UN Insider

Photo: Ambassador Adam Bugajski. Credit: OSCE

Challenges Ahead for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

Viewpoint by Ambassador Adam Bugajski

Following are extensive excerpts from Ambassador Adam Bugajski's Reflections on the second session of the preparatory committee (2nd PrepCom) of the 2020 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) from April 23 to May 4, 2018 at the UN in Geneva, which he chaired in his capacity as Poland's Permanent Representative to the UN Office and international organizations in Vienna. – The Editor

GENEVA (IDN-INPS) – It has been 50 years since the NPT was adopted, an appropriate moment to reflect on the role and achievements of the Treaty, as well as the challenges ahead.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 07 May 2018

Photo (left to right): UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa; Anirban Ghosh, Chief Sustainability Officer of the Mahindra Group; and Nick Nuttall, Global Climate Action Summit Communications Director. Credit: UNFCCC

UN Climate Talks Show Business Support For Paris Agreement

By Jaya Ramachandran

BONN (IDN) – Over 700 leading businesses around the world, together representing 2.62 gigatons of emissions equivalent to the total annual emissions of India, have made strategic climate commitments through the 'We Mean Business' coalition’s Take Action campaign.

Organizers of the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) to be held in San Francisco from September 12-14, 2018 have provided new evidence of how cities, states, regions, businesses and investors are taking climate ambition to the next level. In doing so, they are helping to build momentum for a successful outcome for the UN Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland (COP24) from December 3-14.

: Jaya Ramachandran; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 07 May 2018

Mobilising Finance and Regional Cooperation Key To Sustainable Development in Asia-Pacific

Viewpoint by Shamshad Akhtar

Building on steady economic growth, how can Governments in Asia and the Pacific ensure that such performance is sustained over time, is inclusive and has minimal environmental implications? What is the near-term macroeconomic outlook in the region, and what are the major current and emerging challenges? These are some of the questions analysed in the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2018, the latest flagship publication of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The following OpEd by the UN Under-Secretary-General and ESCAP Executive Secretary Dr. Shamshad Akhtar highlights salient aspects of the Survey launched at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand on 7 May 2018. – The Editor.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 07 May 2018

Photo: The detention cell of Cibitoke, where 38 man and children are captured. Most prisoners are held there up to 2 Years. Credit: prisonphotography.org

Conference on Justice for Child Prisoners in Africa

Viewpoint by Assefa Bequele and Alex Kamarotos*

ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – Let us begin with the positive. Unlike some years back, children are now very much on the political and public agenda in Africa. Every politician loves to talk about them, and the African Union has adopted a charter to protect them and a mechanism to hold governments accountable for the fulfilment of their rights. Even so, the reality on the ground is sombre and sobering.

Take children in prisons. We do not have reliable data but the number of child prisoners in Africa is definitely in the thousands, and some statistical calculations suggest that it could be as high as 28,000.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 06 May 2018

Photo: Portuguese sociologist Boaventura Souza Santos during the 6th World Forum of Judges in 2010. CC BY 3.0 br

The Quest for Order in a Time of Chaos

Viewpoint by Boaventura de Sousa Santos*

COIMBRA, Portugal (IDN) – The bombing of Syrian sites where chemical weapons are supposedly being manufactured or stocked, allegedly to be used by the Bashar al-Assad government against rebels, has left citizens all over the world in a state of confusion, filled with a mixture of perplexity and scepticism.

In spite of the bombing by the Western media (a particularly apt metaphor in this case), in their attempt to persuade public opinion of the latest atrocities committed by the al-Assad regime: in spite of the near unanimous opinion of political commentators that this was nothing but a humanitarian response, a fair punishment, and one more proof of the vitality of the “Western alliance”; in spite of all this, whenever asked, citizens in the West (and much more so in the rest of the world) have expressed their doubts about this media narrative and for the most part spoken against the attacks. Why is that?

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 05 May 2018

Photo: Prime Minister Modi with the Queen, the head of the Commonwealth. Credit: CHOGM.

The Buzz About India Planning To Capture The Commonwealth

Viewpoint by Shastri Ramachandaran*

NEW DELHI (IDN) – Indians who think that we have outdone Britain in all things British – such as the English language, cricket and the Westminster model and that only the Commonwealth remains to be captured – should think again.

Since the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), held from April 16-20 in London, interested sections are trying to create a buzz on how the mantle to ‘revive’ the Commonwealth may fall on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) declined to lend credence to these reports.

: Shastri Ramachandran; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 03 May 2018

Photo: Seventeen-year-old Mathias Bragi Ölvisson lives in the agricultural village of Fludir, South Iceland, where his family have a large farm. He has known about the SDGs since these were agreed in 2015. Credit: Elin Hannibalsdottir.

Young People Head SDG Publicity in Iceland

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) – Iceland has decided to spearhead publicity for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by setting up a 12-person council of young people aged between 13 and 18, under the auspices of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

Over 140 young people applied for the 12 places and, according to Nilsina Larsen Einarsdottir, coordinator of the project, “all of them had many brilliant ideas, so the choice was extremely difficult.”

Einarsdottir, who works with UNICEF in Iceland as a specialist in child and youth participation, has teamed up with the PMO for the project.

: Lowana Veal; SUSTAINABILITY; Quality Education; 03 May 2018

Photo: Mining impacts at least two of the 17 Goals: SDG9 (Infrastructure, Innovation, and Industrialization) and SDG8 (Employment and Economic Growth). Credit: Prossy Nandudu | IDN-INPS.

A Ugandan Brings Home The Value Of Neglected Minerals

By Prossy Nandudu

KAMPALA (ACP-IDN) – With the African population expected to increase by roughly 50 percent over the next 18 years to over 1.8 billion in 2035, demands for mineral resources will also climb sharply to meet the need for additional housing units, roads, energy and other urban infrastructure using development minerals, averred Dr Patrick Gomes, Secretary General of the African, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) Group of States.

"In most ACP countries, growth rates are recorded due to the construction, mining and transport sectors. Interventions in this sector may be an effective way to help countries achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030," he told a high-level ministerial meeting of the Group at the ACP Secretariat early this year in Brussels.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 02 May 2018

Photo: Panelists in the April 24 event, including Kazakh Vice-Minister Berik Aryn (extreme left), UNAOC High Representative Al-Nasser (centre), and Ambassador Kairat Umarov, the Kazakh Permanent Representative to the UN (third from right at the back). Credit: Kazakh Permanent Mission to the UN Headquarters in New York.

Kazakhstan Sets the Ball Rolling for the Landmark Interfaith Congress in Astana

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – "The holy scriptures of the Koran, Bible, Torah, the Bhagwad Geeta or the Lotus Sutra" underline "the vital importance to unite the efforts of political and religious leaders for the cause of security and stability across our planet," said Kazakhstan's Vice-Minister for Religious Affairs and Civil Society, Berik Aryn, in a keynote address at an event organized by the Kazakh Permanent Mission to the UN in partnership with the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC).

He was speaking on behalf of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Head of the Secretariat of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, Kazakhstan’s interfaith initiative launched in 2003.

: J Nastranis; CENTRAL ASIA; 30 April 2018

Faith Communities Urge Geneva Conference to Pave the Path to a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – Diverse faith-based organizations and individuals are appealing to States gathered at the UN in Geneva to spare the world a nuclear catastrophe and foster sustainable development for the good of humanity affirming moral and ethical imperatives.

Twenty groups and individuals from different faiths, including Christian, Quaker, Muslim and Hindu traditions and Soka Gakkai International (SGI) tabled an interfaith statement on April 25 as one of the civil society presentations during the second session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 NPT Review Conference at the UN Office in Geneva.