Category: World Government (Page 10 of 12)

Nelson Mandela day: Call for ‘dignity, equality, justice and human rights’ rings out.

July 18, 2021 / Michael Maas / 0 Comments

Nelson Mandela International Day is an opportunity to reflect on the life and legacy of “a legendary global advocate for dignity, equality, justice and human rights”, the United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said on Sunday.

“Each year, on this day, Nelson’s Mandela’s birthday, we pay tribute to this extraordinary man who embodied the highest aspirations of the United Nations and the human family”, Secretary-General António Guterres said in his message commemorating the 18 July celebration of South Africa’s first Black head of State.

Affectionately known as Madiba, his calls for solidarity and an end to racism are particularly relevant today, as social cohesion around the world is under threat of division.

With hate speech on the rise and misinformation blurring the truth, questioning science and undermining democratic institutions, societies are becoming more polarized, said the UN chief.

And the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has not only made these ills more acute but also rolled back years of progress in the global fight against poverty.

“As always in times of crises, it is the marginalized and discriminated against who suffer the most, often while being blamed for problems they did not cause”, said Mr. Guterres according UN News.

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Funding shortfall amid deepening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

July 16, 2021 / Michael Maas / 0 Comments

Senior UN official Ramiz Alakbarov on Thursday urged donors to step up support for Afghanistan, where ongoing drought and increased military operations amid foreign troop withdrawal, are displacing scores of civilians, creating a growing humanitarian crisis.

According UN News: Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, said a $1.3 billion appeal, launched earlier this year, is less than 40 per cent funded.

Some 18 million Afghans, or half the population, require assistance.

A third of the country is malnourished, while half of all children under five are experiencing acute malnutrition.

The $450 million received so far, half of which came from the United States, falls far short of what is needed.

“Our plan is to provide assistance to at least 15.7 million people, and right now it will not be possible without these additional contributions,” said Mr. Alakbarov, speaking via videoconference to journalists in New York.

The developments are occurring as the deadline for foreign troops to fully withdraw from the country approaches.

The drought, the second in three years, and ongoing military response in the wake of a “spring offensive” by the Taliban, have uprooted some 270,000 people who have fled rural areas for urban centres.

In the northern city of Kunduz, for example, roughly 35,000 displaced people are being housed in schools and public buildings, and need food, water and sanitation.

The fundamentalist Taliban who have been fighting the internationally-recognized central Government for years, have taken over all districts surrounding the city.

Meanwhile, neighbouring countries, such as Iran, have been deporting Afghan refugees from their territories.

Humanitarians are also witnessing “very intensive” population movements in areas near the borders with Iran and Pakistan, which are now largely closed.

The closures have not yet affected humanitarians as aid stocks are sufficient to last through the end of August.

Mr. Alakbarov has visited five regions of Afghanistan in as many weeks.

The UN official was particularly concerned about the plight of women and girls, who are facing “very difficult conditions”.

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‘Deeply negative impact’ of COVID pandemic, reverses Sustainable Development Goals progress.

July 16, 2021 / Michael Maas / 0 Comments

Closing a key international development forum on Thursday, the deputy UN chief Amina Mohammed observed that a year of “immense challenges” has reversed progress on meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

After eight “solid days” of deliberations at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), Amina Mohammed attributed the COVID pandemic to “a reversal of SDG progress in some areas, and delayed action on many of the major transitions required to meet our 2030 goals”.

She said the pandemic has had a “deeply negative impact” on health and well-being; employment, businesses, incomes, education; and human rights, with “a particularly damaging effect on women and girls”.

Throughout the Forum, according UN News: during which nine Global Goals and 47 Voluntary National Review outcomes were examined in depth, many participants observed that some of the measures put in place during the pandemic could provide a foundation for SDG progress.

Ms. Mohammed gave the examples of digital learning, which could help to transform education more broadly, along with building on critical fiscal support many countries had provided to their economy, jobs and people.

“Governments should now consider whether some of these measures can be integrated into comprehensive social protection systems”, said the UN official.

Recovery efforts can be designed both to restart economies and accelerate SDG implementation.

Ms. Mohammed said that stimulus packages and Special Drawing Rights for foreign exchange reserves, can be leveraged to advance gender equality, boost investment in education, health and social protection.

They could also be used to accelerate climate change mitigation and generate decent jobs.

But there can be no pandemic recovery without “international solidarity and cooperation”, including through climate finance and financing for development, she added.

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WHO chief: ‘Early stages’ of COVID third wave, amid Delta surge.

July 15, 2021 / Michael Maas / 0 Comments

The variant’s spread, along with increased social mobility and the inconsistent use of proven public health measures, is driving an increase in both case numbers and deaths, the head of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (World Health Organization) said on Wednesday.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the recent data in an address to the Emergency Committee on COVID-19, established under the International Health Regulations (IHR), a treaty that guides global response to public health risks.

Recalling the sustained decline in COVID-19 cases and deaths that was being driven, in recent months, by increasing vaccination rates in Europe and North America, he sounded alarms over the fresh reversal of that positive trend.

“Unfortunately…we are now in the early stages of a third wave”, he said according UN News.

Delta variant dominates

Last week marked the fourth consecutive week of rising cases of COVID-19 globally, with increases recorded in all but one of WHO’s six regions.

Deaths are also rising again, after 10 weeks of steady decline.

Meanwhile, said Tedros, the virus is continuing to evolve, resulting in more transmissible variants.

“The Delta variant is now in more than 111 countries and we expect it to soon be the dominant COVID-19 strain circulating worldwide, if it isn’t already,” he said.

The spread of the Delta variant – one of the main drivers of the current increase in transmission – is also being fuelled by increased social mobility and the inconsistent use of proven public health and social measures.

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Conflict, climate change, COVID, pushes more people into hunger.

July 13, 2021 / Michael Maas / 0 Comments

Global hunger levels have skyrocketed because of conflict, climate change and the economic impact of COVID-19; and one in five children around the world is stunted, UN agencies warned on Monday.

New data that represents the first comprehensive global assessment of food insecurity carried out since the coronavirus pandemic began, indicates that the number of people affected by chronic hunger in 2020, rose by more than in the previous five years combined.

Reversing this situation will likely take years if not decades, maintained the World Food Programme (WFP), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF.

Food system reform call

“The pandemic continues to expose weaknesses in our food systems, which threaten the lives and livelihoods of people around the world,” the heads of those UN agencies wrote in this year’s report.

It notes that around a tenth of the global population – between 720 million people and 811 million – were undernourished last year.

Some 418 million of that number were in Asia and 282 million were in Africa.

Globally, 2.4 billion people did not have access to sufficiently nutritious food in 2020 – an increase of nearly 320 million people in one year.

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Joe Biden backs Trump rejection of China’s South China Sea claim.

July 12, 2021 / Michael Maas / 0 Comments

The Biden administration on Sunday upheld a Trump-era rejection of nearly all of China’s significant maritime claims in the South China Sea.

The administration also warned China that any attack on the Philippines in the flashpoint region would draw a U.S. response under a mutual defense treaty.

According AP News the stern message from Secretary of State Antony Blinken came in a statement released ahead of this week’s fifth anniversary of an international tribunal’s ruling in favor of the Philippines, against China’s maritime claims around the Spratly Islands and neighboring reefs and shoals.

China rejects the ruling.

Ahead of the fourth anniversary of the ruling last year, the Trump administration came out in favor of the ruling but also said it regarded as illegitimate virtually all Chinese maritime claims in the South China Sea outside China’s internationally recognized waters.

Sunday’s statement reaffirms that position, which had been laid out by Trump’s secretary of state, Mike Pompeo.

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UN chief Antonio Guterres: “Ensure reproductive health rights for all on World Population Day”.

July 11, 2021 / Michael Maas / 0 Comments

In his message for World Population Day according UN News, observed on Sunday, the UN chief called for closing gaps in access to sexual and reproductive health services which the crisis has created.

Erosion of women’s reproductive rights has been one of the fallouts from the COVID-19 pandemic, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said.

The pandemic “continues to upend our world, reaching one grim milestone after another,” said Mr. Guterres.

Last week, the global death toll due to COVID-19 officially surpassed four million.

“In addition to the millions of lives tragically lost, there has been a less visible toll: a shocking rise in domestic violence as women were forced into isolation with their abusers; empty maternity wards as women postponed motherhood; and unintended pregnancies due to curtailed access to contraceptive services,” said the UN Secretary-General.

The UN estimates that the pandemic will push some 47 million women and girls into extreme poverty. Additionally, many girls now out of school may never return to the classroom.

“In every corner of the world, we are seeing a reversal of hard-won gains and an erosion of women’s reproductive rights, choices and agency. With the onset of the pandemic, resources for sexual and reproductive health services were diverted,” the UN Secretary-General said.

“These gaps in access to health rights are unacceptable. Women cannot be alone in this fight,” he added.

“As we mark World Population Day, let us pledge to ensure the reproductive health rights of everyone, everywhere.”

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UN chief Antonio Guterres welcomes Security Council extension of vital cross-border aid operation in Syria.

July 10, 2021 / Michael Maas / 0 Comments

The United Nations chief has welcomed a decision on Friday by the Security Council to extend the UN cross-border aid operation in northwest Syria for another 12 months, providing a lifeline for more than 3.4 million people in need, including some one million children.

Secretary-General António Guterres said via his Spokesperson, that the authorization to continue using the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, due to expire on Saturday, was essential, as it “remains a lifeline for millions of people in the area, and beyond.”

Antonio Guterres according UN News:

“However, needs continue to outstrip the response”, the statement continued. “As the Secretary-General has highlighted to the Council, with additional crossings and expanded funding, the United Nations could do more to help the rising number of people in need.”

The compromise resolution after weeks of delay, emerged from discussions on Friday morning, and was unanimously adopted. It calls for a “substantive” UN report to be provided on aid access across the Syria-Turkish border at Bab al-Hawa, after six months, with a focus on “transparency in operations, and progress on cross-line access in meeting humanitarian needs”.

However, the operation will not depend on reauthorization in January, and can extend through to July next year.

Top United Nations Haiti envoy hails commitment to hold new elections.

July 9, 2021 / Michael Maas / 0 Comments

The UN Special Representative for Haiti on Thursday, acknowledged the legitimacy of Prime Minister Claude Joseph to lead the Caribbean nation, following the “cowardly” assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on Wednesday, and welcomed his government’s commitment to hold national elections later this year.

Acoording UN News: Helen La Lime, who also heads the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) said the prime minister, who now leads the government in line with the country’s constitution in the event of a sitting president’s death, was committed “to dialogue, and to continuing with a process to hold elections according to the electoral calendar that was released just last week.”

She said that would mean a first round of elections on 26 September, with a second round, set for November.

National investigation underway

Speaking via video link to reporters in New York, Ms. La Lime said that “all efforts must be made” to bring those responsible for the assassination of the president to justice, and that a national investigation led by Haitian police, was now underway, following a number of arrests.

“It is too early for me to comment on exactly what went on and the circumstances surrounding this abhorrent act of violence…

We will continue to wait for further developments, and to assist as we can.”

She said the Government was “very serious” about ensuring that the perpetrators are caught and said BINUH would provide any help at its disposal to aid the investigation.

The World Government Movement believe violence in this world must stop and we need Jesus to help us to create Heaven on Earth.

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COVID death toll passes 4 million: Global Vaccine Plan essential, declares UN chief Antonio Guterres.

July 8, 2021 / Michael Maas / 0 Comments

The global death toll due to COVID-19 officially passed four million late on Wednesday, marking yet another “grim milestone” and underlining the urgent need for the world to put a Global Vaccine Plan in place to get the pandemic under control, the United Nations chief said in a statement according UN News.

“Many of us know this loss directly and feel its pain”, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

“We mourn mothers and fathers who gave guidance, sons and daughters who inspired us, grandmothers and grandfathers who shared wisdom, colleagues and friends who lifted our lives.”

He said that while vaccines “offer a ray of hope” most of the world lagged behind: “The virus is outpacing vaccine distribution.

This pandemic is clearly far from over; more than half its victims died this year.

Many millions more are at risk if the virus is allowed to spread like wildfire.”

The more COVID-19 spreads, the more variants we see, the UN chief noted, some of which are more transmissible, more deadly and more likely to undermine the effectiveness of current vaccines.

“Bridging the vaccine gap requires the greatest global public health effort in history”, he said, calling for a Global Vaccine Plan to at least double production of vaccines and ensure equitable distribution, using the UN-supported COVAX international COVID inoculation facility, as the main platform.

Mr. Guterres said an effective global plan would support implementation and financing; increase countries’ readiness and capacity to roll out immunization programmes, and tackle “the serious problem of vaccine hesitancy.”

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Delta variant dominates

Food system reform call

National investigation underway

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