UN Insider

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres (left) addresses the Security Council ministerial-level meeting on the nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programmes of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). At right is Rex W. Tillerson, U.S. Secretary of State and President of the Security Council for April. Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Korean Peninsula: Conflict Prevention 'Our Collective Priority' But 'the Onus Is on the DPRK

By António Guterres

Following are excerpts from UN Secretary-General António Guterres' remarks to the Security Council on Non-Proliferation/DPRK on April 28, 2017. – The Editor

NEW YORK (IDN) - The situation on the Korean Peninsula is one of the longest-standing and most serious issues before the United Nations. The Security Council first adopted a resolution on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) nuclear issue in 1993, when it urged the DPRK not to withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Twenty-four years later, and despite extensive efforts, the challenge has defied resolution.

In response to the DPRK’s accelerated nuclear and ballistic missile activities, the Security Council has adopted two sanctions resolutions and met eleven times in emergency consultations since January 2016.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; OPINION; 29 April 2017

Photo: UN Secretary-General António Guterres (left) swears in Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations. 12 April 2017. United Nations, New York. Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas.

UN Peacekeeping Missions Face Threats of Cuts – and Extinction

By Shanta Rao

NEW YORK (IDN) – The UN’s 16 peacekeeping operations (PKOs), funded by a hefty $7.9 billion budget for the current 2016-2017 biennium, are in jeopardy facing threats of drastic cuts – and in some cases, even extinction.

The United States, the largest single contributor accounting for about 28% of that budget, has not only threatened to reduce funding, possibly down to 25%, but is also calling for a downgrading – or even the total elimination-- of some of the ongoing missions.

Addressing the Council on Foreign Relations in March, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley gave an advance warning when she challenged the current state of peacekeeping operations.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 28 April 2017

Financing for an Inclusive and Sustainable Future in Asia-Pacific

By Shamshad Akhtar

Dr. Shamshad Akhtar is an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) and the Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). – The Editor

BANGKOK (IDN) - Two years after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by world leaders in New York, the ongoing practical question is how to finance the needs of such an ambitious and universal agenda.

It has been estimated that if the world’s developing countries are to achieve the targets set out in the global development blueprint, an additional public investment of at least $1.4 trillion per year will be needed.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; OPINION; 28 April 2017

Photo: Miguel Marin Bosch. Credit: Pugwash

In Memoriam: Remembering Miguel Marin Bosch*

Pugwash President Jayantha Dhanapala reflects on the life of Pugwash Council Member Miguel Marin Bosch.

KANDY - I am personally grieved to learn of the death of Ambassador Miguel Marin Bosch, a redoubtable champion of disarmament throughout his distinguished career as Mexico’s Disarmament Ambassador in Geneva and other multilateral fora.

Miguel Marin Bosch was closely associated with me in several Review Conferences of the Treaty for the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) where he stood steadfast against any compromise on fundamental principles. With his prodigious expertise and mordant wit, he was the bane of some of the nuclear weapon states who shamelessly lobbied to silence him, especially at the NPT Review and Extension Conference of 1995.

: Jayantha Dhanapala; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 28 April 2017

UN Commission Adopts Measures on Conventional Weapons

By Katherine Prizeman | UN Office for Disarmament Affairs

This report by Katherine Prizeman first appeared on April 24, 2017 on the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) website under the title 'UN Disarmament Commission adopts by consensus “Practical confidence-building measures in the field of conventional weapons', – The Editor

GENEVA (IDN-INPS) - For the first time since 1999, the United Nations Disarmament Commission adopted consensus recommendations for transmittal to the General Assembly. The final report of the 2017 Commission contains recommendations on practical confidence-building measures in the field of conventional arms.

The 2017 substantive session of the Commission was chaired by Argentina's Gabriela Martinic.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Conventional Arms; 26 April 2017

The Ocean Conference: Challenges & Opportunities for Sri Lanka

By Dr Palitha Kohona*

"The oceans have now become a central focus of a range of discussions in UN bodies involving a number of major UN initiatives, including those relating to the SDGs and climate change. While it is easy to get ensnared in the confusion of the UN's myriad political pursuits, practical initiatives that have an immediate effect on the daily lives and livelihoods of millions, such as those on the oceans, tend to be glossed over by the mainstream media."

COLOMBO (IDN) - The landmark United Nations Ocean Conference will take place in New York from June 5 to 9. The close connection between the health of the oceans and climate change now being widely accepted, the outcomes of this conference are likely to have a significant impact on UN activities on the oceans and on climate change for many years to come.Trout.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; UN INSIDER; 26 April 2017

Photo: UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova (second from left), participated in the first ever G7 Culture Ministers’ meeting held on 30 and 31 of March 2017 in Florence, Italy. Credit: UNESCO.

G7 Takes Unprecedented Move to Protect Cultural Heritage

By A.D. McKenzie

PARIS (IDN) – For the first time, leaders of the world’s seven major industrialised countries have adopted a common declaration for the protection of cultural heritage, recognising the “distinctive role” that culture plays in promoting dialogue and reconciliation.

Culture ministers and other cultural representatives from the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and the European Union, adopted the “Florence Declaration” at an unprecedented meeting in Florence, Italy, at the end of March.

: A.D. McKenzie; UN INSIDER; 24 April 2017

Photo: Nikki Haley (front, centre right), U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN and President of the Security Council for the month of April, chairs the Council's meeting on the maintenance of international peace and security: human rights and prevention of armed conflict. Secretary-General António Guterres sits to her right. (18 April 2017). Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

Cutbacks May Reduce U.S. Weight in UN, Trigger New Thinking

By Ramesh Jaura

This is the third in a series of reports analysing U.S. policy towards multilateralism in general and the UN in particular. The first was published on 16 March 2017, and the second on 4 April 2017. – The Editor

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – Will the 'Axis of Adults' that has reportedly emerged as the new power centre guiding national security encourage President Donald Trump to disavow his plans to slash U.S. contributions to the United Nations?

The answer is simply 'No'. The Axis of Adults, as reported by the Daily Beast and the Washington Post, comprises Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and Homeland Secretary John Kelly. Republicans who had been apprehensive about President Trump are celebrating the trio’s influence.

: Ramesh Jaura; UN INSIDER; 23 April 2017

Photo: Families displaced by drought in Baidoa, Somalia, gather around Secretary-General António Guterres (white cap), who was in the region urging action to help them. Photo: UNSOM

Invest More in Averting and Resolving Conflicts, Chair of the Security Council Committee Says

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The UN Security Council is concerned about the situation in the Horn of Africa and in light of the threat posed by Al-Shabaab terrorist group, drought and the on-going humanitarian crisis, "the region demands a high proportion of UN peacekeeping resource."

Reporting on the activities of the Security Council Committee and on the assessment of recent developments based on the latest reports of the Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group, the Chair of the Committee – pursuant to resolutions 751 (1992) and 1907 (2009) concerning Somalia and Eritrea – urged the UN's influential body to "invest more in preventing and resolving conflicts".

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 22 April 2017

Photo: UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. Credit: UNEP

Steiner's Choice as UNDP Chief Is a Big Deal for Germany

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – The appointment of Achim Steiner as head of the prestigious United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is of profound significance for the German government, which declared its candidacy in 2016 for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council for the 2019‑2020 two-year term.

The announcement of Steiner's selection came amid unconfirmed reports that UN Secretary-General António Guterres wishes to appoint former German President Horst Köhler, a vocal advocate of Europe-Africa relations, as his personal envoy on Western Sahara. a disputed and partially Moroccan-occupied territory in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has been on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories since 1963.