Tag: Peace and security

Admissible evidence, competent courts, critical to ensuring justice for ISIL victims in Iraq — Global Issues

Ambassadors were briefed by Christian Ritscher, Special Adviser and Head of the UN Investigative Team to promote accountability for these crimes, UNITAD, established five years ago.

The Islamist group declared a self-styled caliphate across parts of Iraq and northern Syria in 2014, before being militarily defeated and driven from Iraq in December 2017.

Commitment stronger than ever

Presenting UNITAD’s 10th report, he informed of progress to date, including supporting the digitization of millions of documents which are now in the possession of the Iraqi judiciary.

Investigators have also produced a case-assessment on ISIL’s development and use of chemical weapons. Further details will be outlined during an event at UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday, co-hosted alongside Iraq and India.

“Today, the commitment of the Iraqi Government, in partnership with UNITAD, to advance the fight against impunity, seek justice in the name of victims and survivors – most of whom are Iraqis – and to address the remaining threat posed by ISIL, is stronger than ever,” he said.

Mission not over

However, the mission is far from over. Mr. Ritscher stressed that “UNITAD’s work is to not simply establish a record for ISIL crimes, but to hold ISIL members who committed such heinous international crimes accountable, through evidence-based trials and before competent courts.”

“International crimes” refers to the serious violations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The UN team is already working closely with competent Iraqi investigative judges who support their investigations, he said.

“In turn, UNITAD is enhancing their capacities and ensuring that Iraqi courts are ready to hold ISIL perpetrators accountable for their international crimes, when the moment comes,” he added.

UN Photo/Loey Felipe

Christian Ritscher, Special Adviser and Head of the Investigative Team established pursuant to Security Council resolution 2379 (2017) (UNITAD), briefs the Security Council meeting on threats to international peace and security.

Mountains of evidence

Mr. Ritscher assured the Council that there is no shortage of evidence of ISIL crimes, describing the terrorist group as “a large-scale bureaucracy that documented and maintained a State-like administrative system.”

“What we aim to do is to ensure that this evidence is admissible before any competent court, whether in Iraq or in other States where prosecutions of ISIL members for international crimes are taking place,” he said.

Archiving digitized documents

In this regard, UNITAD has been leading a largescale project to digitize “considerable volumes” of ISIL records and battlefield evidence. So far, eight million pages from the holdings of the Iraqi and Kurdish authorities have been digitized.

“Senior Iraqi Judges have informed me that their response times in relation to case files and requests for information have significantly improved, signalling lasting change because of these innovative efforts,” he said.

As a next step, UNITAD is establishing a central archive that will be the unified repository of all digitized evidence against ISIL. The archive will be located at the Supreme Judicial Council of Iraq and launched in the coming days.

“This central repository will play a key role to support prosecutions of ISIL perpetrators for their international crimes in Iraq. Moreover, it could be a milestone to founding a comprehensive e-justice system in Iraq, which can be upheld as a leading example, not only in the region, but also globally,” he said.

Legal framework key

Meanwhile, adopting an appropriate domestic legal framework remains the main challenge, Mr. Ritscher told the Council.

He underlined UNITAD’s committed to supporting the Iraqi-led process towards a legal framework that enables national courts to prosecute ISIL criminal acts as international crimes.

He pointed to the recent establishment of a joint working group bringing together Government, legal and judicial representatives, as well as key parliamentarians, as an important step forward.

“Once an appropriate domestic legislation on international criminal law has been adopted, the way forward will be clearer. I remain hopeful that this will happensooner rather than later,” he said.

Preparing for future trials

In parallel, UNITAD has already begun to contribute to the preparation of future trials.

The Team has intensified cooperation with counterparts in the Iraqi judiciary, to jointly build cases against specific persons of interest and alleged perpetrators, prioritizing those living outside Iraq.

Investigators are currently supporting some 17 countries, by conducting witness interviews, as well as providing expert testimonies and technical analysis in criminal proceedings against alleged ISIL members and supporters.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Dam destruction sparks nuclear safety, humanitarian concerns — Global Issues

The UN Office in Ukraine tweeted that “thousands of people in Ukraine are in peril” following the major breach in the Soviet-era Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric plant, on the country’s largest river, the Dnipro, in the southeast, with video showing torrents of water cascading through.

The Ukrainian and Russian governments blamed each other for launching an attack on the facility – according to news reports – which is under Russian control, on the southern and eastern side of the river, while Ukrainian forces control territory along the opposite bank.

Thousands of people have already been reportedly evacuated, with towns downstream inundated with water.

Misery compounded

Long-term, “many risk being left homeless and in desperate need, compounding the misery Ukrainians face amid Russia’s full-scale invasion”, said the UN Office.

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, said that civilians’ rights to housing, health and livelihoods, along with access to clean water and a health environment, were all at risk, calling for a full investigation into the disaster, and accountability.

Nuclear plant concerns

According to the UN’s nuclear watchdog, IAEA, the damage to the Nova Kakhovka dam in eastern Ukraine has already led to a “significant” reduction in the level of the reservoir that supplies the ZNPP.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi warned that the “absence of cooling water in the essential cooling water systems for an extended period of time would cause fuel melt and inoperability of the plant’s emergency diesel generators”.

‘No immediate risk’

While there was no “immediate risk” to the plant’s safety, as the supply of cooling water from the reservoir “should last for a few days”, the agency’s monitors present at Zaporizhzhya, which is occupied by Russia but operated by Ukrainian civilians, continue to monitor closely the rate at which the reservoir level is falling.

Mr. Grossi also said that a “large cooling pond” next to the ZNPP could potentially provide an alternative source of water, which Ukrainian authorities confirmed later, according to news reports. But he insisted that it was “vital” that this cooling pond remains intact.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

UN Security Council to welcome five new non-permanent members — Global Issues

Algeria, Guyana, Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone and Slovenia will join the premier body for maintaining international peace and security, starting in January, serving for a two-year period.

They were among six countries vying for five non-permanent seats around the Council’s horseshoe-shaped table that will become vacant at the end of the year.

Securing a seat

The Security Council is composed of 15 countries, five of which – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – are permanent members, granting them the right to veto any resolution or decision.

The 10 non-permanent members are elected by the General Assembly, which comprises all 193 UN Member States, and in line with geographical distribution by region.

Voting is conducted by secret ballot and candidates must receive a two-thirds majority, or 128 votes, even if they run uncontested.

Overall, 192 countries voted to fill three Council seats allocated to the Africa and Asia-Pacific Groups, and one each for Eastern Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Slovenia beat Belarus in the race for Eastern Europe, receiving 153 votes versus 38, while Algeria, Guyana, Sierra Leone and the Republic of Korea ran unopposed.

Ready to serve

The five newly elected countries will join Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland as non-permanent members of the Council.

They will take up seats currently occupied by Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana and the United Arab Emirates when their two-year terms end on 31 December.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Central Africa faces ‘turning point’ amid multiple crises — Global Issues

“Central Africa is richer in opportunities and resources than it is in challenges”, but, the coming months will mark “an important turning point” for the region, where crucial political and electoral processes must take place by the end of the year, said Abdou Abarry, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Central Africa.

“We will ensure, with the Security Council’s valuable support, that the episodes of violence, fuelled in particular by hate speech, which have marred elections in the past, are avoided at all costs,” said Mr. Abarry, who also heads the UN Regional Office, UNOCA. “The peace and stability of the subregion are at stake.”

Presenting the Secretary-General’s latest report on developments in Central Africa since his last Council briefing in December, Mr. Abarry said States are making strides in realizing the vision of a “region of prosperity”.

Highlighting successes in resolving tensions, galvanizing reconciliation, and tackling security issues, he commended collective efforts made by leaders of the region, from awareness to act on climate change to fruitful dialogue between Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR).

‘Devastating’ impact of Sudan crisis

Concerns remain, including a rise in piracy alongside the deep impact of the Sudan conflict and the war in Ukraine, he said.

The ongoing fighting in Sudan is having “devastating humanitarian consequences” for Chad and CAR, he said.

Since fighting broke out between rival military forces in mid-April, an exodus of civilians fleeing the violence has spilled over neighbouring borders. For Chad alone, $129.8 million will be needed to care for an estimated 100,000 refugees for the next six months.

“Recent developments on the border between Chad and CAR and the impact of the Sudanese crisis on these two countries remind us of the urgent need to adopt a holistic approach to issues of peace and security in Central Africa, a region already marked by the presence of a multitude of armed and terrorist groups,” he said.

“Without a swift and peaceful resolution of the conflict, the effects will be disastrous not only for Sudan, but also for all countries in the Lake Chad Basin region,” he cautioned, adding that the recent joint military operations by Chad and CAR on their shared border reflect their desire to strengthen bilateral cooperation to address common security challenges.

Impact of Ukraine war

Central Africa is suffering the impact of the crisis in Ukraine, which is reflected in inflation and rising prices of basic foodstuffs and fuel, sometimes with shortages.

“Although most States have taken measures to mitigate the effects on consumers, we must remain aware that the further deterioration of the socio-economic situation could lead to a rise in the social front that would be detrimental to the stability of countries,” he said.

© UNICEF/Chulho Hyun

In 2004 in northern Uganda, “night commuters” left their homes each night to stay in shelters fearing that children would be forcibly abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). (file)

Upsurge in piracy

The security situation in Central Africa has also been marked by an upsurge in maritime piracy incidents in the Gulf of Guinea, he said.

This trend highlights the need to strengthen interregional cooperation, especially as the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Yaoundé Code of Conduct approaches, he added, reiterating his Office’s readiness to support efforts to strengthen coordination among such stakeholders are the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Gulf of Guinea Commission.

Addressing root causes

However, as the situation in the Lake Chad Basin and the Sahel demonstrates, a purely military response will not be sufficient to address the root causes of insecurity, he said, emphasizing that political and socioeconomic measures are also needed to stop armed groups from exploiting intercommunal conflicts, such as those related to transhumance.

States in the region discussed the cross-border management of the activities of armed groups and related concerns at a recent meeting of the Security Council’s Standing Advisory Committee (UNSAC), he said.

Pledging support for ongoing regional efforts, he said a joint mission is currently being deployed, in partnership with the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) in the four countries of the Lake Chad Basin to assess the impact of violent extremism on local populations.

For more details on this and other meetings occurring throughout the UN system, visit our dedicated UN Meetings Coverage page.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Gas lighting — Global Issues

In this feature, part of a series exploring the fight against trafficking in the Sahel, UN News focuses on the illegal fuel trade in the region.

Transported by criminal networks and taxed by terrorist groups, illegal fuel flows along four major routes snaking across the Sahel towards ready buyers, siphoning millions from nations on the road to stabilizing their security-challenged region, home to 300 million people.

“Fuel trafficking is undermining the rule of law; it’s fuelling corruption,” said François Patuel, Chief of the Research and Awareness Unit at the UN Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC). “It’s also enabling other forms of crime. That’s why it needs to be addressed.”

Demand calls, traffickers answer

Fuel trafficking is big business in the region. A report from the UNODC, Fuel Trafficking in the Sahel, finds that it funds illegal non-State armed groups, terrorist groups, financial institutions, corrupt law enforcement officials, and groups with ties to prominent individuals with interests in retail fuel companies. It is also in high demand among the population.

The biggest enablers are low, heavily subsidized gas prices in Algeria, Libya, and Nigeria. UNODC reported that Libyan gas stations charge 11 cents a litre, but across the border, Malian pump prices average $1.94.

Lost millions

“By just crossing the border, they make 90 cents profit per litre,” Mr. Patuel explained. “It’s easy revenue for criminal groups.”

He said the traffickers then sell to the population, who rely on cheaper fuel to carry out their activities and everyday life, from fuelling generators to produce electricity or fill their gas tanks to drive their goods to market.

“They really exploit those needs in order to sell their criminal products, including contraband fuel,” he added.

The UNODC report tracked operations across Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. Along well-trafficked routes, drivers carry millions of litres of contraband fuel each year. Established routes run from Algeria to Mali, another links Libya to Niger and Chad, and yet another begins in Nigeria via Benin towards Burkina Faso, and via Niger to Mali.

Lost revenue for Sahelian nations is staggering, said Amado Philip de Andrés, UNODC’s regional representative for West and Central Africa.

The illicit trade costs Niger almost $8 million annually in tax revenue, the according to the country’s High Authority for Combatting Corruption and Related Offences. Traffickers who evaded taxes by purchasing fuel marked for export at reduced costs and diverting deliveries domestically or across borders, the Government office said.

Terror tax

Smugglers do, however, pay “taxes” to newly formed terrorist groups, including around Kourou/Koualou, where illegal warehouses stored tanks of contraband fuel while in transit, UNODC reports, adding that Al-Qaida-affiliated groups operate some of zone’s gold-rich mines, and routinely levy fees on contraband.

In terms of natural resource trafficking in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, “local communities are particularly vulnerable, as they live in isolated areas with a limited law enforcement presence,” according to a Trends Alert report by the Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED).

Often, contraband fuel scratches the surface of a very deep well of trafficking, reflecting a nexus of criminal activities, from drugs to migrants, Mr. Patuel said, citing the example of a 2021 Nigerian police seizure of 17 tons of cannabis resin involving a known fuel trafficker who owned petrol stations. The suspect allegedly used drug trafficking proceeds to buy contraband fuel sold at his petrol stations.

UNODC highlighted other new and disturbing trends showing companies associated with Security Council-sanctioned individuals involved in fuel smuggling from the Niger to Mali, as traffickers peddle an ever-growing range of products.

Such profiteering has raised alarms across the UN system. Continuously expressing concern at terrorist groups using proceeds of natural resource trafficking to fund their nefarious activities, the UN Security Council has urged States to, among other things, hold perpetrators accountable.

UNODC/INTERPOL

In Burkina Faso, frontline officers carried out checks at suspected smuggling hotspots.

Excising corruption

However, ending fuel smuggling is a complex venture with potentially deadly consequences in a region with sky-high rates of informal employment, from 78.2 per cent in the Niger to 96.9 per cent in Chad. Damming illicit fuel flows, the UNODC worries, could drive up transportation and energy prices along with costs for most commercial goods and services.

The Office suggests that Sahelian nations and neighbouring countries identify and prosecute fuel smuggling cases with direct links to organized crime, armed groups, and corruption. At hand are tools contained in such international treaties as the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and UN Convention against Corruption.

Capping illicit flows

While some anti-smuggling efforts have been met with violent resistance, including the death of a law enforcement officer, despite the risks, the nations continue to stem illicit flows using fresh and collaborative approaches, UNODC said.

The agency’s latest threat assessment on the phenomenon provided a raft of examples, from police-escorted gas convoys in Algeria near the Malian border to Benin’s imposed curfews and raids to stop cross-border armed groups.

For its part, Burkina Faso has been meticulously dismantling since 2019 a highly organized fuel trafficking network that smuggled more than 3 million litres of contraband over a three-year period, with fleets of trucks transporting up to 30,000 litres per trip.

Back in Kourou/Koualou, the flow of illegal fuel has been reduced to just a trickle following government crackdowns, but terrorist groups continue “to tax what fuel is still being trafficked, as well as other smuggled goods”, according to UNODC.

“Criminal groups feed on and exploit the needs of the population,” the agency’s chief researcher Mr. Patuel said. “Combining the efforts and having a regional approach will lead to success in addressing organized crime in the region.”

© UNDP/Aurelia Rusek

Ongoing violence, climate change, desertification, and tension over natural resources are all worsening hunger and poverty across Chad.

UN in action

The UN and its partners are working to stamp out trafficking and also build up opportunities in the region. Here are some examples:

  • The UN launched a $180 million project in 2022 targeting 1.6 million people in the Liptako-Gourma area, straddling the borders of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, aimed at improving economic opportunities and livelihoods, with a focus on women, youth, and pastoralists, as part of its Integrated Strategy for the Sahel (UNISS).
  • Within UNISS peace and security initiatives, a project is helping to prevent the spread and rise of violent extremism in transborder areas between Senegal, Guinea, and Mali.

  • Stakeholders exchanged initiatives and ideas on preventing violent extremism in West and Central Africa at a meeting held in Dakar from 28 February to 2 March and co-organized by the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), Senegal’s Centre for Advanced Defence and Security Studies, and Switzerland’s foreign affairs department.

  • The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the G5 Sahel Force signed a new agreement in April to strengthen regional and intra-state cooperation across the spectrum of human mobility as an accelerator to building resilience, development, and integrated border governance in the G5 countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger).

  • The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is addressing emerging challenges in Côte d’Ivoire, issuing in late May its first situation report on the country, which continues to be impacted by the spillover of conflict from the central Sahel crisis.

UNOCHA/Eve Sabbagh

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has launched cash-for-work programmes which employ youth from host communities in Awaradi, Niger, to make bricks.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Crisis fuels ‘desperate’ situation for civilians — Global Issues

Since the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces began, more than 1.2 million people have been displaced within the already impoverished country, and hundreds of thousands have fled across neighbouring borders. A rising death toll, rampant looting of humanitarian aid, and rising needs for assistance are growing concerns, UN agencies warned.

The situation was “particularly desperate” in Khartoum, where people were fleeing the violence or were unable to leave, said Patrick Elliott, head of operations for Sudan for the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFCR), briefing journalists at the UN in Geneva, who just returned from a visit to Port Sudan.

Tarik Jašarević, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said the numbers being provided from the Ministry of Health were an underestimate of the overall death toll.

Crippled health sector

Many health facilities are simply unable to function, Mr. Jašarević said, also raising concerns for around 20,000 pregnant women who are currently unable to receive pre-natal care.

Some 11 million people are in urgent need of health assistance in Sudan, including more than 2.6 million women and girls of reproductive age who have barely any access to contraception, pregnancy-related services, or treatment programmes for sexually transmitted infections, or response services for sexual violence, which is reported to be rising as the crisis escalates, according to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).

An estimated 260,000 pregnant women in Sudan, including 90,000 expected to give birth in the next three months, could be affected by ongoing fuel shortages and power cuts that have already forced many hospitals to suspend emergency obstetric and neonatal care services, the agency said.

Fuel shortages threaten safe births

“We are running out of fuel,” said Sarah, a midwife at Khartoum’s UN-supported Ombada Hospital. “If the electricity cuts persist, we don’t know how we will be able to assist pregnant women giving birth a week from now.”

The agency is set to distribute 10 metric tonnes of life-saving sexual and reproductive health supplies to hospitals and health facilities, and could expand its pilot project to provide solar power, launched in 2022 in several hospitals in Sudan, to health centres in Khartoum, providing round-the-clock electricity for maternity wards, operating rooms, blood bank refrigerators, incubators, and medicine storage facilities.

© UNFPA

Midwives at a UNFPA-supported hospital in Sudan before the crisis destroyed at least two out of three hospitals. (file)

UN food agency condemns looters

The World Food Programme (WFP) condemned on Friday the looting of humanitarian supplies at its distribution hub in south-central Sudan on Thursday, adding to $60 million in assets stolen since the start of the crisis in mid-April.

“This theft of humanitarian food and assets totally undermines these operations at a critical time for the people of Sudan,” the UN agency said. “This must stop.”

The WFP warehouses in El Obeid host one of the agency’s largest logistics bases in Africa and represents a “vital lifeline” for operations in Sudan and South Sudan, according to the agency.

“Millions will be impacted by this attack,” the agency warned, adding that initial reports suggest that food and nutrition supplies, vehicles, fuel, and generators have been looted in the most recent incident.

Since violence erupted, armed groups have attacked and looted WFP and partners’ storage facilities on multiple occasions and aid workers have been killed or injured, the agency said.

The ongoing violence could lead an estimated 2.5 million people in Sudan to “slip into hunger in the coming months”, the agency added.

Warning that acute food insecurity in Sudan could reach record levels, affecting more than 19 million people or 40 per cent of the population, WFP reiterated calls to all parties to the conflict to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian assistance, aid workers, and assets so that the agency’s life-saving work can move forward.

‘Fearlessly’ providing support

Mr. Elliott, of the IFCR, said a team had been established to support the Sudanese Red Crescent, which have been mobilizing daily to help those in need. Emphasizing the bravery of volunteers, who are “fearlessly” providing local support, he said an emergency funding appeal and reports of rising malnutrition were also among grave concerns.

While funding is yet to materialize to address the immediate needs in Khartoum and surrounding areas, he reported good cooperation between UN agencies who continue to reach communities in local areas and provide them with support.

Outside of Khartoum, volunteers were working with communities of internally displaced persons, he said.

However, in Port Sudan, the levels of malnutrition are significant, he added.

Security Council considers UN mission renewal

The UN Security Council is scheduled to meet on Friday afternoon to consider the Secretary-General’s latest reports on the country and take action on the potential renewal of the mandate of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS).

The 15-member Council had established the special political mission in 2020 for an initial year to assist Sudan, then had renewed it annually. The UN Mission mandate is set to expire on Saturday.

© WFP/Mohamed Elamin

In Port Sudan, emergency food packages are distributed to people fleeing fighting in Khartoum.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Security Council must find unity to calm rising tensions — Global Issues

“Key peace and security issues, such as the situation on the Korean Peninsula, must be an area for cooperation,” she cautioned in a briefing to the 15-member Council on recent developments. “Diplomacy – not isolation – is the only way forward.”

During the Council’s emergency debate on the issue, members expressed divergent views, with many agreeing that diplomacy can forge a path towards peace, and others raising concerns about what they regard as other nations’ provocative military activities.

Failure to launch

Raising concerns about bristling tensions over recent activities, Ms. DiCarlo recalled that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), more commonly known as North Korea, launched on Wednesday what Pyongyang described as “a military reconnaissance satellite”, which crashed off the Korean Peninsula’s western coast.

Attributing the failed launch to the low reliability of a “new-type engine system and fuel”, Pyongyang intends to conduct a second launch as soon as possible, according to media reports, she said.

In line with its five-year military development plan, the DPRK had greatly increased its missile launch activities in 2022 and 2023, including more than 80 launches using ballistic missile technology, she added.

While States have the right to launch a satellite and to benefit from space activities, she said Security Councilresolutions expressly prohibit the DPRK from conducting any launches using ballistic missile technology.

She added that even though Pyongyang had on Tuesday sent a pre-launch notification to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), it failed to alert other international organizations, including the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

DPRK is ‘unconstrained’

The DPRK “is unconstrained, and other parties are compelled to focus on military deterrence”, she said.

Despite calls from the UN Secretary-General to refrain from conducting further satellite launches using missile technology and to swiftly resume dialogue towards a sustainable peace and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Pyongyang had said the Wednesday launch was “a response to ongoing military exercises in the region”, Ms. DiCarlo said.

The last time DPRK conducted a similar launch was in 2016, which triggered the Council’s condemnation over ballistic missile technology use in violation of relevant resolutions, she said.

Nuclear weapon threats

Media reports indicate that several nations have conducted military exercises in the area in recent years.

Developing a military reconnaissance satellite was part of the DPRK’s five-year military development plan, but Ms. DiCarlo noted that it had been unveiled in January 2021, well before the resumption of military exercises in the region.

Meanwhile, Pyongyang had said launches in 2022 and 2023 involved systems with “nuclear weapon roles”, including “tactical” atomic weapons, and “continued to make references to the possible use of nuclear weapons” since her last Council briefing, she added.

Stolen cryptocurrency and aid concerns

Turning to other concerns, she said her office has been following reports of continued illicit cyberactivities attributed to DPRK-affiliated actors, including the theft of more cryptocurrency in 2022 than ever before.

Regarding the worrisome humanitarian situation, she said “the UN is ready to assist the DPRK in addressing basic needs of vulnerable populations”, reiterating a call on Pyongyang to allow the unimpeded entry of international staff, including the UN Resident Coordinator, and of humanitarian supplies, to enable a timely and effective response.

She said the Secretary-General remained firmly committed to achieving the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons and welcomed the recent re-affirmation by the Republic of Korea of its commitment to its obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

For more details on this and other meetings occurring throughout the UN system, visit our dedicatedUN Meetings Coverage page.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Economic woes dash job prospects in low income countries: ILO — Global Issues

In its new Monitor on the World of Work report, ILO shows that while in high-income countries, only 8.2 per cent of people willing to work are jobless, that number rises to over 21 per cent in low-income countries – or one in every five people.

Low-income countries in debt distress are worst affected, with more than one in four people who want to work unable to secure employment.

Widening jobs gap

ILO’s Assistant Director-General for Jobs and Social Protection, Mia Seppo, said that global unemployment was expected to fall below pre-pandemic levels, with a projected rate of 5.3 per cent in 2023, equivalent to 191 million people.

However, low-income countries, especially those in Africa and the Arab region, were unlikely to see such declines in unemployment this year.

The 2023 global jobs gap, which refers to those who want to work but do not have a job, is projected to rise to 453 million people, she said, with women 1.5 times more affected than men.

Africa hit hardest

The UN agency further indicated that Africa’s labour market had been hit the hardest during the pandemic, which explained the slow pace of recovery on the continent.

Unlike wealthy nations, debt distress across the continent and a very limited fiscal and policy space, meant that few countries in Africa could put in place the kind of comprehensive stimulus packages they needed to spur economic recovery, ILO explained.

Inadequate social protection

Ms. Seppo stressed that without improvement in people’s employment prospects, there would be no sound economic and social recovery. Equally important is investment in welfare safety nets for those who lose their jobs, the ILO senior official insisted, which is often inadequate in low-income countries.

According to the agency’s research, boosting social protection and expanding old age pensions would increase gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in low and middle-income countries by almost 15 per cent over a decade.

Social investment benefit

The annual cost of such measures would be around 1.6 per cent of GDP – a “large but not insurmountable” investment. Ms. Seppo suggested that the amount could be financed by a mix of social contributions, taxes and international support.

“There is an economic gain to investing in social protection”, she said.

Ms. Seppo also insisted that the need to create fiscal space for social investment in low-income countries should be considered “with urgency as part of the ongoing global discussion on the reform of the international financial architecture.”

Prepare for the future of work

While the unemployed divide projected by the report was worrisome, it was “not inevitable”, Ms. Seppo said, and the right concerted action on jobs and social protection funding could support a recovery and reconstruction which leaves no one behind.

In calling for improved capacity to develop “coherent, data-informed labour market policies” that protect the most vulnerable, the ILO senior official insisted that these should have an emphasis on upskilling and reskilling the labour force to prepare it for a “greener, more digital world of work”.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

UN chief strongly condemns DPRK spy satellite launch — Global Issues

The country, commonly known as North Korea, attempted to fire off its first military reconnaissance satellite earlier that day but it crashed into the sea, according to media reports.

The DPRK has reportedly pledged to conduct another launch after it learns what went wrong.

The UN chief noted that any launch using ballistic missile technology is contrary to relevant Security Council resolutions.

“The Secretary-General reiterates his call on the DPRK to cease such acts and to swiftly resume dialogue to achieve the goal of sustainable peace and the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” the statement said.

Chaos and confusion

The launch sparked confusion in neighbouring South Korea and in Japan.

Authorities in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, sent text messages urging residents to move to safety but later said they were sent in error.

The Japanese Government also issued a warning to people in Okinawa prefecture, located in the south of the country.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Guterres voices deep concern as Anti-Homosexuality Act signed into law — Global Issues

The draconian law foresees the application of the death penalty and long prison sentences for consensual sex between adults.

Non-discrimination principle

Mr. Guterres called on Uganda to fully respect its international human rights obligations, “in particular the principle of non-discrimination and the respect for personal privacy”, irrespective of sexual orientation and gender identity.

He also called on all Member States to end the criminalization of consensual same-sex relations.

According to the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS, such criminalization continues in 67 countries around the world, with 10 still imposing the death penalty.

Undermining development

Just last week, the UN rights chief Volker Türk said that anti-LGBTQI laws like Uganda’s “drive people against one another, leave people behind and undermine development”.

In a statement released at the end of March, when the Ugandan parliament first adopted the legislation, he described the discriminatory bill as a “deeply troubling development” that was “probably among the worst of its kind in the world”.

“If signed into law by the President, it will render lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Uganda criminals simply for existing, for being who they are. It could provide a carte blanche for the systematic violation of nearly all of their human rights and serve to incite people against each other.”

‘Massive distraction’

The bill, which was formally adopted on 21 March, proposes the death penalty for the offence of aggravated homosexuality, life imprisonment for the “offence of homosexuality”, up to 14 years in jail for attempted homosexuality, and up to 20 years merely for promoting homosexuality.

Mr. Türk said that the law would be a “massive distraction from taking the necessary action to end sexual violence”.

He warned that it would also expose journalists, medical workers, and human rights defenders to lengthy prison terms, simply for doing their jobs.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Exit mobile version