Category: UN INSIDER

By Shanta Roy GENEVA (IDN) – A proposed salary cut – resulting from an “austerity agenda” – has triggered temporary work stoppages in UN offices in Geneva, Bangkok and Addis Ababa and is threatening to spread system-wide, including field operations. The protest is led by three staff unions – the Coordinating Committee of International Staff […]

By Jaya Ramachandran BERN (IDN) – The global Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) has launched its 25th network, SDSN Switzerland, co-hosted by the Centre for Development and Environment at the University of Bern and BIOVISION Foundation, foundation for ecological development, with a view to shaping multi-stakeholder dialogue, fostering sustainable development solutions, and advising decision-makers on […]

By Santo D. Banerjee NEW YORK (IDN) – One of the world’s largest multilateral development banks, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), has launched ‘Engage‘, a new digital platform which will promote technological and scientific solutions to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). IsDB President Dr. Bandar Hajjar announced on February 21 the launch […]

By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) – While progress has been achieved in realizing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the United Nations in September 2015, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed has warned that “the drop in extreme poverty remains uneven across regions, within countries and between various social groups.” Addressing the opening of the fifty-sixth […]

By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | MUNICH (IDN) – UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned against a repeat of what happened with the League of Nations and the threat of a nuclear conflict, stressed the need for breaking the Gordian knot in the “broader Middle East”, called for establishing an international legal framework for “cyberwars between […]

By J Nastranis UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – In the run-up to Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, addressing the Security Council on February 20, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that global consensus on the question of Palestine “could be eroding, making effective concerted action more difficult to achieve, at a time when […]

By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | GENEVA (IDN) – Forty-seven countries, already the world’s most disadvantaged, will fall short of achieving sustainable development goals set by the United Nations in its 2030 Agenda unless urgent action is taken, a new study has warned. Recognised as least developed countries (LDCs) in UN jargon, the 47 are known […]

By J Nastranis UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – While the Middle East, counter-terrorism and Africa will draw the Security Council’s focus in February, the Kuwait Presidency has chosen as its centrepiece a ministerial-level briefing on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter in the maintenance of international peace and security, with the Secretary-General as the […]

By Santo D. Banerjee UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Kazakhstan has elicited praise for highlighting Afghanistan and Central Asia during its first ever presidency of the Security Council in the month of January. An end-of-the-month “wrap-up” session also reflected appreciation for putting spotlight on non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and confidence building measures. Kazakhstan is […]

By J Nastranis UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – In a presidential statement on Darfur by Kazakh Ambassador Kairat Umarov, Security Council President for January, has welcomed improvements in the security situation, as well as the on-going absence of armed clashes between Government forces and the armed opposition, in addition to the extension of unilateral cessations of […]