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By Jaya Ramachandran
GENEVA (IDN) – The UN World Health Organization (WHO) is alarmed at the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in Europe where nearly 700,000 cases were reported this week, the highest weekly incidence since the pandemic began in March. Overall, Europe has recorded more than seven million cases of COVID-19, with the jump from six million taking just 10 days, according to Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, the regional head of the WHO.
By Caroline Mwanga
NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations is concerned about corruption in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which it says is proving "to be even more damaging in its impact on the most vulnerable".
UN Secretary-General António Guterres described corruption as "criminal, immoral and the ultimate betrayal of public trust. It is even more damaging in times of crisis – as the world is experiencing now with the COVID-19 pandemic".
A New Social Contract in the Age of Artificial Intelligence'
By Ramesh Jaura
BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – People around the world are realizing that capitalism driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI) requires crafting a new sort of Social Contract, based on "stakeholder capitalism", that is, capitalism that benefits everyone.
"Such capitalism cannot measure itself by money alone, but instead must encompass all aspects of human life, using metrics such as those developed to quantify the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," says Alex Pentland, director of MIT Connection Science, an MIT-wide initiative. He previously helped create and direct the MIT Media Lab and the Media Lab Asia in India.
By Jamshed Baruah
GENEVA (IDN) – "The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift towards a more digital world. The changes we make now will have lasting effects as the world economy begins to recover," says Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The acceleration of online shopping globally underscores the urgency of ensuring all countries can seize the opportunities offered by digitalization as the world moves from pandemic response to recovery, he adds.
By Richard Jacobsen
VIENNA (IDN) – A new UN report has documented the interlinkages between trafficking in persons and marriage, and specified steps for governments and other authorities to strike back. Published by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the report points out that across the world, girls as young as 12 are being forced or tricked into marrying men who exploit them for sex and domestic work, in what the UNODC has called an "under-reported, global form of human trafficking".
Viewpoint by Juan Romo*
This article is one of two published by the UN Chronicle providing commentary by a distinguished scholar on the Secretary-General's Policy Brief: "COVID-19 in an Urban World". Click here to read the other article.
NEW YORK (IDN) – The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to large cities. The high levels of global and local interconnectivity of cities leave them particularly exposed to deadly epidemics, as they have been throughout history. The recent Policy Brief: COVID-19 in an Urban World, issued by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, emphasizes that vulnerable sectors of urban societies are especially harmed both by the incidence of the virus and the economic impact of related shutdown measures.
By Radwan Jakeem
NEW YORK (IDN) – While U.S. President Donald Trump has availed of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations to continue China-bashing, for example, holding "China accountable for their actions" such as for unleashing "this plague" (COVID-1), and emitting "more toxic mercury into the atmosphere than any country anywhere in the world", Russian President Vladimir Putin preferred to focus on the role of the world body in maintaining international peace and security.
Trump believes that China is dumping "millions and millions of tons of plastic and trash into the oceans," overfishing other countries’ waters, destroying "vast swaths of cor.al reef".
By Santo D. Banerjee
NEW YORK (IDN) – More than 2,000 participants from the data user and producer communities will discuss in the first-ever fully virtual UN World Data Forum, from October 19-21, some of the greatest data challenges in our fast-changing world. They will identify innovative solutions to intensify cooperation on data for sustainable development. and renew the urgent call for more and better funding for data.
“In a world wracked by COVID-19, we need data-based solutions to guide our way to a sustainable future,” said Francesca Perucci, Assistant Director of UN DESA’s Statistics Division. “We need data for a changing world, and we need data for a better world.”
Viewpoint by P.I. Gomes*
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (IDN) – The High-level Meeting to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations was held on September 21, 2020, with a view to adopting a political declaration on the theme: “The Future We Want, the United Nations We Need: reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism”.
The opening Plenary session observed the usual formalities of statements by the President of the General Assembly (GA) and by Presidents of the Security Council, Economic & Social Council and of the International Court of Justice.
UN Summit on Biodiversity Provides an Opportunity
Viewpoint by Amy Fraenkel
The writer is Executive Secretary of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).
BONN (IDN) – The UN Summit on Biodiversity was meant to galvanize commitments to stop the impending biodiversity crisis, and to underscore the need for effective actions in a new Global Biodiversity Framework. Few could predict that it would take place in the middle of a deadly global pandemic -- which in all likelihood was brought about by human activities that exploit wild animals and nature.
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