Category: UN INSIDER

NEW YORK – Marking the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, United Nations Secretary-General June 26 called for “a global response that is simultaneously effective, compassionate and humane,” to the challenges posed by the world drug problem.

“I call on countries and communities to continue to improve the lives of everyone blighted by drug abuse by integrating security and public safety with a heightened focus on health, human rights, and sustainable development,” said the UN chief in his message on the Day.

The illicit trade in drugs fosters transnational organized crime networks, systemic corruption and widespread violence. It is also a major public health menace. Millions of people are directly affected, especially the poor, vulnerable women and children, and those living in fragile communities.

Analysis by Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) – As the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) celebrates its fiftieth anniversary, Director-General LI Yong finds himself confronted with a fresh exodus of western member states.

Nine – UK, France, Portugal, Belgium, Lithuania, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States – have pulled out over the last 10 years. Denmark and Greece are scheduled to quit in January 2017 and with the Netherlands expected to follow suit, the number of UNDIO members would be reduced to 167.

UNIDO membership might in fact shrink to between 157 and 159 by 2019, if 8-10 developing countries, in addition to Brazil, decide to pull out apparently “because the cost of membership outweighs any benefit against the backdrop of actual or potential withdrawal of many donor countries”, according to diplomatic sources in Vienna.

Analysis by Rodney Reynolds

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – There has been widespread speculation – both inside and outside the United Nations — that Israel may be toying with the idea of ratifying the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), perhaps within the next five years.

But is this in the realm of political reality or nuclear fantasy?

The speculation was triggered following a three-day visit to Israel by Dr Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), who met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on June 20.

Striking a note of optimism about the possible ratification of the treaty by Israel, he told the Jerusalem Post: “It is not a matter of if, but when.”

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Out of the 54 African States, only eight have not experienced armed or violent conflict since they achieved independence between the 1950 and 1980s, Carlos Lopes, Executive Director of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) told a joint meeting of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC).

Because of the interrelated nature of Africa’s economy, a conflict in one State had economic costs for neighbouring countries, he told the joint meeting on June 24 in New York.

Conflict-affected countries in Africa, therefore, needed strong support to meet the Goals of the 2030 Agenda. Lopes stressed the need for renewed multilateralism despite a global gridlock in multinational negotiations and how to handle different crises.

By Jaya Ramachandran

BERLIN | CANNES | NEW YORK (IDN) – Nearly six months before Ban Ki-moon relinquishes his post after ten years as UN Secretary-General, his unrelenting efforts underway since January to engage corporate leaders and entrepreneurs for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are beginning to bear fruit.

Speaking at the Lions Festival of Creativity, Cannes, on June 24, Ban said the world’s six biggest advertising and marketing services groups – Dentsu, Havas, IPG, Omnicom, Publicis and WPP – had decided to launch a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Common Ground initiative.

The initiative seeks “to beat ultra-competitors, poverty, inequality and injustice” by supporting a 15-year anti-poverty, pro-planet action plan, adopted by 193 Member States in September 2015.

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – UN Women has joined Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in welcoming the “historic” agreement signed in Cuba’s capital Havana between the government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP), after 52 years of armed conflict and nearly four years of peace negotiations.

The June 23 accord “marks a definite step on the road to peace”, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said. “It is an occasion to be hopeful for the future and to strengthen our resolve to support this exemplary peace process,” she added in a statement on June 24.

Viewpoint by Erlan Idrissov | Reproduced courtesy of The Hill

The author is Foreign Minister Kazakhstan. This article originally appeared with the headline High time for Central Asia and Kazakhstan to have a voice in UN Security Council.

ASTANA – No organisation has a greater global responsibility than the United Nations Security Council. The Council has the solemn task of maintaining international peace with the power to intervene if threats put it or the safety of civilian populations at risk. Its effectiveness has a huge impact on our world and the lives of millions of people.

The Council’s authority stems from the UN Charter and the support of the international community. But it is strengthened when its membership is as representative as possible. Its decisions, too, benefit when drawing on differing global perspectives. It is why from the beginning, the Council’s membership included not just the great powers but a rotating group of countries elected on a regional basis.

Analysis by Franz Baumann *

NEW YORK – Three months before his tragic death, Dag Hammarskjöld gave a powerful lecture in Oxford, entitled The International Civil Servant in Law and in Fact. He positioned the Secretary-General’s role and that of the Secretariat in the architecture of the United Nations.

Hammarskjöld implicitly built on the conclusions formulated by the great U.S. political scientist Inis L. Claude in his classic 1956 study Swords Into Plowshares: The Problems and Progress of International Organization, namely that there are two United Nations: firstly the arena of member states, secondly the Secretariat.

NEW YORK – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has commended a joint statement on climate change made by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States President Barack Obama announcing their support for early entry into force of the Paris Agreement, and encouraged all countries to accelerate their domestic processes to join or ratify it.

“The Secretary-General welcomes the domestic steps being undertaken by both countries to join the Paris Agreement as soon as possible, including in 2016, and their collaborative efforts to address climate change,” indicated a statement issued by Ban’s spokesperson on June 8.

Analysis by J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations has been spending billions on assisting in navigating the difficult path from conflict to peace in different parts of the world. But with little or no success on the whole, as senior officials of the world body admit.

“Success is never guaranteed, because UN Peacekeeping almost by definition goes to the most physically and politically difficult environments. However, we have built up a demonstrable record of success over our 60 years of existence, including winning the Nobel Peace Prize,” says United Nations Peacekeeping.