GLOBAL GOVERNANCE

Photo: The new UN Building at Tuanaimato. Credit: Government of Samoa/2017

UNCTAD Helps Pacific Islands Build New Economic Links

By Jamshed Baruah*

GENEVA (IDN) – United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has opened an office in Samoa to coordinate a trade and transparency project for Pacific small islands, ahead of a regional free trade agreement coming into force in 2019.

UNCTAD has joined agencies including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UN Women in new premises in the capital of Samoa to support coordinated multilateral assistance to small island developing states (SIDS) in the Pacific region.

: Jamshed Baruah; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; United Nations; 10 January 2019

Strengthening The Evidence Base To Deliver On The 2030 Agenda

Viewpoint by Gemma Van Halderen

The writer is Director, Statistics Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). This article appeared as blog on the UNESCAP website on January 2, 2019.

BANGKOK (IDN) – The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has set an ambitious agenda of 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 169 global targets and 232 global indicators. But wait, there is more. The indicators are to be disaggregated not by one or two but at least eight different characteristics: income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability and geographic location, or "other". And all "in accordance with the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics" which recognize appropriate and reliable data needs to adhere to certain professional and scientific standards.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 07 January 2019

Photo: Coal-fired power plant. Credit: ozone.unep.org

New Agreement Seeks To Resist Powerful Greenhouse Gases

By Devendra Kamarajan

NAIROBI (IDN) – A new agreement signed in Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda, promises to fight global warming. Known as the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, came into force on January 1, 2019.

According to UN Environment, it will reduce the projected production and consumption of powerful greenhouse gasses termed as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by more than 80 per cent over the next 30 years.

: Devendra Kamarajan; UN INSIDER; 06 January 2019

UNDP Selects Next Generation Of Leadership Worldwide

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) – While the vast majority of the senior leadership of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) – 126 Resident Representatives – were slated to leave the organization simultaneously on December 31, 2018, a new pool of world class talent has been selected to lead the UNDP's development work across the globe.

The new pool is not only 50:50 gender balanced and geographically diverse, it also implies a significant leap forward in preparing to play a crucial role in the implementation of the Secretary-General's reform of the United Nations Development System.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 05 January 2019

Image: Palestine flag. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Palestine Looks Forward To An Exceptional Year As G77 Chair

By Ramesh Jaura

NEW YORK (IDN) – 2019 is slated to be an exceptional year for the State of Palestine, not least because it will preside over the Group of 77 (G77) – the largest bloc at the United Nations – comprising 134 developing countries representing some 80 percent of the world population.

Though 71 years since the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 in 1947 an independent and sovereign State of Palestine state has yet to be realised. But according to Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, as chair of the Group of 77 and China, "we will be negotiating on behalf of 135 countries," including his own delegation in the count.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Middle East & North Africa; 31 December 2018

UN Security Council Reform Back On The Table Again

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Foreign Minister Heiko Maas of Germany, which takes up its seat as a non-permanent member of the 15-nation United Nations Security Council on January 1, says the current composition of the Council is "outdated" and that it needs be reformed.

He told the German news agency DPA that "the balance of power in the world needs to be reflected much more adequately than is currently the case," and insisted that Germany should hold a permanent seat.

The Council currently has five permanent members, the U.S., the UK, France, China and Russia. Germany, along with Brazil, Japan and India has been pushing for an expansion of the UN body for years.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 29 December 2018

Photo: María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the seventy-third session of the General Assembly, gavels to a close the General Assembly’s annual general debate. UN Photo | Cia Pak

Except A Few Dissenters World Leaders Pledge To Bolster Multilateralism

By Ramesh Jaura

NEW YORK (IDN) – As the new year unfolds, UN Secretary-General António Guterres' appeal for addressing the "trust deficit disorder" plaguing the world, and General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés' plea for stressing the need to enshrine the General Assembly as the "chief peacebuilding organization in the world" will serve as a clarion call to urgent action by the international community. All the more so because the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2018 was held against the backdrop of burgeoning unilateralism and large-scale migration.

: Ramesh Jaura; UN INSIDER; 28 December 2018

Photo (left to right): Ms. D. Walsweer-Sore, ACP Secretariat; Stefano Manservisi, European Commission's Director-General; Professor Robert Dussey, ACP Chief Negotiator; Rimnick Pato, Foreign Minister of Papua New Guinea.

A Critical Year Ahead For EU's Ties With 79 ACP Countries

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – 2019 will be a crucial year for relations between the European Union (EU) and 79 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) – uniting more than half of all UN member countries and representing over 1.5 billion people.

The current partnership, governed by the Cotonou agreement, is one of the longest-standing and most comprehensive framework for cooperation between the EU and developing countries. The current agreement expires in 2020. Therefore, the new agreement needs to be both finalised and approved by then.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 26 December 2018

Photo: Kazakh Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, Ambassador Umarov (2nd from right on the right of the table), discusses with NGOs at the Kazakh UN Mission the Central Asian country's achievements as non-permanent Security Council member for 2017-2018. Credit: Kazakh Mission to the UN in New Yok.

Kazakhstan Ends Successful Security Council Membership

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – As Kazakhstan ends its two-year tenure as non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo has "appreciated the leadership" the Central Asian country "has brought to the world stage on regional security and development issues, particularly with respect to Afghanistan."

He also expressed "appreciation to the Government of Kazakhstan for deploying its first peacekeeping force to assist the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon." In press remarks on the occasion of the country's 27 years of independence on December 16, Pompeo said: "Kazakhstan has assumed a key role on the global stage as a partner in ensuring peace and stability, and in promoting economic development and connectivity in Central Asia and beyond."

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 24 December 2018

Photo: UN Secretary-General Guterres speaking about 'The Importance of Multilateralism in a Time of Unprecedented Challenge' at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Doha, Qatar on 16 December 2018. Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), attended the lecture. Credit: Hamad bin Khalifa University, Doha.

Multilateralism Works – With All Its Problems, With All Of Its Difficulties

By António Guterres

The author is UN Secretary-General. Following are extensive extracts from his public lecture at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Doha, Qatar on 16 December 2018, which attracted more than 375 guests, including students, faculty and diplomats.

DOHA (IDN-INPS) – We live in a world where, more and more, we have challenges that are global, more and more we have problems that no country can solve by itself, but at the same time a world where many people do not believe that international organizations can be helpful. They believe that their own countries should be doing it by themselves.