UN Insider

Photo: As the climate change melts sea ice, the U.S. Geological Survey projects that two-thirds of polar bears will disappear by 2050. CC BY-SA 4.0

Global Heating Poses A Serious Systemic Challenge

Viewpoint by Franz Baumann

The following are excerpts from an article first published in the October 2018 issue of 'International Politics Review'. Dr. Franz Baumann is a visiting professor at New York University and a former UN assistant secretary-general, special adviser on environment and peace operations. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – Climate change, used here synonymously and interchangeably with global heating and global warming, is happening. To wit: 17 of the 18 warmest years on record have occurred in the twenty-first century. The past three years were the hottest since records began (World Meteorological Organization, 2018a). Distress signals are coming from all corners of the earth (Achenbach and Fritz, 2018; Samenow, 2018; Sengupta, 2018b).

: Franz Baumann; OPINION; 18 January 2019

Photo: The index highlights the relationship between gender-based violence and child sexual abuse, says Dr. Joanna Rubinstein, President and CEO of the World Childhood Foundation USA, top left with children in the collage by IDN-INPS.

New Study Highlights Efforts To End Child Sexual Abuse And Exploitation

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – In Out of the Shadows 2017 thriller, a newly married detective and his pregnant wife move into their dream home unaware of its dark history. When his wife claims their baby is being tormented by a supernatural force and seeks the help of a renegade demonologist, he must investigate the past to save his family.

Out of the Shadows, released by the World Childhood Foundation USA (WCF) on January 15, is a thriller with a difference. Shining light on the response to child sexual abuse and exploitation, it declares: Sexual violence against children takes place mostly in the shadows, but it is happening everywhere, regardless of a country’s economic status or its citizens’ quality of life.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 17 January 2019

Photo: One of the "organisations of world public heritage", proposed by The Agora of the Earth's Inhabitants, held at the Monastery of the Common Good in the village of Sezano, is the UN Security Council for Common Goods. Credit: UN University | Paulo Filgueiras.

Toward Building Organisations of World Public Heritage

By Sean Buchanan

This is the second of a two-part report on 'The Agora of the Inhabitants of the Earth', organised to find a new paradigm that overcomes the political and ideal gap in which we are living. Read Part 1: 'In Quest Of A Charter Of Humanity' here.

ROME (IDN) – The seventh report presented at The Agora of the Earth's Inhabitants, held at the Monastery of the Common Good in the village of Sezano, near Verona in northern Italy, from December 14-16, 2018, was entitled “Organisations of World Public Heritage”.

Based on the premise that rights to life are the foundation of common rights, it argued that the concept of efficiency today is in stark contrast with the concept of humanity, and it condemned the utilitarian vision of life, which is dominated by the concept of profitability.

: Phil Harris; UN INSIDER; 17 January 2019

Antarctica: The Tale Of A Beauty Condemned

By Dr Palitha Kohona

The author is former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and former Foreign Secretary. Dr Kohona visited Antarctica on board the expedition vessel Silver Cloud recently. This is the second of a two-part report. Read Part 1 'End of The Antarctic Ice Cap In Sight If We Do Nothing' here.

COLOMBO (IDN) – The outlines of the frozen continent, seen from the approaching expedition ship Silver Cloud, are so hauntingly beautiful, serene and inviting. The snow covered surfaces, the glaciers glistening in the Antarctic sun are stunning. But without much warning the weather changes, the gloom sets in and the scowling glaciers threaten menacingly. The environment of the Antarctic has remained pristine largely due to its inhospitable nature. It is the only continent with no native human population.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 16 January 2019

Photo: DR Congo President Kabila casts his vote during Presidential and Legislative elections in Kinshasa. Credit: MONUSCO/John Bopengo.

South Africa Calls For Solidarity With DR Congo As Security Council Debates Early Election Results

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – South Africa has called on the international community in general and the UN Security Council in particular to provide the necessary support to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in the aftermath of the December 30 provincial and presidential elections that will be the first democratic transfer of power in the country’s history.

"The DRC has come a long way in its quest for peace and security," Ambassador Jerry Matthews Matjila, South Africa's Permanent Representative to the UN in New York told the Security Council during a three-hour debate on January 11 on preliminary results announced one day earlier, which put Félix Tshisekedi in first place for President, and the swift and varied reactions of some stakeholders.

: Santo D. Banerjee; THE WORLD; Africa; 14 January 2019

Photo: Antarctica Iceberg. Credit: IAATO.

End of The Antarctic Ice Cap In Sight If We Do Nothing

By Dr Palitha Kohona

COLOMBO (IDN) – The thick ice cap above the Antarctic continent will not disappear in our lifetime. It will continue to glisten disarmingly in the summer sun, its soft outlines concealing its unforgiving ferocity. But if we do nothing, it will disappear, over time. Sooner than later. This could spell catastrophe for life on Earth. Already there is convincing evidence of something unusual happening. Large chunks of the glaciers are breaking and floating away and the mammoth Antarctic glaciers are in observable retreat.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 13 January 2019

Photo: Skyline of Abu Dhabi, UAE, which will host 18th session of UNIDO's General Conference in November 2019.

UAE Hosts UNIDO's Supreme Policy Making Organ in November

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) – When the Heads of State and Government, Ministers, and other official representatives, gathered in 2013 at the fifteenth session of the General Conference of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Peru's capital Lima, they agreed that eradication of poverty – Goal 1 of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – deserves priority.

Six years on, industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability will be the principal issues at the eighteenth session of the UNIDO General Conference in Abu Dhabi, from November 3 to 7 at the invitation of the Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

: Ramesh Jaura; UN INSIDER; 12 January 2019

ILO Connects With The Public On World Of Work Issues

By ILO News

GENEVA (IDN-INPS) – To coincide with its 100th year, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has announced a Global Campaign, “Taking the ILO to the people”, that demonstrates the relevance of the Organization’s founding mandate to contemporary challenges and its central role in helping build a fairer future for all.

“Work and the search for it touches all of our lives, yet many don’t know the international organization that has helped shape the world of work since 1919. Our objective, through a unified global outreach effort, is to show how the ILO has benefited and continues to benefit people’s world of work experience,” said ILO Communications Director Martin Murphy.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; United Nations; 10 January 2019

Photo: The new UN Building at Tuanaimato. Credit: Government of Samoa/2017

UNCTAD Helps Pacific Islands Build New Economic Links

By Jamshed Baruah*

GENEVA (IDN) – United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has opened an office in Samoa to coordinate a trade and transparency project for Pacific small islands, ahead of a regional free trade agreement coming into force in 2019.

UNCTAD has joined agencies including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UN Women in new premises in the capital of Samoa to support coordinated multilateral assistance to small island developing states (SIDS) in the Pacific region.

: Jamshed Baruah; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; United Nations; 10 January 2019

Photo: Medea Benjamin (left) and Alice Slater (right). A collage by INPS-IDN.

Time To Leave The Nuclear Age, Create A Green Planet At Peace

Viewpoint by Medea Benjamin and Alice Slater

While Medea Benjamin is codirect or of CODEPINK for Peace and author of several books, including Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic, Alice Slater serves on the Coordinating Committee of World Beyond War and is the UN Representative of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

NEW YORK (IDN) – A deafening chorus of negative grumbling from the left, right, and center of the U.S. political spectrum in response to Trump’s decision to remove U.S. troops from Syria and halve their numbers in Afghanistan appears to have slowed down his attempt to bring our forces home.

However, in this New Year, demilitarizing U.S. foreign policy should be among the top items on the agenda of the new Congress. Just as we are witnessing a rising movement for a visionary Green New Deal, so, too, the time has come for a New Peace Deal that repudiates endless war and the threat of nuclear war which, along with catastrophic climate change, poses an existential threat to our planet.