UN Insider

Photo: Demonstration on Avenida Bolivar, in the center of Caracas, to support President Nicolás Madura and protest the economic war that, according to the government, has been launched against Venezuela. 17 December 2016. CC BY-SA 4.0

Independent Election Monitors Could Have Averted Current Crisis in Venezuela

Viewpoint by Rene Wadlow

The writer is President of the Association of World Citizens and its Representative to the United Nations, Geneva.

GENEVA (IDN) – The social, economic, and political situation in Venezuela grows more tense and complex by the day. On January 27, Pope Francis speaking from Panama said. "Faced with the grave situation it [Venezuela] is going through, I ask the Lord that a just and peaceful solution is sought and achieved in order to overcome the crisis, respecting human rights and the good of all the people in the country."

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 31 January 2019

Photo: The Italian Coast Guard rescues migrants bound for Italy. Credit: IOM | Francesco Malavolta

Perils Of A Journey From Eritrea Through Libya To Europe

Migrants’ Search For Greener Pastures Carry Deadly Consequences

By Franck Kuwonu and Louise Donavan

This article first appeared on Africa Renewal, December 2018-March 2019 issue.

NEW YORK | NIAMEY (IDN-INPS) – Alone in Niger, the young man sits, filled with regrets. “I didn’t necessarily want to come this far,” he says with anguish. “Khartoum may have been OK.”

What made him extend his flight to a destination unknown? he wonders. He survived a perilous journey across deserts and seas, but at a terrible cost. His brother, with whom he was so close, lost his life after leaving the Sudanese capital, where the two had briefly settled after fleeing Eritrea, the country of their birth.

“So I left Khartoum too,” 36-year-old Tekle (not his real name) says, despairing over the unforeseen misfortune in his life.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 30 January 2019

Progress In Retrieving Lands Improves Rural Livelihoods

By Rita Joshi

BONN | GEORGETOWN (IDN) – Significant progress is under way in repairing degraded lands and managing droughts more effectively, according to reports released for review by an inter-governmental meeting in Georgetown, Guyana.

An assessment of land degradation in 127 countries revealed that close to 20 percent of healthy land was degraded between 2000 and 2015. Around the world, 169 countries are affected by land degradation, desertification or drought.

: Rita Joshi; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; United Nations; 28 January 2019

Photo: High-level Event on Youth2030: Launch of the UN Youth Strategy and Generation Unlimited Partnership (UN Photo)

Nuclear Weapons Abolition, Sustainable Development: Buddhist Leader Urges Increased Role For Youth

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | TOKYO (IDN) – The need to accelerate progress toward the abolition of nuclear weapons, encourage youth engagement with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and expand the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) network of universities has been highlighted in a wide-ranging proposal by Dr. Daisaku Ikeda, president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Buddhist movement.

: Ramesh Jaura; UN INSIDER; 28 January 2019

UN Warns Of The Confluence Of Significant Risks Threatening Global Development

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – The convergence of several significant risks is endangering efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – the universally adopted plan containing 17 specific goals to promote prosperity and social well-being while protecting the environment, a new report has warned.

The risks with the potential to severely disrupt economic activity and inflict significant damage on longer-term development prospects include waning support for multilateral approaches; the escalation of trade policy disputes; financial instabilities linked to elevated levels of debt; and rising climate risks, as the world experiences an increasing number of extreme weather events.

: Jaya Ramachandran; UN INSIDER; 27 January 2019

Photo (left to right): ACP Secretary General Dr Patrick I Gomes; ICC Prosecutor Dr Fatou Bensouda; and Ambassador Ammo Aziza Baroud of Chad, Chair of the ACP Committee of Ambassadors. Credit: ACP Press.

ICC Prosecutor Acclaims African, Caribbean and Pacific States' Support For The Contentious Court

By Robert Johnson

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Dr Fatou Bensouda has expressed her profound gratitude for the ACP Group's contributions to the work of the ICC that has the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. 51 out of 79 ACP States have ratified the ICC Rome Statute. Altogether 123 states are party to the Rome Statute and therefore members of the ICC.

Dr Bensouda was addressing the Committee of Ambassadors of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States on January 24. Chaired by Ambassador Ammo Aziza Baroud of Chad, the session provided an opportunity for the Prosecutor to present the activities of the ICC Prosecutor's Office and to highlight the important historical contributions of the ACP regions in the creation of the ICC, which interacts with communities affected by crime.

: Robert Johnson; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 26 January 2019

Photo: Refugee students in a classroom in Uganda. UN Photo/Mark Garten

Uganda Hosts Africa's Largest Refugee Population

By Sulaiman Momodu

The writer is a public information officer with the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR. This article first appeared on Africa Renewal, December 2018-March 2019 issue.

KAMPALA (IDN-INPS) – As thousands of desperate men, women and children flee conflicts and natural disasters in search of a place of refuge, some countries are debating whether to accept or reject asylum seekers. But Uganda has opened its doors to refugees in record numbers.

Thirteen-year-old Robert Yatta was living with his aunt and going to school in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, when fighting broke out in early 2017.

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 23 January 2019

Photo credit: India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

India To Host UN Conference On Land Degradation

By Jutta Wolf

BONN (IDN) – India will host the global Conference on desertification, land degradation and drought from October 7 to 18, 2019 in New Delhi. Participants from 197 Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will have access, for the first time, to a wealth of vital new scientific data, says the Convention secretariat.

Desertification, along with climate change and the loss of biodiversity were identified as the greatest challenges to sustainable development during the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, which also endorsed the climate change (UNFCCC) and biodiversity (CBD) conventions.

: Jutta Wolf; SUSTAINABILITY; Forests, desertification, land degradation & biodiversity; 23 January 2019

Photo: IOM transit centres in Niger. Credit: IOM | Amanda Nero 2016

Cooperation Key To Confronting Migration Challenges In West And Central Africa

Viewpoint by Richard Danzinger

The writer is regional director for West and Central Africa of International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN migration agency. This article first appeared on Africa Renewal, December 2018-March 2019 issue.

DAKAR (IDN-INPS) – Without a doubt, migration is a defining issue of this century. One billion people, one-seventh of the world’s population, are migrants. Some 244 million people are international migrants, 40 million are internally displaced and 24 million are refugees or asylum seekers. In 2018, there is no longer a single state that can claim to be untouched by human mobility.

About 423 million people are living in the Economic Community of West African States, a 15-member grouping whose aim is to promote economic integration in a region where the unemployment rate is sometimes 20 percent – inevitably leading to migration.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; OPINION; 21 January 2019

Photo: ISRO's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F11) successfully launched the communication satellite GSAT-7A on December 19, 2018. Credit: ISRO

UN Lauds India For Training Foreign Diplomats On Disarmament

By Devinder Kumar

NEW DELHI (IDN) – India is the first member country of the United Nations to have launched a fellowship programme on disarmament and international security for foreign diplomats. “This is a demonstration of India’s commitment to nuclear issues and disarmament,” a senior official of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

With its focus on junior diplomats from a geographically diverse range of countries, the programme has a close parallel with the UN Programme of Fellowships on Disarmament, which was established in 1978 by the first special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament.