UN Insider

Photo: SGI president Daisaku Ikeda. Credit: Seikyo Shimbun

Buddhist Leader Calls for Nuclear Weapons Free Security

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | TOKYO (IDN) – An eminent Buddhist philosopher and nuclear disarmament advocate has tabled four critical initiatives to "contribute to the creation of a sustainable global society where all can live with dignity and a sense of security". The initiatives cover four major areas: building support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW); multilateral negotiations for nuclear disarmament; climate change and disaster risk reduction (DRR); and education for children in crisis.

: Ramesh Jaura; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 13 February 2020

Photo: Kazakh Ambassador Kairat Umarov, Chair of the LLDCs Group, speaking at at the Ambassadorial level First 2020 Meeting of the Group of Landlocked Developing Countries on 22 Januray. Credit: Kazakhstan Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.

Kazakh Roadmap for LLDCs as 2020-2021 Chair

By Ambassador Kairat Umarov

Kazakhstan assumed the chairmanship of the Group of Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) on 8 January for the period 2020-2021. The following are extensive excerpts from the statement of LLDC Chair Ambassador Kairat Umarov, Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the United Nations in New York, at the First 2020 Meeting of the LLDCs at the Ambassadorial level,

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 12 February 2020

COP26 Will Be the Litmus Test of The Paris Agreement

COP25 Ignored Demands for Climate Justice

Viewpoint by Mary Church*

EDINBURGH (IDN) – The outcomes of the longest ever meeting in the history of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – the COP25 negotiations in Madrid – have failed to reflect the urgency of the crisis or any grasp of the real solutions to the climate emergency.

Rather, governments around the world continued to ignore both the undeniable science and the rising tide of peoples’ movements demanding radical action on climate.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 11 February 2020

Photo: An adolescent girl conducts an experiment during a chemistry class in Kamulanga Secondary School in Lusaka, Zambia. Credit: UNICEF Photo/UN0145554/Karin Schermbrucker

Strengthening Women & Girls Participation in Ocean Science

Viewpoint by Michael W. Lodge

The writer is Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), an autonomous international organization established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. ISA headquarters are in Kingston, Jamaica.

KINGSTON (IDN) – As we celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science on 11 February 2020, we are reminded of the need to renew our commitments to improve access for women from developing States to education and training, and ensure their increased participation in the field of ocean science, particularly in deep-sea scientific research.

: Opinion Editor; UN INSIDER; 10 February 2020

Image credit: Arrupe Tribal Cultural Center

Accelerating Actions Towards Zero Female Genital Mutilation

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) – While significant progress in eliminating the practice has been made in the last 30 years, approximately 200 million girls and women alive today have had their genitals mutilated. This can lead to long-term physical, psychological and social consequences, warns a joint statement by UN Women, UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO.

: Caroline Mwanga; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 08 February 2020

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres briefs journalists on his priorities for 2020 and the work of the Organization. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten.

The UN at 75 Moving From a Talking Shop to a Listening Post

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – Bob Dylan in "Blowin' in the Wind", one of the 'Greatest Songs of All Time', poses a series of rhetorical questions about peace, war, and freedom. The refrain "The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind" has been described as "impenetrably ambiguous: either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind".

This applies, albeit partially, to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres´ brief to journalists at the UN headquarters in New York on 4 February on the work of the organization and priorities for 2020 which marks a milestone for the United Nations – its 75th anniversary.

: Ramesh Jaura; UN INSIDER; 08 February 2020

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres (left) briefs the UN General Assembly on his Priorities for 2020 and the Work of the Organization. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten.

2020 Priorities and the Work of the United Nations

Viewpoint by António Guterres

The following are extensive excerpts from the UN Secretary-General’s remarks to the General Assembly on 22 January on his priorities in 2020.

NEW YORK (IDN) – 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the United Nations. I draw tremendous strength from all that we represent and all that we have achieved together. Yet anniversaries are not about celebrating the past; they are about looking ahead.

We must cast our eyes to the future with hope. But we must also do so without illusion. Today I want to speak to you in stark and simple terms about the challenges we face.

I see “four horsemen” in our midst — four looming threats that endanger 21st-century progress and imperil 21st-century possibilities.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 07 February 2020

Photo: People wear face masks at China's Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport. Credit: UN News/Jing Zhang

WHO Initiates a Two-Pronged Move to Combat Coronavirus

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – Two important steps have been taken to combat further spread of the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak in China and globally. On the one hand, the international community has launched a US$675 million preparedness and response plan covering the months of February through to April 2020. On the other, the World Health Organization (WHO) is convening a global research and innovation forum at its headquarters in the Swiss city on February 11-12.

: Jaya Ramachandran; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 06 February 2020

Photo: A Syrian father stands with his children at Bardarash camp in Duhok, Iraq, a day after arriving. © UNHCR/Hossein Fatemi.

More Offers Needed to Resettle Refugees Around the World

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – A continuing shortage of offers of sanctuary from governments across the world is a vital impediment to the resettlement of refugees. Nearly 1.4 million refugees are estimated to be in urgent need of resettlement worldwide, but only 63,696 or 4.5 per cent were relocated through the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in 2019.

Though the number of refugees resettled in 2019 increased modestly by 14 per cent compared to the previous year, when 55,680 people were relocated, the agency maintains that “a tremendous gap remains between resettlement needs and the places made available”.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 05 February 2020

Photo: The session on climate emergency at Jaipur Literature Festival. (L to R Ms. Renata Dessallien, resident coordinator of UN in India; Ms. Namita Waikar, managing editor of online journal PARI; Ms. Shubhangi Swarup, writer and filmmaker; Ms. Dia Mirza, Actress and UN Advocate for Sustainable Development. Credit: UN India/Yangerla Jamir.

UN Avails of Famed Literature Festival to Achieve Global Goals

By Devinder Kumar

JAPIPUR (IDN) – As part of a Decade of Action for accelerating sustainable solutions to all the world’s biggest challenges — ranging from poverty and gender to climate change, inequality and closing the finance gap – the United Nations availed of a new tool end of January: the world’s largest literature festival in India’s eminent ‘pink city’ of Jaipur, the capital of the scenic, almost magical Indian state of Rajasthan. It is known as the Pink City due to the colour of the stone used for many of its glorious palaces and historic monuments.