November 16, 2018 No comments
UN Genocide adviser welcomes historic conviction of former Khmer Rouge leaders
INTERNATIONAL, 16 November 2018, Law and Crime Prevention - Friday’s historic conviction of two former Khmer Rouge leaders in Cambodia on genocide charges has been welcomed by the United Nations Special Adviser on the issue. In a statement, Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, described the conviction by a UN-backed international tribunal in Cambodia as “a good day for justice”, adding that “it demonstrates that justice will prevail, and that impunity should never be accepted for genocide and other atrocity crimes.” Nyon Chea, now 92, who was deputy leader during the brutal extremist regime of Pol Pot, and former head of state Khieu Samphan, 87, were charged with exterminating Cham Muslim and ethnic Vietnamese communities, between April 1975 and January 1979. It demonstrates...
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November 16, 2018 No comments
Artificial Intelligence raises ethical, policy challenges – UN expert
INTERNATIONAL, 16 November 2018, Economic Development - Digital solutions are transforming lives: Think of robots that help the elderly, a mobile phone app that identifies crop pests, or surgical robots in hospitals. These advances are all due to Artificial Intelligence and an extraordinary new era of machine learning. While these bring tremendous benefits, AI also raises concerns, ranging from security, to human rights abuses. Speaking in Paris last weekend, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres praised AI but cautioned that “technology should empower not overpower us” and that the world needs to set policies that contain unintended consequences or malicious use of frontier technologies. So what is AI? UN News asked Eleonore Pauwels, Research Fellow on Emerging Cybertechnologies at United Nations University (UNU), about AI – what it is, how it...
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November 16, 2018 No comments
YouTube stars get creative at UN, to promote tolerance
INTERNATIONAL, 16 November 2018, Peace and Security - Ending intolerance means eliminating one of humanity’s “dark spots,” said Sukhdeep Singh Bhogal, better known as YouTube hip-hop artist and musician, L-FRESH THE LION, in an interview with UN News on Friday, the International Day for Tolerance. He and four other YouTube content providers from India, Germany, Canada and Sudan - who have millions of followers between them - are part of the YouTube Creators for Change initiative, which spotlights inspirational creators who use the platform to foster productive conversations around tough global issues. The five screened samples of their videos, and performed at an educational event in observance of the International Day, marked each 16 November, at UN Headquarters in New York. The UN General Assembly proclaimed the International...
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November 16, 2018 No comments
South Sudan’s women caught up in ‘futile man’s war’ UN gender equality chief
INTERNATIONAL, 16 November 2018, Peace and Security - The women of South Sudan are leading calls for political and militia leaders to honour the recent revitalized peace agreement, and end what they regard as a “futile man’s war”, the head of the UN gender equality agency, UN Women, told the Security Council on Friday. Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, told the 15-member Council that following September’s agreement between President Salva Kiir and his rival Riek Machar, who is due to be reinstated as Vice President, fighting was continuing. She said “leaders of warring factions and armed parties” needed to tell their followers about the agreement, as women themselves are “anxious for progress” and “forging ahead with reconciliation, even though between themselves as women, they had no...
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November 16, 2018 No comments
Brexit poses ‘particular risk’ to British people in poverty: UN independent expert
INTERNATIONAL, 16 November 2018, Economic Development - Brexit – the United Kingdom’s impending exit from the European Union – will drive more UK citizens into poverty unless the Government takes action to shield the most vulnerable, warned Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, in a damning statement released on Friday. The UN envoy’s comments came at the end of a 12-day visit to the UK, which saw him travel to nine cities across the country, meeting members of civil society, front line workers, and officials from a range of political parties in local, devolved and UK Governments. He spoke to people directly affected by poverty, including some who depend of food banks and charities for the next meal,...
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