Category: UN INSIDER

By Rita Joshi BONN (IDN) – The official launch of the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Fund is an outstanding achievement for the United Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in 2017. It is a first-of-its-kind investment vehicle leveraging public sector funds to raise private sector capital for sustainable land management and landscape restoration activities worldwide. It […]

By Santo D. Banerjee NEW YORK (IDN) – Seven years after the Fourth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries charted out the international community’s vision and strategy for sustainable development of the world’s poorest countries, a new institution called the Technology Bank is set to start operations in 2018. The Conference, held in Istanbul, […]

By J Nastranis UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – While expressing his profound concern over the risk of military confrontation on the Korean Peninsula, “including as a result of miscalculation,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has stressed the need to disassociate the peace and security situation in the DPRK (North Korea) from the humanitarian needs in the […]

By J Nastranis UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Despite an upsurge in world economic growth, which has reached 3 per cent – the highest since 2011 – very few least developed countries (LDCs) are expected to reach the Sustainable Development Goal target for GDP growth of “at least 7 per cent” in the near term (SDG […]

By John J. Metzler* This article is being reproduced with permission of WebPublicaPress, which carried it on November 28t, 2017 with the caption ‘UN Theatre of Absurd’. – The Editor UNITED NATIONS (IDN-INPS) – A key UN Committee has condemned Iran’s widespread use of the death penalty and has urged the Islamic Republic to eliminate “all […]

By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) – India has scored a “historic” victory over Britain, one of the five permanent members (P5) of the Security Council, with the re-election of Justice Dalveer Bhandari to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), principal judicial organ of the United Nations. The win is historic because it’s the first […]

By Justus Wanzala NAIROBI (IDN) – African and Asian countries face a huge challenge in protecting their wildlife from the illegal killing and trafficking that has already endangered some species. Over the years, national and regional efforts to combat the threat have met with mixed success and wildlife and their products continue to be sold […]

By Santo D. Banerjee UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has been widely welcomed in Israel but it has also caused much anger among Palestinians and anxiety across the Middle East and beyond – at the United Nations too. On December 6, Trump announced that […]

By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) – In the run-up to Kazakhstan assuming the UN Security Council’s rotating presidency for January 2018, Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov has accentuated that the Central Asian country stands for the creation of a model of a regional zone of peace, security and cooperation in Central Asia and Afghanistan. […]

By Ramesh Jaura VIENNA (IDN) – “We are in a time when multilateralism is being challenged. Your participation in this General Conference reaffirms the relevance of UNIDO’s work to your governments and the people on the ground,” said Miroslav Lajčák, Slovakia’s Foreign Minister and President of the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly until […]