Category: UNITED NATIONS

IDN-InDepthNews Interview with CTBTO Chief Dr Lassina Zerbo

BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) – Twenty years after it was opened for signature, the CTBT has come to stay as a de facto global treaty banning all nuclear testing – “if we take North Korea outside of the scope” – but Dr Zerbo Lassina wants to see it de jure because he is concerned that the longer it takes for its entry into force, the greater is the risk of a “fatigue” creeping in that could lead to people saying: “Why are we investing in something if we don’t know when the treaty will come into force?”

By Jayantha Dhanapala* | IDN-InDepthNews Essay

KANDY, Sri Lanka (IDN) – The International Peace Institute, since its inception as the International Peace Academy in 1970, has focused on strengthening the multilateral process in the conduct of international affairs with the United Nations as its focal point. It is appropriate that in the 70^th anniversary year of our indispensable global institution, the UN, an Independent Commission on Multilateralism should be established by the IPI to address 16 topics of relevance to the global agenda.

It is a necessary corollary to the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals that the international community has agreed to pursue. I welcome especially the Commission’s choice of “Weapons of Mass Destruction, Nonproliferation and Disarmament” as one of them.

Seventy years ago on January 24, 1946, the United Nations General Assembly meeting in London adopted its very first resolution and, significantly, by consensus. This historic resolution established a commission of the UN Security Council to ensure:

By Rodney Reynolds | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – When the 15-member UN Security Council (UNSC) met at an emergency session on February 7, a non-working Sunday afternoon, to discuss the most recent defiance by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the outcome was predictable.

After “urgent consultations”, the UNSC “strongly condemned” DPRK for launching a rocket which could lead to the future development of intercontinental ballistic missile technologies.

VIENNA (IDN) – While several member states have been withdrawing their support to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) over the years, Japan agreed on January 27 to replenish its financial contributions to the agency for encouraging the utilisation and dissemination of new low-carbon technologies particularly in Africa.

Japan’s Permanent Representative to the international organisations in Vienna, Ambassador Mitsuru Kitano, and the UNIDO Director-General Li Yong, signed an agreement on the second replenishment of about $2.5 million for the Low Carbon Low Emission Clean Energy Technology (LCET) Programme implemented by UN agency, among others, in Ethiopia and Kenya.

By Rita Joshi | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

BERLIN | ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – Within less than a week of African leaders rejecting repeated demands to deploy troops of the African Union in strife-torn Burundi, the 54-nation group has appointed a high-level delegation of five African presidents to negotiate with factions in the East African country over the possible deployment of an African peacekeeping mission.

By Anusha Meyer | IDN-InDepthNews Report

PARIS (IDN) – The Timbuktu mausoleums, destroyed by radical Islamists four years ago, are back on their feet now, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Irina Bokova told the people of Mali on February 4.

The UNESCO chief’s message coincided with a consecration ceremony of the Timbuktu mausoleums, last held in the 11th century, celebrated at the initiative of the local community. It marked the final phase of the United Nations-backed cultural rebirth of the age-old Sahara city after the destruction wrought by radical Islamists in 2012.

By Jaya Ramachandran | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) – About 92 percent of morphine used worldwide is consumed by only 17 per cent of the world population – predominantly in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

While consumption in those countries has increased significantly since the early 1990s and there is growing concern about prescription drug abuse, more than 75 per cent of the people in several low and middle-income countries have no medical access to narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

VIENNA (IDN) – The UN General Assembly will hold a Special Session (UNGASS) on the world drug problem in April 2016 with a view to achieving the goal of “a better tomorrow for world’s youth”.

In preparation of this session, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has reiterated the importance of a balanced approach to drug control policy and practice, in order to work towards the health and welfare objectives of the three international drug control treaties.

By Rita Joshi | IDN-InDepthNews Report

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – As the UN Development Programme (UNDP) celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, the organisation is aware of the unfinished job, and is committed to “end poverty once and for all” – in Africa and Asia-Pacific where it has been present since the agency was created in 1966.

Reviewing its performance in Africa, UNDP says the continent has undoubtedly made “significant strides socially, politically and economically since the turn of the 21st century”.

Rapid democratic transitions are leading to more responsive and accountable governments. The frequency of armed conflicts seems to be on a downward trend. Steady economic growth and macroeconomic stability have returned. Expanded social policies are improving health and education services, including those targeting women and girls.

By J Nasranis | IDN-InDepthNewsReport

NEW YORK (IDN) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has set up a group of ten experts to provide flesh and blood to the Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) that was launched at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on September 25, 2015.

The Mechanism seeks to promote science, technology and innovation to achieve the 2030 Agenda. The group consists of representatives of civil society, the private sector and the scientific community.

TFM comprises a United Nations inter-agency task team on science, technology and innovation (STI), which currently gathers 25 UN entities; an annual multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation; and an online platform that serves as a gateway for information on existing STI initiatives, mechanisms and programmes.