December 24, 2024
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J. Tuyet Nguyen, a journalist with years of experience, has covered major stories in New York City and the United Nations for United Press International, the German Press Agency dpa and various newspapers. His reports focused mostly on topics with international interests for readers worldwide. He was president of the United Nations Correspondents Association (2007 and 2008), which is composed of more than 250 journalists representing world media with influence over policy decision makers. He has chaired the organization of the annual UNCA Awards, which seeks to reward journalists around the world who have done the best broadcasts and written reports on the UN and its specialized agencies. He has traveled the world to cover events and write stories, from politics to the environment as well cultures of different regions. But his most important reporting work has been with the United Nations since the early 1980s. He was bureau chief of United Press International office at the UN headquarters before joining dpa in 1997. Prior to working at the UN, he was an editor on the International Desk of UPI World Headquarters in New York. He worked in Los Angeles and covered the final months of war in Vietnam for UPI.

UN issues urgent appeal for help as Afghanistan faces world’s largest food crisis; current funding “a drop in the ocean”

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Rome/New York, October 25 – Years of conflict, drought, economic woes and the recent accumulation of Covid-19 health problems have made Afghanistan home to one of the world’s largest number of people – nearly 23 million – facing severe humanitarian crisis as the harsh winter is approaching while funding available is “a drop in the ocean,” two United Nations agencies said as they launched an urgent appeal for help.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP) said the 23 million Afghans facing dire malnutrition and hunger, including 3.2 million children under five, represented more than half of the country’s population. Globally, the affected Afghan population have needs surpassing those in Ethiopia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen combined.

“It is urgent that we act efficiently and effectively to speed up and scale up our delivery in Afghanistan before winter cuts off a large part of the country, with millions of people – including farmers, women, young children and the elderly – going hungry in the freezing winter. It is a matter of life or death. We cannot wait and see humanitarian disasters unfolding in front of us – it is unacceptable!” said Qu Dongyu, FAO Director-General.

“Afghanistan is now among the world’s worst humanitarian crises – if not the worst – and food security has all but collapsed. This winter, millions of Afghans will be forced to choose between migration and starvation unless we can step up our life-saving assistance, and unless the economy can be resuscitated. We are on a countdown to catastrophe and if we don’t act now, we will have a total disaster on our hands,” said David Beasley, WFP Executive Director.

“Hunger is rising and children are dying. We can’t feed people on promises – funding commitments must turn into hard cash, and the international community must come together to address this crisis, which is fast spinning out of control,” Beasley warned. WFP said it expects operations to cost as much as US$ 220 million a month.

The two UN agencies said in their Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report that more than one in two Afghans will be facing crisis (IPC Phase 3) or emergency (IPC Phase 4) levels of acute food insecurity through the November 2021 to March 2022 lean season, requiring urgent humanitarian interventions to meet basic food needs, protect livelihoods and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.

The report also notes that this is the highest number of acutely food insecure people ever recorded in the 10 years the UN has been conducting IPC analyses in Afghanistan. Globally, Afghanistan is home to one of the largest number of people in acute food insecurity in both absolute and relative terms.

Following is part of the joint WFP-FAO news release:

Hunger spreads from rural to urban areas

The IPC report reflects a 37 percent increase in the number of Afghans facing acute hunger since the last assessment issued in April 2021. Among those at risk are 3.2 million children under-five who are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition by the end of the year. In October, WFP and UNICEF warned that one million children were at risk of dying from severe acute malnutrition without immediate life-saving treatment.

For the first time, urban residents are suffering from food insecurity at similar rates to rural communities, marking the shifting face of hunger in the country. Rampant unemployment and the liquidity crisis mean that all major urban centres are projected to face Emergency (IPC Phase 4) levels of food insecurity, including formerly middle-class populations.

In rural areas, the severe impact of the second drought in four years continues to impact the livelihoods of 7.3 million people who rely on agriculture and livestock to survive.

Current funding a drop in the ocean

FAO and WFP have been alerting the world to huge funding shortfalls and the need for urgent action by the international community before it is too late. Immediate financial support is now crucial to meet the most basic humanitarian needs as Afghans confront winter with no jobs, cash, or prospects, just as another La Niña event is on the horizon, meaning this year’s drought conditions are likely to extend into 2022.

To meet the scale of needs, the UN will need to mobilize resources at unprecedented levels. The UN’s Humanitarian Response Plan remains only a third funded. WFP in planning to ramp up its humanitarian assistance as we enter 2022 to meet the food and nutrition needs of almost 23 million people in Afghanistan. To meet the task at hand WFP may require as much as US$ 220 million per month.

Since the beginning of 2021, WFP has provided food, cash, and nutrition assistance to 10.3 million people, including malnutrition treatment and prevention programmes for nearly 400 000 pregnant and breastfeeding women, and 790 000 children under-five.

FAO continues to deliver vital emergency livelihood interventions at scale in Afghanistan, providing lifesaving support and cash assistance to farmers and livestock owning households who comprise 70 percent of the total population, so they can remain productive.  More than 3.5 million people will be supported this year, with FAO reaching over more than 330 000 in August and September alone

Amid worsening drought, FAO is seeking $11.4 million in urgent funding for its humanitarian response and is seeking a further $200 million for the agricultural season into 2022. FAO is now distributing wheat cultivation packages, including high quality and locally-supplied seeds, fertilizers and training. This campaign is expected to benefit 1.3 million people across 27 out of 34 provinces of the country in the coming weeks.

IPC Report brief can be accessed here & IPC Snapshot here.

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Beijing Conference: sustainable transport infrastructure can reduce carbon emissions, develop economy

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Beijing/New York, October 16 – Infrastructure has become a major international issue as its components are responsible for greenhouses gas emissions and adaptation costs, facts that can help accelerate the implementation of the Paris climate agreement that will be discussed at the Glasgow climate conference.

Thousands of experts, activists and business leaders from over 100 countries took part in the virtual Second UN Global Sustainable Transport Conference (October 14-16) in Beijing, the UN said in a press release at the close of the conference. It said participants called for accelerating progress towards achieving sustainable transport that would result in major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and in improving the lives of millions of people.

The transport conference was held before of the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) taking place October 31-November 12 in Glasgow at which decision-makers will discuss ways to accelerate progress towards meeting the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals.

“Participants agreed that without a profound shift to sustainable mobility, achieving the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals — already off-track — would be impossible,” the press release said.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a video message to the conference: “Covide-19 has pushed an estimated 120 million people into extreme poverty, 160 million into hunger, and set back education for around 100 million children. We are further from realizing the Sustainable Development Goals on climate, ocean, and biodiversity than we were when they were agreed six years ago.” 

Guterres warned that the door on climate action was closing unless decarbonization of all means of transport is imposed in order to get to net-zero emissions by 2050 globally. He called also for phasing out the production of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035 for leading manufacturing countries, and by 2040 for developing countries.

He called for zero emission ships to become the default choice, and commercially available for all by 2030 in order to achieve zero emissions in the shipping sector by 2050; and that companies start using sustainable aviation fuels now, in order to cut carbon emissions per passenger by 65 per cent by 2050.

“We have the opportunity now to capture the innovation and technology that can revolutionize transport,” said Conference Secretary-General Liu Zhenmin, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs. “But these new technologies have to work for everyone. We have the solutions, and now we need the global cooperation to ensure that sustainable transport will be the engine that powers our efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the objectives of the Paris Agreement.”

The conference said progress made so far is insufficient and challenges remain to achieve the goal of keeping earth temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius as demanded by the Paris climate agreement.

The press release said remote rural communities and vulnerable groups in countries with special conditions “risk being left behind as the number of new and emerging transport-related technologies increase. More than $2 trillion of transport infrastructure investments will be needed each year until 2040 to fuel economic development. There is also a need for stronger policies on road safety measures and regulations on the import of new and used vehicles. “

A report prepared for the Beijing transport conference by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) in close collaboration with 14 other UN agencies say key changes in transport would improve climate action.

The report said over 1 billion people worldwide still have no adequate access to all-weather roads, including some 450 million people in Africa. It said over 70 per cent of the total global rural population remain unconnected to transport infrastructure and systems, and car fuel emissions killed about 400,000 people.

“The lack of access to roads and transport contributes to deprivation in terms of access to timely health care, education, jobs and markets for agricultural produce,” the report said. “Rural isolation disproportionately harms the poor, older persons, persons with disabilities, children and women. Women and girls can face additional challenges when there are concerns about their physical safety.”

Oxford University, UN agencies: Radical changes needed in infrastructure design and management to achieve climate and development goals

Studies by experts from the UN Office for Project Services, the UN Environment Program and the University of Oxford have found that infrastructure is responsible for 79 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions, and 88 per cent of all adaptation costs. A report issued by the experts called for radical changes are in infrastructure planning and management to achieve key climate and development targets.

“The central question is not whether we need infrastructure, but how it can be provided in ways that are sustainable, resilient and compatible with a net zero future,” Jim Hall, professor of Climate and Environmental Risk at the University of Oxford, said.  “There is no simple answer to the question of how to provide climate-compatible infrastructure. It requires a myriad of choices, from the moment an infrastructure project is first conceived, to the end of its life when it is decommissioned or repurposed.”

 Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, said, “As we seek to bridge the infrastructure gap and improve the quality of life of people everywhere, it is critical that we invest in sustainable infrastructure that adapts to future uncertain climate conditions; contributes to the decarbonization of the economy; protects biodiversity and minimizes pollution. Sustainable infrastructure is the only way we can ensure that people, nature and the environment thrive together.”

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WHO resolves to vaccinate 70 percent of world population by mid-2022, close rich-poor pandemic gap

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Geneva/New York, October 7 – The World Health Organization has launched a global vaccination strategy that calls for meeting targets of vaccinating 40 percent of the world population by end of 2021 and 70 percent by mid-2022. It has mobilized the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, UN agencies, organizations and civil society to ensure success of the strategy and end the deep inequality in vaccine distribution between rich and poor countries.

WHO said currently global vaccine production stands at about 1.5 billion doses per month, which should be sufficient to meet the demand of at least 11 billion vaccine doses to vaccinate 70 percent of the global population in 2022 provided there is equitable distribution of the doses. As of end of September 2021, just over 6 billion doses had already been administered worldwide.

The Geneva-based health organization had planned to vaccinate 10 percent of people in every country and territory by the end of September but it had not been able to do so in 56 countries, most of them in Africa and the Middle East.

“Science has played its part by delivering powerful, life-saving tools faster than for any outbreak in history,” WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the event launching the Strategy to Achieve Global Covid-19 Vaccination ( Strategy to Achieve Global Covid-19 Vaccination by mid-2022)

“But the concentration of those tools in the hands of a few countries and companies has led to a global catastrophe, with the rich protected while the poor remain exposed to a deadly virus. We can still achieve the targets for this year and next, but it will take a level of political commitment, action and cooperation, beyond what we have seen to date.”

“This is a costed, coordinated and credible path out of the COVID-19 pandemic for everyone, everywhere,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “Without a coordinated, equitable approach, a reduction of cases in any one country will not be sustained over time. For everyone’s sake, we must urgently bring all countries to a high level of vaccination coverage.”

Both Guterres and Tedros Adhanom called on governments and manufacturers to make good on their commitments to fund and provide vaccine doses without further delays.

The strategy calls for vaccination of all older adults, health workers and high-risk groups of all ages in every country first followed by the full adult age group in every country and lastly extended vaccination of adolescents. It says substantial investment has been made to procure most of the required vaccine doses for low- and lower-middle-income countries through its vaccine program known as COVAX, the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) and bilateral contracts.

The Strategy to Achieve Global Covid-19 Vaccination by mid-2022 can be read in its entirety here. 

See also: The Global COVID-19 Vaccination – Strategic Vision for 2022 Technical Document

Slide deck on the Strategy to Achieve Global Covid-19 Vaccination by mid-2022

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UN: Life-saving humanitarian aid to 7 million people in Ethiopia crippled by fighting, road blockades and cash shortage

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New York, October 6 – The United Nations Security Council was told that UN operations to bring life-saving humanitarian aid to 7 million people in Ethiopia, including 400,000 people living in famine conditions in Tigray, are seriously hampered by continued fighting, severe checkpoints along transportation routes and lack of cash to operate and pay relief workers.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the 15-nation Security Council to support and unite behind efforts being made by UN agencies and partners in Ethiopia to bring urgent relief goods and medicine to the 5 million people in Tigray and 2 million in Amhara and Afar. The council is the highest body in the UN system responsible for peace and security matters.

Guterres said the Afar corridor is the only option to transport humanitarian aid to Tigray but access to the area has been severely restricted by official and unofficial checkpoints, insecurity and other obstacles and challenges.

“Vital fuel supplies continue to be blocked, as are essential medicines and equipment,” he said.

“Humanitarian organizations continue to lack the cash they need to operate and to pay their staff. “Access to electricity remains precarious. Millions of people are cut off from communications networks and vital services such as health care. Fighting in Amhara is another serious impediment to humanitarian access.”

“As a result of all these facts, life-saving humanitarian operations are being crippled,” he said.

He said UN officials and workers on the ground in Ethiopia have reported “increasingly alarming eye-witness testimony of the suffering, including growing accounts of hunger-related deaths” which are close to the levels of the devastating famine in Somalia in 2011.

“We are also seeing deeply worrying reports of violations of human rights abuses perpetrated by all sides. I am particularly concerned about chilling accounts of violence against women and children, including sexual and gender-based violence,” Guterres said.

“The country is facing an immense humanitarian crisis that demands immediate attention.

All efforts should be squarely focused on saving lives and avoiding a massive human tragedy.”

In his remarks the council, Guterres said the Ethiopian government’s decision to expel seven UN officials failed to follow a normal procedure and was “particularly disturbing.”

“This unprecedented expulsion should be a matter of deep concern for us all as it relates to the core of relations between the UN and Member States.”

The Ethiopian government on September 30 shocked the UN when it declared seven UN officials persona non grata and ordered them to leave the country within 72 hours. Five of the officials are members of the UN humanitarian affairs office and the other are representatives of the UN Children’s Fund and the UN human rights office.

Despite the difficult challenges facing the UN humanitarian operations in Ethiopia, the UN chief said the UN agencies will continue their work as mandated in the African nation and with local and international partners to support millions of people in need of humanitarian assistance in Tigray, Amhara and Afar, and across the country, in full accordance with the UN Charter and General Assembly resolution 46/182.

“I now call on Ethiopian authorities to allow us to do this without hindrance and to facilitate and enable our work with the urgency that this situation demands.” Guterres said.

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Urgent action needed to prevent large armed conflict in Myanmar and beyond, UN says

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New York, September 30 – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said an international response is urgently needed to prevent a catastrophic military conflict in Myanmar that would threaten other Southeast Asian nations.

“The risk of a large-scale armed conflict requires a collective approach to prevent a multi-dimensional catastrophe in the heart of Southeast Asia and beyond,” Guterres said in a report to the 193-nation General Assembly. “Grave humanitarian implications, including rapidly deteriorating food security, an increase in mass displacements and a weakened public health system compounded by a new wave of COVID-19 infections, require a coordinated approach in complementarity with regional actors.”

The UN has called for immediate humanitarian access and assistance to vulnerable communities such as 600,000 Rohingya Muslims in northern Rakhine state and over 700,000 others who fled to Bangladesh after a military crackdown in 2017.

Guterres called for an urgent, unified and international response to put Myanmar back on the track to democratic reform and for the immediate release of the country’s President Win Myint, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and other government officials who detained after the military takeover in February 2021. The military junta claimed that the general election in November 2020 that elected the civilian government in a landslide was marred by voter fraud.

Large scale protests against the military takeover were violently suppressed by military and security forces resulting in over 1,000 people killed and thousands of arrests and at least 120 people who died while under military detention.

Guterres welcomed the appointment of Brunei’s Second Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof in August as Special Envoy to Myanmar by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The UN chief also urged the “timely and comprehensive” implementation of a five-point plan to facilitate a peaceful solution in Myanmar.  The plan called for ending violence, constructive dialogue, the appointment of an envoy to direct mediation efforts and a humanitarian aid package.

Just days before Guterres issued his Myanmar report to the General Assembly, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet in Geneva warned that Myanmar is heading to a nation-wide civil war and the military’s suppression of civilian protests may amount to crimes against humanity or war crimes.

Bachelet said in a report to the 47-member Human Rights Council in Geneva that clashes between the military and civilians have taken place more regularly whereas the country had not seen such violence in generations. The report covered the situation in Myanmar from the military takeover in February to mid-July and was based on interviews with over 70 victims and witnesses to human rights violations, as well as remote monitoring, credible open sources, and meetings with a range of informed stakeholders, UN News said.

“There is no sign of any efforts by the military authorities to stop these violations nor implement previous recommendations to tackle impunity and security sector reform,” Bachelet said calling for the urgent need for strong accountability measures. “The national consequences are terrible and tragic, and the regional consequences could also be profound.”

The report said there have been increasing fighting between the military and ethnic armed groups since the coup, displacing thousands, particularly in Kayin, Shan and Kachin State, where the military has carried out indiscriminate airstrikes and artillery barrages, killing civilians, UN News reported.

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UPDATE: US urges world powers to “go big” on vaccines, orders 500 million doses for developing countries; WHO says not enough

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New York/Washington, September 22 – US President Joe Biden, who has ordered over 500 million vaccine doses from Pfizer-BioNTech to donate to developing countries, has called on governments to meet the challenges of vaccinating the world and solving the shortage of oxygen bottles needed by hospitalized Covid-19 infected people.

 “We need to go big,” Biden told a virtual Covid-19 summit convened by the White House and attended by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and some government leaders who were attending the UN General Assembly in New York.

 “We’re not going to solve this crisis with half measures or middle of the road ambitions – we need to go big. It’s an all hands on deck crisis,” news reports said.

President Xi Jinping of China said in his virtual address to the 193-nation assembly on September 21 that Beijing will provide 2 billion doses of vaccine to the world by the end of this year. In addition he said he will donate $100 million to the World Health Organization’s COVAX vaccine program and 100 million vaccine doses to developing countries this year.

“Vaccination is our powerful weapon against Covid-19,” Xi said in his remarks. “Of pressing priority is to ensure the fair and equitable distribution of vaccines globally.”

The WHO said over 5.7 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally, but 73 percent have been in just 10 countries. High-income countries have administered 61 times more doses per inhabitant than low-income countries. Just 3 percent of Africans have been vaccinated.

The Covid-19 pandemic has killed over 4.5 million people in less than two years.

UN News said Guterres renewed his call at the US-led summit for a global Covid-19 vaccination plan in which manufacturers should at least double vaccine production and ensure 2.3 billion doses are equitably distributed through COVAX to reach 40 per cent of people in all countries by the end of this year and 70 percent in the first half of 2022, as WHO recommended.

Guterres proposed that the global vaccination plan be led by an emergency team composed of countries that produce or have the potential to produce vaccines, WHO, COVAX partners and international financial institutions. He said the World Trade Organization will work with pharmaceutical companies to double vaccine production and ensure equitable distribution.

“This is necessary to solve the problems of intellectual property, the problems of technical support to the countries that can produce vaccines but need to be sure that they have all the safety guarantees in their production and, together, the power and the money that the group of countries I mentioned have,” Guterres said. “The United Nations will of course continue to support vaccine rollout in countries and communities that are hardest to reach.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who also took part in the discussion, thanked Biden for the planned donation of 500 million doses. But he said WHO has so far received only 120 million out of the 1 billion doses pledged by rich countries. He said two-thirds of the 120 million doses came from the United States.

Tedros Adhanom said there should be an ironclad agreement to implement a global vaccination plan because at least 40 percent of the population of every country must be vaccinated by the end of this year, and 70 percent by mid-2022.

“To reach that target, we need 2 billion doses for low- and lower- middle income countries, right now, as the UN Secretary-General said. We call on the countries and companies that control the global supply of vaccines to swap their near-term vaccine deliveries with COVAX and AVAT; to fulfil their dose-sharing pledges immediately; and to facilitate the immediate sharing of technology, know-how and intellectual property,” he said.

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UPDATE: US pledges to work with UN and all countries; China calls for “new type” of international relationship

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New York, September 21 – US President Joe Biden pledged to work with the United Nations to build a future and uphold human rights for all in his first speech to the UN General Assembly that captured the attention of world diplomats who met in person for the first time since the pandemic locked down the world almost two years ago.

Chinese President Xi Jinping also addressed the 193-nation assembly through a pre-recorded video calling for “dialogue and inclusiveness over confrontation and exclusiveness.”

“We need a new type of international relationship based on mutual respect, equity, justice and win-win cooperation,” he said. “We will do the best we can to expand the convergence of our interests and achieve the biggest synergy possible.”

Xi said no country can dictate another about democracy. He said China supports “true multilateralism” and recognizes one international system represented by the UN and UN Charter.

“The UN should hold high the banner of true multilateralism,” Xi said. His speech was translated into English and broadcast to the assembly in New York.

The assembly opened a week-long general debate on the world situation subdued by climate change’s devastations, wildfires, flooding and the Covid-19 virus that has killed more than 4.5 million people worldwide. More than 100 heads of state and government have registered to speak, but about 60 of them will deliver their speeches in pre-recorded videos.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his speech opening the debate that the world is on “the edge of abyss — and moving in the wrong direction. I’m here to sound the alarm. The world must wake up.”

He said the lack of unity among the international community and mistrust between world powers have contributed to the current worsening situation.

“Geopolitical divisions are undermining international cooperation and limiting the capacity of the UN Security Council to take the necessary decisions.,” he said.

“At the same time, it will be impossible to address dramatic economic and development challenges while the world’s two largest economies are at odds with each other,” Guterres said referring to the US-China competition in world affairs.

“Yet I fear our world is creeping towards two different sets of economic, trade, financial, and technology rules, two divergent approaches in the development of artificial intelligence — and ultimately two different military and geo-political strategies.

“This is a recipe for trouble. It would be far less predictable than the Cold War.”

Biden said in his 34-minute speech that the world is at “an inflection point in history” but he said the US is not seeking a new Cold War.

“The future belongs to those who give their people the ability to breathe free, not those who seek to suffocate their people with an iron hand authoritarianism,” he said. “The authoritarians of the world, they seek to proclaim the end of the age of democracy, but they’re wrong.”

Biden said his administration intend to “compete vigorously and lead with our values and our strength to stand up for our allies and our friends.”

“We’re not seeking — say it again, we are not seeking — a new Cold War or a world divided into rigid blocs,” he said.

Biden said his administration is addressing all challenging issues, from climate change, the pandemic and global vaccines, which are on the agenda of the UN General Assembly. World diplomats are to attend other meetings on the sidelines of the assembly session with summits on climate and the global food systems.

“This year has also brought widespread death and devastation from the borderless climate crisis,” Biden said. “Extreme weather events that we’ve seen in every part of the world — and you all know it and feel it — represent what the secretary general has rightly called Code Red for humanity.”

On the pandemic, he said, “We need a collective act of science and political will. We need to act now to get shots in arms as fast as possible, and expand access to oxygen, tests, treatments, to save lives around the world.”

Before ending his speech, Biden urged the international community to work together for a better world. “Let’s make our future, now. We can do it. It’s in our power and capability.”

Speakers on the first day of the General Assembly included the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, whose country by tradition is the first speaker at every annual assembly session since the UN was established in 1945. Other countries include Maldives, Colombia, Qatar, Portugal, Lithuania, Uzbekistan, Iran, South Korea, Switzerland and China.

The assembly’s president, Abdulla Shahid of the Maldives, opened debate by challenging delegates to rise to the occasion. “There are moments in time that are turning points,” he said. “This is one such moment.”

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UPDATE: US pledges to work with UN and all countries; China calls for “new type” of international relationship Read More »

US President Biden pledges to work with UN and all countries, denies seeking a new Cold War

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New York, September 21 – US President Joe Biden pledged to work with the United Nations to build a future and uphold human rights for all in his first speech to UN General Assembly that captured the attention of world diplomats who met in person for the first time since the pandemic locked down the world almost two years ago.

The 193-nation assembly opened a week-long general debate on the world situation subdued by climate change’s devastations, wildfires, flooding and the Covid-19 virus that has killed more than 4.5 million people worldwide. More than 100 heads of state and government have registered to speak, but about 60 of them will deliver their speeches in pre-recorded videos.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his speech opening the debate that the world is on “the edge of abyss — and moving in the wrong direction. I’m here to sound the alarm. The world must wake up.”

He said the lack of unity among the international community and mistrust between world powers have contributed to the current worsening situation.

“Geopolitical divisions are undermining international cooperation and limiting the capacity of the UN Security Council to take the necessary decisions.,” he said.

“At the same time, it will be impossible to address dramatic economic and development challenges while the world’s two largest economies are at odds with each other,” Guterres said referring to the US-China competition in world affairs.

“Yet I fear our world is creeping towards two different sets of economic, trade, financial, and technology rules, two divergent approaches in the development of artificial intelligence — and ultimately two different military and geo-political strategies.

“This is a recipe for trouble. It would be far less predictable than the Cold War.”

Biden said in his 34-minute speech that the world is at “an inflection point in history” but he said the US is not seeking a new Cold War.

“The future belongs to those who give their people the ability to breathe free, not those who seek to suffocate their people with an iron hand authoritarianism,” he said. “The authoritarians of the world, they seek to proclaim the end of the age of democracy, but they’re wrong.”

Biden said his administration intend to “compete vigorously and lead with our values and our strength to stand up for our allies and our friends.”

“We’re not seeking — say it again, we are not seeking — a new Cold War or a world divided into rigid blocs,” he said.

Biden said his administration is addressing all challenging issues, from climate change, the pandemic and global vaccines, which are on the agenda of the UN General Assembly. World diplomats are to attend other meetings on the sidelines of the assembly session with summits on climate and the global food systems.

“This year has also brought widespread death and devastation from the borderless climate crisis,” Biden said. “Extreme weather events that we’ve seen in every part of the world — and you all know it and feel it — represent what the secretary general has rightly called Code Red for humanity.”

On the pandemic, he said, “We need a collective act of science and political will. We need to act now to get shots in arms as fast as possible, and expand access to oxygen, tests, treatments, to save lives around the world.”

Before ending his speech, Biden urged the international community to work together for a better world. “Let’s make our future, now. We can do it. It’s in our power and capability.”

Speakers on the first day of the General Assembly included the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, whose country by tradition is the first speaker at every annual assembly session since the UN was established in 1945. Other countries include Maldives, Colombia, Qatar, Portugal, Lithuania, Uzbekistan, Iran, South Korea, Switzerland and China.

The assembly’s president, Abdulla Shahid of the Maldives, opened debate by challenging delegates to rise to the occasion. “There are moments in time that are turning points,” he said. “This is one such moment.”

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 Rich countries urged to donate $100 billion a year to fight climate change; UN warns of disaster if earth warms up to 1.5 degrees Celsius

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New York, September 20 – The United Kingdom, which will host the next conference on climate change in November, appealed to rich countries to donate a total of $100 billion a year starting from 2020 to help poor countries adapt to and mitigate climate change.

Known as COP26, for the 26th Conference of the Parties in Glasgow from October 31 to November 12. It is considered a critical test to consolidate cooperation between rich and poor countries to implement the Paris climate change agreement signed in 2015. It will bring together the 197 members to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to implement the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 Celsius degrees. To reach that goal, Paris agreement signers will have to adapt to a new era of climate impacts and financially support developing nations to build low-carbon and resilient economies.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson attended a close-door meeting at UN headquarters in New York convened by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to discuss climate issues with world leaders, some of whom through video conference.

The main issue is to mobilize $100 billion a year from 2020 to support developing countries cut carbon emissions, minimize the impact of climate change and adapt their economies to deal with its impact.  Rich countries have pledged some $79 billion in 2019, but still short of the goal of $100 billion for 2020. The funds will go to the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), which is set up to assist developing countries. Another program known as the Accelerating Coal Transition aims at accelerating the closure of coal-fired power plants, creating clean energy generation and creating green jobs.

“In coming together to agree the $100-billion pledge, the world’s richest countries made an historic commitment to the world’s poorest – we now owe it to them to deliver on that,” Johnson said in a statement. The UK prime minister is in New York to address the UN General Assembly session.

 “Richer nations have reaped the benefits of untrammelled pollution for generations, often at the expense of developing countries. As those countries now try to grow their economies in a clean, green and sustainable way we have a duty to support them in doing so – with our technology, with our expertise and with the money we have promised,” he said.

Guterres told a news conference that the closed-door meeting was to instill a “sense of urgency” because of the dire state of the global climate before the Glasgow conference.

“Based on the present commitments of member states, the world is on a catastrophic pathway to 2.7-degrees of heating,” he said.

“Science tells us that anything above 1.5 degrees would be a disaster. To limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, we need a 45 per cent cut in emissions by 2030 so we can reach carbon neutrality by mid-century. Instead, commitments by countries to date imply an increase of 16 per cent in greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 compared to 2010 levels. This means that unless we collectively change course, there is a high risk of failure of COP26.”

Guterres especially called on the group of the world’s richest countries known as G20 to donate to the CIF.

“They represent 80 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions,” he said. “The bottom line is that we need decisive action now around net zero commitments from all countries and the private sector. I want to mention one specific challenge – energy.”

He warned that if the earth’s temperature will rise above 2 C degrees, “the Paris targets would go up in smoke.”

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UN chief not optimistic world situation can improve soon; warns terrorist groups may become more aggressive

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New York, September 19 – International institutions lack “teeth” to fulfill their missions and even those that have them like the UN Security Council have “no appetite to bite,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a wide-ranging interview on current world crises.

He pointed out that the World Health Organization, which is leading the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, has no power to investigate the origins of the virus and deal with giant pharmaceutical companies to obtain global vaccines for all countries

“So, we need a strengthened multilateralism, it’s clear that only cooperating we can solve the problems,” Guterres told UN News before the UN General Assembly is to begin the 76th session’s general debate on September 21.  “But the institutions we have, have no teeth. And sometimes, even when they have teeth, like in the case of the Security Council, they have not much appetite to bite.” 

“We need a multilateral group of institutions network working together, because everything now is interlinked, and with more authority in order to be able to mobilize the whole international community to solve the problems that we face. “

The 15-nation UN Security Council is the highest political body in the UN system with authority to take action on peace and security matters. The five permanent members with veto power – the United States, Russia, France, the United Kingdom and China – are often divided on solving global crises.

Guterres said there is a lack of trust among the big powers in the council. “With this divide among the big powers, with this lack of trust, what we see is an environment of impunity, people think they can do whatever they want. “

The UN chief has issued an 80-page document called Our Common Agenda addressed to the General Assembly, which is a wake-up call on government leaders to take action against serious challenges threatening the world. He said the document helps to “detect the global commons and the global public goods that need improved governance and to work with member states to find mechanisms in order for that governments to be more effective for us to be able to prevent future pandemics, for us to be able to defeat climate change, for us to be able to address the dramatic inequalities in today’s world.”

Afghanistan

Guterres said the situation in Afghanistan is “unpredictable. We all want Afghanistan to have inclusive government.  What happened in Afghanistan, might embolden now, terrorist groups or other rebel movements to become more aggressive.”

“We all want Afghanistan to respect human rights especially of women and girls. We all want Afghanistan never to be again a centre for terrorists, to have a safe haven; we all want Afghanistan to fight drug trafficking, but it is difficult to forecast what’s going to happen. It’s still unclear what’s going to happen.” 

He said Afghanistan is facing an economic collapse and said the international community must find ways to inject some cash in the country’s economy. He said a collapse will have “devastating consequences in relation to the life of Afghans, and also provoking a massive exodus that, of course, will be a factor of instability in the whole region.”

World Health Organization lacks power to investigate Covid-19 origins

Guterres said the Covid-19 virus has defeated the world and it is still spreading in every country almost two years after with dramatic impacts on the lives of people, the economy and widening the gaps between rich and poor countries, between those vaccinated and those who cannot afford it.

“The world was not able to come together and to define a global vaccination plan, and bring the countries that can produce vaccines together, with the World Health Organization, with the international financial institutions, to then deal with the pharmaceutical industry and double the production, and make sure that there is an equitable distribution at the production. This cannot be done by a country alone; it needs to be done by all,” he said.

“The problem is that the multilateral institution we have now – which is essentially WHO – WHO has not even the power to obtain information about the situation. It does not have the power to investigate the origins of a disease.”

Climate change

“If you talk about climate, it is the same,” he said. “We are on the verge of the abyss. The truth is that our objective is very clearly fixed by the scientific community, that temperature should not go above 1.5 degrees until the end of the century.” 

“We are risking not to be able to do it, because countries are not cooperating among themselves. There is a lot of mistrust between developed countries, developing countries. There is a north-south divide that is making it difficult for all to assume commitments, to reduce emissions, in order to have a drastic reduction the next decade or two and reach carbon neutrality in 2050.”

“Power today in the world is still essentially concentrated on men and with the male dominated culture,” Guterres said.

Guterres said gender equality remains a priority for the United Nations but he pointed what he called a “central question, which is a question of power.”

“Power today in the world is still essentially concentrated on men and with the male dominated culture. 

And power is usually not given, power is taken,” he said.  “So, we need women to fully fight for their rights and we need men that understand that only with full gender equality, the world will improve and the problems we solved.”

“We need those men, to engage effectively in the fight for gender equality. And on this question of power in the UN, as you know, we have now parity, equal number of women and men in 180 high ranking offices of the UN and in the leaders of our teams around the world, because we feel that if in the organs where the power exists, there is parity, this will inevitably have consequences, down the line.

So, we must have the same in governments, we must have the same in parliaments, we must have the same in all bodies. “

“We need to have women and men in full equality where decisions are taken, where power exists, to make sure that we change this unbalanced power relationship, that is the result of centuries of male domination and patriarchy. “

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