GLOBAL GOVERNANCE

Photo: The sculpture Non-Violence by Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd, in front of UN headquarters at New York City. CC BY-SA 3.0

The UN at 75: A Glass Half Full or One Draining Through the Cracks – Part Two

Viewpoint by Dr Palitha Kohona

This is the second of a two-part article by Dr Palitha Kohona, Former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, Former Chair of the UNGA Sixth Committee and the Former Co-Chair of the UN Ad Hoc Committee on BBNJ. Click here for Part One.

COLOMBO (IDN) – The way UN’s constitution (The Charter) is formulated ensures that its powers are strictly constrained. At the same time the rights and privileges of those who won the Second World War are well and truly entrenched in a blatantly undemocratic manner in the Charter, causing much disenchantment in a world where the political, economic and social power centres have shifted significantly.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; OPINION; 13 August 2020

Photo: Many of the huge numbers of people not covered by social insurance programmes are informal workers, low-waged, women and young people, refugees and migrants, and people with disabilities – and they are the ones hardest hit by this crisis. Photo: UNDP Bangladesh/Fahad Kaizer

UNDP Favours Temporary Basic Income to Protect the World's Poorest from The Impact of COVID-19

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) – A new report by the United Nations is pleading for the immediate introduction of a Temporary Basic Income for the world’s poorest people, arguing that this could slow the current surge in COVID-19 pandemic cases by enabling nearly three billion people to stay at home.

A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report estimates that it would cost from $199 billion per month to provide a time-bound, guaranteed basic income to the 2.7 billion people living below or just above the poverty line in 132 developing countries.

: Caroline Mwanga; UN INSIDER; 23 July 2020

UN Publication Offers New Ideas for Sustainable COVID-19 Recovery

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK (IDN) – As the government, business and civil society leaders fight the global COVID-19 pandemic, leading experts and thinkers have offered outside-the-box thinking and new solutions to prevent the outbreak of new pandemics while achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

A new publication of policy briefs issued by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) calls for improving international tax cooperation, more equitable access to digital technological advances, and sustainable natural resource management that complement the broader recommendations of the Secretary-General regarding shared responsibility and global solidarity in responding to the socio-economic impact of COVID-19.

: Radwan Jakeem; UN INSIDER; 23 July 2020

Photo: Flexible development resources like those provided by Germany enable UNDP to build on and accelerate efforts to tackle the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: UNDP Bangladesh/Fahad Kaizer

COVID-19: UNDP Commends Doubling of Germany's Support to Flexible Core Funding

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK (IDN) – Germany has become the largest funding partner to the 2020 core resources of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a result of a hike to €110 million, equivalent to more than $124 million.

In 2019, Germany provided €50 million to UNDP's core resources. As a strong supporter of multilateralism and international cooperation, Germany has been the largest government contributor to UNDP since 2017.

: Radwan Jakeem; UN INSIDER; 15 July 2020

The Path Forward for Higher Education After COVID-19

UN Academic Impact Talks to Students from Several Countries

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – COVID-19 pandemic has forced more than 1.5 billion students in 165 countries out of school, enforcing the global academic community to explore new ways of teaching and learning, including distance and online education, according to UNESCO estimates.

This has proven challenging for both students and educators, who have to deal with the emotional, physical and economic difficulties posed by the illness while doing their part to help curb the spread of the virus, notes United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI).

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 10 July 2020

Photo: A seasonal worker at a store in Buga, Colombia. Credit: World Bank/Charlotte Kesl.

UN Chief Calls for Addressing ‘unprecedented’ impact of coronavirus on Latin America and the Caribbean

By UN News

NEW YORK (IDN) – As COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the world, Latin America and the Caribbean have become a “hotspot of the pandemic”, the UN chief said on July 8, releasing a new policy initiative on how best to recover in a region already embroiled in poverty, hunger, unemployment and inequality.

The UN brief reveals that several countries in the region, are now among those with the highest per capita infection rates worldwide and shines a light on how the crisis is impacting vulnerable groups, including indigenous communities and women.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 10 July 2020

#CopingWithCOVID Webinar for Young People

Taking care of mental health while living in the new normal

By UN News

NEW YORK (IDN)— The United Nations Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth, Ms Jayathma Wickramanayake, will host the 9th session of the United Nations' #CopingWithCOVID webinar series on July 15 (livestream at bit.ly/CwCOVID9).

During this session — focused on young people’s mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic — the Envoy will be joined by the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Queen Mathilde of the Belgians and six young people from around the world.

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 09 July 2020

Wanted 'Information Volunteers' to Halt Viral Spread of COVID-19 Misinformation

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) — Never before has there been a more pressing need for accurate, verified information as in the current situation marked by the Coronavirus spreading its tentacles around the world. Like the virus itself, Misinformation about COVID-19 spreads rapidly from person-to-person and heightens the risk to health disseminating fear and division.

Subsequently, to contain the disease and its impacts, people around the world require access to trusted, accurate information based on science and aiming at solutions and building solidarity within and between nations.

: J Nastranis; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 02 July 2020

Photo: The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) is providing services to displaced women and girls across northeast Syria. Credit: UNFPA Syria.

Put Women at The Centre of Syria Crisis Response

Viewpoint by Dr Natalia Kanem and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

Dr Natalia Kanem is the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka Executive Director of UN Women.

NEW YORK (IDN) – As the Syria crisis enters its 10th year, the situation is especially dire for women and girls, with the effects of COVID-19 compounding the risks and hardships for millions of people inside the country and for refugees around the region.

Today nearly 12 million people in Syria require urgent humanitarian assistance and around 4 million depend on cross-border aid. Some 5.7 million Syrians have fled and are now residing in countries throughout the region.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 01 July 2020

79-Nation OACPS Grows into The Power of Change in The International Arena

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | BRUSSELS (IDN) – The interregional ACP officially became the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) on April 5, when 79 leaders of the group endorsed the revised version of the 1975 Constitutive Act, known as the Georgetown Agreement, at the December 2019 Summit in Nairobi, Kenya.

One month earlier, on March 2, Angola's Ambassador to the European Union, Mr. Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti, took over from the Guyanese Ambassador, Dr P.I. Gomes, the office of the Secretary-General. A highlight of Dr Gomes' five-year term was the decision of the group to change its name, thus stressing its importance for organisations such as the United Nations.