United Nations

Photo: Mr Nguyen Anh Tuan, CEO of Boston Global Forum

On Way to A Transatlantic Alliance on Digital Governance

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.

: Ramesh Jaura; UN INSIDER; 11 October 2020

Photo: Online shopping will never be the same after the coronavirus pandemic. Source: UNCTAD

UN Survey Finds COVID-19 Has Enhanced Online Shopping

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.

: Jamshed Baruah; COVID-19; 09 October 2020

Photo: Farmer Nurul Haque stands near his 13-year-old daughter in Bangladesh, saying he may have to pull her from school and marry her off to an older man because he has few financial options left. Credit: UNICEF/UN0159775/Nybo.

UN Agency Points to Linkages Between Human Trafficking and Forced Marriage

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".

: Reinhard Jacobsen; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 08 October 2020

Photo: Juan Romo, Rector of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M). Credit: The Director's Office, UC3M.

Post-COVID-19 Sustainable Cities: What Can Universities Do?

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.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 08 October 2020

Putin Pleads For 5P Retaining Their UN Security Council Veto

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".

: Radwan Jakeem; THE WORLD; Russia; 03 October 2020

In Quest of Data-Based Solutions for A Sustainable Future

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.”

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 01 October 2020

Image: Map of the Caribbean Sea and its islands. CC BY-SA 3.0

Caribbean Concerns Find Voice at 75th Anniversary of the UN

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.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes - former ACP Seretary-General; UN INSIDER; 30 September 2020

Actions Needed to Protect Wild Species and Natural Habitats

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.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 30 September 2020

Photo: Georges Rebelo Chikoti, an Angolan diploma, who served as Angola's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2010 to 2017 before taking over on 1 March 2020 the post of the Secretary-General of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS). CC BY 2.0.

Call For “Another ‘Paris’ Moment to Mobilise Action on Biodiversity for Sustainable Development”

Viewpoint by Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti

The writer is Secretary-General of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS)

BRUSSELS (IDN) – 2020 marks the end of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity (2011 – 2020) and the 20 global biodiversity targets (Aichi targets). The mission of the Strategic Plan was to “take effective and urgent action to halt the loss of biodiversity in order to ensure that by 2020, ecosystems are resilient and continue to provide essential services, thereby securing the planet’s variety of life and contributing to human well-being and poverty eradication.”

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 28 September 2020

Photo: Signing and ratification of Nuclear Ban Treaty ceremony on 26 September 2019 with participants and speakers. Credit: ICAN.

UN Chief Concerned About Standstill in Arms Control Talks

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – "We need a strengthened, inclusive and renewed multilateralism built on trust and based on international law that can guide us to our shared goal of a world free of nuclear weapons," said UN Secretary-General António Guterres, commemorating the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on September 26.

He was reiterating the resolve adoption of the General Assembly resolution in 1946, which committed the UN to the goal of ridding the planet of nuclear weapons. Because of these, "the world continues to live in the shadow of nuclear catastrophe".