Category: UN INSIDER

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Those in their late 20s but still living in poverty have been assured that the United Nations continues to have them on its radar. Though recent estimates show that despite significant gains since 2002 – the number of people living below the poverty line dropped by half – 1 in 8 people still live in extreme poverty, including 800 million people who do not have enough to eat.

An estimated 2.4 billion people have no access to improved sanitation, 1.1 billion people have no access to electricity and 880 million people live in urban slums. In fact opportunities continue to remain scarce for the world’s most vulnerable people – 59 million children of primary school age are out of school and the youth unemployment rate is 15 per cent, more than three times the rate of adults.

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Faith groups have called on the United Nations General Assembly to heed the voices of the survivors of atomic bombings 71 years ago (hibakusha) urging the abolition of nuclear weapons, and vote in favour of the resolution submitted by Austria, Brazil, Ireland, Mexico, Nigeria and South Africa.

Dr. Emily Welty, Vice Moderator of the World Council of Churches Commission on International Affairs, introduced the joint statement during the civil society presentations at the UN General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security on October 12.

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Though there are more than two months to go before António Guterres takes over as the United Nations Secretary-General from Ban Ki-moon, he has started preparing himself for the world’s most challenging job.

One day after the 193-member General Assembly appointed him on October 13 as the new Secretary-General for a five-year period, ending December 31, 2021, he has announced the composition of a transition team to prepare for the world’s top diplomatic job.

According to a press release, issued by the UN Spokesperson’s office, the Transition Team will interact with UN officials, Member States and civil society to ensure an informed and smooth transition. The five-member team – three women and two men – comprises nationals of the Republic of Korea (ROK), USA, Jamaica, Portugal and Tunisia.

By Ronald Joshua

GENEVA | ROME (IDN) – Climate change, hunger and poverty must be addressed together in order to achieve the sustainable development goals set by the international community: this is the clarion call emerging from this year’s World Food Day celebrations in Rome and in many countries.

At the global World Food Day ceremony on October 14, FAO Director-General José Graziano declared: “Higher temperatures and erratic weather patterns are already undermining the health of soils, forests and oceans on which agricultural sectors and food security depend.”

By Jaya Ramachandran

BERLIN | BRUSSELS (IDN) – Unless adequate steps are taken with relentless determination, the core objective of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed by all member states of the United Nations in September 2015, which recommend that “no one be left behind”, will not be achieved in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

This is the crux of a United Nations report titled ‘Progress at Risk‘, published on October 12 in Brussels. Goals 8 and 10 of the SDGs – aiming to “promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all” and “reduce inequality within and among countries” – are being ignored.

Analysis by Alyn Ware*

NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations General Assembly has on October 13 affirmed António Guterres, the former Prime Minister of Portugal and UN High Commissioner for Refugees, as the next United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG). The UN Security Council had on October 5 nominated him for the position after considering 13 candidates.

Guterres will have a number of challenges as he prepares to take up the UNSG position in January 2017. These include implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, addressing climate change, managing the continuing global refugee crisis, ensuring progress on disarmament, curtailing armed conflicts in a number of countries and regions, and reducing the tensions between Russia and the West, and between China and its neighbours in East Asia. 

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – During his farewell visit to Geneva early October, the outgoing United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was told by Prisca Chaoui, deputy executive secretary of the staff union: “As you leave the UN, you leave behind civil servants who are full of concern and apprehension about their future.”

Painting a black picture, Chaoui said the staff feared job cuts after the introduction of an expensive software (Umoja – meaning “unity” in Swahili) designed to unite UN employees scattered around the globe and another efficiency initiative aimed at streamlining administrative services.

By Rodney Reynolds

NEW YORK (IDN) – As a belated response to North Korea’s fifth nuclear test in September, the United States is in the process of negotiating a new Security Council resolution introducing additional economic sanctions while tightening existing ones.

But the final text of the resolution will depend on compromises demanded by China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, which has remained a strong political supporter of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Ambassador Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, told reporters, during a visit to South Korea October 10: “There are a set of political questions at the heart of any sanctions negotiation, but also a set of very, very technical issues, looking at the sources of hard currency for a regime that uses that currency in only one way, and that is to advance its destructive capabilities.”

By IDN-INPS UN Bureau

NEW YORK | LILONGWE (IDN | UN Women) – On the eve of International Day of the Girl Child, UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson visited Malawi on October 10 to shine a global spotlight on the need to end child marriage. She met with traditional chiefs and girls who have returned to school after having marriages annulled.

In 2015, Malawi passed the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act, raising the minimum age of marriage to 18. UN Women, together with partners, played an integral role in advocating the new law and works with traditional chiefs to change local practices. (Click for video here.)

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – 2017 will be an important year for Kazakhstan, a transcontinental country in northern Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Not only because on January 1 the country begins its two-year term as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, but also because it will host EXPO 2017 from June 10 to September 20.

By creating a platform to showcase cutting edge technologies that could provide solutions to energy issues, official sources said the EXPO will establish Kazakhstan as “a global leader on the challenge of future energies” and it will serve as a catalyst for Kazakhstan’s transition to a “green” economy.