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Viewpoint by Natalia Fuller
TOKYO (IDN) – Several aid groups are now looking at blockchain's potential to improve humanitarian aid. By providing refugees with a virtual identity, and assuring the public that their money is being properly spent, aid groups are hopeful that they can attract more donors.
UNICEF is one of the largest charitable organisations in the world that is hoping to streamline their operations with blockchain.
By Miroslav Lajčák
Miroslav Lajčák is President of the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly. Following are extensive excerpts from his Statement at 74th session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) with focus on Inequality in the Era of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on 14 May 2018 in Bangkok, Thailand. – The Editor.
BANGKOK (IDN-INPS) – In 2015, we made a promise. We committed to leaving no one behind. And, the theme of this session is a stark reminder of our promise: Inequality in the Era of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – When Kazakhstan took over the presidency of the UN Security Council in January 2018, it set out with a seven-point agenda: a world free of nuclear weapons; preventing and ending military confrontations at regional and global levels; making Central Asia a model for a regional zone of peace, security, cooperation, and development; reaching peace and security in Africa; fighting international terrorism and violent extremism; advancing the nexus between security and development; and adapting the UN system to the needs of the 21st century.
This ambitious work programme reflected the letter and spirit of the United Nations' Agenda for Sustainable Development which is eminently summed up in Goal 16 dedicated to the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, the provision of access to justice for all, and building effective, accountable institutions at all levels.
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK | ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child obliges all members of the world body to respect and ensure the rights of each child "within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind". While some progress has been made to fulfil the objectives set out in the Convention, too many commitments remain unfulfilled. This is particularly true for children deprived of liberty, who often remain invisible and forgotten.
Most countries lack data on the number of children deprived of liberty, on the reasons, length and places of detention. Judicial, administrative or other bodies, including the police, military authorities, immigration officials, child protection or welfare bodies, health professionals, and non-state actors, including in situations of armed conflict, decide children's detention.
By Reinhardt Jacobsen
VIENNA (IDN) – The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has revamped its tools to cope with the growing volume and variety of formats in information technologies, growing demand to harness nuclear science and technology, face the challenges of cyber security, and help prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.
The UN nuclear watchdog IAEA inspectors verify that nuclear material and technology around the world remain in peaceful activities. The new tools also aid communication and cooperation between the IAEA and its Member States.
By Jamshed Baruah
GENEVA (IDN) – The Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue, Dr. Hanif Hassan Ali Al Qassim, has called upon societies worldwide to embrace models of equal citizenship and to harness the collective energy of religions, creeds and value-systems in the pursuit of equal citizenship rights.
The Geneva Centre chairman Dr. Hanif Hassan Ali Al Qassim made this appeal on the occasion of the 2018 International Day of Living Together in Peace. On January 15, 2018, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 72/130 declaring May 16 the International Day of Living Together in Peace.
By Jeffrey Moyo
JOHANNESBURG (IDN) – Twenty-nine year old Ruramai Gwata had no reason to celebrate the International Women’s Day observed on March 8 every year. She lay in hospital nursing her wounds following a severe assault by her husband over a domestic dispute.
While licking her wounds two months later, as the world commemorated Mother's Day, Gwata was plagued by agonising memories of how her two children witnessed her abuse by her husband.
Jobless Gwata, though a qualified jobless teacher, is by no means a rare exception in Africa. Because of the fate of women like Gwata the continent’s bid to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 by accomplishing gender equality and empowering all women and girls by the year 2030, threatens to remain a pipe dream.
By Sergio Duarte
The writer is President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.
NEW YORK (IDN) – On July 1, 2018 the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) will celebrate the fiftieth aniversary of its opening for signature. Although criticised as discriminatory for establishing different rights and obligations for nuclear and non-nuclear Parties, since that date in 1968 a total of 191 States have acceded to the Treaty, making it one of the most successful instruments in the field of arms control.
Only four countries among the members of the United Nations are not Party to it. While several different factors can explain the fact that so far the majority of nations have chosen not to acquire nuclear weapons the NPT can certainly be credited as instrumental in this regard.
By Alyn Ware
The writer is Co-Chair, World Future Council Disarmament Commission.
NEW YORK (IDN) – May 14, 2018 was supposed to see the opening at the United Nations of a three-day High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament, scheduled to discuss "effective nuclear disarmament measures to achieve the total elimination of nuclear weapons, including, in particular, on a comprehensive convention on nuclear weapons."
The UN General Assembly decided five years ago to hold such a conference in 2018, following a series of annual, one-day, high-level meetings at the United Nations.
By Rita Joshi
BERLIN | BANGKOK (IDN-INPS) – The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, approved by the United Nations in September 2015, pledged to "leave no one behind". But two years since the Agenda began to be implemented, inequality in Asia and the Pacific is on the rise. This is affirmed by a study launched at the 74th Session (CS74) of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), which opened on May 11, 2018 in Bangkok.
The Report shows that satisfactory progress has been made at the regional level towards eradicating poverty (Goal 1), promoting health and well-being (Goal 3), and achieving quality education for all (Goal 4).
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