“We cannot go backwards,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a video message addressing the fifth Special Session of the States parties to review the operation of the Chemical Weapons Convention. ‘Senseless weapons of terror’ “The use of chemical weapons has persisted; each use threatens to reverse our hard-won gains,” he said. “We must make…
António Guterres was addressing an emergency session of the UN Security Council in New York, and again demanded an end to the fighting between troops loyal to Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) leader Fatttah al-Burhan, and his deputy on the so-called Transitional Sovereign Council, Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo “Hemedti”. “It is incumbent…
The report calls for expanding and strengthening youth participation in public policy making and decision-making at all levels, to realize the promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. A ‘driving force’ for change The UN chief emphasized that youth are key to identifying new solutions for the breakthroughs that the world urgently needs. “Young…
There are so many conflicts, humanitarian disasters, extreme weather events and economic upheavals taking place in the world, that a new word is being used to describe the current state of affairs: the “polycrisis”. The word appeared in 2022, a year that began with tentative hopes that the global economy would begin to recover from…
The study, “Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report”, released on Monday following a week-long IPCC session in Interlaken, brings into sharp focus the losses and damages experienced now, and expected to continue into the future, which are hitting the most vulnerable people and ecosystems especially hard. Temperatures have already risen to 1.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial…
These forward-looking policy briefs are designed to feed into UN Member States’ consultations analysing how the multilateral system can be strengthened for tomorrow’s world, said UN chief António Guterres, unveiling the latest strategy documents, at UN Headquarters in New York. “The goal is simple”, he said, “to breathe new life into the multilateral system so that it can deliver on…
Despite the increasing digitalization of everyone’s daily lives, the digital gender gap has grown; globally around 63 per cent of women have access to the internet today, compared to 69 per cent of men. Across all areas of digital technology, women and girls remain under-represented, from coding and creating, to accessing services, and drafting regulations…
Amina Mohammed was visiting the École Pays-Bas, in a suburb of the capital Niamey, which less than two years ago, burned to the ground, after the straw it was made from caught fire, amid searing temperatures and a suspected electrical wiring fault. A total of 21 children died in the inferno – nine boys, and…
“Following my meeting with President [Nicolás] Maduro, he publicly expressed his readiness to work towards improving the justice system. This is a key area for reform, and I offer the support and expertise of my Office to pursue this,” Volker Türk told reporters in Caracas at the end of his three-day visit. In addition to Mr. Maduro,…
Saudi Arabia has indicated that it will not give financial aid without any conditions in the future. In an interview with a foreign news agency, the Minister of Finance of Saudi Arabia, Muhammad Al-Jadaan, said that Saudi Arabia gives direct grants and deposits without any conditions, but this policy is now is being changed. Now,…
