‘Radical change of direction’ needed in women, peace and security agenda

‘Radical change of direction’ needed in women, peace and security agenda

Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women, was speaking during a Council meeting to reaffirm the importance of Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security,  adopted in October 2000, and to take stock of implementation since it turned 20 nearly three years ago.  “As we meet today at the mid-point between the 20th and 25th anniversaries, on…

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'Mum does not cry or scream anymore': Breaking the silence of domestic abuse in Tajikistan

‘Mum does not cry or scream anymore’: Breaking the silence of domestic abuse in Tajikistan

Like many women in Tajikistan, Shermatova Marjona has experienced gender-based violence. Ms. Shermatova met her husband while she was working abroad as a cleaner in Moscow, Russia. It wasn’t long before they were married, and he persuaded her to send all the money she earned to her father-in-law in Tajikistan, who was to use the…

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LDC5: UN conference calls for more inclusive and fair digital transformation in world’s least developed countries

LDC5: UN conference calls for more inclusive and fair digital transformation in world’s least developed countries

On Monday at the Fifth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5), a series of roundtable discussions saw global leaders, ci confront two of the most fundamental hurdles facing LDCs: how to make better use of science, technology and innovation (STI), and how to promote structural transformations that can help overcome the real impediments…

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UN’s commission on women opens amid vanishing progress on rights

UN’s commission on women opens amid vanishing progress on rights

Over the next two weeks, participants from across the world – including representatives from governments, the UN, civil society and youth groups, as well as activists – will examine how gender equality, empowerment and sustainable development can be achieved in the digital era.  The meeting, known as CSW67, will also highlight online violence and other…

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No more excuses; Guterres calls for ‘revolution of support’ to aid world’s least developed countries

No more excuses; Guterres calls for ‘revolution of support’ to aid world’s least developed countries

Three years after the world began its epic struggle against COVID-19, the least developed countries (LDCs) – already grappling with severe structural impediments to sustainable development and highly vulnerable to economic and environmental shocks – have found themselves stranded amid a rising tide of crisis, uncertainty, climate chaos and deep global injustice.  “Systems are stretched…

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‘The time has come to do justice for the least developed countries,’ says UN chief Guterres

‘The time has come to do justice for the least developed countries,’ says UN chief Guterres

“Countries with the least need support the most. And you need it now. You represent one in eight people on earth. But your countries are trapped in vicious cycles that make development difficult, if not impossible,” Mr. Guterres told the Summit of Least Developed Countries (LDCs), in Doha, Qatar Today’s Summit of Heads of State…

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Musicians promote ‘empathy, fraternity, solidarity’ between Israelis and Palestinians

Musicians promote ‘empathy, fraternity, solidarity’ between Israelis and Palestinians

The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, appointed by the UN Secretary-General in 2016 as a United Nations Global Advocate for Cultural Understanding, recently played their first concert at UN headquarters in New York, at a special event organized to demonstrate that when people listen to each other, both musically and in other ways, great results can be…

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