UN Insider

Photo: Dr Vera Songwe, the executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), addressing Africa Business and Investment Forum in Addis Ababa on January 30 on the margins of the African Union (AU) Summit. Credit: Jessica Hope

Africa’s Mounting Thirst for Foreign Direct Investment

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE | ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – He was just 17 when his country Zimbabwe gained independence. Now, 38 years later, Trynos Hove is over half a century old and what he remembers is persistent underdevelopment and repeated calls for foreign investment.

Without meaningful foreign direct investment in this Southern African nation, says Hove, suffering will continue for the majority of citizens who are now bearing the brunt of joblessness.

“I’m one of the Zimbabweans who are without employment today. I worked for Lever Brothers before I was sacked as the company scaled down operations owing to the failing economy here,” Hove told IDN.

: Jeffrey Moyo; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 March 2018

Photo: The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, one of the world's longest suspension bridges, connects Brooklyn and Staten Island. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

A Compelling Book on 'Humanity’s Success in Ruining Nature'

NEW YORK (IDN) – Across the globe, geologists, climate scientists, biologists, chemists and physicists are alarmed, and if there are uncertainties these are whether danger is in the offing very soon or in a few years; about whether our prospects are calamitous or only troublesome.

The lack of dread among the general public about the risks of irreversible damage is worrying. Politics and Science operate on different time lines and with different urgencies. The open question is if the governments of the world’s dozen or so wealthiest countries are up to organizing a workable, equitable and sustainable global response before it is too late.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 04 March 2018

Photo: Coordinating Committee of International Staff Unions and Associations (CCISUA) and United Nations International Civil Servants Federation (UNISERV), along with statisticians, join the staff union in New York Headquarters. Credit: CCISUA

Staff Unions Threaten UN-Wide Work Stoppages Over Pay Cuts

By Shanta Roy

GENEVA (IDN) – A proposed salary cut – resulting from an "austerity agenda" – has triggered temporary work stoppages in UN offices in Geneva, Bangkok and Addis Ababa and is threatening to spread system-wide, including field operations.

The protest is led by three staff unions – the Coordinating Committee of International Staff Unions and Associations (CCISUA), the Federation of International Civil Servants’ Associations (FICSA) and the United Nations International Civil Servants Federation (UNISERV) representing over 60,000 staffers worldwide – and is aimed primarily at the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC).

: Thalif Deen; UN INSIDER; 04 March 2018

Photo: Dr. Daisaku Ikeda. Credit: Seikyo Shimbun.

Striving to Build a Broader Support for the Nuclear Ban Treaty

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | TOKYO (IDN) – The second session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 NPT Review Conference in April and the UN High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament in May will draw the focus of the international community in the coming weeks as it moves toward paving the way for a nuclear-weapons free world.

Since the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was adopted in July 2017, "these will be the first venues for debate and deliberation that will include both the nuclear-weapon and nuclear-dependent states," says eminent Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda, founder and President of Soka Gakkai International (SGI) with 12 million members in 192 countries and regions.

: Ramesh Jaura; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 28 February 2018

Photo: Congo’s UN mission said on March 18, 2017 that government forces had targeted civilians, including women and children, resulting in numerous deaths in central Congo and were restricting United Nations peacekeepers’ access to the area. Credit: nileinternational.net

UN Peacekeeping Needs Thorough Reform

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The new, vicious, fighting in the Congo is the fourth round of warfare since independence in 1960. No other country has seen so many “blue berets” – UN peacekeeping troops – in its short history.

The Belgian colonialists may have exploited it and transferred massive amounts of its wealth back to Belgium but one leader after another has continued in its steps, making use of the country’s vast mineral deposits to build an edifice of wealth and unilateral power. Leaders have played on tribal fears and insecurity. War has been the outcome.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 27 February 2018

ACP Group Joins with OCTs to Fight Illegal Fishing and Other Threats to Life Below Water

By Dr Patrick I. Gomes, ACP Secretary-General

The following is a slightly modified version of remarks by the ACP Secretary General to the High-Level Forum of Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) and the European Union in Brussels on 23 February 2018 on 'Engaging the OCTs and SDGs and the Post-Cotonou Process'. – The Editor

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Together the ACP Group of States and the European Union constitute a unique partnership grounded in the task of making lives of all humanity meaningful, secure, peaceful and prosperous.

It is for this reason that my remarks wish to express a commitment of the ACP Group of States to build on and strengthen the provisions in the Cotonou Agreement for relations of the ACP with OCTs.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 27 February 2018

Photo: (L to R): Urs Wiesmann, Co-Chair of SDSN Switzerland; Katrin Muff, Conference Facilitator; Bertrand Piccard, Solar Impulse Foundation; Jacques Dubochet, University of Lausanne; Océane Dayer, Co-Chair of SDSN Switzerland; Michael Bergöö, Acting Managing Director of SDSN Switzerland. Credit: Peter Lüthi, Biovision.

Switzerland Joins Sustainable Development Solutions Network

By Jaya Ramachandran

BERN (IDN) – The global Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) has launched its 25th network, SDSN Switzerland, co-hosted by the Centre for Development and Environment at the University of Bern and BIOVISION Foundation, foundation for ecological development, with a view to shaping multi-stakeholder dialogue, fostering sustainable development solutions, and advising decision-makers on the implementation of the Agenda 2030 and the Paris Climate Agreement.

SDSN Switzerland was officially launched on February 15 with a conference under the banner 'Where Society, Science and Politics Create Solutions.' The network claims to have 19 members from key institutions around Switzerland who are committed to implementing SDGs at the local level.

: Jaya Ramachandran; UN INSIDER; 26 February 2018

UNESCAP, Islamic Development Bank Sign Landmark Agreement

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – One of the world’s largest multilateral development banks, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), has launched 'Engage', a new digital platform which will promote technological and scientific solutions to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

IsDB President Dr. Bandar Hajjar announced on February 21 the launch of the new platform at an event hosted at Bloomberg's European Headquarters in London, together with UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, Dr. Hayat Sindi, Chief Scientific Advisor to IsDB, and a group of business, innovation and development experts.

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 25 February 2018

Photo: Opening session of the fifty-sixth session of the Commission for Social Development. Credit: UN

Social Development Commission Stresses Global Goals

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – While progress has been achieved in realizing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the United Nations in September 2015, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed has warned that "the drop in extreme poverty remains uneven across regions, within countries and between various social groups."

Addressing the opening of the fifty-sixth session of the Commission for Social Development (CSocD56), she however remarked: "At the global level, we have experienced impressive reductions in extreme poverty. Significant progress has also been made in improving access to schooling and healthcare, promoting the empowerment of women, youth, persons with disabilities, older persons and indigenous populations."

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 25 February 2018

Photo: Jean-Luc Stalon, UNDP Country Director in Senegal (in September 2012). Credit: UNDP

Ending Persistent Inequality in Africa a Top Priority

Viewpoint by Jean-Luc Stalon

Jean-Luc Stalon is UNDP Country Director in Senegal. This article first appeared on January 31, 2018 on Africa Review. – The Editor.

DAKAR (IDN-INPS) – The defeat of Keynesianism in the 1980s witnessed an increase in income and social inequalities associated with the domination and monopoly of neoliberalism.

Neoliberalism advocates a free market that would promote growth through public spending cuts, deregulation of the economy, lower taxes on business, reduction of restrictions capital movement and global open markets.

Consequently, it seemed to have conquered the world through the transfer of power from the public to private sector.