UN Insider

UN Can Model Innovative Ways to Engage Youth

Time for a National Forum or Assembly

By Simone Galimberti

The writer is the Co-Founder of ENGAGE, a not-for-profit NGO in Nepal. He writes on volunteerism, social inclusion, youth development and regional integration as an engine to improve people's lives.

KATHMANDU (IDN) — One of the pillars of Our Common Agenda, the UN Secretary-General's global blueprint on delivering a better future based on cooperation and multilateralism, is a strong focus on inclusion, protection and participation.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 28 August 2022

Ukraine’s Life-Saving Health System Prepares for A Challenging Winter Ahead

WHO Media Release

GENEVA (IDN) — At the six-month mark of the war in Ukraine, the country’s badly affected but still-resilient health system is taking stock of lessons learned in providing life-saving care with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners as it prepares for a challenging winter ahead.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 24 August 2022

Photo: Meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (right) in front of the Hiroshima (banner) exhibition at United Nations on August 1, 2022. Source: Mariko Komatsu

Nuclear Weapons Are a Clear Threat to A Sustainable Future for Humanity

Viewpoint by Hidehiko Yuzaki, Governor of Hiroshima, Japan

The following is the content of Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki's speech at a side event (co-hosted by Nagasaki and Hiroshima Prefectures) under the theme "Nexus between Nuclear Disarmament and Sustainable Future" held at UN Headquarters on August 1, the first day of the 2022 NPT Review Conference. The side event was attended by about 70 diplomats, nuclear disarmament experts, and NGO representatives.

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — I am Hidehiko YUZAKI, Governor of Hiroshima Prefecture and President of Hiroshima Organization for Global Peace or HOPe for short.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 24 August 2022

UN Capable of Negotiating Peace in Russia's War with Ukraine

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — In late 2004 the U.S. was ignoring the UN despite it being obvious to the outside world that it was increasingly bogged down in Iraq following its misconceived war. On November 15, when the Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraqi Governing Council signed an agreement that set up a transition plan, the UN was not even mentioned. But a short two months later Washington was on its knees before the UN, its transition plan in tatters.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 23 August 2022

Photo: In the Sea of Marmara, UN Secretary-General António Guterres observes the WFP ship SSI Invincible 2, headed to Ukraine to pick up the largest cargo of grain yet exported under the Black Sea Grain Initiative. UN Photo/Mark Garten

UN Chief Visits ‘Vessels of Hope’ Before returning to New York

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK (IDN) — UN Secretary-General António Guterres oversaw on August 20 the departure of two ships involved in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a UN-brokered operation to bring urgently needed hunger relief to the Horn of Africa.

Mr. Guterres flew into Istanbul on August 20 from Chisinau, Moldova—where he was hosted for a working dinner with President Maia Sandu the previous evening—and boarded a pilot boat in the Sea of Marmara.

: Radwan Jakeem; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 21 August 2022

Photo: Ms. Kekashan Basu, Founder and President of Green Hope Foundation, presented a joint statement of the "Faith Communities Concerned about Nuclear Weapons" during the NGO presentation session at UN Headquarters. Credit: Seikyo Shimbun

Faith Communities Concerned about Nuclear Weapons

Since 2014, SGI has worked as part of the Faith Communities Concerned about Nuclear Weapons, a group of faith-based organizations and individuals committed to a nuclear-weapon-free world, to issue joint interfaith statements at international fora.

Following is the Joint Interfaith Statement to the Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) issued on August 5, 2022.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 19 August 2022

Photo: Two young Ukrainian voices, Yelyzaveta Khodorovska and Valeriia Hesse delivered a statement on behalf of ICAN calling for nuclear disarmament at the NPT Review Conference. Source: Arms Control Association.

Old and New Controversies at the 10th NPT Review Conference

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

The writer is a former High Representative of the United Nations for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), and President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.

NEW YORK (IDN) — The Tenth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) takes place in a volatile and unpredictable international context. The danger of the actual use of nuclear weapons was brought vividly to the forefront of international concerns by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia last February. The claim that nuclear weapons have prevented a war in Europe since 1945 has once more been proven false.

: Sergio Duarte; UN INSIDER; 17 August 2022

Photo: Hirotsugu Terasaki, Director General of Peace and Global Issues, Soka Gakkai International. Credit: Seikyo Shimbun.

The Risk of a Nuclear Attack has Risen to its Highest Level Since the Cold War

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — Speaking during a ceremony marking the 77th anniversary of the devastating atomic bombing of Hiroshima, UN Secretary-General António Guterres remarked on August 6 that it is totally unacceptable for states in possession of nuclear weapons to admit the possibility of nuclear war.

“The elimination of nuclear weapons is the only guarantee that the atrocities of Hiroshima will never be repeated,” he declared.

: Thalif Deen; OPINION; 17 August 2022

Photo: UN Chief Guterres calling from Hiroshima Peace Memorial on August 6 not to "forget the lessons of Hiroshima and Nagasaki". @antonioguterres

Beyond First Steps: Phasing out Nuclear Weapons and Energy

By M. V. Ramana*

VANCOUVER, Canada (IDN) — The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for “all military activities in the immediate vicinity of the [Zaporizhzhia Nuclear] plant [in Ukraine] to cease immediately and not to target its facilities or surroundings” because “any potential damage to Zaporizhzhia or any other nuclear facilities in Ukraine, or anywhere else, could lead to catastrophic consequences not only for the immediate vicinity but for the region and beyond”.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 16 August 2022

Image: A collage of Tim Peake, an astronaut of the International Space Station by the British/European Space Agency (timpeake.com), with a special apple tree grown from seeds taken into space. The tree was planted on the Vienna International Centre (VIC) grounds on 26 September 2021 to inspire future generations of space scientists.

Bringing the Benefits and Peace of Space to Humanity

A new UNOOSA head is to be appointed soon

By Aurora Weiss

VIENNA (IDN) — Legend has it that a young Isaac Newton was sitting beneath an apple tree contemplating the mysterious universe. Suddenly —"boink!''—an apple unexpectedly hit him on the head. He experienced his "aha moment!". In a flash of light, he understood that the same force that brought the apple crashing toward the ground also keeps the moon falling toward the Earth and the Earth falling toward the sun: gravity. We are talking about real space Affairs in practice, which debuted in his book Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1869).