United Nations

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres (centre left) during the high-level meeting on United Nations reform convened by the United States. On his left is United States President Donald Trump. 18 September 2017. United Nations, New York. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten.

UN Chief Begins To Walk The Talk For Promised Reforms

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has taken a vital step towards creating a '21st century UN' by introducing wide-ranging reforms to the way the world body works and how it delivers on its mandate – thus translating into action the announcement of his intention soon after taking office in January 2017.

Guterres has appointed Jens Wandel of Denmark as Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Reforms. An official announcement on July 31 said: "The Secretary-General has decided to establish a reform coordination structure under the joint leadership of the Deputy Secretary-General and the Chef de Cabinet to ensure a unified and cohesive change management programme across all three reforms, with dedicated teams to service each individual stream."

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 06 August 2018

Photo: UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed. UN Photo/Mark Garten

Governments, Partners Asked To Provide Funds, Incentives For Sustainable Development Targets

By Amina Mohammed

Following are extensive extracts from UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed's remarks at the informal briefing on the Secretary-General’s meeting on financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in New York on July 27, 2018. – The Editor

UNITED NATIONS (IDN-INPS) – As we look ahead together, our focus is clear: to advance implementation of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the 2030 Agenda and to mobilize the means to turn vision into reality.

Three years in, we face growing challenges. Despite global growth, we are seeing a waning commitment to international trade, climate, economic and financial cooperation. In many countries, public investment is constrained, while private investment does not always flow to where it is most needed. All of this threatens Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) implementation.

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 28 July 2018

Climate Change Is Driving Up Forced Displacement By Disasters

By Mami Mizutori

The author is Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction and Head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). The following appeared as blog on 'Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform' on 17 July 2018. – The Editor.

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – If there was a SDG18 it might well coalesce around the concept of 'Resilience for All.' As it is, the concept of resilience is fundamental to achieving all of the SDGs, seeking as they do to strengthen people’s ability to survive, cope and thrive on this planet.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; OPINION; 18 July 2018

UN Will Continue Support Of Africa's Transformation Under Way

By Amina Mohammed

Following are extensive excerpts from UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed's remarks to the 31st ordinary session of the African Union in Nouakchott, Mauritania, on July 1, 2018. – The Editor.

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (IDN-INPS) – The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, places great importance on our long-standing but new-found strategic partnership with the African Union. Sustainable development is at the centre of that work. Africa's Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development share a common vision and, together, they provide the basis for the African Union-United Nations Partnership framework for development informing the action plan to be launched in Addis Ababa in the coming days.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 July 2018

Photo: Police and stone-throwing demonstrators clash on a street in Srinagar, Kashmir. July 2016. Credit: VOA News | Wikimedia Commons.

UN Report Bashes India and Pakistan for Multiple Human Rights Violations in Kashmir

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | GENEVA (IDN) – In its first ever report on the human rights situation in Indian- and Pakistan-Administered Kashmir, the UN has listed human rights violations and abuses on both sides of the Line of Control, and highlighted a situation of chronic impunity for violations committed by security forces.

"There is an urgent need to address past and ongoing rights violations and abuses and deliver justice for all people in Kashmir, who for seven decades have suffered a conflict that has claimed or ruined numerous lives," says the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner in a press release issued on June 14.

: Jaya Ramachandran; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 28 June 2018

You Can Help Achieve Zero Land Degradation

By Monique Barbut

The writer is Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, and the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCDD) based in Bonn, Germany. This viewpoint underlines the importance of June 17 that marks every year the celebration of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (WDCD). – The Editor.

BONN (IDN) – Are you overwhelmed by the depressing news coming at you daily? Conflict, forced migrants, famine, floods, hurricanes, extinction of species, climate change, threats of war … a seemingly endless list. It might surprise you, but you can really make a difference on many of these issues.

Just like every raindrop counts towards a river and every vote counts in an election, so does every choice you make in what you consume. With every produce you consume, you strengthen the river of sustainability or of unsustainability. It is either a vote in favor of policies that spread 'social goods' like peace and poverty eradication or 'social bads' like – conflict or grinding poverty.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; OPINION; 15 June 2018

Photo: María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ecuador and President-elect of the General Assembly’s 73rd session, speaks to journalists following her election by the Assembly. 5 June 2018. United Nations, New York. UN Photo/Manuel Elias.

UN General Assembly Elects Fourth Woman As President In More Than Seven Decades

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – In its more than seven-decades-long history, the UN General Assembly has elected only the fourth woman to helm the 193-member organ. Ecuador's María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, a former Minister for National Defence, is President of the 73rd session of the General Assembly, which opens on September 18.

Her woman predecessors as General Assembly presidents were: Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit of India (1953-1954), Angie Elisabeth Brooks of Liberia (1969-1970), and Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa of Bahrain (2006-2007).

Espinosa received 128 votes, surpassing the required simple majority of 96. The only other candidate, Mary Elizabeth Flores Flake of Honduras, received 62 votes.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 11 June 2018

Photo: Eritreans fleeing the country first have to risk their lives crossing the border, whose guards are authorised to shoot on sight. Those who try to reach Israel must cross the Sinai Peninsula. Many don’t make it. Credit: Gan-Shmuel archive

Security Council Backs Dutch Sanctions Against Eritrean and Libyan Traffickers

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – For the first time ever, the UN Security Council has put human traffickers on an international sanctions list by imposing sanctions on six leaders operating networks in Libya. Four are Libyans, including the head of a regional coast guard unit, and two Eritrean nationals.

By resolution 1970 (2011) and resolution 1973 (2011), the Security Council decided to impose individual targeted sanctions (a travel ban on individuals and an assets freeze on individuals and entities, as listed in the Annexes to the resolutions or designated by the Council's special Committee).

: J Nastranis; THE WORLD; Africa; 10 June 2018

UN Chief Guterres Calls For Beating Menacing Plastic Pollution

The world must unite to “beat plastic pollution” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in his message for World Environment Day, noting that microplastic particles in the ocean, “now outnumber stars in our galaxy”.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; United Nations; 05 June 2018

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres (centre) addresses the General Assembly on the repositioning of the UN Development System. To his left is Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed and at right is General Assembly President Miroslav Lajčák. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Sustainable Development Now at the Heart of the UN

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations General Assembly has approved a landmark consensus resolution, which Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed assures will allow the world body to transform a "cacophony" of efforts under way to make sustainable development a reality into a "symphony".

Secretary-General António Guterres has described the plan as "the most ambitious and comprehensive transformation of the UN development system in decades," paving the way for a new era of "national ownership" of development, supported by the whole UN system, in a tailored fashion, allowing countries to pursue sustainable economic and social development.