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Tuesday, October 27, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
GENDER: U.N. Women’s Treaty Weakened by Slew of Reservations
A landmark U.N. treaty on women’s rights, which will be 30 years old next week, is in danger of being politically undermined by a slew of reservations by 22 countries seeking exemptions from some of the convention’s legal obligations.DEVELOPMENT: China, India Lead South-South Cooperation
China and India have been singled out as two countries that have established vibrant economic and financial links with the developing world and played key roles in strengthening South-South cooperation over the last 10 years.POLITICS: U.N. in Final Push for 2015 Development Goals
A special U.N. summit of world leaders, scheduled to take place next year, is expected to make "a final push" to help reach the world body's widely-touted development goals by the targeted date of 2015.DEVELOPMENT: Child Rights Make Headway, But Millions Still Suffering
The international community, which has been hit by a financial meltdown and a global food crisis, claims it is doing its best to protect and safeguard the rights of children worldwide.DEVELOPMENT: UNFPA Puts Human Face on Climate Blowback
A new U.N. report on the hazards of climate change brings a fresh human perspective to an ongoing wide-ranging debate that has focused primarily on energy efficiency and industrial carbon emissions.CLIMATE CHANGE: Small Islands Fear Going the Way of Atlantis
The world's small island states, most of which are painfully vulnerable to the ravages of climate change, have put the United Nations on notice.RIGHTS: U.S., Somalia Still Opt Out of Children’s Treaty
When the U.N. children's agency (UNICEF) commemorates the 20th anniversary of its landmark international treaty protecting the rights of children next week, there will be two countries skipping the celebrations: the United States and Somalia.
Q&A: No ‘One-Size-Fits-All’ for Surging South-South Cooperation
A major international conference on South-South cooperation is scheduled to take place early December in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi against the backdrop of a rising trend in regional economic integration in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.POLITICS: U.N. Affirms Israeli-Hamas War Crimes Report
A 575-page blistering report by Justice Richard Goldstone detailing war crimes in Gaza last December is refusing to die despite an aggressive Israeli smear campaign to kill it.DEVELOPMENT: South-South Unity to Get Boost at U.N. Meet
As the global financial crisis continues to ravage the fragile economies of the world's poorer countries, the United Nations is hosting a high-level international conference next month to boost South-South cooperation.DISARMAMENT: U.N. to Pursue Conventional Arms Trade Treaty
The United Nations, which is pursuing a proposal for "a world without nuclear weapons", will soon turn its attention to another new goal in the field of disarmament: creating a legally-binding treaty on conventional arms.
POLITICS: U.S. Blasted for Sustaining Embargo on Cuba
The administration of President Barack Obama, which has vowed to improve relations with sanctions-hit Cuba, refused to break away from the traditional stand taken by successive U.S. governments and voted against a U.N. resolution calling for an end to the 47-year-old U.S. economic, commercial and financial embargo against the Caribbean island nation.DEVELOPMENT: Land Grabs for Food Production Under Fire
A move by governments and rich investors to raise food crops on farmland purchased in some of the world's poorer countries is coming under fire.CLIMATE CHANGE: Africa Readies United Front for Crucial Copenhagen Talks
As African leaders meet in Ethiopia to discuss the devastating impacts of climate change, the United Nations has released a report warning that the economically-troubled continent will be one of the hardest hit by the ravages of global warming.DEVELOPMENT: Is It Time to Plan Another U.N. Population Meet?
When the United Nations commemorated the 15th anniversary of the 1994 landmark conference on population and development (ICPD) last week, one of the questions lingering in the minds of many seemed obvious: is it time to plan another major conference on population?POLITICS: U.N. Body Backs War Crimes Charges on Israel, Hamas
The 47-member Human Rights Council (HRC) approved a resolution Friday endorsing war crimes charges against Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, as spelled out in a report by a four-member international fact-finding mission headed by Justice Richard Goldstone.
POLITICS: U.S. Berated for Shielding Israel on Gaza Killings
A U.S. decision to stall Security Council action against Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas for war crimes during the 22-day conflict in Gaza last December has come under heavy fire both from inside and outside the United Nations.
HEALTH: Study Faults Unregulated Trade in Human Organs
A growing new market for human organs has prompted the United Nations and the Council of Europe to call for an international convention to regulate the sale of body parts, mostly kidneys and livers, in transplant surgery worldwide.
POLITICS: Obama (and Everyone Else) "Surprised" by Nobel
Friday's announcement that U.S. President Barack Obama had been awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize barely nine months into his presidency drew an outpouring of formal congratulations from around the world, amid scepticism and speculation over whether the prize would ultimately prove an asset or liability.
POLITICS: U.N. Infighting Threatens to Upstage Afghan War
The increasingly deadly battle between Western military forces and Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan is on the verge of being upstaged by a growing political brawl between two senior U.N. officials overseeing the battle-ravaged South Asian nation.MIGRATION: Remittances Also Drive Political Change
The world's 200 million international migrants have traditionally been viewed in terms of dollars and cents: how much hard currency have they remitted to their home countries?« Previous Page — Next Page »
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