The UN’s trade and development body has downgraded its global economic growth projection for 2022 to 2.6% from 3.6% due to the Ukraine war and to changes in macroeconomic policies made by countries in recent months. While Russia will experience a deep recession this year, significant slowdowns in growth are …
Programmes providing small loans are not effective for reducing poverty, stated a report published by the United Nations Department for Economics and Social Affairs. The micro credit concept has gained a lot of popularity during the last 10 years. But according to the report, the programmes had many limitations when …
THE United Nations (UN) initiative to grant indigenous people the right to self-government has come under severe criticism from the leader of Australia's One Nation Party, Pauline Hanson. Hanson's speech stating that the declaration supporting "self-determination" for indigenous people would destroy Australia's sovereignty has forced the Australian government to review …
The International Seabed Authority (ISA), the United Nations' agency responsible for administering the Law of Sea Treaty, has started discussions on a code to govern the recovery of minerals from the international seabed. Delegates from 138 countries are meeting at the ISA's headquarters in Jamaica over the next three weeks, …
Serious diseases have been reported in remote villages of northern Afghanistan, which were severely damaged by a recent earthquake. The United Nations and Red Cross have evacuated 102 of the most seriously injured people from remote villages, and delivered food to 31 of the approximately 100 affected villages. An outbreak …
The world's leading environmental thinkers drawn from government, business and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have created a blueprint for future joint action to foster global environmental improvement. Recently, about 60 environment ministers, United Nations officials, senior business executives and NGO leaders met at the UN headquarters to discuss critical environmental protection …
fresh water supply is gradually becoming a matter of serious concern, says a report of the United Nations ( un ). With nearly 900 million people affected by diarrhoea each year and an equal number suffering from diseases caused by round worms, unclearn water ranks at the top of the …
The United Nations (UN) Compensation Commission has awarded an additional amount of US $5,406,161 to sixty-one claimants who have suffered financially or otherwise due to Iraq's invasion and subsequent occupation of Kuwait. The money will go to individual claimants for damages above us $100,000 which were filed by 19 governments …
Africa remains a major supplier of cannabis and cannabis resin to rapi-dly-growing domestic markets and to Europe and North America, despite some eradication efforts and significant seizures in some countries of the continent. A statement released recently in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, by the United Nations (un) Infor-mation Centre (unic) …
The United Nations (UN) Children's Fund (UNICEF) is calling for support for efforts to raise the minimum recruitment age for children in the armed forces. A working group in Geneva is dealing with the issue. It will be drafting an optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the …
the population division of the United Nations' (un) economic and social affairs department has recently predicted that the world population may reach nearly 9.4 billion by the year 2050 and stabilise at about 11 billion by 2200. During 1995, the world population was 5.7 billion. Under a medium fertility scenario …
A taskforce of foreign policy makers recently suggested that an analysis unit should be set up at the United Nations (UN) to facilitate Security Council's decision-making. Lord Carrington, the UK foreign secretary and chairperson of the task force, said that he was "worried about the gap between the readiness of …
The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) will introduce a scheme to bring about a common eco-labelling scheme for leather and leather products. At present, many developing countries have evolved and implemented their own eco-label schemes. But there is no uniformity in the standards. The programme co-ordinator for the regional …
The United Nations Development Programme and the African Development Bank have launched a US $24 million programme to help the Government of Cameroon combat poverty and improve opportunities for women and unemployed youth living in northern parts of the country. The project will provide credit and training for women's groups …
The United Nations Convention on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on a technical assistance programme for promoting the complementarity of trade, environment and development objectives in developing countries. Under the joint technical assistance programme, UNCTAD and UNEP …
Mistrust, suspicion, North-South divide and a lack of commitment and political will on the part of the nation states to move towards a sustainable future were the key features of the second Earth Summit. Settling for the minimum possible... was the spirit of the negotiating nations. Further, entrenched economic national …
•A review of the five years since Rio, Earth Summit II showed collective irresponsibility by nation states for the earth's future •The special session of the UN General Assembly was marred by nations wrangling to settle for the minimum possible •The biggest disappointment was the decision on climate change. The …
Tony Blair, Prime Minister of Britain: "The biggest responsibility falls on the countries with the biggest emmissions' Helmut Kohl, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, 'Global environment protection and sustainable development need a clearly audible voice at the UN... this could lead to a creation of a global umbrella …
The G-7, after the Denver meet (weekend before UNGASS), issued a statement that made it clear that they were not willing to accept their responsibilities, but would blame the developing world for inaction on global warming.
The Indian delegation had gone unprepared to UNGASS and found themselves at sea over India's position on the forest convention. As negotiations entered into the final phase, The Netherlands co-chair on the forest session had put forward a partisan proposal which effectively included the forest convention into the text. The …
The Indian delegation was led by the minister of environment and forests (MEF) Saifuddin Soz. That the Indians had decided to keep a low profile was apparent as the negotiations progressed. The Indian delegation decided to keep silent at the time of important discussions. For most of the times, it …
