January 23, 2021 No comments
Economic and Social Council turns 75; President reaffirms mandate to tackle pandemic, development challenges
INTERNATIONAL, 23 January 2021, Economic Development - Marking its 75th anniversary amid the most serious economic and health crisis the UN& has ever faced, the Organization’s Economic and Social Council “has the mandate and the responsibility to respond to these challenges,” the body’s President, Munir Akram, said on Saturday. “Let us work together fulfill ECOSOC’s mandate and potential to respond to the world’s greatest challenges,”said Mr. Akram, referring to the Council – one of the six main organs of the United Nations – by its well-known acronym. ECOSOC 101 The Economic and Social Council is at the heart of the UN system to advance the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental. It is the central platform for fostering debate and innovative thinking, forging consensus and cooperation on ways forward...
Read more
January 22, 2021 No comments
Healthier world means ‘safer America’ Tedros stresses, as UN-led vaccine initiative announces deal for 40 million doses
INTERNATIONAL, 22 January 2021, Health - The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday announced the signing of an advance purchase agreement securing up to 40 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine, under the UN-led COVAX equitable vaccine supply programme. Commenting on the deal at the regular end-of-week press conference in Geneva, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said pending emergency authorization, close to 150 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine should also be available for COVAX to distribute, up to the end of March. February delivery date “Together, these announcements mean COVAX could begin delivering doses in February, provided we can finalize a supply agreement”, he said, noting that the deal “also opens the door” for countries with spare doses, to donate them. In a press release outlining the deal, Tedros said the “urgent and equitable rollout of vaccines is not just a moral imperative,...
Read more
January 22, 2021 No comments
Sudan: 250 killed, over 100,000 displaced as violence surges in Darfur
INTERNATIONAL, 22 January 2021, Peace and Security - A sharp uptick in intercommunal violence in Sudan’s Darfur region has forced more than 100,000 people to flee their homes in search of safety, including many into neighbouring Chad, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reported on Friday. According to the agency, 250 people – including three humanitarian workers – also lost their lives in the clashes that started on 15 January in West Darfur province, and spread into South Darfur the next day. Boris Cheshirkov, a UNHCR spokesperson, told journalists at a regular press briefing in Geneva on Friday, that about 3,500 new Sudanese refugees have arrived in eastern Chad. “These refugees – the majority of them women and children – have been hosted in four very remote locations that lack basic...
Read more
January 22, 2021 No comments
Mali in transition: UN peacekeeping chief takes stock of political and security developments
INTERNATIONAL, 22 January 2021, Peace and Security - Against the backdrop of a rapidly deteriorating security situation in Mali and the wider Sahel region, the UN peacekeeping chief concluded a visit to the restive northwest African nation on Thursday. With the country in the throes of a political transition, following a military coup and the establishment of an interim Government last year, the Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, took, stock of recent political and security developments, and discussed progress on implementing the mandate of the UN Stabilization Mission there (MINUSMA), the most dangerous place to serve as a ‘blue helmet’ in the field. Four peacekeepers were killed, and five others wounded in an attack on their convoy just over a week ago, in the vast...
Read more
January 22, 2021 No comments
Guterres hails entry into force of treaty banning nuclear weapons
INTERNATIONAL, 22 January 2021, Peace and Security - The first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty in more than two decades, came into force just after midnight on Friday, hailed by the UN Secretary-General as “an important step towards a world free of nuclear weapons”. António Guterres said that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) also represents a “strong demonstration of support for multilateral approaches to nuclear disarmament” overall. ‘Tragic testimonies’ of survivors In a video message and statement, the UN chief commended the States that have ratified the Treaty and welcomed the “instrumental role of civil society in advancing the TPNW’s negotiation and entry into force”. “The survivors of nuclear explosions and nuclear tests offered tragic testimonies and were a moral force behind the Treaty. Entry into force is a...
Read more
