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 …
Water availability has emerged as the most important element for peace, Habitat II secretary-general Wally N'Dow told conference delegates. Addressing a panel on the growing water needs of cities, N'Dow said lack of water is one of the "most critical factors' that caused conflicts. Urging the Habitat players to act …
After days of haggling, more than 170 countries reached a new global accord on June 15, at the end of the UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II). Participating nations adopted the Habitat Agenda, the main conference document, and a shorter summary of political intent, the Istanbul Declaration, aimed at …
'Species 2000' is the latest UN/World Bank venture to take an integrated look at the world's biodiversity. The current tally puts the total number of plants, animals, fungi and other microorganisms at about 13.5 million species; estimates had varied anywhere between seven to 20 million. The new venture proposes to …
Austerity measures to prop up the crumbling UN, hit by an acute financial crisis, has resulted in the unprecedented step of enrolling unpaid volunteers. This has become necessary, say UN officials, to continue running the organisation. The volunteers are mostly being hired to keep the UN's peacekeeping department afloat. in …
THE World Education Report, 1995, compiled by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has recently been released. The third edition of a biennial series, the report aims at presenting a broad but concise analysis of major trends and policy issues in present day education systems in different …
Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink! This could very soon turn into a global reality according to the UN. Some 80 countries and 40 per cent of the world's population are already in the throes of a 'water stress'. Said Wally N'Dow, secretary general of the forthcoming …
Pay dues, else lose your right to vote: this seems to be the current slogan of the LIN as it seeks to fight its deepening financial crisis. As a first step, it has stripped 35 countries out of a total of 185 of their voting rights. These countries which include …
The arguments and counter-arguments were well in place. What went abegging was a joint consensusamong the 38 nations participating in the IO-week United Nations-sponsaredsession of the Conference of DisarIDament in Geneva, which began in January this year and continued last month. The issue was once again the controversial Comprehensive Test …
To combat world hunger and malnutrition, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced on February 15 that it would be hosting the World Food Summit between November 13 to 17. at FAO's headquarters in Rome. The Summit will be attended by heads of state and will be the first gathering …
To combat drug trafficking across Pakistan and Iran, a new communications network across their common border will be set under the aegis of the United Nations Drug Control Programme. The network, which involves building more than 60 towers along the frontier on both sides. will become operational in March this …
United Nations (UN) efforts at maintaining peace in the world has benefited the US immensely. Thirty-three per cent of all peace- keeping contracts and a further 20 per cent of other UN contracts like the supply of goods and services to the organisation, have aft gone to the US. The …
IN my innocence of the false charges f face here, in my utter conviction, I call upon the Ogoni people, the people of the Niger delta, and the oppressed ethnic minorities of Nigeria to stand up now and fight fearlessly and peacefully for their rights," said Ken Saro-Wiwa, the 54-year-old …
Ken Saro-Wiwa, the man whoSe death has forced the international community to confront its myriad inherent weaknesses, was born in Bori, near Port Harcourt, capital of River State in Nigeria. He has been variously described as an author, environmentalist and leader of the Ogoni people; he was all this and …
A more proactive World Health Organization (WHO) seems to be in the offing. The Organi- zation intends to set up an earlywarning system El and a rapid reaction force to tackle epidemics. A section of the WHO is launchimg a global surveillance network of laboratories geared to focus on rare …
The United Nation's 50th anniversary celebrations in New York (October 2224) were a time of reckoning. Member nations faced the stark reality of a financially straitened UN - a total of US $3.3 billion is owed by all countries but one, America being the biggest defaulter. Washington's arrears amount to …
"Passport to the Future - a programme to encourage young people between the age group of 7 to 14 to demonstrate their commitment to global citizenship, was launched by the United Nations Information Centre in collaboration with the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and UNICEF in New Delhi on October 10. The …
Recently there was a gathering of people ("academics, bureaucrats, and a sprinkling of activists" in the words of Himal reporter Kanak Dixit) interested in stopping the accelerating impoverishment of mountain environments and their peoples. They met at Lima in Peru and talked for a week. And then they wrote a …
DESPITE all efforts to marginalise the chasm between the genders, the Human Development Report (hdr), 1995, has documented gender disparities still existing in the world. Prepared against the backdrop of the Fourth World Conference on Women which began in Beijing in early September, the report specifies that human development needs …
In a fresh initiative against the menace of AIDS, the UN has launched a new US $140 million programme - the United Nations Programme on AIDS. It will brin4 together 6 preinier UN agencies to7 provide globally relevant policies on HIV/AIDS, help fill key research gaps and provide technical support …
The UN's 50th anniversary celebrations in San Francisco started in early July on a gloomy note owing to the realisation that the organisation was going broke. Irregular budget contributions by member states -- according to secretary-general Boutros Boutros Ghali -- have landed the UN in deep financial trouble. The crises …
