THE WORLD

Photo credit: UN Economic Commission for Africa.

Africa Poverty Clock Launched on UNECA's 60th Anniversary

By Devendra Kamarajan

ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) at its 60th anniversary celebrations in Addis Ababa has launched the Africa Poverty Clock, a customized version of the world poverty clock developed by World Data Lab, aimed at monitoring progress against extreme poverty, an aspiration of the United Nations' first Sustainable Development Goal – SDG1. The Clock provides real-time poverty estimates till 2030 for the majority of countries around the world.

Speaking at the launch, the ECA Executive Secretary, Vera Songwe said that many African countries have achieved remarkable progress over the last six decades.

: Devendra Kamarajan; THE WORLD; Africa; 22 December 2018

Photo: Bamboo becomes insect-resistant when soaked in a chemical solution for 12 -14 days. Credit: IOM/Abdullah Mashrif.

Providing New Bamboo Shelters in Bangladesh Refugee Camps

By UN Migration

COX'S BAZAR (IDN-INPS) – Work has begun on one of the largest bamboo treatment plants ever installed in an emergency response, as IOM experts tackle a tiny insect that is devastating structures in the world’s biggest refugee settlement.

An infestation of "boring beetles" means the bamboo in almost every shelter in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar – home to around 240,000 families – needs to be replaced. With just over four months to go until the beginning of the next monsoon season, the race is on to provide families living in the worst-affected shelters with new, more-durable bamboo.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 21 December 2018

Photo: Ashraf El Nour, Director of IOM Office to UN New York addressing the UN Security Council Meeting on the "Maintenance of international peace and security: Trafficking of persons in conflict situations" on 21 November 2017.

Migration Is a Great Opportunity to Africa and Host Countries

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) – Contrary to the widespread view coloured by the too-common images of young African migrants crossing the Mediterranean, migration in Africa is dominated by Africans moving within Africa, says Ashraf El Nour, the director of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Office to the UN in New York.

They migrate mostly to neighbouring countries, or within the same region. Africa's share of global migration, which on the whole stood at 258 million in 2017, are 36 million people of which 19 million moved within the continent and 17 million outside Africa, El Nour told Africa Renewal's Zipporah Musau.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 21 December 2018

Photo: DPRK state media has been quite transparent about DPRK missile intent | Credit: KCNA

Who’s Deceiving Whom? Open Source North Korea Under The Microscope

NYT Coverage of Think-Tank Report Risks Credibility of Open-Source Research on North Korea

Viewpoint by Joshua H. Pollack

The writer is a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and editor of the Nonproliferation Review. This article first appeared on NKNews.Org on December 11, 2018.

NEW YORK | MONTEREY (IDN-INPS) – Along with the features of daily life that few of us could have anticipated a generation ago – smartphones, rent-a-scooters, Greek yogurt in every grocery store – something new has come to the world of think tanks and NGOs: the budding democratization of imagery intelligence.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 20 December 2018

Photo: Kim Jong Un visits with scientists at Kim Chaek University of Technology in Pyongyang. Source: Korean Central Television, September 29, 2018.

New Report Warns of the Perils of Scientific Collaborations with North Korea

Partner Countries Include China, USA, Australia and Germany

By Ramesh Jaura

NEW YORK (IDN) – Direct collaboration between North Korean and foreign scientists including those from China, Australia, the United States, Germany, and Romania, is playing "an expanding role" in the regime’s pursuit of technological advancement, a new study has found.

Published on December 19, this study comes two months after Foreign Policy (FP) carried an article by Colum Lynch on September 20, 2018 with the headline, North Korea Evades Sanctions – But a feud between Russia and the U.S. has kept the document from being published.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 20 December 2018

Photo: World’s first drone-delivered vaccine in Vanuatu. The vaccine delivery covered almost 40 kilometres of rugged mountainous terrain from Dillon’s Bay on the west side of the island to the east landing in remote Cook’s Bay. UNICEF/Pacific

One Short Drone Flight Is A 'Big Leap' For Global Health

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK | PORT VILA (IDN) – One month old Joy Nowai has become the world’s first child to be given a vaccine delivered commercially by drone in a remote island in the South Pacific country of Vanuatu, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported on December 18.

The vaccine delivery through the state-of-the-art craft covered almost 40 kilometres of rugged mountainous terrain from Dillon’s Bay on the west side of the island to the east landing in remote Cook’s Bay, where 13 children and five pregnant women were vaccinated by Miriam Nampil, a registered nurse.

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 19 December 2018

Photo: Home and boats on the water. © Curt Carnemark/World Bank

Africa's Blue Economy Or a Global Ocean Grab by the Rich?

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Six counties in Kenya’s coastal region have been tagged for technical training in the blue economy – what some have called "the new frontier of the African Renaissance". The goal is to enable young people to find jobs in the maritime industry.

Kevit Desai, a Kenyan vocational training principal, says institutions of higher learning must begin to focus on developing skills, nurturing innovations and enterprise creation for this "overlooked opportunity". He suggested a post-Blue Economy Conference workshop to create awareness and enhance community participation in this vision for the future.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 18 December 2018

Photo: Tadamichi Yamamoto, UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, briefing the Security Council. Credit: unama.unmissions.org

Possibility of Peace in Afghanistan Was Never More Real Than It's Now – UN Envoy

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The possibility of a negotiated end to the conflict in Afghanistan has never been more real in the past 17 years than it is now, according to the United Nations top envoy in Afghanistan.

Tadamichi Yamamoto told the Security Council on December 17 he is encouraged by several recent developments, including the appointment of a team to negotiate with the Taliban, the announcement of a peace advisory board representing a broad set of Afghan politicians and recent initiatives by key international partners.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 17 December 2018

Photo: Tadamichi Yamamoto, UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan (left), and Ambassador Kairat Umarov, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United Nations (centre). Credit: Kazakh Mission to the UN in New York.

Kazakhstan Continues Discussions on Cooperation Between Afghanistan and Central Asia States

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – Ambassadors from Central Asia and UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Tadamichi Yamamoto met at Kazakhstan's Permanent Mission to the United Nations on December 14, two weeks ahead of the Central Asian state's non-permanent membership of the Council coming to an end.

They discussed the outcomes of the Geneva Conference on Afghanistan on November 27-28, 2018, and contribution of the Central Asian states to ensuring security and promoting development in the country.

: Santo D. Banerjee; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 17 December 2018

Photo: Youth Forum in Tokyo. Credit: Yukie Asagiri | IDN-INPS

Japan Shines with a Youth Forum to Commemorate Universal Human Rights Declaration

By Katsuhiro Asagiri

TOKYO (IDN) – When the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in Paris on December 10, 1948, it came up with a milestone document in the history of human rights that took into account the horrendous experiences of the Second World War.

With the end of that war, and the creation of the United Nations, the international community vowed never again to allow atrocities like those of the Second World War happen again. It pledged, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected.