IDN-InDepthNews – Page 672 – News for a Sustainable World, Peace and Security

UN INSIDER2017-03-032023-07-10

Listen to the People, UN Urged

By Phil Harris

ROME (IDN) – Civil society advocates from around the world are urging newly-appointed UN Secretary-General António Guterres to be a “champion for civil society and take concrete steps to build a more inclusive United Nations”.

In a new report entitled Strengthening Civil Society Engagement with the United Nations, four of the founding members of the 1 for 7 Billion campaign – which led calls for the United Nations to reform the selection process for one of the world’s most important jobs – have collected a range of proposals from its global network of civil society organisations on how this could be achieved.

UN INSIDER2017-03-032023-07-10

Japan Federation to Advance Women’s Economic Empowerment

Note: This article first appeared on UN Women website as part of a series on International Women’s Day, 8 March 2017

NEW YORK (IDN | UN Women) – During their first visit to the United Nations Headquarters in New York on March 2, leading female executives from Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), joined UN Women Deputy Executive Director Lakshmi Puri for a roundtable discussion on women’s economic empowerment.

The Keidanren is the largest Japanese economic federation with a membership of more than 1,300 corporations. The Keidanren Female Executives Mission was led by Haruno Yoshida, the first female Vice Chairman of the Board of Councillors at Keidanren, and includes five additional female executives from various industries in Japan.

UN INSIDER2017-03-022023-07-10

Care Law Catalyses Change and Breaks Stereotypes in Uruguay

Note: This report is part of a series on International Women’s Day, 8 March 2017

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS | UN Women) – Uruguay’s Care Act has changed the concept of “care”. Under the new law, all children, persons with disabilities and elderly persons, have the right to get care. The state not only provides care services, but also guarantees their quality by providing training and regulations.

It is the day before the school year begins at the Child and Family Care Centre of Tres Ombúes, a neighborhood west of Montevideo. Soledad Rotella is mother to one of the 89 children in the neighborhood who attend the centre yearly.

OPINION2017-03-012023-07-10

Immigration: Myths and Real Facts

By Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The great immigration debate has to become the great re-thinking and re-structuring debate. Charlie Brown is right when he says, “No problem is too big and complicated that it can’t be run away from”.

In both the US and the EU the focus is increasingly on the problem of immigration. President Donald Trump talks of them being criminals, drug traffickers and scroungers. And then he wants to build a very expensive wall on the border separating countries that for a long time have not countenanced war or terrorism against each other. (By the way, there is a funny Mexican joke: “Yes, it’s a good idea to build the wall – it will keep Trump out”!)

OPINION2017-03-012023-07-10

Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030

By Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Women Executive Director

Note: This is the text of message by UN Women Executive Director as part of a series on International Women’s Day, 8 March 2017

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS | UN Women) – Across the world, too many women and girls spend too many hours on household responsibilities – typically more than double the time spent by men and boys. They look after younger siblings, older family members, deal with illness in the family and manage the house.

In many cases this unequal division of labour is at the expense of women’s and girls’ learning, of paid work, sports, or engagement in civic or community leadership. This shapes the norms of relative disadvantage and advantage, of where women and men are positioned in the economy, of what they are skilled to do and where they will work.

UN INSIDER2017-03-012023-07-10

UN Focuses on Gender Equality and Women Empowerment

By Jaya Ramachandran

NEW YORK (IDN) – Gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls, which is at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, will draw the focus in the month of March.

The month would not only witness International Women’s Day on March 8 with focus on ‘Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030‘, but also the 61st session of the Commission on the Status of Women – CSW61 (2017) from March 13 to 21 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

As UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, points out, the world of work is changing, and with significant implications for women.

UN INSIDER2017-02-282023-07-10

2030 Agenda A Roadmap For Conflict Prevention

By Miroslav Jenča

Miroslav Jenča is UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs. Following are his keynote remarks originally delivered on February 17, 2017 at a working luncheon at the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the UN in New York under the title ‘Political and Economic Reforms: Steps in implementing SDG 16’.

NEW YORK (IDN) – More than 150 world leaders came together in New York in September 2015 and adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – a historic pledge to end poverty, hunger and inequality; take action on climate change and the environment; ensure inclusive access to health and education; promote sustainable economic growth for all; and build inclusive, just and peaceful institutions and societies. As we survey the world today – inundated with conflict, crisis and turmoil – delivering on the promises of the 2030 Agenda has greater urgency than ever.

Africa2017-02-282023-07-10

Trump in the White House Worries Southern Africa

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) – Sitting in front of a heap of damaged shoes waiting to be mended, 32-year-old Evans Tirivangani, a graduate in accountancy but forced to work as a cobbler because of lack of job opportunities, is anything but convinced that the arrival of a new president in the White House will mark a change in his, and his country’s, prospects.

“We had always had hope since the time Barrack Obama came into power in the United States about a decade ago; we thought he was going to make so much noise about the dictatorship that has damaged our country, but 37 years after our country gained independence, we are still suffering and as you can see, I’m a cobbler even with my degree,” Tirivangani, who plies his trade in a makeshift shed by the roadside in Mabvuku, a high density suburb of Harare, told IDN.

UN INSIDER2017-02-272023-07-10

UN Experts Censure Germany for ‘Crimes Against Africans’

By Jutta Wolf

BERLIN (IDN) – United Nations experts have strongly criticised Germany for “crimes against Africans and people of African descent” adding that they are “deeply concerned about the human rights situation of people of African descent” in the country.

“Germany’s crimes against Africans and people of African descent are overshadowed by its focus on other parts of its history. Germany’s colonial past, the genocide of the Ovaherero and Nama peoples, and the sterilization, incarceration, and murder of Black people during Nazi Germany, is not adequately addressed in the national narrative,” said the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent in a statement to the media on February 27.

Asia-Pacific2017-02-272023-07-10

ASEAN Chairman Duterte Pushes For Migrant Protection Treaty

By Kalinga Seneviratne

BANGKOK (IDN) – Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has signaled his intention to push harder for the adoption of a binding regional treaty to protect the human rights of migrant workers during his chairmanship of ASEAN (Association of South east Asian Nations) this year.

Though he is strongly supported by Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, human rights advocates in the region fear that ASEAN’s “consensus” based decision making process may hinder these attempts because Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand may not agree to a binding treaty to protect migrant workers in their countries.

Though the ‘ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers’ was adopted a decade ago, there has been no attempt until now to give it some teeth in terms of a binding treaty.