GLOBAL GOVERNANCE

Photo: Two young women row in Lake Titicaca, the highest commercially navigable body of water in the world, near the Uros Islands, Puno, Peru. Credit: unchronicle.un.org

UN Intensifies the Quest for Universal Access to Safe Water

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – World Water Day turned 25 on March 22. On that day, as UN-Water noted, 1.8 billion people were using a source of drinking water contaminated with faeces, putting them at risk of contracting cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio.

And, as Global Citizen pointed out, girls and women around the world were being forced to spend 200 million hours collecting water instead of attending school and pursuing economic independence.

Besides, a recent survey of 100,000 facilities found that more than half lack simple necessities, such as running water and soap – and they are supposed to be healthcare facilities. The result is more infections, prolonged hospital stays and sometimes death.

: J Nastranis; SUSTAINABILITY; Clean Water & Sanitation; 22 March 2018

Photo: United Nations Headquarters in New York City, view from Roosevelt Island. CC BY-SA 3.0

Support for Abolishing First-Class Tickets for Senior UN Staff

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – UN Secretary-General António Guterres' proposal that high-ranking officials fly business class rather than first class – to help rein in one of the most expensive aspects of the Organization's budget – is finding support in the Administrative and Budgetary Committee, also known as the Fifth Committee.

Next to staff costs, travel accounts for one of the largest budget components of the United Nations system, making it one of the largest consumers of travel services among international organizations. From 2012 to 2015, air travel and related expenses totalled $4.01 billion, according to the Joint Inspection Unit report.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 19 March 2018

Photo: Early September 2017 the U.S. government conducted flight tests of the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb over Nevada. More are required before it enters service in 2020. Credit: TomoNews YouTube video

U.S. Undermining the Global Nuclear Testing Taboo

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | GENEVA (IDN) – A new document that outlines U.S. nuclear policy, strategy, capabilities and force posture for the next five to ten years proclaims that the Trump Administration does not intend to ratify a global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests. Nor does it rule out resuming such tests.

The document, titled 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), proclaims that "the United States does not support the ratification of the CTBT." But the U.S. will continue to support the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO).

: Ramesh Jaura; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 12 March 2018

Photo: CTBTO Executive Secretary Dr. Lassina Zerbo addressing the UN Conference on Disarmament on 26 February 2018. Credit: Kazakh Mission in Geneva.

Action Needed to Ratify the 1996 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

By Dr Lassina Zerbo

The author is Executive Secretary of CTBTO, Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization. The following is a slightly abridged and modified text of his address on 26 February to the High-level segment of the Conference on Disarmament, multilateral disarmament negotiating forum where the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in Geneva was negotiated in the 1990s. (Read the original text here.) Dr. Zerbo stressed that "we must take great care to preserve the integrity of the institutions and instruments we have and to build trust in them and around them. This means maintain and securing the NPT and its entire chain of responsibilities – of which the CTBT entry into force is an integral part". – The Editor

: UN Bureau; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; CTBTO; 08 March 2018

UN at Pains to Weed Out Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – At a critical moment when allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse from within the United Nations are mounting, and a leaked UN staff survey shows fears over whistleblowing and ethical accountability, Secretary-General António Guterres has in his message for International Women's Day on March 8, called for the UN setting "an example for the world," adding: "I recognize that this has not always been the case."

Guterres continues: "Since the start of my tenure last year, I have set change in motion at United Nations Headquarters, in our peacekeeping missions and in all our offices worldwide. We have now reached gender parity for the first time in my senior management team, and I am determined to achieve this throughout the Organization."

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 05 March 2018

Photo: Coordinating Committee of International Staff Unions and Associations (CCISUA) and United Nations International Civil Servants Federation (UNISERV), along with statisticians, join the staff union in New York Headquarters. Credit: CCISUA

Staff Unions Threaten UN-Wide Work Stoppages Over Pay Cuts

By Shanta Roy

GENEVA (IDN) – A proposed salary cut – resulting from an "austerity agenda" – has triggered temporary work stoppages in UN offices in Geneva, Bangkok and Addis Ababa and is threatening to spread system-wide, including field operations.

The protest is led by three staff unions – the Coordinating Committee of International Staff Unions and Associations (CCISUA), the Federation of International Civil Servants’ Associations (FICSA) and the United Nations International Civil Servants Federation (UNISERV) representing over 60,000 staffers worldwide – and is aimed primarily at the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC).

: Thalif Deen; UN INSIDER; 04 March 2018

Photo: Congo’s UN mission said on March 18, 2017 that government forces had targeted civilians, including women and children, resulting in numerous deaths in central Congo and were restricting United Nations peacekeepers’ access to the area. Credit: nileinternational.net

UN Peacekeeping Needs Thorough Reform

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The new, vicious, fighting in the Congo is the fourth round of warfare since independence in 1960. No other country has seen so many “blue berets” – UN peacekeeping troops – in its short history.

The Belgian colonialists may have exploited it and transferred massive amounts of its wealth back to Belgium but one leader after another has continued in its steps, making use of the country’s vast mineral deposits to build an edifice of wealth and unilateral power. Leaders have played on tribal fears and insecurity. War has been the outcome.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 27 February 2018

ACP Group Joins with OCTs to Fight Illegal Fishing and Other Threats to Life Below Water

By Dr Patrick I. Gomes, ACP Secretary-General

The following is a slightly modified version of remarks by the ACP Secretary General to the High-Level Forum of Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) and the European Union in Brussels on 23 February 2018 on 'Engaging the OCTs and SDGs and the Post-Cotonou Process'. – The Editor

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Together the ACP Group of States and the European Union constitute a unique partnership grounded in the task of making lives of all humanity meaningful, secure, peaceful and prosperous.

It is for this reason that my remarks wish to express a commitment of the ACP Group of States to build on and strengthen the provisions in the Cotonou Agreement for relations of the ACP with OCTs.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 27 February 2018

Photo: Slum upgrading. Credit: UN-Habitat.

UN-Habitat and ACP Partner to Ameliorate Urban Poverty

By Dr Patrick I. Gomes, ACP Secretary-General

The following is a slightly modified abridged version of the text of the video message by ACP Secretary General to the 9th World Urban Forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 8-9 February 2018 at the launch of Phase III of the Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme (PSUP). Launched in 2008, the PSUP is a joint effort of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, the European Commission (EC) and UN-Habitat. – The Editor

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The Secretariat of the ACP Group highly values the PSUP and the work that has already been accomplished in respective countries. This is as a result of the commitment at national, city and community levels to see the end of urban poverty and improve living conditions of the urban poor.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes; OPINION; 13 February 2018

Photo: Sameh Hassan Shokry Selim, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Egypt (left) with UN Secretary-General António Guterres (right) at the UN. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten

G-77 at UN to Focus on Global Solidarity and Multilateralism

By Ramesh Jaura

GENEVA | NEW YORK (IDN) – The Group of 77, comprising 134 developing and newly industrialized countries, has set itself six priorities for 2018 during the presidency of Sameh Hassan Shoukry, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt. These are closely related to the eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions, which poses "the quintessential challenge".

Shoukry, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, has taken over the presidency of the Group – the single largest intergovernmental organization in the United Nations – from his counterpart from Ecuador.

The Group was established on June 15, 1964 by the 'Joint Declaration of the Seventy-Seven Developing Countries' issued at the end of the first session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva.