Category: UN INSIDER

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.

ROME (IDN) – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) have agreed to generate job and business opportunities for young people in rural Benin, Cameroon, Malawi, and Niger.

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency (NPCA) Chief Executive Officer Ibrahim Assane Mayaki signed an agreement for the purpose on October 19. The project to be implemented with the help of a $4 million grant from the Africa Solidarity Trust Fund seeks to foster policy dialogue among countries, regional organizations, development and resource partners.

By Jaya Ramachandran

BERLIN | BONN (IDN) – OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that are known to have been at loggerheads for nearly two decades appear to be building bridges just a few days after the Paris Agreement reached the threshold for entry into force on October 5.

In the run-up to the UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech, Morocco from November 7 to 18, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo visited Bonn to meet with UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa “to enhance cooperation between the UNFCCC and OPEC and exchange views on recent developments”.

By Rita Joshi

BERLIN | BONN (IDN) – The UN Climate Change Secretariat has launched two initiatives to raise young people’s awareness about climate change through videos and photographs.

While winners of the Youth Climate Video Competition were announced on October 6, the deadline for a photo competition has been extended. Works of the winners of this competition too will be exhibited at the upcoming Climate Change Conference in Marrakech from November 7 to 18.

According to a media release by the UN Framework Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC), two young climate activists from Tunisia and Vietnam who tell their inspiring stories of climate action and building public awareness have been selected as the winners of the 2016 Global Youth Video Competition on Climate Change.

By Jaya Ramachandran

NEW YORK (IDN) – Rural women make up 25 per cent of the world’s population and in developing countries they comprise 43 per cent of the agricultural labour force that produces much of the world’s Food.

They are therefore critical to the success of almost all of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as they all have gender equality and women’s empowerment at their core.

Rural women constitute the backbone of rural communities, where, “and in many households they have the key responsibility for food security, education opportunities and healthcare”, as the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stressed.