmir, and has called on all involved to prioritize the restoration of calm and stability in order to prevent any further escalation and loss of life.

“The Secretary-General trusts that the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan can find common ground and work towards a sustainable peace,” said a statement issued by Ban’s spokesperson on November 24.

The United Nations stands by the people of the region and supports all efforts to reach durable peace and security, the statement concluded.

By Rodney Reynolds

NEW YORK (IDN) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has been unwavering in his longstanding campaign to usher in “a world without nuclear weapons”, has expressed strong disappointment over “a deep division” among the UN’s 193 member states over the future of multilateral disarmament.

On the one hand, nuclear-weapon States, along with many of their allies, argue that they have taken steps to reduce their arsenals, he said. 

On the other hand, non-nuclear-weapon States point to the lack of disarmament negotiations; the persistence of thousands of nuclear weapons; and plans for modernizing existing nuclear arsenals decades into the future with costs that run well over $1 trillion, said Ban in a November 22 keynote address before the New York University’s School of Professional Studies.

By Alice Slater

Alice Slater is the UN NGO Representative for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and serves on the Coordinating Committee of World Beyond War.

NEW YORK (IDN) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has championed efforts for nations to make good on their pledges to abolish nuclear weapons. In 2009 he published a five-point proposal for nuclear disarmament, urging nuclear weapons states in particular to fulfill their promises under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to negotiate for the total elimination of nuclear weapons as well as other complementary steps to that end such as banning missiles and space weapons.

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The UN Security Council members have affirmed the importance of enhancing cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in conflict prevention and counter-extremism, as well as the need for a comprehensive global counter-terrorism strategy supported by all regional partners.

In that regard, most speakers during an open debate of the UN Security Council on November 17 stressed “the importance of fighting terrorism, not only through security efforts, but also through development initiatives, conflict-resolution measures and the dissemination of voices challenging extremist ideology, including prominent religious voices”.

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.”