UN Insider

Photo: Aberrahim is the caretaker at the Akrich nursery, the first of the High Atlas Foundation's fruit tree nurseries built on land lent in-kind by the Moroccan Jewish Community

High Atlas Foundation Grows Trees in Nurseries Built on Moroccan Jewish Community Land

By Yossef Ben-Meir, President, High Atlas Foundation

MARRAKECH (IDN) – On World Religion Day, January 17, the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) celebrates its interfaith fruit tree nurseries, which are built on land lent in-kind by the Moroccan Jewish community and are enhancing livelihoods for Muslim farming families around Morocco. These nurseries champion the notion that Morocco’s multicultural past and present, and the preservation of it, should necessarily advance the sustainable development of the country by providing a tangible and vital pathway for the social and economic benefit of generations of Moroccans to come, said HAF in a media release.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 16 January 2021

Whither the G20 in a World of Declining Multilateralism: Part 2

Viewpoint by Roberto Savio*

ROME (IDN | OtherNews) – A decision on the debt issue is now expected from the next G20 Summit in Rome, in November. But before that, the Global Health Summit called by the G20 together with the EU in May will be the occasion to verify what will happen with vaccines.

However, in the same month, Portugal has called the very important Social Summit of the European Union. Portugal has taken the much more substantial chairmanship of the EU, and this is a very positive contribution to a positive 2021. Portugal is today probably the most civilised country of Europe, a place of tolerance, harmony and civic engagement, much like Sweden in the ‘80s. And it is the only credible country on the issue of immigration.

: Roberto Savio; OPINION; 13 January 2021

Whither the G20 in a World of Declining Multilateralism: Part 1

Viewpoint by Roberto Savio*

ROME (IDN | OtherNews) – For 2021, Italy has been given chairmanship of the Group of 20, which brings together the world’s 20 most important countries. On paper, they represent 60 percent of the world’s population and 80 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

While the shaky Italian government will somehow perform this task (in the general indifference of the political system), the fact remains that this apparently prestigious position is in fact very deceiving: the G20 is now a very weak institution that brings no kudos to the rotating chairman.

: Roberto Savio; OPINION; 13 January 2021

Image credit: Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor

Watchdog Indicates Barriers to UN Ban on Nuclear Weapons

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – Most of the world’s states can become a party to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and comply with the Treaty without making any changes to their existing policies and practices, says Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor (NWBM). But 42 states around the world currently engage in conduct that is not compatible with the new ban on nuclear weapons. In fact, Europe stands out as the region with the most states that act in conflict with the UN Treaty.

: Jamshed Baruah; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 13 January 2021

Photo: Methodist Central Hall, London, the location of the first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in 1946. Source: Wikimedia Commons

75 Years On The First UN General Assembly Resolution

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

The author is Ambassador, President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs and former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.

NEW YORK (IDN) – Seventy-five years ago, in January 1946, the United Nations General Assembly met for the first time after the signature of the Charter. Its first resolution was adopted on the 24th of that month. The developments mentioned and commented below come to mind as we recall the outcome of that inaugural session of the Assembly.

: Sergio Duarte; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 12 January 2021

Photo: Screenshot of UN Chief addressing the UN Open Summit on January 11. Source: France TV04 /YouTube

Humanity Needs to Take a Course That Does Not Conflict with Nature

By Kwame Buist

NEW YORK (IDN) – The process of recovery from the coronavirus pandemic offers the chance to change course and put humanity on a path which is not in conflict with nature, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said January 11, urging greater efforts by everyone to protect biodiversity and step up action to counter climate change.

Guterres was addressing world leaders at the virtual One Planet Summit hosted by France, which came in the run-up to the UN Climate Change Conference scheduled for November in Glasgow, Scotland.

: Phil Harris; UN INSIDER; 12 January 2021

Photo: Tens of thousands of refugees have crossed the border from Ethiopia to Sudan, fleeing conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. © WFP/Leni Kinzli

Fierce Fighting Blocks the UN Access to Refugee Camps

Compiled by EEPA

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Fierce fighting has been reported for the last two or three days on the Tekeze belt of Abi Adi of Tigray Central Zone, between Tigray forces and Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) and Eritrean forces.

Intense fighting in the North Western zone of Tigray, Endebaguna area, specifically DebreAbay and Meili area between Tigray forces and ENDF together with Eritrean troops.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 10 January 2021

A New UN Report Calls for Living in Balance with The Planet

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – As the UN Secretary-General António Guterres has repeatedly pointed out, humanity is faced with a "defining moment", a warning that is highlighted in the 30th-anniversary edition of the Human Development Report (HDR), The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene. Though humankind has achieved incredible progress, we have taken the Earth for granted, destabilizing the very systems upon which we rely for survival.

: J Nastranis; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 10 January 2021

Photo: The UN Secretary-General will convene this Summit to launch bold new actions to transform the way the world produces and consumes food, delivering progress on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Credit: Food Systems Summit.

Why We Care

By Ramu Damodaran

The writer is Chief, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) hosted in the Department of Global Communications. This OpEd first appeared in the UNAI Weekly Newsletter – January 8.

NEW YORK (IDN | UNAI) – Graffiti is terse but truthful and even if I failed in identifying the specific trigger for a carefully executed scrawl on a boulder by the water in New York, that read “Beware of Locals,” it resonated with lessons the last 75 years of the United Nations, and the very last one in particular, have offered, that there is no purely “local” any longer and that those who see themselves as insulated from or immune to the world beyond are eminently bewareable.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 09 January 2021

Image: A collage of SDG3 and SDG16 logos from the UN Website.

UN Chief Points to Fragility and Conflict as Major Obstacles to Sustainable Development Goals

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – “Challenges of Maintaining Peace and Security in Fragile Contexts” were the focus of Secretary-General António Guterres' remarks at the Security Council virtual open debate on January 6. The debate was organized by Mr Kais Saied, the Security Council's Presidency for the month of January.

He called for a Global Ceasefire, which he said, goes hand-in-hand with a flagship initiative of the African Union. The United Nations also remains committed to supporting the African Union’s ambitious Agenda 2063.