United Nations

While the world’s oceans contain some 200,000 identified living species, the actual numbers could reach the millions ­­– all exposed to the dangers of climate change, pollution and over-exploitation. To stem these threats, the United Nations is meeting to negotiate a treaty that would protect three-quarters of the earth’s surface… »

By Mike Head The United Nations special rapporteur on the right to privacy, Joe Cannataci, was finally permitted yesterday to meet with Julian Assange inside London’s Belmarsh prison. The WikiLeaks journalist and publisher has been held virtually incommunicado, in denial of his fundamental legal and democratic rights, since the British… »

The United Nations is highlighting the important role that population trends play in promoting sustainable development, during the annual Commission on Population and Development, which began at UN Headquarters in New York on Monday [1 April 2019]. This year’s Commission is also an opportunity to take stock and review… »

By Roberto Savio There is a huge debate on anti-Semitism. I think we need to make a systematic analysis that makes the problem simple and clear. Obviously, the subject is very complex and produces so many urges that any attempt of schematization is inevitably incomplete. However, outlining some broad traits… »

By Ambassador Idriss Jazairy and Roberto Savio For over 70 years, the UN system has been perceived as the guardian of peace and development in the world. However, multilateralism today is undeniably under strain. The effectiveness of global institutions and of global policymaking is questioned, and alliances are fraying. Often,… »

Today, there are 1.2 billion young people aged 15 to 24 years, accounting for 16 per cent of the global population. The active engagement of youth in sustainable development efforts is central to achieving sustainable, inclusive and stable societies by the target date, and to averting the worst threats and… »

In the wake of data released by the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO), showing the past four years were officially the ‘four warmest on record,’ UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for urgent climate action and increased ambition, ahead of his climate summit in September. His reaction came after WMO issued a… »

At the People’s Summit for a Global Pact of Solidarity with Migrants and Refugees, held in Marrakech December 8th and 9th of 2018, hosted by La Via Campesina(*) and its member organisations of the Middle East and North Africa (MeNa) Process, the global peasant movement and its allies have issued a scathing… »

United Nations-sponsored political consultations in Sweden, involving the warring parties in the Yemen war, have led to progress “on a number of issues,” said Martin Griffiths, Special Envoy for Yemen, at a press conference on Monday. After 5 days of talks, representatives from the Yemeni Government and Houthi opposition discussed… »

Highly anticipated UN-brokered consultations about substantive talks which could lead to an end to more than three years of brutal conflict across Yemen, have begun in Sweden. Brutal fighting has left the Middle East nation divided between Government and rebel forces, with millions on the brink of famine, and the… »