IDN-InDepthNews

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – “The lack of nuclear weapons use since Hiroshima and Nagasaki cannot on its own be interpreted as evidence that the likelihood of a detonation event is minimal,” warns the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), an autonomous institute within the United Nations based in Geneva.

The Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on which the United States dropped atomic bombs on August 6 and 9, 1945, embody the abhorrent humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons use, warning of the brutal consequences should such weapons of mass destruction be ever deployed again.

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed new leaders of the world body’s regional outposts in Africa, Europe and Western Asia, but asked the head of Asia and the Pacific to stay on.

Announcing senior appointments on April 13, he said he had asked Dr Shamshad Akhtar of Pakistan to continue in her role as Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Dr Akhtar, who also serves as the UN Under-Secretary-General (USG), has been in office since December 2013.

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – For the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population of 7.5 billion is living in cities. By 2050, the world’s urban population is expected to nearly double, making urbanization one of the twenty-first century’s most transformative trends. This lends special significance to the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III).

Heads of State and Government adopted at the Conference, held October 17-20, 2016 in Quito, Ecuador, the New Urban Agenda as a collective vision and political commitment to promote and realize sustainable urban development, and a paradigm change, rethinking how cities are planned, managed and inhabited.

By Sergio Duarte, former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs*

NEW YORK (IDN) – In the current stage of evolution of international law and universally accepted norms of civilised behaviour, the use of any weapon of mass destruction by any actor whatsoever affronts the conscience of mankind and cannot be tolerated.

The responsibility for the recent episode of the use of chemical weapons in Syria has not yet been clearly established. But the posturing of the players in this dramatic episode sometimes obscures the appalling reality that a weapon of mass destruction with such cruel and indiscriminate effects still exists in national arsenals of a handful of countries or in clandestine caches.

By Rita Joshi

BONN (IDN) – While a new UN report finds that health risks related to climate change are on the rise worldwide, it avers that coordinated international responses can help prevent some of the worst impacts of climate change on health.

“The report clearly highlights the need for the UN and partners to continuously strengthen their actions to support governments to build climate resilience, including measures to protect human health,” says Youssef Nassef, Director of the Adaptation Programme of the UNFCCC secretariat.

The report, which will be presented to governments during the next round of climate change negotiations to be held in Bonn from May 8-18, 2017, was prepared in collaboration with countries, the World Health Organization and other relevant expert organisations, under the Nairobi work programme − UN Knowledge-for-Action Climate Resilience Network.