June 21, 2021 No comments
Grave violations against children in conflict ‘alarmingly high’, latest UN report reveals
INTERNATIONAL, 21 June 2021, Peace and Security - More than 19,300 boys and girls affected by war last year were victims of grave violations such as recruitment or rape, and the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult for experts to reach them, the UN said in its annual report on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC), published on Monday. Grave violations against children remained “alarmingly high” at nearly 26,500, while the pandemic increased their vulnerability to abduction, recruitment and sexual violence, as well as attacks on schools and hospitals. ‘A stolen childhood’ Measures to curtail coronavirus spread, also complicated the work of UN child protection monitors and experts, according to the report which is entitled A Stolen Childhood and a Future to Repair: Vulnerability of Girls & Boys in Armed...
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June 21, 2021 No comments
‘His words set a standard and will long endure’: UN mourns passing of Edward Mortimer
INTERNATIONAL, 21 June 2021, UN Affairs - Friends and former colleagues have been mourning the passing over the weekend of Edward Mortimer, the Chief Speechwriter for former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. His time in office between 1998 and 2006, marked a crucial post-Cold War period for the UN, dominated by the Iraq War, and the fallout from the bombing of the UN Headquarters in the country’s capital, Baghdad, in 2003. ‘A gangle of limbs, a torrent of words’ Edward Mortimer, Director of Communications to former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Photo: Video screen capture “I vividly recall Edward’s arrival -- a jumble of gangly limbs, a tangle of unruly hair and, most of all, a torrent of words", recalled Richard Amdur, now Director of Speechwriting at the UN....
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June 21, 2021 No comments
Pandemic ‘rolled back’ sustainable development funding for weak economies: UNCTAD
INTERNATIONAL, 21 June 2021, SDGs - Financial assistance to the world’s 83 weakest economies fell by 15 per cent in 2020, to $35 billion as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, UN trade and development experts UNCTAD said on Monday. According to UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2021, total foreign direct investment also dropped by more than a third globally, to $1 trillion (from $1.5 trillion in 2019), threatening progress on sustainable development. This level was last seen in 2005 and it is an urgent problem because foreign direct investment is vital to promoting sustainable development in the world’s poorest regions, said Isabelle Durant, Acting Secretary-General of UNCTAD. “The (COVID-19) crisis has had an immense negative impact on the most productive types of investment, namely, greenfield investment in industrial...
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June 21, 2021 No comments
COVID-19: First mRNA vaccine tech transfer hub a ‘great step forward’
INTERNATIONAL, 21 June 2021, Health - The World Health Organization (WHO) is supporting a South African consortium in establishing the first COVID-19 mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub, the UN agency announced on Monday. The facility will allow manufacturers from developing countries to receive training in how to produce vaccines, and the relevant licenses to do so, as part of global efforts to scale-up access to lifesaving treatments. The development follows WHO’s call in April for public and private companies to express their interest in creating technology transfer hubs so that low and middle-income countries could meet their urgent need for vaccines, amid critical shortages. ‘A key moment’ “Today’s announcement is a great step forward for South Africa, and for the world. I hope this will be a key...
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June 21, 2021 No comments
Slow progress, stubborn cycles of violence, as South Sudan turns 10
INTERNATIONAL, 21 June 2021, Peace and Security - South Sudan, the UN’s youngest Member State, is marking its tenth anniversary of independence amid languishing political progress and a range of humanitarian challenges, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told Security Council members on Monday. Nicholas Haysom, who also heads the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan, known as UNMISS, recalled the broad international optimism that surrounded the country’s independence on 9 July 2011. A decade later, however, pervasive insecurity – in particular intercommunal violence – continues to obstruct the realization of a durable and sustainable peace. Political progress Reporting some notable achievements on the ground since his last briefing to the Council in March, Mr. Haysom said South Sudan’s Government has reconstituted the national legislature and appointed 550 new members....
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