UN Insider

Photo: Families in Afghanistan do not have the money they need, while prices for key commodities continue to rise. © UNICEF/Sayed Bidel

UN Concerned About Afghans Facing Hunger and Economy in "Free Fall"

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK | ISLAMABAD (IDN) — A senior UN official has painted a grim picture of Afghanistan with 23 million people facing hunger; malnourished children overflowing in health facilities; 70 per cent of teachers working without salaries; and millions of students—who are the country's future—out of school.

The UN's Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator said, Afghanistan’s economy is in “free fall”, and warned that if decisive and compassionate action is not taken immediately, it may “pull the entire population with it”.

: Radwan Jakeem; UN INSIDER; 19 December 2021

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres accepts, via video conference, the Lamp of Peace award from the Sacred Convent of Assisi in Italy. Credit: UN News

In A World of Choices, ‘Let Us Choose Peace’, Urges UN Chief

By UN News

NEW YORK (IDN) — Secretary-General António Guterres received the Lamp of Peace award on December 18, a major honour from the Catholic Church, which he said recognizes the work of UN personnel “striving for peace around the world”.

Reminding that after the horrors of World War in the 20th Century, “the UN was created in the name of peace”, he affirmed that “we are united here today in our pursuit of peace”.

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 19 December 2021

Photo: Protest march in 2015. Credit: Mayors for Peace.

Mayors for Peace Say the Danger of Nuclear War Is Real and Growing

By Mayors for Peace

The following is the text of an Open Letter Issued by Mayors for Peace to NPT States Parties.

HIROSHIMA (IDN) — On behalf of Mayors for Peace, a global non-governmental organization with 8,059 member cities, we are writing to express our views prior to the NPT Review Conference that will open next January in New York.

We urge all participants to recall the solemn historical circumstances facing this conference. The use of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki had catastrophic humanitarian consequences.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 18 December 2021

Photo: An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launches during an operational test on October 29, 2020, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Credit: U.S. Air Force.

Elimination of ICBMs Would Greatly Reduce the Chances of a Global Nuclear Holocaust

Viewpoint by Norman Solomon*

SAN FRANCISCO, USA (IDN) — Nuclear weapons are at the pinnacle of what Martin Luther King Jr. called “the madness of militarism.” If you’d rather not think about them, that’s understandable. But such a coping strategy has limited value. And those who are making vast profits from preparations for global annihilation are further empowered by our avoidance.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 16 December 2021

Photo: Cholera health facilities in Democratic Republic of the Congo. A woman is pictured at the remains of an old cholera clinic at the slum of Pakajuma in Kinshasa. Source: WHO.

One Dollar Could Save 7 million Lives in Low and Lower-Middle Income Countries

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) — Close to seven million deaths could be prevented by 2030, if low and lower-middle income countries were to make an additional investment of less than a dollar per person per year in the prevention and treatment of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), according to a new World Health Organization report. NCDs include heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and respiratory disease.

: Jaya Ramachandran; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 13 December 2021

Internet Governance Forum Calls for Stronger Digital Rights

By Jutta Wolf

BERLIN | KATOWICE, Poland (IDN) — Ensuring the protection of human rights and social and economic inclusion in the digital age was front and centre at the five-day discussions. These concluded in Katowice, Poland, on December 10 with a call to urgently connect the 2.9 billion people who still cannot access the Internet and to make the global network an open, free and safe space where everyone’s human rights and basic freedoms are respected.

: Jutta Wolf; UN INSIDER; 12 December 2021

Photo: A healthcare worker prepares a COVID-19 vaccine at a hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia. © UNICEF/Ismail Taxta

The Global Pandemic Disrupts Health Services Around the World

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) — The global pandemic is likely to halt two decades of global progress towards Universal Health Coverage, according to two complementary reports compiled by the World Health Organization and the World Bank. The organizations also reveal in two reports launched on Universal Health Coverage Day that more than half a billion people are being pushed into extreme poverty because they have to pay for health services out of their own pockets.

: Ronald Joshua; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 12 December 2021

Photo: The World Health Organization has categorized Omicron as a Covid-19 “variant of concern”, signifying that it could be more contagious than other known mutations. Credit: Shutterstock

Development Community Calls For Universal Vaccine Access

By UNDP

SAL | Cabo Verde (IDN) — Cabo Verde President José Maria Neves on December 2 joined the development community in calling for urgent universal vaccine access as a way to mitigate the impact of Omicron and other variants of the Covid-19 virus.

The World Health Organization on December 3 categorized Omicron as a Covid-19 “variant of concern”, signifying that it could be more contagious than other known mutations.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 11 December 2021

Time For Reforms in Latin America and The Caribbean to Address Long-Standing Challenges

Viewpoint by Alicia Bárcena, Sergio Díaz-Granados, Mathias Cormann, Jutta Urpilainen*

The following is the text of the editorial in the 'Latin American Economic Outlook 2021: Working Together for a Better Recovery'.

PARIS (IDN) — Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has been the region worst affected by the pandemic and is only re-emerging from what is the deepest recession in the region’s history.

: J C Suresh; OPINION; 11 December 2021

Photo: Cameroonian soldiers patrol parts of Lake Chad that have been affected by terrorist activity. (February 2019). UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Security Council Debates the Nexus Between Climate Change and Terrorism

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) — People and countries most vulnerable to climate change also are most vulnerable to terrorist recruitment and violence, speakers in an open debate told the Security Council on December 9, as the 15-nation United Nations organ considered a draft resolution proposed by Niger and Ireland. The Council was considering a draft resolution, co-sponsored by Niger (Council President for December) and Ireland.