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 …
Hailed till recently as a model of efficiency and productivity, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is reeling under a barrage of criticism today. A UN-commissioned review of its operations has reported that the agency "suffers from illness of a cultural type" which would take years to cure. The 2-volume …
A World Health Organisation's (WHO) recent B Programme report has warned the world community of tuberculosis epidemic. The annual global death toll from TB could rise to 4 million by AD 2005. This happens even after WHO declared TB a global emergency 2 years ago. And less than 0. 1 …
Economic liberalisation is forcing East Asians to drugs, says the United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNCDP). In Vienna on March 15, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, UNCDP's executive, revealed that countries like Thailand, China and Hong Kong were emerging as narcotics markets. This region -- which produces 80 per cent …
THE trappings of power were all there, and so were the traps. The United Nation's World Summit on Social Development, held in Copenhagen between March 6-12, had been projected as a potential washout. The preparatory committees and rounds of meetings, the charting of highly charged agenda, the government delegations and …
HUMANS, their thoughts and activities are the source of all Earthly evil and good. The Cold War has had a destabilising effect on many societies, in the short term. Unemployment and poverty are gnawing away at less developed societies, corroding the existing value system. The substantial material progress achieved during …
I ATTENDED the Cairo Conference on behalf of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP), the world's largest and most prestigious professional association of scholars and population experts. The IUSSP has the status of an accredited NGO with the United Nations. Here, then, are a few observations …
THE Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) will focus on strengthening the involvement of non-governmental organisations to ensure the implementation of Agenda 21. "We have to move beyond the classical notion of development -- of donor-recipient relationships -- into something where instead of compensations there are obligations arising from a joint …
CHINA and the US have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enforce the UN ban on drift-net fishing in the North Pacific. The MOU is the first of its kind since the ban came into force on January 1, 1993. China has agreed to allow the US coast guard …
CHINA, Malaysia and Indonesia are adamantly opposed to the creation of the post of a UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, fearing it may be used against them. They point out Western countries opposed a proposal requiring the UN to report annually on human rights in developed as well as …
FAMILY planning practices are growing rapidly, but not fast enough to make a dent in the world's population. The UN argues there is a large unmet demand for family planning services. In one generation, the proportion of married women in the developing world who are using contraception has risen to …
THAT THE world's population problem is not merely a numbers game, was the view expressed by most delegates attending the Population Summit of The World's Scientific Academies, held in New Delhi from October 24-27. The summit statement's emphasis on reaching "zero population growth within the lifetime of our children", therefore, …
THE BIOLOGICAL Diversity Convention meeting, which was held in Geneva from October 11 to 15 and attended by representatives of 130 countries, failed to establish ground rules for its implementation because most countries gave priority to their own interests. Consequently, the governments have asked for two more meetings to be …
THE WORST fears of the people living in the Thar Desert are coming true: Hoppers -- new-born locusts -- that could not be eliminated by pesticides, have formed mature swarms in the westernmost parts of Jaisalmer district. The locusts have now taken wing in search of green food, and havoc …
With the desert locust infesting an area of 30 million sq km in 66 countries and constantly migrating over political boundaries, multilateral contact between countries for locust control is unparalleled. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation is at the hub of efforts to combat the locust -- probably the only …
A GLOBAL system for sustainable management of the world's fish stocks, which are being rapidly depleted by heavily subsidised national fishing fleets, is essential to prevent their extinction, participants in a recent UN conference have urged. The session in New York, a follow-up to the Earth Summit in Rio de …
WESTERN nations are worried about increasing international migration. Says a 1992 document of Western nations, "Migration is now seen as a priority issue equal in political weight to other major global challenges such as the environment, population growth and economic imbalances between regions." The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in …
IRAQ'S nuclear weapons programme has "been pounded into the ground by bombs, inspections and disruptions," says Robert Kelly, the leader of an International Atomic Energy Agency inspection team. Kelly said there was no point in keeping UN sanctions against Iraq in place solely for dismantling the country's nuclear programme because …
EVENTS leading to the 1992 Earth Summit, then to the Commission on Sustainable Development and to the UN Conference on Population and Development in 1994 have reinvigorated the South as an important bloc in international negotiations. After its heyday during movement in the 1970s for a new international economic order, …
LAST MONTH, 40 Aztec Indians led a march from downtown Vienna to the Austria Centre, venue of the World Conference on Human Rights, to highlight the plight of the world's 300 million indigenous people. Lobbying for the rights of indigenous people at the conference was appropriate, 1993 being the Year …
IN THE UN Year of Indigenous Peoples, Brazilian Indians have received a setback with the dismissal of Sydney Possuelo, head of Brazil's Indian Affairs Bureau, who was actively involved in protecting and demarcating Indian land. Under the constitution, all Indian lands must be demarcated by October 1993, but so far …
