Category: UN INSIDER

By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, 18 Feb 2023 (IDN) — In the 1960s and 70s, the 116-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), founded in Belgrade in 1961, was one of the largest and most powerful political coalitions (now numbering 120) led initially by countries such as Yugoslavia, India, Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia, Zambia, Algeria, Cuba and Sri Lanka. […]

By J Nastranis NEW YORK, 17 Feb 2023 (IDN) — In view of the failure of the global financial system to effectively cushion the impacts of current global crises on the Global South—the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the ongoing climate emergency—the UN has called for an increase of about $500 billion each […]

By Aurora Weiss VIENNA (IDN) — The COVID-19 pandemic has increased human trafficking using social networks and the Internet as a platform, Lead Author of the UNODC Global Reports on Trafficking in Persons, Fabricio Sarrica, told IDN. He was highlighting some salient aspects of the 2022 UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, the seventh […]

By Thalif Deen* This article contains excerpts from a recently-released book* on the United Nations titled “No Comment–and Don’t Quote Me on that” available on Amazon: https://www.rodericgrigson.com/no-comment-by-thalif-deen/ UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — During the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and particularly in the 1960s, the United Nations was […]

By Jaya Ramachandran PARIS (IDN) — Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, has denounced the decision of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to designate the historic centre of Odesa a World Heritage in Danger site. Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, criticised the designation, saying the only threat […]

By Andrew Lichterman* OAKLAND, California (IDN) — Seventy-seven years ago, the United Nations General Assembly passed its first resolution. The subject the governments represented there thought important enough to be first on their agenda was the establishment of a commission to develop proposals for the control of atomic energy and “for the elimination from national […]

COVID and Other Crises Obstructing Victim Identification By Aurora Weiss VIENNA (IDN) — Though the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises are increasing the possibility of vulnerable human beings easily falling into the trap of criminal exploitation for the sole purpose of economic gain, a new UN report finds that fewer victims of this kind of […]

By Caroline Mawanga NEW YORK | KABUL (IDN) — While calling on Afghanistan’s de facto Taliban authorities to reverse course on recent decrees limiting women’s and girls’ rights, a high-level UN delegation has urged the international community not to abandon Afghans. UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed led the delegation. UN Women’s Executive Director Sima Bahous, […]

By Radwan Jakeem NEW YORK (IDN) — UN Children’s agency UNICEF has pledged to continue to support children and families facing humanitarian crises across the globe in 2023. “Today, there are more children in need of humanitarian assistance than at any other time since the Second World War,” says UNICEF. Worldwide, children and their families […]

UN Launches 10-year Survival Plan By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) — Indigenous Peoples are guardians to almost 80 per cent of the world’s remaining biodiversity, said Csaba Kőrösi, the incumbent President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), while launching on December 16 the International Decade of Indigenous Languages.