GLOBAL GOVERNANCE

Image: The UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development will be held as a virtual conference from 17 to 19 May 2021. Credit: UNESCO

Education For Sustainable Development as Overarching Framework to Achieve the SDGs

Viewpoint by Simone Galimberti

The writer is Co-Founder of ENGAGE, a not-for-profit in Nepal. He writes on volunteerism, social inclusion, youth development, and regional integration as an engine to improve people’s lives. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (IDN) — A life insurance policy for humanity, this is how Audrey Azoulay, the UNESCO Director-General defined the scope of all efforts focused on addressing climate change and the persistent degradation of our biodiversity.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 15 May 2021

Photo: The statue of Duke Ellington in New York’s Central Park. Source: UNAI

Musings on Jazz and the 30th Anniversary of the 1991 Windhoek Declaration on a Free Press

By Ramu Damodaran

The writer is Chief, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) hosted in the Department of Global Communications. Following are excerpts of the OpEd, first published in #WhyWeCare on May 7.

NEW YORK (IDN | UNAI) — Last weekend was bookended by two celebratory observances, the International Day of Jazz on April 30, and World Press Freedom Day on May 3.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 10 May 2021

UNESCO Creative Cities of Music Celebrate Intl. Jazz Day

By Robert Johnson

PARIS (IDN | UNESCO) — As the great Nina Simone said, "Jazz is not just music, it is a way of life, it is a way of being, a way of thinking", says UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It adds: "The story of Jazz is written into the quest for human dignity, democracy and civil rights. It has given strength to the struggle against discrimination and racism."

: Robert Johnson; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 09 May 2021

The NPT Review Conference: Still Haggling for a Date

“The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over, and then expecting different results”……attributed to Albert Einstein, but first said by Rita Mae Brown (Sudden Death)

Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf *

VIENNA (IDN) — For more than a year, a vain search has been continuing to find an appropriate date to convene the Tenth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), as the deadly COVID-19 pandemic rages taking millions of lives with it.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 02 May 2021

Photo: Vaccine equity and not vaccine consent should be part of the watchdog model. Credit: WHO / P. Phutpheng

Is 'Vaccine Consent' Journalism Killing The "Watchdog" Model?

A special feature by Kalinga Seneviratne* to mark UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day.

SYDNEY (IDN) — In recent months, there has been alarming one-sided reporting in the so-called mainstream media—both internationally and nationally—that sounds more like public relations handouts from the big pharmaceutical companies from the West. This 'vaccine consent' journalism and the labelling of anyone questioning the safety or ethics of the vaccine roll out as "conspiracy theorists" is slowly but surely killing the "watchdog" role of journalism.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 02 May 2021

Middle East Coordinator Calls for New and Timely  Palestinian Election  Date

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK (IDN) — A senior UN official in charge of the region has urged the Palestinian authorities to set a new date for heading to the polls, originally scheduled for May 22.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had announced the postponement of the planned parliamentary elections, amidst a dispute over voting rights in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, according to news reports.

: Radwan Jakeem; THE WORLD; Middle East; 01 May 2021

Photo Col Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya addressing the UN General Assembly sessions in September 2009. Credit: United Nations

DON'T QUOTE ME: Did Coup Leaders Seek Legitimacy by Addressing the UN?

By Thalif Deen*

NEW YORK (IDN) — The recent military coup in Myanmar and an attempted palace coup in Jordan harks back to the days when insurrections by armed forces came along a veritable assembly line—particularly in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia.

And at least one political leader—a former Prime Minister of Thailand—was ousted from power when he was at the United Nations to address the General Assembly. After he finished his address, he was homeless and had no country to go to, and sought political asylum in a Middle Eastern country.

: Thalif Deen; UN INSIDER; 25 April 2021

Top Economists Urge Solidarity to Avert Worsening of the COVID-19 Impacts

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK (IDN) — Eminent thought leaders in economic and social fields have called for fundamental change in the multilateral system in the spirit of international solidarity to combat the severe impacts of COVID-19. They comprise the United Nations High-level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs, convened by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).

: Radwan Jakeem; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 25 April 2021

Compelling Need To 'End Our War on Nature"

By Ramu Damodaran

The writer is Chief, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) hosted in the Department of Global Communications. This OpEd was first published in #WhyWeCare on April 22.

NEW YORK (IDN | UNAI) — “End our war on nature” was Antonio Guterres’s call at the Leaders Summit on Climate convened by President Biden this, April 22 Earth Day morning. Last week we had quoted from the remarks by Viet Nam’s Deputy Prime Minister, Nguyen Duy Trinh, at the time of his country’s admission to the United Nations in 1977; rereading that speech, I was struck by his observation that how “in our time mankind is making enormous progress in its endeavour to transform nature and society.”

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 25 April 2021

Photo: The General Assembly Hall during an event in 2016 to mark the one year anniversary of the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. UN Photo/Cia Pa

A Locked Down UN Plans to Gradually Return to Normal

By Razeena Raheem

NEW YORK (IDN) — The United Nations, which has remained locked down since March last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, is planning to make a “phased return to the premises in New York.”

Until now, nearly 3,000 UN staffers have been forced to work from home while virtually all meetings, including Security Council sessions, have been on video teleconferencing (VTC), turning the Secretariat building into a ghost town.