UNGA is finally here!
Week 4The opening of the UN General Assembly is finally here! Tune in from 9am EST on September 21, 2020 to hear speeches from our world leaders in commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations. We are hoping for governments to stand true to their commitments made in the UN75 declaration and to take bold action towards strengthening multilateralism and the United Nations system. We are pleased to share with you the Eminent Persons Open Letter signed by 48 eminent persons. Signatories to the letter include former Presidents, Prime Ministers, UN officials and foreign minister including Mary Robinson, Former President of Ireland; Maria Fernanda Espinosa, President of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly; Danilo Türk, former Prime Minister of Slovenia; and Ban Ki-moon, 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations. The letter suggests that the 75th anniversary should be not only a time to celebrate past achievements, but also to take stock of present challenges to the multilateral system. The letter says that "there is a crying need for a stronger, more accountable, inclusive multilateral system that encompasses renewed intergovernmental initiatives with the full participation of civil society and key stakeholders." Read the letter |
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Press release Friday September 18
Former Presidents, Prime Ministers, UN leaders and Government Ministers Call for a Strengthened United Nations System
Ahead of the September 21 High Level Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations, a group of prominent former government and UN leaders are calling on current world leaders to take action to strengthen the United Nations system.
In an Open Letter published today, 49 former UN and government officials from around the world are calling for the 75th anniversary to lead to “a stronger, more accountable, inclusive multilateral system.”
According to Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, “The 75th anniversary of the United Nations should provide an opportunity to do more than look back and celebrate past achievements. Governments must take stock of the current challenges facing the UN. The hard months and years ahead will require determined and principled leadership. Multilateralism is not an option: it is the only path that can deliver a green, sustainable and equitable recovery.”
Maria Fernanda Espinosa, President of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly and former Foreign Minister of Ecuador said, “The United Nations is an irreplaceable organization. It has a critical role in leading a concerted, coordinated response to the COVID pandemic, and its recovery process which should allow us to “build back better.” This year’s commemoration of the UN 75th anniversary is a golden opportunity to rejuvenate and retool the organization to build a more effective and inclusive multilateral system.”
And Danilo Türk, former President of Slovenia, noted that, "The 75th Anniversary of the United Nations is a reminder of the Organization's rich experience, its unique convening power and legitimacy, assets that remain vital for the future of the world."
The UN75 Declaration, expected to be adopted September 21 by world leaders, mandates Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to report back before the end of the 75th session of the General Assembly “with recommendations to advance our common agenda and to respond to current and future challenges.”
Notification of a Zoom Webinar:
Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations: Shaping our future
together.
Zoom Webinar on Friday the 11th September 2020
04.30 PM (IST) / 07.00 AM (ET) / 08.00 AM (BA) / 11.00 PM (GMT)
Cooperating with the Office of the Special Adviser on the preparations for the Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations, the Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi, Asian Youth Centre, Chennai, South Asian Institute of Policy Dialogue, the South Asian Federalists, Bangalore and the UN2020 Campaign invite you to participate in this Dialogue process, the results of which will be submitted as a contribution to the UN75 Declaration that is to be adopted at the UN75 high-level meeting on Sept 21, 2020 at UNHQ in New York, as well as the Secretary-General’s follow-up reports on the UN75 events.
Please register for the meeting here.
A background note for the meeting, including the agenda is available here.
The official launch of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017 was held today 18 January 2017, in Madrid, Spain.
The United Nations 70th General Assembly has designated 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. In the context of the universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the International Year aims to support a change in policies, business practices and consumer behavior towards a more sustainable tourism sector that contributes to the SDGs.
Mr Francesco Bandarin, Assistant Director-General for Culture represented UNESCO at this event.
The United Nations General Assembly declared 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development recalling the potential of tourism to advance the universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The International Year aims to support a change in policies, business practices and consumer behavior towards a more sustainable tourism sector than can contribute effectively to the SDGs.
"This is a unique opportunity to build a more responsible and committed tourism sector that can capitalize its immense potential in terms of economic prosperity, social inclusion, peace and understanding, cultural and environmental preservation” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai.
Accounting for 7% of worldwide exports, one in eleven jobs and 10% of the world’s GDP, the tourism sector if well managed can foster inclusive economic growth, social inclusiveness and the protection of cultural and natural assets.
The International Year will promote tourism’s role in the following five key areas:
(1) Inclusive and sustainable economic growth;
(2) Social inclusiveness, employment and poverty reduction;
(3) Resource efficiency, environmental protection and climate change;
(4) Cultural values, diversity and heritage; and
(5) Mutual understanding, peace and security.
The United Nations 70th General Assembly has designated 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. In the context of the universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the International Year aims to support a change in policies, business practices and consumer behavior towards a more sustainable tourism sector that contributes to the SDGs.
Mr Francesco Bandarin, Assistant Director-General for Culture represented UNESCO at this event.
The United Nations General Assembly declared 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development recalling the potential of tourism to advance the universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The International Year aims to support a change in policies, business practices and consumer behavior towards a more sustainable tourism sector than can contribute effectively to the SDGs.
"This is a unique opportunity to build a more responsible and committed tourism sector that can capitalize its immense potential in terms of economic prosperity, social inclusion, peace and understanding, cultural and environmental preservation” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai.
Accounting for 7% of worldwide exports, one in eleven jobs and 10% of the world’s GDP, the tourism sector if well managed can foster inclusive economic growth, social inclusiveness and the protection of cultural and natural assets.
The International Year will promote tourism’s role in the following five key areas:
(1) Inclusive and sustainable economic growth;
(2) Social inclusiveness, employment and poverty reduction;
(3) Resource efficiency, environmental protection and climate change;
(4) Cultural values, diversity and heritage; and
(5) Mutual understanding, peace and security.
13 February 2017
Radio has never been so dynamic, engaging and important in the midst of deep change in ways to share and access information, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said today, World Radio Day.
“At a time of turbulence, radio provides an enduring platform to bring communities together,” said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova in her message on the Day.
“On the way to work, in our homes, offices and fields, in times of peace, conflict and emergencies, radio remains a crucial source of information and knowledge, spanning generations and cultures, inspiring us with the wealth of humanity's diversity, and connecting us with the world,” she said.
Radio is a force for human rights and dignity and a powerful enabler of solutions to the challenges all societies face, she said, calling for nurturing the power of radio to foster the conversations and the listening needed for cooperation to tackle the challenges all humanity faces.
Radio plays an important role in taking forward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, advancing fundamental freedoms and bolstering good governance and the rule of law. It can help tackle new challenges, such as climate change and discrimination, by providing an accessible and real-time medium to bridge divides and strengthen dialogue.
This requires a new commitment by all, including broadcasters, regulators and audiences, she said, noting that radio can provide “a beacon” for innovative solutions to local problems, and continue to advance human rights, gender equality, dialogue and peace.
In January 2013, the UN General Assembly formally endorsed UNESCO's proclamation of World Radio Day, 13 February, the day UN Radio was established in 1946.
Radio has never been so dynamic, engaging and important in the midst of deep change in ways to share and access information, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said today, World Radio Day.
“At a time of turbulence, radio provides an enduring platform to bring communities together,” said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova in her message on the Day.
“On the way to work, in our homes, offices and fields, in times of peace, conflict and emergencies, radio remains a crucial source of information and knowledge, spanning generations and cultures, inspiring us with the wealth of humanity's diversity, and connecting us with the world,” she said.
Radio is a force for human rights and dignity and a powerful enabler of solutions to the challenges all societies face, she said, calling for nurturing the power of radio to foster the conversations and the listening needed for cooperation to tackle the challenges all humanity faces.
Radio plays an important role in taking forward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, advancing fundamental freedoms and bolstering good governance and the rule of law. It can help tackle new challenges, such as climate change and discrimination, by providing an accessible and real-time medium to bridge divides and strengthen dialogue.
This requires a new commitment by all, including broadcasters, regulators and audiences, she said, noting that radio can provide “a beacon” for innovative solutions to local problems, and continue to advance human rights, gender equality, dialogue and peace.
In January 2013, the UN General Assembly formally endorsed UNESCO's proclamation of World Radio Day, 13 February, the day UN Radio was established in 1946.
Students of Computer Sciences at Khowaja Institute of Information Technology in Hyderabad, Pakistan learn computing skills
13 February 2017
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today urged greater investments in teaching science, technology, engineering and math to all women and girls as well as equal access to these opportunities.
“For too long, discriminatory stereotypes have prevented women and girls from having equal access to education in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM),” said Mr. Guterres in his message for International Day of Women and Girls in Science, marked annually on 11 February.
“As a trained engineer and former teacher, I know that these stereotypes are flat wrong,” he said, explaining that they deny women and girls the chance to realize their potential – and deprive the world of the ingenuity and innovation of half the population.
“On this International Day, I urge commitment to end bias, greater investments in STEM education for all women and girls as well as opportunities for their careers and longer-term professional advancement so that all can benefit from their ground-breaking future contributions,” he saiEarlier this week, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization released its UNESCO Science Report: Towards 2030.
'Female engineers and computer programmers wanted,' is the main message of the report, which shows that women are increasingly graduating with life science degrees, but still rare in engineering and computer science, especially in developed economies.
“An analysis of computer science shows a steady decrease in female graduates since 2000 that is particularly marked in high-income countries,” it states.
The share of women graduates in computer science between 2000 and 2012 slipped in Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea and the United States, as well as in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“This should be a wake-up call,” UNESCO said. “Female participation is falling in a field that is expanding globally as its importance for national economies grows, penetrating every aspect of daily life.”
The share of women working as engineers is also higher in some developing countries, with increases observed in sub-Saharan and Arab countries. Women in the United Arab Emirates, for example, have benefited from national polities that promote training and employment of Emirati citizens, and in particular women.
In her message on the Day, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova called for empowering women and girls to learn and research.
“We must raise awareness about the work of women scientists by providing equal opportunities for their participation and leadership in a broad spectrum of high-level scientific bodies and events,” Ms. Bokova said, calling also for mentoring opportunities for women.
In 2016, UNESCO and the L'Oréal Foundation launched the manifesto For Women in Science, to engage governments and stakeholders in promoting the full participation of girls and women in science.
For its part, UN Women noted that science and technology offer unique opportunities for women and girls to overcome a number of the barriers they typically face. For example: mobile money has empowered and transformed the lives of millions of women previously thought to be “unbankable” by enabling them to directly access financial products and services.
Women with skills in science and technological fields can help improve vital infrastructure such as water and power supply, and in doing so ease the responsibilities that women and girls carry of providing unpaid care work for the household.
Similarly, Internet and mobile technology can help bridge barriers to education for the 32 million girls who are out of school at the primary level and the 29 million at the lower secondary level, explained the main UN entity on women's empowerment and gender equality
Women now account for 53 per cent of world's bachelor's and master's graduates in science and 43 per cent of PhDs, according to the UNESCO report. Since 2000, there has been a steady increase in female graduates in agricultural sciences, likely driven by an emphasis on national food security and the food industry.In sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, female graduates in agricultural science have been increasing steadily, with women comprising 40 per cent or more of graduates in Lesotho, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.
Medicine is also a field increasingly popular with women, with six out of 10 researchers being women in both medical and agricultural sciences in Belarus and New Zealand, for instance.
In research, however, women still lag men at 28 per cent. The figure fluctuates geographically with women in Southeast Europe are on par with men, and at 44 per cent in Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. According to the report, the numbers are particularly low in the European Union, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
To encourage women and girls to study and work in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), the UN has organized a number of events around the world.
In New York, a high-level event is underway today tying gender, science and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The event was organized with support from the Government of Malta, as the president of the Council of the European Unio
13 February 2017
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today urged greater investments in teaching science, technology, engineering and math to all women and girls as well as equal access to these opportunities.
“For too long, discriminatory stereotypes have prevented women and girls from having equal access to education in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM),” said Mr. Guterres in his message for International Day of Women and Girls in Science, marked annually on 11 February.
“As a trained engineer and former teacher, I know that these stereotypes are flat wrong,” he said, explaining that they deny women and girls the chance to realize their potential – and deprive the world of the ingenuity and innovation of half the population.
“On this International Day, I urge commitment to end bias, greater investments in STEM education for all women and girls as well as opportunities for their careers and longer-term professional advancement so that all can benefit from their ground-breaking future contributions,” he saiEarlier this week, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization released its UNESCO Science Report: Towards 2030.
'Female engineers and computer programmers wanted,' is the main message of the report, which shows that women are increasingly graduating with life science degrees, but still rare in engineering and computer science, especially in developed economies.
“An analysis of computer science shows a steady decrease in female graduates since 2000 that is particularly marked in high-income countries,” it states.
The share of women graduates in computer science between 2000 and 2012 slipped in Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea and the United States, as well as in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“This should be a wake-up call,” UNESCO said. “Female participation is falling in a field that is expanding globally as its importance for national economies grows, penetrating every aspect of daily life.”
The share of women working as engineers is also higher in some developing countries, with increases observed in sub-Saharan and Arab countries. Women in the United Arab Emirates, for example, have benefited from national polities that promote training and employment of Emirati citizens, and in particular women.
In her message on the Day, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova called for empowering women and girls to learn and research.
“We must raise awareness about the work of women scientists by providing equal opportunities for their participation and leadership in a broad spectrum of high-level scientific bodies and events,” Ms. Bokova said, calling also for mentoring opportunities for women.
In 2016, UNESCO and the L'Oréal Foundation launched the manifesto For Women in Science, to engage governments and stakeholders in promoting the full participation of girls and women in science.
For its part, UN Women noted that science and technology offer unique opportunities for women and girls to overcome a number of the barriers they typically face. For example: mobile money has empowered and transformed the lives of millions of women previously thought to be “unbankable” by enabling them to directly access financial products and services.
Women with skills in science and technological fields can help improve vital infrastructure such as water and power supply, and in doing so ease the responsibilities that women and girls carry of providing unpaid care work for the household.
Similarly, Internet and mobile technology can help bridge barriers to education for the 32 million girls who are out of school at the primary level and the 29 million at the lower secondary level, explained the main UN entity on women's empowerment and gender equality
Women now account for 53 per cent of world's bachelor's and master's graduates in science and 43 per cent of PhDs, according to the UNESCO report. Since 2000, there has been a steady increase in female graduates in agricultural sciences, likely driven by an emphasis on national food security and the food industry.In sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, female graduates in agricultural science have been increasing steadily, with women comprising 40 per cent or more of graduates in Lesotho, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.
Medicine is also a field increasingly popular with women, with six out of 10 researchers being women in both medical and agricultural sciences in Belarus and New Zealand, for instance.
In research, however, women still lag men at 28 per cent. The figure fluctuates geographically with women in Southeast Europe are on par with men, and at 44 per cent in Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. According to the report, the numbers are particularly low in the European Union, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
To encourage women and girls to study and work in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), the UN has organized a number of events around the world.
In New York, a high-level event is underway today tying gender, science and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The event was organized with support from the Government of Malta, as the president of the Council of the European Unio
Over 9,000 displaced people seeking a safe place to stay have moved into the church compound in Wau, South Sudan
10 February 2017
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) today voiced concern about an escalation in the fighting between Government and opposition forces in the west bank of the River Nile in the African country's north.
Fighting has reached what the head of UNMISS, David Shearer, described as “worrying proportions,” according to a statement issued by the Office of Spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping operation.
“What began with an exchange of fire between SPLA [the Sudan People's Liberation Army] and Aguelek opposition forces, has expanded geographically,” the statement said, noting that military resupplies have since been observed arriving in the area.
Military operations on the west bank of the Nile River are taking place in an area where people, predominantly from the Shilluk ethnic group live, forcing people out of their homes. The town of Wau Shilluk is now reported to be deserted. Humanitarian workers have been evacuated and aid is not being provided, the statement added.
On Wednesday, UNMISS received reports of hostilities between the two sides in Owachi and Tonga, Panyinkang County.
Meanwhile, Mr. Shearer today returned to the South Sudanese capital, Juba, from a two-day field visit to Bentiu and Leer, two towns which have been among the most affected by the country's conflict, according to a separate statement issued today by the spokesperson's office.
In Bentiu, Mr. Shearer met state government officials, as well as internally displaced people who are living in the largest protection of civilians site in the country. In Leer, he visited the mission's temporary operating base to assess UNMISS' success in mounting robust patrols which push the mission's presence deep into the field.
He held discussions with local officials and also took the opportunity to travel to an opposition-controlled area to meet with pro-Machar representatives so he could hear all shades of opinion on how to facilitate humanitarian assistance and advance the peace process, the statement said.
The local opposition told Mr. Shearer that they support the current localized cessation of hostilities and remain in a defensive position which they hope will encourage the return of humanitarian agencies to Leer.
Both the local authorities and the opposition praised the UN for its efforts to facilitate communications between them. Mr. Shearer heard that they both recognize that an inclusive national dialogue will assist the peace process, the statement added.
South Sudan has faced ongoing challenges since a political face-off between President Salva Kiir and his then former Vice-President Riek Machar erupted into full blown conflict between forces loyal to each in December 2013. The crisis has produced one of the world's worst displacement situations with immense suffering for civilians.
Despite the August 2015 peace agreement that formally ended the war, conflict and instability have also spread to previously unaffected areas.
10 February 2017
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) today voiced concern about an escalation in the fighting between Government and opposition forces in the west bank of the River Nile in the African country's north.
Fighting has reached what the head of UNMISS, David Shearer, described as “worrying proportions,” according to a statement issued by the Office of Spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping operation.
“What began with an exchange of fire between SPLA [the Sudan People's Liberation Army] and Aguelek opposition forces, has expanded geographically,” the statement said, noting that military resupplies have since been observed arriving in the area.
Military operations on the west bank of the Nile River are taking place in an area where people, predominantly from the Shilluk ethnic group live, forcing people out of their homes. The town of Wau Shilluk is now reported to be deserted. Humanitarian workers have been evacuated and aid is not being provided, the statement added.
On Wednesday, UNMISS received reports of hostilities between the two sides in Owachi and Tonga, Panyinkang County.
Meanwhile, Mr. Shearer today returned to the South Sudanese capital, Juba, from a two-day field visit to Bentiu and Leer, two towns which have been among the most affected by the country's conflict, according to a separate statement issued today by the spokesperson's office.
In Bentiu, Mr. Shearer met state government officials, as well as internally displaced people who are living in the largest protection of civilians site in the country. In Leer, he visited the mission's temporary operating base to assess UNMISS' success in mounting robust patrols which push the mission's presence deep into the field.
He held discussions with local officials and also took the opportunity to travel to an opposition-controlled area to meet with pro-Machar representatives so he could hear all shades of opinion on how to facilitate humanitarian assistance and advance the peace process, the statement said.
The local opposition told Mr. Shearer that they support the current localized cessation of hostilities and remain in a defensive position which they hope will encourage the return of humanitarian agencies to Leer.
Both the local authorities and the opposition praised the UN for its efforts to facilitate communications between them. Mr. Shearer heard that they both recognize that an inclusive national dialogue will assist the peace process, the statement added.
South Sudan has faced ongoing challenges since a political face-off between President Salva Kiir and his then former Vice-President Riek Machar erupted into full blown conflict between forces loyal to each in December 2013. The crisis has produced one of the world's worst displacement situations with immense suffering for civilians.
Despite the August 2015 peace agreement that formally ended the war, conflict and instability have also spread to previously unaffected areas.
Ahmed, 3 years old, receives treatment for moderate acute malnutrition in a hospital in Hajjah, Yemen.
9 February 2017
The United Nations and humanitarian partners today launched an international appeal for $2.1 billion to provide life-saving assistance to 12 million people in Yemen in 2017 – the largest-ever humanitarian response plan for the war-torn country.
“Two years of war have devastated Yemen… Without international support, they may face the threat of famine in the course of 2017 and I urge donors to sustain and increase their support to our collective response,” said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien in a press release on the launch of the Humanitarian Response Plan for Yemen in Geneva.
“Humanitarian partners are ready to respond. But they need timely, unimpeded access, and adequate resources, to meet the humanitarian needs wherever they arise,” said Mr. O'Brien, who is also the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.
He noted that since March 2015, violent conflict and disregard by all parties to the conflict for their responsibility to protect civilians have created a vast protection crisis in Yemen and millions of people face threats to their safety and basic human rights every day. In addition, deliberate war tactics are accelerating the collapse of key institutions and the economy, thereby exacerbating pre-existing vulnerabilities.
This has left an alarming 18.8 million people – more than two thirds of the population – in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which also estimates that 10.3 million people are acutely affected and nearly 3.3 million people – including 2.1 million children – are acutely malnourished.
“We remain committed to the principle that our plans must be grounded both in evidence and actual capacity, and I ask donors today to help Yemen in its moment of great need,” said the Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick.
In 2016, 120 national and international partners including UN agencies and non-governmental organisations working out of humanitarian hubs in Aden, Al Hudaydah, Ibb, Sana'a, and Sa'ada assisted more than 5.6 million people with direct humanitarian aid.
9 February 2017
The United Nations and humanitarian partners today launched an international appeal for $2.1 billion to provide life-saving assistance to 12 million people in Yemen in 2017 – the largest-ever humanitarian response plan for the war-torn country.
“Two years of war have devastated Yemen… Without international support, they may face the threat of famine in the course of 2017 and I urge donors to sustain and increase their support to our collective response,” said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien in a press release on the launch of the Humanitarian Response Plan for Yemen in Geneva.
“Humanitarian partners are ready to respond. But they need timely, unimpeded access, and adequate resources, to meet the humanitarian needs wherever they arise,” said Mr. O'Brien, who is also the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.
He noted that since March 2015, violent conflict and disregard by all parties to the conflict for their responsibility to protect civilians have created a vast protection crisis in Yemen and millions of people face threats to their safety and basic human rights every day. In addition, deliberate war tactics are accelerating the collapse of key institutions and the economy, thereby exacerbating pre-existing vulnerabilities.
This has left an alarming 18.8 million people – more than two thirds of the population – in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which also estimates that 10.3 million people are acutely affected and nearly 3.3 million people – including 2.1 million children – are acutely malnourished.
“We remain committed to the principle that our plans must be grounded both in evidence and actual capacity, and I ask donors today to help Yemen in its moment of great need,” said the Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick.
In 2016, 120 national and international partners including UN agencies and non-governmental organisations working out of humanitarian hubs in Aden, Al Hudaydah, Ibb, Sana'a, and Sa'ada assisted more than 5.6 million people with direct humanitarian aid.
Protestors raise their hands in front of police in the Musaga neighbourhood of Bujumbura, Burundi.
8 February 2017
Speaking out against a ban and provisional suspension of a number of civil society organizations in Burundi, United Nations rights experts warned today of growing repression of human rights defenders and groups amid the already difficult environment in which they work.
Also worrying, according to a news release issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) were two bills adopted by the National Assembly of Burundi last December that require local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to obtain authorization from the Minister of the Interior for any activity and that the work of foreign NGOs must comply with priorities set by the Government.
“These moves are just the latest in a series of attacks on the rights to freedom of expression and association in Burundi,” said the rights experts.
“Disturbingly, these measures take particular aim at human rights defenders and independent civil society, and are being used to unduly obstruct and criminalize their work on broad and often fallacious grounds.”
Authorities in Burundi banned five civil society organizations in October 2016. In December 2016, they also barred two other groups, one of which was working for good governance and the fight against corruption. Additionally, four other organizations have also been provisionally suspended.
Also in the release, the experts reiterated the “unanimous” strong stance of various bodies, including the UN Human Rights Council – the inter-governmental body responsible for promoting and protecting human rights around the world – on allegations of serious human rights violations in Burundi, the experts called on the Governmental to “an end to the climate of impunity currently prevailing in the country” and to cooperate with the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi and with OHCHR in a positive and collaborative manner, as an essential step towards ending the major crisis facing the country.
“It is crucial that the State promotes and protects the rights to freedom of expression and association enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Burundi is a State party,” they said.
“All individuals, including human rights defenders, have the right to express themselves and associate freely, without fear of threats, intimidation, violence, arbitrary detention or enforced or disappearance,” the experts added
7 February 2017 – Attacks in Afghanistan by the Taliban, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) and pro-Government troops killed or injured more children and other civilians in 2016 than at any other time since the United Nations began keeping records, it was announced today.
According to the new UN report, some 11,418 civilian casualties were confirmed last year – including 2,589 children – an increase of 24 per cent since the previous high in 2015.
Releasing the casualty figures at a press conference in the Afghan capital of Kabul, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Tadamichi Yamamoto, called the killing and maiming of thousands of Afghan civilians “deeply harrowing and largely preventable.”
“All parties to the conflict must take immediate concrete measures to protect the ordinary Afghan men, women and children whose lives are being shattered,” said Mr. Yamamoto, who is also the head of the UN Assistance Mission in the country (UNAMA).
A breakdown of the figures shows that 3,498 people were killed, among them 923 children, and 7,920 civilians were injured, including 2,589 children.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said the casualty figures painted a picture of the most vulnerable sectors of society paying the highest price.
“Children have been killed, blinded, crippled – or inadvertently caused the death of their friends – while playing with unexploded ordnance that is negligently left behind by parties to the conflict,” Mr. Zeid said. His Office, known by the acronym OHCHR, works annually with UNAMA to produce the report.
In addition to figures, the report includes excerpt of interviews with survivors of violence.
One of the interviews is with a mother who survived a mortar attack during a ground engagement in the Bala Buluk district of Farah province, in the western part of Afghanistan.
“It was the day before Ramadan when a number of Taliban entered my village,” she told UNAMA during a telephone interview in June 2016. “While we were walking to my husband’s tricycle, a mortar shell landed nearby. My mother-in-law and I hit the ground injured and my newborn baby was hit by shrapnel in the chest. He died after a few minutes.”
UN investigators found that anti-Government forces, mainly the Taliban, were responsible for almost two-thirds of the casualties, while pro-Government forces were responsible for almost one-quarter. In addition, casualties caused by airstrikes carried out by Afghan and international forces nearly doubled since 2015.
06 February 2017
Amid a global shortage of injectable inactivated polio vaccines (IPV), a new inoculation regimen, employed by governments in the South-East Asian region, involving two fractional vaccine doses – each about a fifth of a full dose – provides the same level of protection against all polioviruses as does one full dose, the United Nations health agency said today.
According to the World Health Organization's (WHO) Regional Office for South-East Asia, the evidence-based intervention ensures continued protection of children against the virus and also helps save vaccine.
This method was first used in India in its provincial vaccination programmes in early 2016 and is now being scaled up nationally. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have also decided to introduce the fractional IPV doses this year, and other countries in the region are considering a shift in their immunization routines.
The first of the two fractional doses is administered to infants at the age of six weeks, followed by the second at the age of 14 weeks.
According to WHO, South-East Asia is also its first region to complete the polio vaccine switch from the traditionally used trivalent oral polio vaccine (tOPV) to the bivalent vaccine (bOPV) to prevent any paralysis caused by type 2 poliovirus strain in tOPV.
The crippling and highly infectious disease, polio (poliomyelitis), is caused by the poliovirus and the last case of wild poliovirus in the region was recorded on 13 January 2011.
WHO certified the region (comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste) as polio-free in March 2014.
All countries have been working towards the timely implementation of the global polio end game strategy to achieve a polio-free world, the UN agency noted, reminding them of the continued need “to reach every child with polio vaccines and to strengthen disease surveillance so that poliovirus does not return to cripple children.”
Amid a global shortage of injectable inactivated polio vaccines (IPV), a new inoculation regimen, employed by governments in the South-East Asian region, involving two fractional vaccine doses – each about a fifth of a full dose – provides the same level of protection against all polioviruses as does one full dose, the United Nations health agency said today.
According to the World Health Organization's (WHO) Regional Office for South-East Asia, the evidence-based intervention ensures continued protection of children against the virus and also helps save vaccine.
This method was first used in India in its provincial vaccination programmes in early 2016 and is now being scaled up nationally. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have also decided to introduce the fractional IPV doses this year, and other countries in the region are considering a shift in their immunization routines.
The first of the two fractional doses is administered to infants at the age of six weeks, followed by the second at the age of 14 weeks.
According to WHO, South-East Asia is also its first region to complete the polio vaccine switch from the traditionally used trivalent oral polio vaccine (tOPV) to the bivalent vaccine (bOPV) to prevent any paralysis caused by type 2 poliovirus strain in tOPV.
The crippling and highly infectious disease, polio (poliomyelitis), is caused by the poliovirus and the last case of wild poliovirus in the region was recorded on 13 January 2011.
WHO certified the region (comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste) as polio-free in March 2014.
All countries have been working towards the timely implementation of the global polio end game strategy to achieve a polio-free world, the UN agency noted, reminding them of the continued need “to reach every child with polio vaccines and to strengthen disease surveillance so that poliovirus does not return to cripple children.”
FARC marched to Pondores, in La Guajira (Colombia), where laying down of arms will take place with the presence of the UN Mission.
5 February 2017 – More than 200 men and women of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC-EP) marched today to demobilization camps, two months after a peace deal that ended the Western Hemisphere’s longest running conflict, United Nations monitors coordinating the process reported.
The UN Mission in Colombia said the Transitional Point of Normalization of Pondores, department of La Guajira, in northern Colombia, according to figures from tripartite Monitoring and Verification Mechanism, composed of the Government, the FARC-EP and coordinated by the UN Mission.
Members of the FARC-EP – some of them pregnant or breastfeeding – walked about nine kilometres from four pre-grouping points near to the Pondores transitional point, where the FARC-EP camp will be located and where the separation of forces will take place, a task which the UN Mission will verify.
“As a UN Mission, this moment is crucial because it means we will continue to verify the ceasefire and cessation of hostilities through our participation in the Tripartite Mechanism, and we will be able to begin the operational part of the verification of the laying down of arms,” explained the Deputy Head of Observers of the Mission, José Mauricio Villacorta.
According to the Mission, the women and men marching today join more than 6,300 FARC-EP members who began mobilizing on Saturday, 28 January, to zones and points using 36 travel routes in 14 departments of the country, according to preliminary figures from the Colombian Government's High Commissioner for Peace, on one of the country’s largest logistics operations.
FARC-EP members were received today at the Pondores site by High Commissioner for Peace Sergio Jaramillo, FARC-EP leader Ivan Márquez, Colombian authorities and Mr. Mauricio Villacorta, in a symbolic act to highlight the parties’ commitment and the imminent start of the laying down of arms, which the UN Mission will verify, to enable the transition to civilian life.
“This shows that we are bringing the agreement to reality,” said Mr. Jaramillo, who added: “This is a moment of joy.”
Iván Márquez, who headed the FARC-EP negotiating team in Havana, Cuba, where four years of negotiations on the eventual peace accord took place, stated: "Something good is happening in Colombia: it's peace […] This peace is irrepressible, unstoppable; let us go forward.”
“To date, we have focused on the planning and preparation phase so that the Mission can carry out the tasks of registering and storing weapons," said Mr. Mauricio Villacorta.
Once FARC-EP members are in the camps the first step for the laying down of arms is the registration of arms and weapons. Unstable armaments – such as gunpowder, grenades and anti-personnel mines – will be destroyed in site. After 180 days, the UN Mission in Colombia is set to remove all the weapons from the camp.
In early October 2016, Colombian voters narrowly rejected the historic peace accord between the Government and the FARC-EP. That deal led to a cessation of hostilities and agreements on key issues such as political participation, land rights, illicit drugs and victims’ rights and transitional justice. The two sides signed a new agreement in late November.
5 February 2017 – More than 200 men and women of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC-EP) marched today to demobilization camps, two months after a peace deal that ended the Western Hemisphere’s longest running conflict, United Nations monitors coordinating the process reported.
The UN Mission in Colombia said the Transitional Point of Normalization of Pondores, department of La Guajira, in northern Colombia, according to figures from tripartite Monitoring and Verification Mechanism, composed of the Government, the FARC-EP and coordinated by the UN Mission.
Members of the FARC-EP – some of them pregnant or breastfeeding – walked about nine kilometres from four pre-grouping points near to the Pondores transitional point, where the FARC-EP camp will be located and where the separation of forces will take place, a task which the UN Mission will verify.
“As a UN Mission, this moment is crucial because it means we will continue to verify the ceasefire and cessation of hostilities through our participation in the Tripartite Mechanism, and we will be able to begin the operational part of the verification of the laying down of arms,” explained the Deputy Head of Observers of the Mission, José Mauricio Villacorta.
According to the Mission, the women and men marching today join more than 6,300 FARC-EP members who began mobilizing on Saturday, 28 January, to zones and points using 36 travel routes in 14 departments of the country, according to preliminary figures from the Colombian Government's High Commissioner for Peace, on one of the country’s largest logistics operations.
FARC-EP members were received today at the Pondores site by High Commissioner for Peace Sergio Jaramillo, FARC-EP leader Ivan Márquez, Colombian authorities and Mr. Mauricio Villacorta, in a symbolic act to highlight the parties’ commitment and the imminent start of the laying down of arms, which the UN Mission will verify, to enable the transition to civilian life.
“This shows that we are bringing the agreement to reality,” said Mr. Jaramillo, who added: “This is a moment of joy.”
Iván Márquez, who headed the FARC-EP negotiating team in Havana, Cuba, where four years of negotiations on the eventual peace accord took place, stated: "Something good is happening in Colombia: it's peace […] This peace is irrepressible, unstoppable; let us go forward.”
“To date, we have focused on the planning and preparation phase so that the Mission can carry out the tasks of registering and storing weapons," said Mr. Mauricio Villacorta.
Once FARC-EP members are in the camps the first step for the laying down of arms is the registration of arms and weapons. Unstable armaments – such as gunpowder, grenades and anti-personnel mines – will be destroyed in site. After 180 days, the UN Mission in Colombia is set to remove all the weapons from the camp.
In early October 2016, Colombian voters narrowly rejected the historic peace accord between the Government and the FARC-EP. That deal led to a cessation of hostilities and agreements on key issues such as political participation, land rights, illicit drugs and victims’ rights and transitional justice. The two sides signed a new agreement in late November.
IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano meets a patient at the cancer diagnosis and treatment facilities at Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI) in Tanzania.
3 February 2017 – Early cancer diagnosis saves lives and cuts treatment costs, the United Nations health agency today said, particularly in developing countries where the majority of cancer cases are diagnosed too late.
New guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO), released ahead of World Cancer Day which is marked annually on 4 February, tries to inform the public about the different symptoms of cancer so that they can get care and to provide safe and effective treatment.
“Diagnosing cancer in late stages, and the inability to provide treatment, condemns many people to unnecessary suffering and early death,” said Dr. Etienne Krug, Director of WHO’s Department for the Management of Noncommunicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention.
“By taking the steps to implement WHO’s new guidance, healthcare planners can improve early diagnosis of cancer and ensure prompt treatment, especially for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers,” he stressed.
Each year, 8.8 million people die from cancer, mostly in low- and middle-income countries, according to WHO figures. The figure is so high that is accounts for two and a half times more people killed than those who die from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.
It is estimated that by 2030, more than two-thirds of all cancer-related deaths will be in developing countries.
Early detection can also cut the cost of treatment. In 2010, the total annual economic cost of cancer through healthcare expenditure and loss of productivity was estimated at $1.16 trillion.
According to WHO, studies in high-income countries have shown that treatment for cancer patients who have been diagnosed early are two to four times less expensive compared to treating people diagnosed with cancer at more advanced stages.The third step to WHO’s early diagnosis is strengthening and equipping health services and training workers, according to the guidance released today.There is an estimated shortage of 5,000 radiotherapy machines throughout the world, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said. Among African countries, for example, 80 per cent of the estimated population of one billion is without access to radiotherapy and related cancer services.
Speaking at an event in Vienna, Austria, related to World Cancer Day, the Director-General of the IAEA, Yukiya Amano, today discussed the UN agency’s work to make radiotherapy and nuclear medicine more widely available.
“To meet the cancer needs of developing countries, we need around 10,000 additional radiation oncologists, 6,000 medical physicists, 3,000 dosimetrists and 20,000 radiation therapists,” Mr. Amano said.
Reducing early deaths from cancer and other chronic disease by one-third is stipulated in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which the international community agreed to try to reach by 2030.
Given the need for greater equipment and training, Mr. Amano noted that he is considering devoting the IAEA Scientific Forum in September to exploring the benefits of nuclear medicine and radiation technology for human health.
Improving access to effective cancer treatment in developing countries has been one of his key priorities since taking lead of IAEA in 2009, Mr. Amano said. He outlined a number of successes the UN agency has had in Africa, particularly.
“In Ghana, for example, we provided diagnostic equipment for child cancers,” Mr. Amano noted. “We helped Nigeria to develop its institutions and infrastructure for fighting cancer, and provided training for dozens of oncology, nuclear medicine and radiotherapy professionals.”
He noted also specialist training, including online resources, such as the Virtual University for Cancer Control which enables medical professionals in Africa to train for free, or the Human Health Campus website for professionals in nuclear medicine and related fields.
3 February 2017 – Early cancer diagnosis saves lives and cuts treatment costs, the United Nations health agency today said, particularly in developing countries where the majority of cancer cases are diagnosed too late.
New guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO), released ahead of World Cancer Day which is marked annually on 4 February, tries to inform the public about the different symptoms of cancer so that they can get care and to provide safe and effective treatment.
“Diagnosing cancer in late stages, and the inability to provide treatment, condemns many people to unnecessary suffering and early death,” said Dr. Etienne Krug, Director of WHO’s Department for the Management of Noncommunicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention.
“By taking the steps to implement WHO’s new guidance, healthcare planners can improve early diagnosis of cancer and ensure prompt treatment, especially for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers,” he stressed.
Each year, 8.8 million people die from cancer, mostly in low- and middle-income countries, according to WHO figures. The figure is so high that is accounts for two and a half times more people killed than those who die from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.
It is estimated that by 2030, more than two-thirds of all cancer-related deaths will be in developing countries.
Early detection can also cut the cost of treatment. In 2010, the total annual economic cost of cancer through healthcare expenditure and loss of productivity was estimated at $1.16 trillion.
According to WHO, studies in high-income countries have shown that treatment for cancer patients who have been diagnosed early are two to four times less expensive compared to treating people diagnosed with cancer at more advanced stages.The third step to WHO’s early diagnosis is strengthening and equipping health services and training workers, according to the guidance released today.There is an estimated shortage of 5,000 radiotherapy machines throughout the world, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said. Among African countries, for example, 80 per cent of the estimated population of one billion is without access to radiotherapy and related cancer services.
Speaking at an event in Vienna, Austria, related to World Cancer Day, the Director-General of the IAEA, Yukiya Amano, today discussed the UN agency’s work to make radiotherapy and nuclear medicine more widely available.
“To meet the cancer needs of developing countries, we need around 10,000 additional radiation oncologists, 6,000 medical physicists, 3,000 dosimetrists and 20,000 radiation therapists,” Mr. Amano said.
Reducing early deaths from cancer and other chronic disease by one-third is stipulated in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which the international community agreed to try to reach by 2030.
Given the need for greater equipment and training, Mr. Amano noted that he is considering devoting the IAEA Scientific Forum in September to exploring the benefits of nuclear medicine and radiation technology for human health.
Improving access to effective cancer treatment in developing countries has been one of his key priorities since taking lead of IAEA in 2009, Mr. Amano said. He outlined a number of successes the UN agency has had in Africa, particularly.
“In Ghana, for example, we provided diagnostic equipment for child cancers,” Mr. Amano noted. “We helped Nigeria to develop its institutions and infrastructure for fighting cancer, and provided training for dozens of oncology, nuclear medicine and radiotherapy professionals.”
He noted also specialist training, including online resources, such as the Virtual University for Cancer Control which enables medical professionals in Africa to train for free, or the Human Health Campus website for professionals in nuclear medicine and related fields.