UN Insider

Photo: A group of young farmers manage their own tomato business in El Salvador. Rapidly evolving agriculture and food systems have a huge potential for creating employment opportunities for rural youth. ©IFAD/Carla Francescutti.

The "Youth Bulge" Calls for Creating Jobs in Rural Areas

By Ronald Joshua

ROME (IDN) - "Rural areas are failing to provide opportunity and are losing their young people. This has major consequences at the local, national and global level. It can erode national economies, political stability, and food security," warned Gilbert F. Houngbo, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) at a recent conference hosted by the African Union Commission, the European Commission and the Estonian Presidency of the EU in Rome, Italy.

The conference on July 2, 2017 focused on Making Sustainable Agriculture a Future for Youth in Africa – against the backdrop that an estimated 440 million young people will enter the rural labour market by 2030 in Africa alone.

: Ronald Joshua; UN INSIDER; 12 August 2017

Photo: Vice President U Myint Swe delivering an address on 2 November, 2016. Credit: globalnewlightofmyanmar.com | MNA

Myanmar Commission Slams UN for “Smear Campaigning”

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 17th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

YANGON, Myanmar (IDN) - A Myanmar government commission that investigated allegations made by an international human rights organisation and the media about the country’s security forces abusing the human rights of Muslims known as Rohingyas in Rakhine State has found these allegations to be “unproven” and slammed its critics, including the United Nations, for carrying out an international “smear campaign” against the country.

The 13-member Investigative Commission on Maungtaw in Rakhine State headed by Vice-President U Myint Swe released its report at a press conference on August 6.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 10 August 2017

Photo: Alison Smale, a British journalist, is the first head of the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI), since it was established in 1946, who comes from a country that along with China, France, Russia, and USA, is one of the five veto-wielding permanent (P5) members of the Security Council. Credit: YouTube/Hertie School of Governance, Berlin.

A British Journalist Given Charge of UN Global Communications

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Nearly three months after Cristina Gallach of Spain vacated her post as head of the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI), Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Alison Smale of the United Kingdom as her successor with the designation Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications.

Smale is the first head of DPI, since it was established in 1946, who comes from a country that along with China, France, Russia, and USA, is one of the five veto-wielding permanent (P5) members of the Security Council.

DPI maintains offices in 63 locations worldwide and is responsible for promoting global awareness and understanding of the work of the United Nations.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 09 August 2017

Photo: Mansudae Assembly Hall, seat of the Supreme People's Assembly. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

U.S.-North Korea: Give Diplomacy a Chance

Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball

Daryl G. Kimball is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association, an independent, membership-based organization dedicated to providing authoritative information and practical policy solutions to address the threats posed by the world's most dangerous weapons.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) - Just six months into the administration of President Donald Trump, the war of words and nuclear threats between the United States and North Korea have escalated, and a peaceful resolution to the escalating crisis is more difficult than ever to achieve.

Both leaders need to immediately work to de-escalate the situation and direct their diplomats to engage in an adult conversation designed to resolve tensions.

: Daryl G. Kimball; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 09 August 2017

Photo: UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Credit: UN

A Nuclear-Weapons-Free World Requires Global Effort

By António Guterres’

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message to the Peace Ceremony in Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6 2017 as distributed to the media and posted online https://www.un.org/press/en/2017/sgsm18634.doc.htm – The Editor

UNITED NATIONS (IDN-INPS) - It is a profound honour to pay my deep respects to the victims of the atomic bomb and to the Hibakusha and the city of Hiroshima for your fortitude and example.

In 1946, when eminent personalities were invited to share their ideas for rebuilding Hiroshima, the distinguished Hibakusha novelist Yōko Ōta said her vision was “to interweave dream and reality in harmony and enrich citizens’ lives”. As the world looks to Hiroshima today, we see a city built on resilience and hope. Your determination for peace is an inspiration to the world.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 07 August 2017

Photo: Peter Thomson, President of the 71st session of the General Assembly (centre), Rafael Darío Ramírez Carreño, Permanent Representative of Venezuela to the UN and Chair of the Special Committee on Decolonization (left); and Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs; at the opening of the exhibition entitled Commemoration of the 56th anniversary of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples on 16 December 2016 at the United Nations, New York. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elias

Colonialism Very Much Alive on UN Agenda

By Shanta Rao

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – There has been a longstanding myth that colonialism has been long dead – and was unceremoniously buried in the 1950s and 1960s.

But not so fast, says the United Nations.

A 29-member UN Special Committee on Decolonization, which was established by the General Assembly back in 1961, is very much alive and remains fully engaged.

But it is fighting a near-losing battle with a fistful of Western colonial powers who are determined to hold onto their colonies – euphemistically called “non-self-governing territories.”

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 07 August 2017

Security Council Permanent Seat Remains an Illusion for India

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – A pious wish has been making the rounds since August 4 2017 in the online news sites in India. On that remarkable day, they carried reports from Washington, D.C. conveying the impression that India's permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council was just round the corner. The source was invariably the U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert.

The TIMESOFINDIA.COM, for example, carried the following report that apparently served as template for others: "The US, which supports India being given membership at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), is likely to raise the issue of New Delhi's membership at the world body later this month, said the US State Department today [August 4]."

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 06 August 2017

Photo: The UN Security Council unanimously adopts a resolution on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and the intercontinental ballistic missile programme (ICBM) by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). UN Photo/Kim Haughton

Security Council Debates Effectiveness of UN Sanctions

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) - While the UN Security Council unanimously moved on August 5 to expand sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) in response to the launches of ballistic missiles of possible intercontinental range, the Council discussed two days earlier the spirit and purpose of resorting to the restrictive instrument of sanctions.

The Security Council is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, charged with the maintenance of international peace and security as well as approving any changes to the UN Charter. Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military action.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 05 August 2017

Humanities to the Rescue of Sustainability

By A.D. McKenzie

PARIS (IDN) – If you suggest studying the humanities to some college-bound young people, you might be met with loud, pitying laughter. What is the value of a degree in literature, philosophy or history, they may ask.

An ambitious conference in Liège, Belgium, aims to provide an attitude-changing response to that question and, at the same time, draw up a programme to keep the humanities from becoming more “marginalised” at universities.

The event, titled the “World Humanities Conference: Challenges and Responsibilities for a Planet in Transition”, will take place from August 6 to 12.

: A.D. McKenzie; UN INSIDER; 04 August 2017

Do Not Exaggerate Private Sector Role in Achieving Agenda 2030

By Manuel F. Montes*

GENEVA (IDN | SOUTHVIEWS) - In discussions at the UN about achieving Agenda 2030, it has become de rigueur to highlight the role of the private sector. It is often introduced as the discovery of the idea that private sector investment and financing is indispensable to achieving Agenda 2030.

For developed country diplomats and their associated experts this new celebrity treatment appears to be an article of faith, at least during negotiations on economic matters in the UN. They are foisting a misleading 'Trumpian' exaggeration that is technically harmful to development policymaking and to Agenda 2030.

The practical, and long-running, reality is that investment by enterprises has always been indispensable to growth and development. It is NOT a new reality. It’s NOT a reality specific only to Agenda 2030.