UN Insider

Image: Sunrise, Fog, Landscape, Mountains, Mist, Morning, Dawn as in diplomacy. Source: Pixabay.

The Great Game of Vaccination Diplomacy Targets Africa

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) — Russia is committed to helping eradicate the rapidly increasing coronavirus infections in Africa amounting to approximately 3.8 million with its latest developed Sputnik V vaccine. Such a step will enable Russia to reassert its geopolitical influence that involves a keen competition with other foreign players on the continent.

An official media release in mid-February said that the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team — set up by the African Union to acquire additional vaccine doses so that Africa can attain a target immunization of 60% — has received an offer of 300 million Sputnik V vaccines from the Russian Federation.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Africa; 25 February 2021

Image: Collage of Munich Security Conference and G7 logos by IDN-INPS

Two Major Conferences Resolute in Combating COVID-19

Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN) — The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) and the Munich Security Conference (MSC) held two meetings virtually on February 19, 2021, as these had to be postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The G7 countries — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States — meet annually to discuss major world crises issues and to resolve global problems. The virtual meeting was hosted by the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.

: Somar Wijayadasa; OPINION; 24 February 2021

Photo: Scores killed in a stampede at a church crusade in Tanzania. Source: africanquarters.com

Tanzania President Acknowledges the Menace of COVID-19

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — For months, Tanzanian President John Magufuli stuck to a controversial stand that COVID-19 would only be defeated by prayer.

This Sunday (February 21), the President amended his position. He urged citizens to wear masks — only locally made ones — and take other preventive measures against the virus.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 22 February 2021

Photo: Workers construct a solar panel array structure in Malawi. CC BY-SA 4.0

An Inclusive Energy System Key to COVID-19 Recovery

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

BANGKOK (IDN) — The past year is one that few of us will forget. While the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have played out unevenly across Asia and the Pacific, the region has been spared many of the worst effects seen in other parts of the world. The pandemic has reminded us that a reliable and uninterrupted energy supply is critical to managing this crisis.

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Poverty; 22 February 2021

Photo: Munir Akram, Seventy-sixth President of the Economic and Social Council. Credit: UN ECOSOC

UN's ECOSOC Chief Calls for Backing Up World's Poor Fight COVID-19

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) — UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) President Munir Akram has called for a 'Coalition of the Willing' to promote agreement at the global level, on a specific set of early actions to provide fiscal space and supplementary liquidity to developing countries suffering the disastrous impact of COVID-19.

In an email interview with IDN, Mr Akram said speedy actions should include comprehensive debt suspension, debt restructuring for countries in current or potential debt distress, creation of new Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) worth $500 billion and redistribution of unutilized SDR quotas to developing countries.

: Ramesh Jaura; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 22 February 2021

Image credit: UN Economic Commission for Africa.

Time to Redouble Efforts for Economic Diversification in East Africa

By Devendra Kamarajan

NAIROBI (IDN) — When the COVID-19 pandemic crisis started, most people were extremely pessimistic. They thought that the region would drown in terms of trade declining catastrophically. But a new report reveals that the East Africa Community economies — Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda — have, by global standards, proven to be relatively resilient.

: Devendra Kamarajan; THE WORLD; Africa; 21 February 2021

Photo: New WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Credit: World Trade Organization.

The Choice of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as WTO Head Makes History

Can This 'Grandmother' Save The World Ruled by Gender and Racial Bias?

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) — As the World Trade Organization (WTO) formally announced the appointment of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as Director-General on February 15, a Swiss newspaper received her with a disgraceful headline: “This Grandmother will become the boss of the WTO,” with her photograph under the headline.

The headline sparked outrage, forcing the editors to modify their position: “This 66-year-old Nigerian will head WTO.”

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 19 February 2021

Photo: SGI President Daisaku Ikeda. Credit: Seikyo Shimbun

A Beacon of Hope from A Buddhist Leader in the Face of Crises

Viewpoint by Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | TOKYO (IDN) — Like the United Nations, the global community-based Buddhist organisation Soka Gakkai International (SGI) is a beacon of hope to a world shrouded by dark clouds of unprecedented crises. An international association of the Soka Gakkai and an NGO in consultative status with UN ECOSOC, SGI has members in 192 countries and territories around the world. SGI President is Daisaku Ikeda, a Buddhist philosopher, peacebuilder and educator.

: Ramesh Jaura; Nuclear Powers; 18 February 2021

Photo: Global food supply chains are complex and include these kale farmers in Uganda. Credit: FAO.

Global Food Systems Can Only Be Truly Transformed with a People’s Summit

Viewpoint by Agnes Kalibata*

NEW YORK (IDN) – Long before the emergence of COVID-19, it was well-accepted that the world was off-course to achieve most of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, including ending hunger. But recovering from the pandemic to deliver any of the 17 SDGs relies now more than ever on first feeding the world.

Yet as COVID-19 spread, the reported number of hungry people rocketed upward after three decades of progress, with worse still likely to come in some regions as farmers contend with an unprecedented number of extreme weather events as well as the impact of the pandemic.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 18 February 2021

Photo: Employees prepare bananas to be distributed in Mogadishu. Credit: Allan Atulinda/UN.

Rural Voices to Be Heard at Food Systems Summit

By Kwame Buist

ROME (IDN) – The United Nations is to involve millions of rural people in the 2021 Food Systems Summit as part of an ambitious public engagement process, in which indigenous communities, family farmers, rural women and youth are among those invited to take a seat at the table during Independent Dialogues to help transform global food systems.

This unprecedented commitment to ensure that the voices and opinions of millions of the world’s most remote rural people are at the heart of the Food Systems Summit was announced February 18 by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy, Agnes Kalibata, and the President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Gilbert F. Houngbo.