'Sadhguru' Jaggi Vasudev leads yoga at the UN on International Yoga Day. Credit: Valentina Ieri / IPS.

By Valentina Ieri
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 21 2016 (IPS)

The word yoga means “unite” in Sanskrit, and the Indian government hopes that the ancient practice will help United Nations member states to work together to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The International Day of Yoga was celebrated here Tuesday with an outdoor yoga session led by Indian yoga master ‘Sadhguru’ Jaggi Vasudev.

“How can (we) transform the world without transforming human beings?” asked Vasudev, who is also founder of the Isha Foundation, an international non-profit organisation. “It is only by transforming individuals that a change in the world can be achieved.”

“How can you have a peaceful world if you do not know what inner peace is?” he added. “Yoga is the search for human wellbeing. When you address human wellbeing in a scientific way, that is yoga.”

Sadhguru’s approach of combining scientific yoga with human wellbeing is part of a long history of yoga being used to promote large-scale socially, sustainably, and culturally appropriate health, education, and environment projects.

One of them is the Project Green Hands, an initiative set up in 2004 with the target of planting over 25 million tree saplings.

“Yoga means that you can transcend the limitations of physical nature and go beyond the form that we are. Once this becomes a living experience, sharing and living together will become a common experience everywhere.”

The Indian yogi continued – “Our common idea of profit is very short term […] But no matter what kind of business we are running, we should turn the customer into our partner, the employee into our partner. Essentially business should be about human well-being.”

The annual celebrations were organised by India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations.

Credit: Valentina Ieri / IPS

“Yoga, is much more than a physical regimen.” said Syed Akbaruddin, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN. “At its core, yoga is as much about mindful thought as it is about mindful action.”

These two yoga pillars – continued Akbaruddin – have a direct bearing on our collective responses to global problems and raising a global consciousness about the 17 SDGs.

Highlighting the potential for yoga to contribute to sustainable development and peace UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon said:

“Practicing yoga can also help raise awareness of our role as consumers of the planet’s resources and as individuals with a duty to respect and live in peace with our neighbours.”

“All these elements are essential to building a sustainable future of dignity and opportunity for all.”

In 2014, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to proclaim June 21 as the International day of Yoga co-sponsored by a 170 member-states. That decision showed the importance of yoga’s social, health and educational aspects.

Not only has yoga gained increasing popularity among youth and adults in different parts of the world, it is also linked to a healthier lifestyle and choice of living.

“Yoga means union between body and mind, between us and other human beings, and between human beings and nature, and it is because of this interdependence and interconnection that we are able to save problems,” said Germán A Bravo-Casas, President of the UN Yoga Club.

“If we are optimistic and change within ourselves”, said Bravo “than we will be able to solve catastrophes such as the contamination of the oceans, climate change, over-population, hunger and poverty”.

On the right Bruce Wilkinson, President and CEO of CMMB - Healthier Lives Worldwide. Next to him (in the middle) stands Ambassador Mwaba Kasese-Bota, Permanent Representative of the Mission of Zambia to the United Nations, at the CMMB conference on $500 million for the U.N. SDGs, event on March 21. Photo: CMMB

By Valentina Ieri
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 25 2016 (IPS)

CMMB –Healthier Lives Worldwide– a leading international nonprofit health non-governmental organisation (NGO) – has pledged 500 million dollars to help implement the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)– with a specific focus on maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health.

The commitment will be deployed through the NGO’s flagship initiatives CHAMPS– which is a maternal and child health program – and the Healing Help– which is a platform for the distribution of medications and health commodities in partnership with the pharmaceutical companies.

Bruce Wilinson, President and CEO of CMMB

“CMMB is taking a bold step by providing $500 million over the next five years for general support of the UN’s SDGs and the Every Woman Every Child campaign, in particular. We can take this important step because we work in partnership with so many equally dedicated organisations,” said Wilkinson.

The NGO’s new commitment, which is in line with the updated Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health– launched in 2015 by Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, in order to end all forms of preventable death for women, children and adolescents – builds on a previous commitment made in 2014.

Initially, explained Wilkinson, CMMB committed to establish by 2020, 20 CHAMPS programs, whose acronym stands for Children and Mothers Partnerships,to provide long-term health care support and training in five developing countries: Haiti, Zambia, Kenya, Peru, and South Sudan.

The target of 20 CHAMPS by 2020 was presented with an initial pledge of 22 million dollar cash, and 33 million dollar in Gifts-in Kind, mostly pharmaceutical products.

“We are ahead of schedule and have already committed 8 million dollars to our pledge of 22 million,” commented Wilkinson, who remarked that eight CHAMPS programs have been successfully implemented in those countries, and the ninth one will be implemented this summer.

“Champs brings together the clinical and community aspects”, Wilkinson told IPS, “linking households in a tangible way to sustained public and clinical interventions based on real need. We are also able to track and measure effective health delivery which in the long run changes peoples demand for health services as a basic right.”

“Over 1,200 professional medical volunteers have been deployed,” he pointed out, including “680,000 (people) have been directly assisted of which 200,000 mothers and children under the age of five. 3,843 community health workers and clinicians have been trained and 165 medical facilities have been supported (through) the CHAMPS programming.”

Praising the long relationship between CMMB and local partners in Zambia, Ambassador Mwaba Kasese-Bota, Permanent Representative of the Mission of Zambia to the U.N. congratulated CMMB for its renewal commitment to the U.N. 2030 Agenda.

“CMMB has been working to reach [remote] areas in (Zambia) and have been providing the much needed services, along with the economic empowerment for women in order to ensure that women and their families can live healthy lives […] We are asking for others to join the partnerships that have already been created by CMMB.”

Paul Mikov, CMMB’s Vice President for Institutional Partnerships, said that despite the immense progress made in reducing global maternal and child mortality rates through the implementation of the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000, and the new 17 SDGs adopted in 2015, “hundreds of thousands of mothers still die every single year while giving life at birth, and almost six million children under 5years of age die every year from preventable causes.”

Figures from the World Health Organisation show that since the 1990s global maternal mortality has dropped by 43 percent. However, in 2015, 303 000 women were estimated to die due to childbirth complications, diseases, or infections. Currently, around 830 women die every day, 99 percent of whom live in developing countries.

For over a century, CMMB-Healthier Lives Worldwide has been fighting on the front lines for global health, equality, environmental protection, access to safe and clean water, and women’s empowerment, Wilkinson remarked, while also leading several health relief activities in the highest burden countries, where women and children in local communities lacked access to adequate health services.

According to the data provided by the NGO, over the last ten years, the organisation has provided over two billion dollars in medicines and health and medical supplies to local healthcare partners in 120 countries. In 2015, CMMB collaborated with more than 220 institutional partners worldwide.

The event on March 21 was an occasion to celebrate CMMB-Healthier Lives Worldwide long-standing partnership with the pharmaceutical industry, which in many ways has operated as the backbone for this joint venture of bringing needed resources and services in high burden countries worldwide.

“Our long standing relationships with the pharmaceutical industry will be optimized to meet the needs especially in the highest burden countries where women and children experience the highest morbidity and mortality rates globally,” said Wilkinson.

Between 2016 and 2020, through the Healing Help platform, CMMB will deliver the 500 million U.S. dollars worth of medicines and health commodities, marking a 30 percent increase in medical products to countries such as Nigeria, India, Sierra Leon, Liberia, Burundi, Zambia, South Sudan, Kenya, Haiti, Malawi, Nepal, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, explained Wilkinson.

On the occasion of renewing its commitment to the 17 SDGs, CMMB also launched its new visual identity and logo “CMMB Healthier Lives Worldwide“. Lara Villar, CMMB’s Senior Vice President for Strategy and Organizational Measurements, said:

“Our new logo expresses our newer vision and strategy, the way we work in partnership and our commitment to improve the life of women and children. This is an important step for CMMB to be seen as modern and relevant. […] Our visual identity illustrates who we are. It is a symbol of our faith our core values and our mission to achieve Healthier Lives Worldwide.”

“We, indigenous women want to be considered as part of the solution for sustainable development, because we have capabilities and knowledge, ” said Tarcila Rivera, a Quechua journalist and activist for the rights of indigenous people in Peru, at a press conference on the Empowerment of Indigenous Women.

Tarcila Rivera Zea, President of the Centre for Indigenous Cultures of Peru (CHIRAPAQ) and a member of the UN Women Global Civil Society Advisory Group, addresses a press conference on indigenous women’s rights, March 2015. Photo: UN Media/ Mark Garten

Rivera, like many other women who are fighting for the rights of indigenous people in parts of Central and Latin America, Northern Europe, Canada, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Africa, is attending the 60th annual sessions of the inter-governmental body, UN Commission of the Status of Women (CSW60), which concludes March 24.

As a functional commission of the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the CSW is meeting with representatives of Member States, U.N. agencies, international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society to discuss the status of women’s political, economic and social advancement and the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls.

Opening the 60th CSW session, Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, who during his nine years in office has appointed over 150 women as Assistant Secretaries-General or Under-Secretaries-General — urged country leaders to take action to end gender inequality.

“In countries where children have “disappeared”, grandmothers stood up to demand justice. In areas ravaged by AIDS, HIV-positive mothers replaced stigma with hope. In homophobic societies, lesbian victims of rape survived and organized […] As long as one woman’s human rights are violated, our struggle is not over.”

In line with this year’s CSW theme —Women’s Empowerment and Its Link to Sustainable Development and the U.N. 2030 Agenda— indigenous women are demanding governments in their countries to recognise them as a driving force in achieving economic and social development.

In Kenya, it is mostly women who play a key role in supporting families despite growing up in a patriarchal society, explained Valerie Kasaiyian – an indigenous Maasai woman, lawyer and educator for girl’s reproductive rights.

There are indigenous women groups, such as those from Samburu, who for the past 20 years have provided alone for their entire community by building houses and schools. They also established self-sustaining economic activities by selling livestock or traditional jewels in order to get their families out of poverty, continued Kasaiyian.

Women from Marsabit, in the northern part of Kenya, developed sustainable farms, where they grew tomatoes and other crops in greenhouses, and then sold them to the community, without reliance on their male counterparts.

“Sustainable development is about preserving resources and the land for future generations. Indigenous communities, who for centuries have lived in isolation, have found their own system to work the land and to preserve it. It is in our ancestral culture and identity,” Kasaiyian told IPS.

“Yet we assist to a systematic ethnocide of our indigenous culture by the government […] where young indigenous women are meant to be homogenised and integrated into the mainstream culture,” she added.

Since the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action, along with the U.N. Resolution 1325, on the importance of women in peace negotiations and peace-building, and the 2007 U.N. Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People, there have been several important steps to highlight the voices of indigenous women in the international arena. But at a slow pace.

Indigenous women and girls- who are not to be confused with rural women – have their own identity, defined by their own specific language, education, traditional knowledge and socio-economic values, remarked Rivera, who is the founder of the Center for Indigenous Cultures of Peru (CHIRAPAQ) .

However, they are mostly excluded by government policies, as they are not fully treated with human dignity, said the Peruvian activist.

“Many programs look at us as subject of assistance. But we don’t want to depend on these kind of food programs. We are trying to be considered as subject of change, and development from within, (through) our capacity,” she said.

Despite the lack of thorough national statistics, indigenous women suffer from high levels of discrimination, sexual and domestic violence, extreme poverty, trafficking, lacking in access to land rights and education and poor maternal and infant healthcare.

Myrna Cunningham Kain, member from Nicaragua of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, briefs journalists on highlights of the twelfth session of the Forum on Indigenous Issues, taking place in New York from 20 to 31 May, 2013.Photo: UN Media/Evan Schneider

Myrna Cunningham, an indigenous Mixteca woman from the Waspam community in Nicaragua, told IPS about the problem of data disaggregation in certain countries, where indigenous people are not counted or excluded from certain indicators.

“When talking about statistics” – said Cunningham, who is President of the Center for Autonomy and Development of Indigenous Peoples (CADPI), and former chair of the U.N. Permanent Forum of Indigenous Issues – “self-identification, should be the main indicator, which can be used complementarily to other types of info-gathering questions. Also, government statistics should use more culturally sensitive indicators, which will help to define public policies and implement them.”

With the adoption of the U.N. Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People, the U.N. set a framework that will foster the partnership between members states and indigenous communities, through dialogue, proposals and projects, in order to further implement the Declaration and recognise and protect indigenous women, Chandra Roy-Henriksen, Chief Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, told IPS.

Kasaiyian said: “We will strongly push for a U.N. Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Women specifically, so that women can prosecute in case of violation of their rights in international tribunals.

Indigenous women must bridge the gap between academics, professionals and activists, by establishing their own jurisprudence and theories of law regarding the eradication of violence against women and to empower future generations.”

(End)

Photo credit: Unicef/2014/Romenzi

By Valentina Ieri
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 9 2016 (IPS)

Seeing children dying due to a lack of doctors and medicines, and seeing them grow up in a society with no food, schools or text books, is the reality of the daily life of more than 250,000 Syrian children currently under siege in the war-ravaged Middle Eastern nation.

The besieged areas in Syria have turned into open-air prisons, where children and families are trapped, surrounded by warring groups preventing food, fuel and other vital supplies from entering and also stopping people from fleeing.

The crisis situation is detailed in the latest report “Childhood Under Siege” released by Save the Children, and presented at a press conference sponsored by the UN Correspondents’ Association (UNCA).

The Syrian conflict, which is now entering its sixth year, has resulted in over 250,000 people killed. 4.6 million Syrians fleeing the country, 6.6 million being internally displaced and over 13.5 million in need of humanitarian assistance.

“While many besieged areas struggle to find chlorine to purify water, parties to the conflict have reportedly used chlorine gas to attack and kill civilians.”

A Syrian mother, a resident of Ghouta, a suburb of the capital of Damascus, is quoted as saying: “The medical station here is no more than a table, a sterilizer and a piece of gauze”.

From the left Sonia Khush, Save the Children’s Regional Director with Ambassador Michael Klosson, Vice President for Policy and Humanitarian Response, Save the Children, while presenting Save the Children’s report “Childhood Under Siege – Living and Dying in Besieged Areas of Syria” at a press conference organised by the United Nations Correspondents Association. Credit: Valentina Ieri/IPS

In some cases, when people need to take painkillers, they take one pill every three days. There are no vaccines and no medicines for chronic diseases such as heart conditions and diabetes.

The repercussion of this situation is not only physical, but also psychological for women and children, as they grow up far from a safe environment, and too close to a culture of war, she added.

“Children are in constant fear of air bombardments, which are dropped more in besieged areas than in any other parts of Syria,” said Khush.

Data from the report were collected through 22 conducted focus group, and interviews with more than 125 parents and kids living in eight different besieged areas of Syria.

The results revealed that Syrians have been forced to cut the number of meals per day, by half or more. In seven of the groups (32%), people said they sometimes were unable to eat a meal per day.

Four of the adult groups (24%) reported that local children have died because of lack of food. Parents in 14 groups (84%) reported their children becoming more aggressive, withdrawn or depressed.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Syrian humanitarian worker, who founded in 2012 a local organisation which coordinates humanitarian activities in besieged areas, described the “art of survival” of thousands of families:

“Mothers who are forced to cook grass and feed their children on animal food. Several new-born babies die at checkpoints because they cannot get the right medicines…This is what it means to me to live in besieged areas.”

Despite six resolutions adopted by the U.N. Security Council since 2014, calling for a humanitarian access in Syria, the number of people living under siege has more than doubled in the last year, along with the number of bombings.

“The situation has worsened,” said Khush. “As in 2015, only one percent of the people living in besieged areas received free UN aid. However, communities are becoming more resilient and determined to act to solve their own problems.”

“The entire civil society in Syria — which prior to the conflict did not exist — is trying to rebuild a broken society through the contribution of women and men who, despite the daily risks, are determined to be part of the solution”, the Syrian volunteer added.

“It is important for us to have started already the process of rebuilding the country, giving back people their dignity and ownership,” she underlined.

“Located in Damascus, we work in areas controlled mainly by the rebel groups” the volunteer told IPS, “And through a strong network of volunteers and local councils we check daily if areas get bombed, schools get attacked, and if children went out safely. We directly talk to people,” she said.

In areas such as Eastern Ghouta, which is mainly an agricultural land, people do not want hand-outs anymore. When supplies get sent in, people prefer seeds, tools and agricultural equipment, Save the Children’s Regional Syria Director said.

“There is a lot of focus on convoys and food aid, which is very important” – she said – “But that does not address so many other aspects of what people really need. […] It does not address the issue of helping these communities to generate an income of their own to be self-sustainable, which is what Save the Children is doing.”

(End)

To successfully implement the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by world leaders last September, it is time for “Turning Conversations into Action.”

This was the theme of the Third Annual Power of Collaboration Global Summit, organised by IMPACT Leadership 21 — a global platform which provides inclusive and innovative leadership solutions driving change.

The summit, which took place on February 29 at the Economic and Social Council Chamber (ECOSOC), was the occasion to launch IMPACT Leadership 21 “500”: an initiative that offers a service aimed at distributing press releases to international organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in order to bridge the gap between civil society and capital markets.

The project is co-sponsored by media partners iCrowdNewswire and Inter Press Service (IPS), an international news agency focusing largely on the developing world.

Hector Botero, President of iCrowdNewswire, told IPS: “Civil society has been largely ignored in the financial markets, but there is a growing interest in investing in issues, causes and in doing impact investments. Like various companies that use tools to effectively communicate with capital markets, the civil society needs to do the same.”

For a long time now, costs have also kept civil society away from engaging with the private sector, said Constance Peak, chief financial officer (CFO) and co-founder of IMPACT Leadership 21.

“But this initiative is free, and NGOs can start having their press releases published just like the big companies, except they are not going to pay $5,000 to $10,000. We have finally bridged the financial gap and now we will help NGOs to craft their messages,” Peak told IPS.

The aim of the IMPACT Leadership 21 “500” is to recruit 500 organisations from all countries and regions worldwide, regardless of cause, size or financial resources, and offer them a space where, through high quality corporate communications guidance, they can increase their visibility, raise awareness, and advocate for their goals.

Botero said iCrowdNewswire — a company founded in 2015 and marketing technology software — is partnering with IPS, a news agency that has a track record of nearly 52 years in the field of news dissemination, and is recognised by ECOSOC as an NGO.

“(We’ll) be able to deliver these services and help organisations to communicate with stakeholders, investors, consumers, regulators, institutions and governments. This is going to be the way to generate the appetite from those that have the money to invest in civil society projects,” he added.

This collaboration will guarantee positive results – said Botero. IPS receives over 5,000 to 10,000 press releases a month, from NGOs worldwide, but it is difficult for the agency to publish all of them, he added.

“Through our system and our platform, we guarantee publishing and assistance to all these organisations, at absolutely no cost, while providing them with a voice, tools to enhance their media exposure and subsidising them.”

Co-sponsoring the Third Annual Summit along with IMPACT Leadership 21, were in the Foundation for the Support of the U.N. (FSUN), the Mission of the Czech Republic to the U.N. and other private partners such as IBM, Microsoft, Bloomberg Philanthropies and Eclat Impact.

As Botero pointed out, the summit showed how to build partnerships between the public and the private sector. “Here, today, are companies such as Microsoft, and IBM which have the funds, the knowledge, human capital and the financial resources that the public sector can use, and that it is willing to use,” he told IPS.

The message of IMPACT LEADERSHIP 21 is to create a new political and economic framework, in line with the UN’s Agenda 2030.

In doing so, the organisation brings together experts from different sectors — public, civil society, private, academic — and different levels, including grassroots, national and international, in order to solve the Millennium challenges of sustainable development and climate change. IMPACT also accelerates gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment.

“We hold the conversation that no-one else is doing,” remarked Peak. “Private sector, entrepreneurs, advocates, governmental and intergovernmental experts discussing their commonalities and universalities. These people are empowered to make an immediate change.”

“The Power of collaboration is social evolution,” said the CFO of IMPACT Leadership 21, “It is in each of us to spark change […] It’s time for adaptation, mutation and other changes for the sake of sustainability, justice and survival.”

(End)

As the global humanitarian crisis continues to devastate civilian lives in conflict zones, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed to the international community to ensure “no-one in conflict, no-one in chronic poverty, and no-one living with the risk of natural hazards and rising sea levels, is left behind.”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (second from left) briefs the General Assembly on his report for the World Humanitarian Summit, which is to take place on 23-24 May in Istanbul, Turkey. Also pictured (from left, front row): Stephen O’Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator; Mogens Lykketoft, President of the seventieth session of the General Assembly; and Catherine Pollard, Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management. Credit: UN PHOTO/Rick Bajornas

Speaking to delegates during the launch of a new report, he said the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit is “the moment for us to come together to renew our commitment to humanity.”

The report, “One Humanity: Shared responsibility“, was released Tuesday three months ahead of the summit meeting of world leaders scheduled to take place in Istanbul, Turkey, on May 23-24.

The United Nations says it needs more than 20 billion dollars to feed and care for over 60 million people who are either displaced internally or who have fled their home countries becoming refugees virtually overnight.
And there are about 40 countries – out of the 193 UN member states – which are engulfed in “high-level, medium-level and low-level crises and violence,” according to Ban

“Given the current crises in our global political economy, along with climate change”, Ban warned, violent extremism, terrorism, transnational crime and persistent brutal conflicts are devastating the lives of millions of people and destabilizing entire regions.

“Today’s complex challenges cross borders and surpass the capacity of any single country or institution to cope,” the Secretary-General said.

“We need to restore trust in our global world order and in the capacities of our national and regional institutions to confront these challenges effectively.”

According to a senior U.N. official, who provided a background briefing last week, the report contains a personal plea from the Secretary-General to “restore humanity”, while guaranteeing dignity and safety to all people, in accordance with the U.N. Universal Declaration of Rights and the 2030 Agenda.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) with Mogens Lykketoft, President of the seventieth session of the General Assembly, at the meeting where the Secretary-General briefed the Assembly on his report for the World Humanitarian Summit. Credit: UN PHOTO/Rick Bajornas

As part of Ban’s five-year plan, the WHS will appeal to the international community to come together to re-discover “global unity and solidarity” and end human suffering and inequality, according to the official.

“Funding figures for humanitarians have totally mushroomed up to over 600 percent of what we required ten years ago… and almost 80 percent of humanitarian staff, but also peace-keepers, and staff of special political missions are now deployed in these protracted situations” the U.N. official remarked, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, along with civil society, showed their positive response to Ban’s initiative.

Oxfam’s Humanitarian Representative, Charlotte Stemmer, said: “The humanitarian system is overwhelmed with the amount of rising needs in a world racked by crises. […] (World leaders) should not pay lip service to this, as concrete action is urgently needed. The World Humanitarian Summit’s greatest legacy would be a real commitment to change this.”

According to the new report, “the international community is increasing its response to crises while struggling to find sustainable political and security solutions to end them.”

In 2014, the economic and financial cost of conflicts was estimated to be around 14.3 trillion dollars (13.4 percent of the global economy).

The five core shared responsibilities are: One, political leadership to prevent and end conflicts. Rather than investing in humanitarian assistance, the international community should prioritize political solutions, unity, and create peaceful societies.

Two, enforcing and abiding to international laws in order to protect civilians, respect human rights, restrict the use and transfer of certain arms and ammunition, halt bombings and strengthen the global justice system.

Three, “leaving no one behind” — which is also the central theme of the U.N.’s 2030 Development agenda – and reaching out to the poorest and the most vulnerable men, women and children in war-torn areas or in case of natural disasters. It also includes the protection of women and girls and focuses on the right to education for all.

Data from the report highlights that in 2014, conflicts and violence forced around 42.500 people to flee their homes daily. This resulted in 60 million internally displaced peoples, refugees and asylum-seekers by the first half of 2015.

About half of the world’s refugee children are missing out on primary education and three quarters do not have access to secondary education, according to a UN report.

Four, changing people’s lives. Currently, nearly 1.4 billion people live in fragile situations, and figures are estimated to grow up to 1.9 billion by 2030, says the report.

Therefore, it is fundamental to develop coordinated actions to anticipate crises, reinforce local institutions and governments, build community resilience, and invest in data and risk analysis.

Five, investing in humanity. Ban highlighted the concept of “grand bargain” urging donors and national authorities to change their mindset “from funding to financing” local actors and local institutions, while increasing cost-efficiency and transparency.

Organised by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Relief (OCHA) the WHS summit offers for the first time the opportunity to reflect on a new humanitarian aid framework – explained Ban.

The summit also aims at bringing together the international community –- civil society, world leaders, private sector, peace-builders representatives, peace-keepers, and NGOs — to design new policies and set new strategies for humanitarian assistance and relief in affected countries.

In a preface to the report, Ban wrote: “I ask global leaders to come to the World Humanitarian Summit prepared to assume their responsibilities for a new era of international relations; one in which safeguarding humanity and promoting human progress drives our decision-making and collective actions.”

(End)

15 September 2015, in the Syrian Arab Republic, (foreground) twin sisters Kadija and Bayan, 11, attending school. SOURCE: UNICEF/Sanadiki

By Valentina Ieri
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 4 2016 (IPS)

More than $10 billion were pledged as humanitarian aid for war-ravaged Syria at the fourth international donor conference in London.

In his opening remarks Thursday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was implicitly critical of the international community for its failure to end the Syrian conflict, which has entered its sixth year.

Urging all participants to increase funds, he said “the situation is not sustainable. We cannot go on like this. There is no military solution. Only political dialogue, inclusive political dialogue, will rescue the Syrian people from their intolerable suffering,” he said.

World leaders, including heads of state and heads of government from the UK, Germany, Kuwait, Norway, Jordan, along with leaders of about 70 other delegations, pledged over $10 billion — more than twice as much as last year’s $3.8 billion in pledges at the donor conference in Kuwait.

“Today’s pledges” – remarked Ban – “will enable humanitarian workers to continue reaching millions of people with life-saving aid,” alleviating the horrendous suffering of Syrian refugees by helping children to get back to school, designing employment programmes and re-building infrastructure, Ban added.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (top right) addresses the donors conference entitled “Supporting Syria and the Region” in London. Hosted by the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, Kuwait and the United Nations and building on previous conferences in Kuwait.
Pictured on dais (from left): Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway; Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany; Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Amir of the State of Kuwait; and David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Source: UN PHOTO/ Eskinder Debebe

Simon O’Connell, Mercy Corps Executive director, said leaders should allow “Syrians and host communities (to) have maximum control over their own futures, by investing in small and medium entrerprises and enabling the creation of jobs.

“But no amount of aid will end the suffering of the Syrian people unless there is an end to the conflict and full humanitarian access.”

Mercy Corps, which was one of only two international organisations invited to the “Inside Syria” plenary session Thursday, said the recent bombings and the increased military offensive have forced around 21,000 people to flee towards the Turkish border.

Future prospects seem dark unless something is done to stem the violence, Connell warned.

Gordon Brown, former British Prime Minister and current U.N. Special Envoy for Global Education, said: “Education has finally been recognised as essential humanitarian aid to meet the needs of Syria’s six million displaced children…It means that by 2017 all refugee children will be offered a place at school – for the first time ever in a humanitarian crisis.”

Gordon Brown’s new 2016 “Marshall Plan” requires funds amounting about 1.5 billion pounds sterling (approx. $2.4 billion) in order to reduce the increasing level of child marriage, child labour and child trafficking in the region.

Providing schools in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan will guarantee a future for both Syrian girls and boys and prevent internally displaced families from departing into unsafe journeys towards Europe, added the U.N. Special Envoy.

“We have to find the £1.5 billion” – urged Brown. “To fully fund this welcome promise, and if bigger numbers of Syria’s 12 million displaced persons are not to head for Europe — and become not just a humanitarian problem but a security problem — we urgently need to collect funds and pin down the pledges to secure the one million plus additional school places promised,” Brown added.

(End)

In 2015, the number of international migrants reached 244 million – a 41 percent increase compared to early 2000 – according to a United Nations report, released on January 12. Of those 244 million migrants, 20 million were refugees.

Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson addresses a press conference on the Secretary-General’s roadmap on the large movement of migrants and refugees, and the launch of the 2015 revision of the International Migrant Stock report. SOURCE: UN PHOTO/ Evan Schneider

Bela Hovy, Chief of the Migration Section, Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), also addresses the press conference on the Secretary-General’s roadmap on the large movement of migrants and refugees, and the launch of the 2015 revision of the International Migrant Stock report. SOURCE: UN PHOTO/ Evan Schneider

The United States hosts the largest number of international migrants (47 million), which equals to one fifth of the world’s total, according to UN figures.

Trailing behind the United States are Germany and Russia, with 12 million respectively, Saudi Arabia with 10 million, the United Kingdom with nine, and the United Arab Emirates with eight million.

Drawing attention to refugees, Eliasson noted how particularly relevant migration is for population growth. “Between 2000 and 2015, positive net migration contributed to 42 percent of population growth in North America and 32 percent in Oceania. In Europe the size of the population would have fallen in the absence of a positive net migration”.

The international community, he said, must focus more on the “positive narratives of international migrations”, such as remittances, exchange of international labour and the economic contribution of migrants to both the country of origins and the recipient country.

Currently, the three main countries with the highest outflow of refugees are Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia, where the population is forced to flee due to political conflicts and lack of infrastructures, social and public services for men, women and children, said Eliasson.

“Migration should be safe, orderly and regular” – he said- “although we have seen that this is not the case today.” He highlighted the need to design good policies in the host countries, and ultimately solve the problems in the countries of origin.

It is also necessary to support countries of transitions, such as Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, in developing the adequate infrastructures and humanitarian responses to welcome refugees, said Eliasson.

Reinforcing this view, Hovy said: “It is important all these groups of migrants have rights, especially the right of refugees not to return to their countries where their life and their routine is at risk, and the right to seek asylum”.

Back in November 2015, U.N. Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, announced the need for a roadmap on the large movement of migrants and refugees.

As part of Ban’s roadmap, three other meetings are schedule to take place in 2016:

First, the UN, along with UK, Kuwait, Germany and Norway will address the fourth Financial International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria, on February 4, in London.

Second, the Office of the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) will hold a conference in Geneva on March 30 on resettling Syrian refugees. Third, the international community will gather at the World Humanitarian Summit, on May 23-24 in Turkey.

(End)

The United Nations is convinced the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by world leaders last September, can be successfully implemented only with the inclusion of all segments of society, including governments, civil society organisations (CSOs), women, youth, indigenous people and the private sector.

David Le Blanc, Senior Sustainable Development Officer at the U.N. Department for Social and Economic Affairs (UN/DESA) pointed out that the word “inclusive” is mentioned in five out of the 17 SDGs targets, and 22 times overall in the agenda.

Speaking during a UN panel discussion on ‘Exploring Inclusiveness in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, on December 14, Le Blanc added: “It means reaching the “furthest behind first […] including all sections of the society as it would be very hard to defend a society where some do not have access to basic necessity, such as shelter, health services, income, discrimination of women, or lack of opportunities.”

Setting the tone at the opening of the U.N. Summit for the 2030 Development Agenda last September, the Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, said SDGs will leave “no one behind”:

“The new agenda is a promise by leaders to all people everywhere. It is a universal, integrated and transformative vision for a better world…for people, to end poverty in all its forms.”

The panel discussion, organised by the Mission of South Korea, in collaboration with the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), focused specifically on the concept of inclusiveness.

Ambassador Choong-hee Hahn, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea and chairman of the 47th session of the U.N. Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), said : “Three key words relate to inclusiveness: people, justice and dignity. Dignity should be our ultimate goal for achieving inclusiveness, as people need to be aware of their rights and privileges, in order to change current inequalities and injustice,” socially, economically and politically.

Therefore, – continued Ambassador Hahn – in order to create a safe, and sustainable framework for economic and human development, the world needs to achieve global citizenship through education, gender equality and women empowerment.

Lakshmi Puri, U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Intergovernmental Support and Strategic Partnerships, and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women said without half of humanity realising their rights, sustainable development will not be achieved.

‘Therefore inclusiveness is about policies implementation, but also about driving a global movement for a structural transformation for people at the citizenship level,” added Puri.

But how can “inclusiveness” be implemented in real terms?

Only through a well-designed joint action between the private sector, good governance, and the rule of law.

“Examples of inclusive business” – said Ambassador Hahn – “are long term contracts between companies and small-medium manufacturing companies in developing countries. In this way, the supply and the demand can be sustainable.”

“Inclusive entrepreneurship” – continued the Korean Ambassador- “Is about training and teaching students of the developing countries so that they can open a business in a sustainable way,” along with inclusive knowledge-sharing, through communication technologies in developing economies.

The innovative aspect of inclusive business is that the role of the private and public sector in boosting sustainable development must not be conceived purely in terms of income growth.

Taffere Tesfachew, Director, Division for Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programmes at UNCTAD, said: “Eradicating poverty by 2030, means eradication to zero, everywhere. This means a 4-5 times increase gross national income (GNI) per capita, that is inclusive, if we are going to achieve it. But first, we must recognise that [previous] growth and development strategies were not inclusive.”

He said about 450,000 million people are currently living, below the poverty line of 1.25 dollars per day in 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs). 34 out of 48 LDCs are in Africa, where the daily consumption is around 20-25 cents a day, Tesfachew said.

“We always believed that economic growth is the key to development, in terms of rising incomes, industrialisation and poverty reduction…But we know that all this has not happened. What drives growth, matters. But if growth is not originating where the poorest live and work (in rural areas), then there is no way to bring inclusiveness,” he argued.

Growth is about investing in people, said Tesfachew. “Inclusiveness cannot be solved by transfer of income, but only by creating jobs, which is the most effective and dignified way to reduce poverty,” he continued.

“That is why the private sector is very critical in creating jobs and opportunities. The challenge of the 2030 SDGs is to lead growth by creating jobs and bringing more income, consumption and demand for investments. Inclusiveness should benefit everyone, and hence, the idea of leaving no one behind.”

(End)

The year 2015 has been a challenging year for the growth of the global economy, currently suffering from economic recession, marked by high volatility in financial markets, large capital outflows, lower commodity prices and macroeconomic instability .

Nevertheless, the situation does not look particularly grim, says the annual report –World Economic Situation and Prospect 2016 report (WESP 2016)— released on December 10 by the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN/DESA).

The report has been published in collaboration with the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the five U.N. regional commissions, plus the World Tourism Organisation (WTO).

According to the report, world commodity prices have fallen by 20.6 percent since July 2014, while global inflation has reached its lowest peak since 2009, and oil prices have dropped by almost 60 percent.

However, future global economy will gear up by 2.9 percent in 2016, and 3.2 percent by 2017, supported by less restrictive fiscal and monetary measures worldwide.

Lenni Montiel (right), Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development. Pictured at his side is Hamid Rashid, Chief of the Global Economic Monitoring Unit in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

At the current rate of 2.4 percent, growth in developing and transition countries (those shifting from a central government to a market economy) has slowed down to its weakest pace since the global financial crisis of 2008/2009, notes the report.

Economic growth in China, as well as in Brazil and the Russian Federation will recover slowly in the coming years. Developed countries, instead, will regain momentum in 2016, scoring a growth by over 2 percent (2.2 in 2016 and 2.3 in 2017) for the first time since 2010.

Hamid Rashid, Chief of the Global Economic Monitoring Unit at UN/DESA, said: “[…] Accommodative monetary policies will raise overall investments and economic growth, while guaranteeing adjustments in the commodity sector and prices, and reducing volatility in the financial markets”.

Along with monetary policies, which did most of the heavy-lifting to support growth since the global crisis in 2009, now it is time for active fiscal policies and well-designed labour market strategies to boost economic productivity and re-generate employment, added the report.

Montiel said a direct consequence of a slower global growth – linked in turn to a lower wage growth – is an increasing unemployment rate, which is still very high in many developing and transition economies.

“Job insecurity is often becoming more entrenched amid a shift from salaried work to self-employment,” the U.N. Assistant Secretary-General added.

The current world economic stagnation is also worrying because it may halt the process of poverty reduction towards sustainable development in less developed countries, said Rashid.

Therefore, countries should adopt “policies that can be aligned in a way to promote employment and further investments to reduce inequality and poverty,” he said.

Finally, the UN/DESA report highlights a positive aspect between global economic growth and the global energy carbon emissions.

In 2014, for the first time in the past two decades, the rate of carbon emissions did not experience any growth, which is an achievement—even as it continues as a key issue in the ongoing Paris negotiations on the U.N. Climate Change Convention, (COP21) slated to conclude Friday or over the weekend.

These highlights are also in accordance with the recently published World Energy Outlook 2015 report, on the benefits of renewable energy for environmental sustainability, released by the International Energy Agency.

“Perhaps world countries are accepting the idea that there can be economic growth without necessarily increasing carbon emissions […] It is important for world leaders to realise that the future of our earth is guaranteed,” added Montiel.

(End)

While world leaders have gathered in Paris to discuss actions to reduce gas emissions and climate disasters, the International Energy Agency (IEA) is urging countries to reflect on the necessity to reform the energy sector.

“Two thirds of emissions causing climate change comes from the energy sector. Without solving the problem in the energy sector we have no chance to solve the climate problem,” said Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the IEA, while presenting the World Energy Outlook 2015 (WEO) report on December 1, at a conference on sustainable development and access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

Launched for the first time at the U.N., the report shows a detailed analysis of how the energy sector is going through a transition from fossil fuels, such as coal, gas and oil, to renewable energy – hydro power, wind and solar.

In his opening remarks, Mohinder Gulati, Chief Operating Officer for the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) Forum, said: “The WEO 2015 is not simply an analysis of the energy sector, but it positively influences the thinking of leaders in the energy sector and policy makers worldwide.”

According to the report, renewables contributed to almost half of the world’s new power generation capacity in 2014 and have already become the second-largest source of electricity, after coal. In turn, for the first time in history, fossil fuels prices are declining.

“In 2015, investments in the oil sectors declined more than 20 percent, and will continue to decline in 2016, with serious implications for the market and for energy security threats,” explained Birol.

Data from the report shows that in 2014, 50 percent of all new power plants accounted for renewable energy alone. Whereas, the other 50 percent was made up of all fossil fuels – oil, coal, gas.

“This is a huge change in the power generation system, mainly because renewables are becoming cost competitive,” remarked the IEA Executive Director. Not only there is an ongoing transition in the energy supply, but also in the energy demand growth.

Recently, China’s coal consumption, one of the largest in the world, has sharply declined as the overall economy growth has slowed down, along with a lower demand for energy, says the WEO2015 research.

The same is happening for advanced economies such as Europe, United States and Japan, which are richer and are able to use more efficiently a reduced amount of energy consumption.

Instead, “In the future, the main drivers of energy consumption will be emerging economies in south-east Asia, such as Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines,” predicted Birol, adding that in these countries, governments are reforming fossil fuels subsidies and opting for new energy efficiency policies, which are more beneficial and cost-effective.

“Energy efficiency policies” – said Birol – “will have implications for the environment and for oil consumption, and will slow the demand for energy, by making countries richer and the environment safer.”

According to the IEA figures, in 2014, China’s renewable energy investments were larger than all European countries, plus United States and Japan, put together.

However, China’s leadership in the global energy demand growth will soon be handed over to India, which has a fast growing economy, and therefore the demand for energy consumption is very high.

In India it is expected that the number of the urban population will grow up to 300 million people in the next 20 years, says the IEA document, which will put even more pressure on the already 250-300 million people who are still living without electricity.

Therefore, the transition in the energy sector towards clean energy is vital in relation to the Climate Change Convention, or COP21, as it clearly shows a commitment by most world countries to reduce their greenhouse emissions in order to limit the rising global temperature to no more than two degrees celsius.

“If the global temperature goes higher than two degrees, as scientists expect it to reach 2.7 degrees celsius, the implications will be catastrophic, especially for Africa and India […] The IEA hopes that the Paris pledges are cemented, with a concrete push towards new investments in renewables, advanced energy technology, energy efficiency and reforms of the energy subsidies,” concluded Birol.

(End)

Human beings are born, live and grow old. But recent global trends on a growing ageing population are raising serious concerns among governments worldwide.

“The reduction of fertility, as part of the demographic transition, causes population ageing. This is universally true, and affects, or will soon affect, all countries in the world” John Wilmoth, Director of the Population Division at the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), told IPS, following a panel discussion on November 3 on ‘Policy Responses to Low Fertility.’

The meeting was co-hosted by UNDESA and the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea.

In her opening remarks, Ambassador Youngju Oh, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea, said: “Declining mortality and fertility over the past two decades in most parts of the world, including in particular Korea (1.2 births per woman), have led to a significant shift in the age structure of world population, bringing a range of social as well as economic implications to the countries facing this issue.”

Ambassador Oh warned that “prospects of future demographic changes at the national as well as the global level have the potential to alter global development,” urging for the need to address efficient and responsive policies to this new challenge.

People live longer today due to improved conditions of living, which, in turn, has led to a reduction in human mortality, said Wilmoth, highlighting the new concept of “modern” family.

Today, having a smaller family nucleus is remarkable and a “sign of success of our species”, as compared to, in previous decades, having larger families – for women had to compensate high mortality rates with higher fertility.

People should accept and adapt to the fact there will be bigger proportions of older people rather than children and young people, in the near future, he added.

Therefore, ageing is not the problem, but “the challenge is that it is occurring at a very rapid pace,” especially in countries with low fertility rates – well below two children per woman – such as central and southern Europe and East Asia, Wilmoth said.

He also underlined the fact that smaller families are the result of modern life. “Higher costs of living, education – especially for girls, enhanced women role’s in the society, and longer working schedules, had profound influences on fertility and ageing population. This, in the long term, can create problems, in terms of social and governmental support, health care, and the pension system.”

According to UNDESA, and the International Education and Research Organisation, East-West Centre (EWC), birthrates in Europe and East Asia have fallen well below two children. In certain cases, it is just one child per woman on average.

Despite current population growth of 7.3 billion people, which is estimated to reach 11 billion by the end of the century, figures from the Population Division of UNDESA and the EWC studies show that 75 countries, or areas in the world, have below-replacement-level fertility in 2015, and the number will rise to 120 countries or areas by 2050.

By 2060, if low fertility rates continues in Korea, people aged 65 and above could account for 40 percent of the total population. This in turn could have severe implications on public social expenditures which could account for 29 percent of GDP by 2060, a research from UNDESA and EWC showed.

With the exception of Africa – which has the highest fertility rate in the world – Europe, North and South America, East Asia (including China) South Asia, and Oceania, will keep their birthrates low despite a slow population growth.
So how can countries deal with an ageing population?

There are multiple ways, Minja Kim Choe, Senior Fellow at EWC, told IPS.

In Norway and Sweden, for instance, the government formulated indirect fertility policies by improving gender equity at the work place and guaranteed supportive services for working mothers, explained Minja.

On the contrary, other countries, such as France, advocated direct fertility policies, with the goal of leading women to have more children, through family leaves or childcare assistance.

“In Sweden the government says ‘work!’, and in France it says ‘have children, and work’,” said Minja.

There is a wide range of effective responses that governments can come up with, said Wilmoth.

One way is for relatively rich countries to permit a certain flow of migrants – who are mostly young adults – in order to recruit the next generation.

This will be, not through birth but through immigrations—and in this way rejuvenating the overall population,” he added.

(End)

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) and Amb. Choong-hee Han. Credit UN Photo/ Mark Garten

By Valentina Ieri
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 14 2015 (IPS)

In a world where high levels of social and religious intolerance, conflicts, violent extremism and environmental degradation are threatening justice and peace, the United Nations is trying to find ways to maintain world order and promote sustainable development.

This year, the drafting of the post-2015 U.N. agenda, which has set up the targets for the next 15 years of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), represents a turning point for achieving development worldwide.We need a new system that revitalises the classrooms and contributes substantially to peace and security.

Finding a solution to 21st century challenges requires the creation of a fresh, universally-based, inclusive and transformative paradigm. The key to this paradigm is Global Citizenship Education (GCED).

Great emphasis has been placed on the role of education since U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the “Global Education First Initiative”, in 2012, which put GCED as one of its main principles.

Following the 2015 resolution adopted by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on the necessity to conceptualise and implement policies concerning global citizenship education, and the adoption of the Incheon Declaration on the Future of Education adopted at the World Education Forum (May 19-22), hosted in Seoul, major steps forward have been made in relation to GCED.

Advocates say the next step is to include GCED within the education targets in the SDGs that will be ratified in September in New York.

A seminar to raise awareness and spread the concept of GCED will be held on Jun. 15, organised by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the U.N., along with the collaboration of the Permanent Missions of the United States, Nigeria, Qatar, France, the UNESCO, international organisations and NGOs.

In an interview with IPS, the Permanent Deputy Representative of Korea, Choong-Hee Hahn, spoke about GCED and its relevance for building a more peaceful world.

Q: What is Global Citizenship Education?

A: Generally, education is defined in functional terms, such as access to schools and quality of education in preparation of a professional career. But the new framework of GCED should focus on orientation.

There are three main aspects that GCED should promote. Firstly, the “sense of being”, teaching students, since their early age, about what kind of citizens they should become. They should be sensitised about future challenges, such as climate change, intolerance and violent extremisms.

Secondly, the “sense of responsibility and privilege of being a global citizen.” GCED should include multicultural diversity and mutual respect, by understanding the real meaning of fundamental and human rights values, dignity and democracy.

Thirdly, “compassion and empathy”. The revolutionary aspect of GCED is its holistic approach to education, rather than advancing to next the level of education or job searching. This is the best approach to cope with our Century complexities.

Another important concept of GCED is inclusiveness.

Hatred and violence come from a sense of isolation, and a lack interconnectedness. Teaching inclusiveness, embracing different social, political and economic aspects. In this way, people will feel respected and will play an active role tin the society.

Q: Why is Korea leading GCED?

A: It is because of the rapid development Korea went through in the past decades. Thinking about the history of Korea, we experienced immense poverty. However, by investing in education, and through the promotion of democratic values we reached development.

Today, Korea is very multicultural, multiethnic and multi-religious, based on the respect of human rights. Christians, Muslims Confucians and Buddhists live cohesively together. We are a positive example of education, tolerance and peace. As a role model, we would like to contribute and raise awareness on GCED without bias nor prefixed prejudices.

Q: Why bringing GCED within the U.N. agenda post-2015 development agenda?

A: This is the right time to think about how and why the U.N. is pursuing the new SDGs. The U.N. first priorities are now dignity of people and the planet, along with justice and prosperity. These are value oriented goals and objectives. The U.N. agenda is based on three main pillars: peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights. I think all those issues are intertwined with education, and GCED is the solution to peace and security – by promoting tolerance and responsibility – sustainable development –  through inclusiveness and equity – human rights – understanding the privilege of being a human being and democratic values.

Q:What is GCED methodology?

A: Global education should be based on the participation of multiple stakeholders. Not only teachers and students, but also worldwide social, economic, cultural experts, NGOs and youth groups.

GCED should be built on a methodological paradigm, not based on textbooks, but on discussions and participation of all students in the class. New audio-visual methods, and participatory discourses, through fieldwork and exchange programmes. We need a new system that revitalises the classrooms and contributes substantially to peace and security.

GCED is not about replicating the paradigm of “Enlightenment and Western” values. On the contrary, by focusing on inclusiveness, it aspires to find a world denominator common to developed and developing countries.

However, given that many children still have no access to education, GCED should mobilise funding and concrete means of implementations. GCED should also be participatory and content-sharing.

To do so, it is important to develop Information and Communication Technology (ICT) through the use of internet, computers, and mobile phones, even in the remotest areas of the planet, along with the support of the private sector. For instance, in Korea, we are leading several educational projects with private companies such as Samsung .

Q: What are the main challenges to GCED?

A: Unfortunately there are still huge financial gaps and inequalities among countries.

Recently, a proposal for a global fund for education was put forward, but it is not easy, as there are already many other funds, such as funds to finance development or the Green Climate Fund.

There is the Global Partnership for Education, the existing global fund which helps developing countries to get access to education for all.

However, we need more financial resources, improved capacity building, and more ICT equipment to deploy in developing countries.

An additional challenge is the fact that education is not yet perceived as a top priority in many government agendas. This is the real problem. As long as there are not enough investments by local authorities in national education, Global Education will be impossible to achieve. Therefore, it is fundamental the collaboration of the private sector in developing an ethical Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Edited by Kitty Stapp

Excerpt:

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (centre) addresses the high-level event of Every Woman Every Child titled “Saving Lives, Protecting Futures” on Mar. 10, 2015. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten

By Valentina Ieri
UNITED NATIONS, May 15 2015 (IPS)

Leaders from over 30 countries have come together for a two-day retreat May 14 and 15 at U.N. headquarters to reinforce their commitments to improve the health of women, children and adolescents around the world.

Government delegates, CEOs, civil society leaders, private sector partners, global advocates and U.N. agencies are meeting to respond to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s call for action for the U.N. Every Woman Every Child global movement, ahead of the U.N. Summit to Adopt the Post-2015 Development Agenda held in September.

Opening the retreat, Ban said, “These new commitments need to demonstrate how the global health community, countries and multi-stakeholder partners can align, be fit for purpose, and forge new partnerships to deliver results. Now is the time to renew our pledge to every woman, every child, everywhere.”

The group’s goal is to come up with new strategies and mobilise action to support women, children and adolescent health, including them in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda.

It is also an occasion to discuss the political support of world leaders for the updated version of the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health, the new roadmap which will be launched at the U.N. General Assembly in September, with a draft five-year implementation plan, in order to end all preventable deaths of women, children, and adolescents by 2030 and improving their overall health and well-being.

“Women, children and adolescents are the most powerful drivers of transformative and sustainable change,” commented Ban, adding that “Within a generation we have the historical opportunity to create a world where women, children and adolescents not only survive preventable causes, but thrive to their fullest potential.”

The Every Woman Every Child movement put into action the original Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health roadmap on how to enhance financing, strengthen policy and services for vulnerable women and children.

In March 2015, the movement published a Progress Report on the lessosn learnt from promoting a Global Strategy, and highlighting the key principles for the next version of the Global Strategy for the 2016-2030 SDGs.

Since its creation in 2010, Every Woman Every Child has been the fastest growing international movement in the history of public health, with 400 commitments to improve health of women and children around the world made by 300 partners, underlined Ban.

According to the movement, some 34 billion dollars in resources has been disbursed, translating into concrete action on the ground such as prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission, access to oral rehydration therapy, improved maternal, prenatal postnatal care and vaccinations.

Overall, remarked Ban, “Maternal and child death rates have fallen in all of the 49 countries targeted by the movement.”

However, he said, “Some 800 women still die each day from causes related to pregnancy or childbirth. (Young people) are more vulnerable to HIV infection, sexual violence and harmful practices. […] Too many newborns do not survive even their first 24 hours of life.”

The renewed Global Strategy movement will place new attention on young people’s needs and inequalities, improving health systems and services worldwide, and on new effective ways to respond to humanitarian crises, said Ban.

“By investing in the potential of women, children and adolescents today, and over the next 15 years, we can save a generation within a generation – and benefit generations to come. But the opportunity and responsibility to act belongs to our generation, now,” Ban concluded.

Edited by Kitty Stapp

Speaking at the U.N. Security Council, Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, called on the international community to take urgent steps to end the Mediterranean crisis and dismantle the human smuggling rings that facilitate it.

”The EU is united and we will work, but we cannot work alone. We need to share and act together, as it’s a EU responsibility and a global responsibility,” said Mogherini

In 2014, 3,300 migrants died while fleeing their countries of origin to enter Europe. Three people out of four perished in the Mediterranean Sea, and 2015 looks set to be even worse, added Mogherini.

According to the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) about 60,000 men, women and children have crossed the Mediterranean this year, and 1,800 of them have tragically died during the journey.

“Saving lives and preventing the loss of lives at sea is a top responsibility that we all share, not only as Europeans but globally,” Mogherini said at the Council briefing, adding that an exceptional situation requires an immediate strategy to solve the crisis.

The Mediterranean problem is a structural problem rooted in poverty, increasing inequality, conflicts and human rights violations in African and Middle Eastern countries and beyond, including the situation in Syria, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa, said the European High Representative.

Also speaking at the Council was Antonio Tete, Permanent Representative Observer of the African Union to the U.N., who underlined that smuggling of migrants has emerged due to several factors that lead people in many African countries to escape from abject poverty, climate change, water scarcity, insufficient progress in employment and rising inequality.

Since April, the EU has been collaborating with the African Union in countries such as Tunisia, Niger, Mali, Sudan, but also with Egypt given the situation in Syria and Iraq, in order to strengthen cooperation and dialogue on a regional and international level.

“This humanitarian emergency is also a security crisis, since smuggling networks are linked to finance and terrorist activities, which contributes to instability in a region that is already unstable enough,” Mogherini said.

If the international community fails to frame its response to the crisis, it will be a “moral failure,” said Peter Sutherland, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for International Migration.

On May 13, the European Commission will present a new agenda on migration, drafted by member countries in April.

The EU is also calling for a U.N. resolution in order to disrupt smugglers’ networks and business by destroying vessels before their use, in accordance with international law.

On May 18, EU member states will discuss the possibility of launching a naval operation, in the framework of the EU common security and defence policy, Mogherini said.

“But we want to work with the U.N. Security Council and with the UNHCR […] we need a (global) partnership if we want to end this tragedy,” she said.

A military operation in the Mediterranean was rejected by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his last visit to Italy, who called it “potentially dangerous for migrants and local fishermen.”

Edited by Kitty Stapp

Strong markets for agricultural production can help drive rural development. Credit: Patrick Burnett/IPS

By Valentina Ieri
UNITED NATIONS, May 8 2015 (IPS)

Despite a minimal reduction in global production, the world food import bill is about to reach a five-year low in 2015, pushing international prices for agricultural commodities down even further, the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) forecast on May 7.

According to FAO’s biannual Food Outlook report released on Thursday, given large supplies, low freight rates, a strong U.S. dollar, and changes in the volume of food import commodities, international food prices continued declining during April, and are likely to stay as such for the next season.

The report estimated that cereal production for 2015, which is five percent above the average of the past five years, may decline by 1.5 percent from last year’s recorded production –  around 2,500 billion tonnes. Nonetheless, negative effects on food consumption will be balanced by the presence of large quantities of cereal stockpiles.

Broadly speaking, the decline of food prices should benefit food importing countries, and likely lower income ones, but it may have impacts on certain sectors, such as commodity farmers, said an FAO spokesperson.

“Farmers engaged in producing those commodities, such as palm oil and rice, stand to earn less. FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva has several times emphasised that strong markets for agricultural production can help drive rural development, but also that prices remain fairly high by historical standards today.”

Food prices are declining from historical high levels, especially since the severe price rises of the 2007-2012 period.

FAO’s Food Price Index, a trade-weighted monthly index which tracks prices of cereals, meat, dairy products, vegetable oils and sugar on international markets, has registered a 1.2 percent decline from March, the lowest level since June 2010 (reaching 171 points), and 19.2 percent less than in 2014.

The FAO spokesperson added, “While [lower food prices] could improve poorer people’s access to food, much depends on local food and distribution systems. Wholesale prices measured by the food price index do not necessarily correlate to retail prices in individual countries or regions.”

International prices have declined mostly for dairy products, due to the abolition of the European Union milk quota system (about 6.7 percent), but also for sugar, cereals and vegetable oils. Only meat values rose in April, the first increase since August 2014.

Fish is gaining wide popularity, said the report. Fishery production, supported by a fast growing aquaculture sector, is expected to rise by five percent in the year ahead.

Finally, the report highlighted how some currencies have weakened against the U.S. dollar, “So the benefit from lower international food prices may be reduced,” concluded the spokesperson.

The strategy for defeating global hunger, said FAO, is “to shift the focus from food growth – enough to supply all food needs – to reduce loss and waste of food at all levels, from the farmer to the final consumer.”

Edited by Kitty Stapp

Children on their way to school in Kibera, the largest slum in Nairobi. Credit: Save the Children

By Valentina Ieri
UNITED NATIONS, May 5 2015 (IPS)

It’s called the urban survival gap – fuelled by the growing inequality between rich and poor in both developing and developed countries – and it literally determines whether millions of infants will live or die before their fifth birthday.

Save the Children’s annual report on the State of the World’s Mothers 2015 ranks 179 countries and concludes that that “for babies born in the big city, it’s the survival of the richest.”

Speaking from the launch at U.N. Headquarters, Carolyn Miles, president and CEO of Save the Children, said that for the first time in history, more families are moving into cities to give their children a better life. But this shift from a rural to an urban society has increased disparities within cities.

“Our report reveals a devastating child survival divide between the haves and have-nots, telling a tale of two cities among urban communities around the world, including the United States,” Miles added.

The document estimates that 54 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and by 2050 the concentration of people in cities will increase to 66 percent, especially in Asia and Africa.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that nearly a billion people live in urban slums, shantytowns, on sidewalks, under bridges and along railroad tracks.

Rizelle, 17, and her three-week-old baby. Rizelle lives in a squatted home under a bridge in San Dionisio, Indonesia. Photo credit: Save the Children

While women living in cities may have easier access to primary health care, including hospitals, many governments have been unable to keep up with this rapid urban growth. One-third of all urban residents – over 860 million people – live in slums where they face lack of clean water and sanitation, alongside rampant malnutrition.

Miles said that despite the progress made on reducing urban under-five mortality around the world, the survival divide between rich and poor children in cities is growing even faster than that of poor children in rural areas.

In most of the developing nations surveyed, children living at the bottom 20 percent of the socioeconomic ladder are twice as likely to die as children in the richest 20 percent, and in some cities, the disparity is much higher.

Robert Clay, vice president of the health and nutrition at Save the Children, explained that urban poor are more transient, as they tend to have unsteady jobs and living situations. In rural areas, many people at least have land and food, and a stronger support system within the community.

“In urban areas this doesn’t exist. Urban cities are overcrowded by many ethnic groups living side by side so it’s a bit harder to bond, communicate and build trust. It’s the hidden population that is more problematic to reach,” Clay told IPS.

He said lack of data makes it harder for charities like Save the Children, or national and municipal governments, to access these marginalised communities.

The 10 developing countries with the largest child survival divide are Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ghana, Kenya, India, Madagascar, Nigeria, Peru, Rwanda and Vietnam.

Among the 10 worst wealthy capital cities for child survival, out of the 25 studied, Washington D.C. (U.S.) was number one, followed by Vienna (Austria), Bern (Switzerland), Warsaw (Poland), and Athens (Greece).

The river that runs through the Kroo Bay slum community in Sierra Leone. Credit: Save the Children

By looking at the mother’s index rankings of 2015, based on five criteria – maternal health, children’s well-being, educational status, economic status and women political status, Save the Children says that conditions for mothers and their children in the 10 bottom-ranked countries – all but two of them in West and Central Africa – are dramatic, as nations struggle to provide the basic infrastructure for the health and wellness of their citizens.

“On average, in these countries one woman out of 30 dies from pregnancy-related causes, and one child out of eight dies before his or her fifth birthday,” Miles said.

Globally, under-five mortality rates have declined, from 90 to 46 deaths per 1,000 live births. However, these numbers, says the organisation, mask the fact that child survival is strictly linked to family wealth, and miss addressing the conditions of poverty and unhealthy life of slums.  

Positively, the report has also uncovered some successful solutions found by governments to reduce maternal and infant mortality, and close the inequality gap between rich and poor children in their own countries. The most successful countries are Ethiopia (Addis Ababa), Egypt (Cairo), Guatemala (Guatemala City), Uganda (Kampala), Philippines (Manila) and Cambodia (Phnom Penh).

“Ethiopia, which recently had accelerated economic growth, managed to develop effective targeting policies, and provided accessible preventive and curative health care for poor mothers and children,” Clay said.

“[Ethiopia] should be a blueprint for other countries, which should bring access to communities in slums so that local people are not left behind,” he underlined, adding that hiring urban outreach workers who can go into the communities, speak the language of the people living there and understand their conditions and needs is vital.

Save the Children is calling on national governments worldwide to find new policies and plans to invest in a universal maternal and infant health care, develop cross-sectoral urban plans, and reduce urban disadvantages, and to increase the focus on the Sustainable Development Goals in the post-2015 development agenda, concluded Miles.

Edited by Kitty Stapp

A wide view of the conference room as Vladimir Drobnjak (shown on screens), Permanent Representative of Croatia to the UN and Vice-President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), addresses the 2015 ECOSOC Youth Forum on the theme, “Youth Engagement in the Transition from the Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals: What will it take?” Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe

By Valentina Ieri
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 29 2015 (IPS)

The NGO Branch of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs at the United Nations is calling on non-governmental organisations to apply for Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) consultative status in order to be considered by the 2016 NGO Committee.

The deadline for the application is Jun. 1, 2015.

ECOSOC consultative status relates to ECOSOC resolution 1996/31 – based on article 71 of the Charter of the United Nations, which regulates the relationship between the U.N. and NGOs.

Resolution 1996/31 sets the rules NGOs should abide to – rights and obligations – in order to participate in international conferences convened by the U.N., and it develops strategies to improve the work on the Committee on NGOs and the NGOs Section of the Secretariat.

Consultative status is granted by ECOSOC upon recommendation of the ECOSOC Committee on NGOs – made up of 19 Member States.

According to NGO Branch, any international, regional, sub-regional and national non-governmental organisation can be eligible for ECOSOC consultative status, as long as it follows the subsequent criteria:

“An NGO must have been in existence (officially registered with the appropriate government authorities as an NGO/non-profit) for at least two years, must have an established headquarters, a democratically adopted constitution, authority to speak for its members, a representative structure, appropriate mechanisms of accountability and democratic and transparent decision-making processes. The basic resources of the organization must be derived mainly from contributions of the national affiliates or other components or from individual members.”

On the NGO Branch website, it says that NGOs which are granted consultative status by ECOSOC are able to attend official meetings, submit written statements prior to sessions, make oral statements, meet official government delegations and other NGOs representatives.

NGOs with consultative status can also benefit from organising and attending parallel events aside from main sessions, and participating in debates and interactive dialogues, such as panel discussions and informal meetings.

In 1945, when the U.N. was created in the aftermath of World War II, 41 NGOs were granted consultative status by the council, and in 1992 more than 700 NGOs received  consultative status. According to the 2014 list of the non-governmental organisations in consultative status with ECOSOC the number has increased to about 3,900 organisations.

To apply for ECOSOC consultative status, follow this link to the NGO Branch website.

Edited by Kitty Stapp

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, addresses the Human Rights Council panel discussion on human rights and climate change on March 6, 2015. Credit: UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

By Valentina Ieri
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 27 2015 (IPS)

Frustrated with decades of marginalisation, and of seeing their rights respected only on paper, Indigenous peoples are calling for major recognition from the international community.

Speaking at U.N. Headquarters on Apr. 27 as part of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues – which started last week and lasts through Friday – the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz expressed disappointment with the scant efforts to enshrine Indigenous People’s rights in the post-2015 development agenda.

“It is very regrettable that out of the 17 (Sustainable Development) Goals, there is no reference to Indigenous People. This does not speak well for the U.N. and its member states,” she said.

Taking Indigenous knowledge and traditional technology into account internationally could contribute to solving many of the world’s major crises in relation to the environment and climate change, and ultimately bring sustainable development, stressed Tauli-Corpuz.

“Data released by the Rights and Resources Initiative, part of the World Resources Institute, show that in Brazil forests maintained by indigenous people are 11 times less deforested than those maintained by the government. In Guatemalan Petén, indigenous forests are 20 times less deforested,” added Tauli-Corpuz.

Indeed, climate change, soil erosion, deforestation and land extraction are negatively affecting many Indigenous communities around the world.

According to the World Bank, there are around 300 million Indigenous people worldwide – about 4.5 percent of the world population, although they account for 10 percent of the world’s poor.

The right to land is a key issue for Indigenous People.

Recently Aboriginal communities in Australia have been forced to move outside their territories because the government decided to use the land for resource extraction activities, such as mining or oil drilling.

The Rights and Resources Initiative, a global coalition that works for the human and land rights of Indigenous People worldwide, says that, “When communities have rights to their land and natural resources, and rights to benefit from these resources through local enterprises and other activities, they can generate substantial income.”

This is also a relevant point raised at the U.N. briefing by Perry Bellegarde, National Chief of the Assembly of the First Nations in Canada.

“We need to develop a long-term partnership between the government and Indigenous people, who are vital and strategic in developing and bringing wealth to the land, by protecting it at the same time for future generations,” he said.

A positive example comes from southern Belize, where Indigenous People have reached an agreement with the government after three decades of struggling to secure their land rights.

Christina Coc, director and co-founder of the Julian Cho Society, represented the Maya villagers of Toledo in their negotiations with the government of Belize.

She explained that, “The Maya people have suffered from soil exploitation, land and water seizure from the government in the past years, and so they were determined in getting their rights recognised not only on papers, but in concrete terms.”

Edited by Kitty Stapp

When armed conflict in the Casamance region of Senegal flared up afresh in December 2010, women organised a demonstration calling for peace. Credit: Abdullah Vawda/IPS TerraViva

By Valentina Ieri
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 27 2015 (IPS)

Governments have long pledged to bring more women to the peace table, but for many (if not most), it has been little more than lip service.

In a bid to accelerate this process, the Global Network of Women Peace-builders (GNWP) in partnership with the Permanent Missions of Chile and the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations organised an international workshop on Apr. 23 to better integrate the Women, Peace, Security (WPS) U.N. Security Council Resolutions within the security sector.

The seminar focused on recommendations for the implementation of Resolutions 1325 and 1820 at the international, regional and national level, in order to bring more women to the peace tables in conflict areas, and bring their perspectives into post-conflict reconstruction processes.

According to the 2014 Secretary-General’s report on WPS, a reform of the security sector is needed in order to accomplish these goals.

Speaking from U.N. Headquarters in New York, the International Coordinator of GNWP, Mavic Cabrera-Balleza, stressed “the need for a systematic implementation of Resolution 1325 at the international level.”

In the past three years, GNWP has conducted over 50 localisation workshops in 10 countries, in various communities and municipalities, inviting police officers and the military forces to learn about Resolution 1325.

“It is no surprise to us when they come to our localisation workshops that these officers hear about Resolution 1325 for the very first time. However, working only at the local level is hard, because final approvals come from the higher ups, in order to actually get a full reform and training of officers of the security sector,” highlighted Cabrera-Balleza.

The GNWP is not only calling for a global reform of the security sectors and armed forces for the inclusion of women in peace-building, but also for demilitarisation of countries and the elimination of conflicts to achieve peace worldwide.

Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury, former under-secretary general and member of the High-Level Advisory Group for Global Study on Resolution 1325, who was present at the seminar, underlined the inadequacy of governments and peacekeepers in protecting civilians, and especially women, in recent years.

“(We need) the integration of the culture of peace and non-violence in national and global policies, and education for global citizenship. We need a human security policy, and a more inclusive human way of thinking about our future, where women and men can share equally the construction of a safer and just world,” he said.

One positive example of the inclusion of women during peace negotiations comes from the Philippines.

Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, chair of the Philippine Government Peace Panel with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), explained that after 17 years of peace negotiations between the Philippine authorities and the MILF, in the last two decades, the government and armed forces have moved toward the “civilianisation” of peace processes.

“More and more women were allowed in, either as members of the bureaucracy or government, or civil society leaders, or academia members, and they have all been sitting at the peace table.”

As Coronel-Ferrel said, women brought a more gender-based response into the signing of the final peace agreement between the government and the MILF.

“Not only because there were more women inside the negotiating tracks, but also women around the panels, who would be lobbying the government but also the counter party, making sure that diverse frameworks would be included in the text.”

In addition, the reform of the security sector in the Philippines created local monitoring teams, where either police officers or lower ranking members of the armed forces worked closely with MILF members, leading to trust building and cooperation for better security on the ground, concluded Coronel-Farrel.

Participating in the event were also officers from police and military forces from Argentina, Australia, Burundi, Canada, Colombia, Ghana, Nepal, countries which are implementing reforms within their security sectors at the local, regional and national level.

Edited by Kitty Stapp

The collapse of autocratic regimes in Tunisia and Egypt broke the state's stranglehold on the local press, but journalists and bloggers must still be careful what they say. Credit: Cam McGrath/IPS

By Valentina Ieri
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 24 2015 (IPS)

While technology has given millions greater freedom to express themselves, in the world’s 10 most censored countries, this basic right exists only on paper, if at all.

According to a report by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which will be officially released at U.N. headquarters on Apr. 27, the worst offenders are Eritrea and North Korea, followed by Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, Iran, China, Myanmar and Cuba."Countries that were on our list in previous years continue to be on the list. But the forms of censorship have changed." -- CPJ's Courtney Radsch

Courtney Radsch, the advocacy director of CPJ, told IPS, “These countries use a wide range of traditional tactics of censorship, including jailing of journalists, harassment of journalists, prosecuting local press and independent press.”

According to CPJ’s 2014 prison census, Eritrea is Africa’s leading jailer of journalists, with at least 23 behind bars – none of whom has been tried in court or even charged with a crime. Among the other most censored countries on the list is China with 44, Iran with 30, and 17 jailed journalists in Ethiopia.

In countries where governments jail reporters regularly for critical coverage, many journalists are forced to flee rather than risk arrest, said the report.

Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW), Felix Horne, told IPS, “If you are a journalist in Ethiopia, you are faced with a stark choice: either you self-censor your writings, you end up in prison, or you are exiled from your country.”

According to the report Journalism is not a Crime, released by HRW in January 2015, over 30 journalists fled Ethiopia in 2014. Six of the last independent publications have shut down and there are at least 19 journalists and bloggers in prison for exercising their right to freedom of expression.

In both Ethiopia and Eritrea, anti-terrorism laws have been used to effectively silence dissenting voices and to target opposition politicians, journalists, and activists, Horne said.

“This law is the ultimate threat for Ethiopian journalists and its use against bloggers and journalists has led to increased rates of self-censorship amongst what is left of Ethiopia’s independent media scene.”

Traditional forms of censorship are going hand in hand with new subtle, modern, and faster strategies such as internet restrictions, regulation of media and press laws, and the limitation of mobile devices.

Radsch underlined, “The situation has gotten worse. We have seen a historical level of imprisonment of journalists and an increasing expansion of censorship (which) developed more sophisticated forms, including pre-publications censorship, restricted access to info content, and content regulations.”

The CPJ report says that in order to avoid an “Arab Spring” in Eritrea, the authorities have strongly limited internet access, with no possibility of gathering independent information.

Radsch highlighted that gathering public information through local internet access – the right to broadband – is recognised by the U.N., as a fundamental human right. But, in Eritrea and North Korea, as well as Cuba, the internet is essentially not permitted.

Access to mobile phones is also restricted.

“There are virtually no phones in Eritrea and there are limited phones in North Korea, where they can get in through smuggling networks from China,” she said, adding that these kind of restrictions are applied not only to reporters, but to the general public more broadly.

According to CPJ, globally, Eritrea has the lowest rate of cell phone users, with just 5.6 percent of the population owning one. In North Korea, only 9.7 percent of the population has cell phones, excluding phones smuggled in from China.

Other countries, including Saudi Arabia, China, Vietnam and Azerbaijan, have internet, but its access is strongly limited through the blocking of web content, restrictive access regulations, and persecuting those who violates the rules, added Radsch.

Censorship in the 10 listed countries affect mainly local journalists, apart from the case of Egypt where foreign reporters have been imprisoned, said Radsch. But censorship is also applied to foreign correspondents in other ways, such as denying entry visas to those countries or by deporting them.

The previous two lists of most censored countries compiled by CPJ date back to 2006 and 2012.

Radsch said, “One of the reasons why we cannot publish these lists every year is because censorship tactics have not changed much from year to year. In general, countries that were on our list in previous years continue to be on the list. But the forms of censorship have changed.”

To keep track of government data is difficult due to their lack of transparency, explained Radsch.

Although the international community is aware of human rights violations in repressive countries, concrete action to protect freedom of expression is still lacking.

Horne underlined that in Ethiopia, for instance, despite its dismal human rights record, the country continues to enjoy significant support from Western governments, both in relation to Ethiopia’s progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and its role as a regional peacekeeper.

“But ignoring Ethiopia’s horrendous human rights situation and the internal tensions this is causing may have long-term implications for Western interests in the Horn of Africa,” Horne concluded.

CPJ is also calling on the international community to ensure that anti-terrorist laws are not used illegitimately by states to strengthen censorship even further against the press.

Edited by Kitty Stapp

On Thursday, the United Nations and the government of Turkey launched a new Istanbul Regional Hub, which provides support to the countries and territories in which the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) works in Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Attending the ceremony were Helen Clark, the chair of the U.N. Development Group and UNDP administrator, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Turkey, and Kadir Topbaş, mayor of the city of Istanbul.

Congratulating Turkey on this initiative, Clark emphasised the importance of launching the Hub, which also hosts the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Women regional offices, in the city.

“By locating this knowledge and technical expertise in Istanbul, UNDP will be well positioned to support and engage with partners in Europe and CIS on the post-2015 development agenda, which is due to be agreed in September of this year,” she said.

According to an analysis recently published by the UNDP, Poverty, Inequality and Vulnerability in the Transition and Developing Economies of Europe and Central Asia, developing and transition economies of Europe and Central Asia show remarkable inequality and poverty, even among the upper middle-income countries, as well as declining life expectancy relative to global averages.

Climate change and the exposure to possible disasters create other challenges for the region.

The support of the Istanbul Regional Hub allows countries to pursue developmental paths by taking into account issues such as sustainable growth, governance and peace-building, gender equality and women’s empowerment, energy, disaster resilience and climate change, and children’s rights.

According to the Daily Sabah Istanbul press, Çavuşoğlu remarked at the event, “Above all, this hub is a reflection of our multidimensional foreign policy which prioritizes providing support to regional and international organisations.”

Turkey has played crucial roles in global development with many co-chairmanships with various countries, said Çavuşoğlu, highlighting the need to focus on current conflicts including merciless terrorist organisations, racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, the Daily Sabah Istanbul reported.

This strategic partnership between Turkey and the UNDP recognises the increasing role of Turkey as an emerging donor for development cooperation worldwide. Turkey will collaborate with the Istanbul Regional Hub to promote south-south cooperation and share Turkey’s development experience with other countries.

The Daily Sabah Istanbul reported that Turkey will offer annually three million dollars for the next five years to support the UNDP Istanbul Hub.

The Istanbul Regional Hub is co-located with other U.N. agencies, including the U.N. Population Fund, which will strengthen coordination within the U.N. development system. The UNDP has other regional offices in Amman, Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Cairo, Dakar, and Panama.

Edited by Kitty Stapp

A child stands outside a classroom at a rural school in Nicaragua. Credit: Oscar Navarrete /IPS

By Valentina Ieri
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 18 2015 (IPS)

Despite commitments by the international community to achieve universal primary education by 2015, funds for education have been decreasing over the past ten years, according to a report released Friday by the global advocacy campaign ‘A World at School’.

Figures from a Donor Scorecard show that nine of the top 10 donor governments, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France, have been reducing their aid since 2010. Norway is the only major donor that showed a five-percent increase in education funding over the past four years.

The scorecard will be presented on the first day of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s spring meetings, scheduled to run from Apr. 17-19 in Washington DC, to highlight the need for international financial institutions (IFIs) to target their funds towards nations with the most number of out-of-school children, and specifically towards hard to reach populations.

According to the report, “In 2011, the bank provided 20 percent — the smallest share — of its total aid to basic education to low-income countries. More than 70 percent of funding went to countries with less than 20 percent of the out-of-school population.

Sarah Brown, co-founder of A World at School, remarked that it is “unacceptable” that aid for basic education has fallen every year since 2010, which means that “just when leaders should have been stepping up to achieve the 2015 target, they were pulling back.”

According to the Donor Scorecard, while investments in health have risen by 58 percent, those in education have fallen by 19 percent.

The report comes in the wake of worldwide “attacks” on education in 2014 and 2015, with war, conflict and terrorism destroying schools and interrupting the education of thousands of school going kids in places like Kenya, Pakistan, Syria, the Central African Republic and Gaza. The kidnapping of students in Nigeria and South Sudan are also major causes for concern.

According to a report released recently by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), about 58 million children are out of schools, and 100 million children do not complete primary education.

The UNESCO document also says education is still under-financed, affecting the poorest children, as many governments are not prioritising education as part of their national budgets.

There is an annual financing gap of 22 billion dollars over the 2015-2030 period for achieving quality pre-primary, primary and lower secondary education in lower- and middle-income countries, the report stated.

Campaigners with A world at School are calling for concrete aid strategies for basic education, which include the creation of a humanitarian fund for financing education in emergencies, and increasing aid initiatives for children in war-torn countries.

As Brown explained, “It is crucial that we reverse the decline in funding for education. The alternative is leaving 58 million children behind, particularly those hit hardest by conflict and emergencies, such as Syrian refugees and children out of school in countries affected by Ebola.”

Edited by Kanya D’Almeida

Impunity for perpetrators of sexual violence in war must end, said Zainab Hawa Bangura, the Special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on sexual violence in conflict, who presented to the U.N. Security Council the Secretary-General’s 2015 report on the issue on April 15.

Speaking to the Council, Bangura said, “The history of war zone rape has been a history of denial. It is time to bring these crimes, and those who commit them, into the spotlight of international scrutiny.”

Calling on Council member states, Bangura remarked that sexual abuse is used in war as a tool to terrorise, displace victims and establish power, by state and non-state actors, as well as militia rebel groups.

Hamsatu Allamin, from the “Working Group on Women, Peace and Security”, a Nigerian NGO, urged the Council to find concrete solutions.

“Women’s meaningful participation in peace and security processes must be a core component of any effort to effectively reduce and address incidents of conflict-related sexual violence,” she said.

The U.N. report acknowledges for the first time the impacts of the “use of sexual rape as a war tactic upon women, girls, but also men and boys, by extremist armed groups – providing a list of 45 suspected parties – in countries such as Iraq, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia and Syria.”

The study, which analysed the situation in 19 war torn countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and Middle East, described sexual violence as a “truly global crime”, coming in the form of abuse, sexual slavery, forced marriage, and nudity.

Sexual violence is also used as an instrument of discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities, the report noted. It highlighted the risks for LGBT individuals, which are targeted by armed groups which seek to impose social control and “morality”.

Scene from an Ebola treatment facility run by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Guéckédou, Guinea, on the day of a visit from Anthony Banbury, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER), on Nov. 1, 2014. Credit: UN Photo/Ari Gaitanis

By Valentina Ieri
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 16 2015 (IPS)

The international humanitarian charity Oxfam is calling on the World Bank and major donors to raise 1.7 billion dollars to improve poor health systems in Ebola-affected countries and strengthen community networks for preventing another epidemic.

Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International, said, “Communities pulling together has been vital to cutting Ebola infection rates […] But in order to be effective these networks need to work within a strong national healthcare service that is freely available to all people.”

In light of the World Bank’s talks on Ebola, set for Apr. 17 as part of the bank’s annual spring meetings in Washington DC, the focus is on the need to create a 10-year investment plan for free universal health care to ensure that countries are able tackle future disease outbreaks.

More than 10,000 people have died during the Ebola epidemic due to public health failures, remarked Byanyima. Oxfam has trained community volunteers and 1.3 million workers to visit houses and raise awareness about symptoms, good hygiene and risky behaviours, as well as supporting clinics, schools and people in quarantine with water and sanitation.

According to Oxfam, 420 million dollars is required to train more than 9,000 doctors and approximately 37,060 healthcare workers, and 297 million dollars is needed to pay their salaries.

The money is the minimum amount needed to assure health care assistance for all in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, according to Oxfam, and it would be invested in well-equipped facilities, sufficient trained staff, medical supplies and a systems of health information to strengthen community networks.

Byanyima said that, “The rise of stronger new community networks offer greater space for local people to be involved in decision making, but they have been excluded from recovery planning,” adding that this attitude should change, and donors should insist on engaging more with communities.

Building community networks is also vital to hold governments accountable for the money they spent, and if they spent it well, she remarked.

In Sierra Leone, around 12,000 children are orphans, and 180,000 people are jobless. In December 2014, in Liberia, 73 percent of people in three counties, Montserrado, Nimba and Grand Gedeh, reported dramatic economic impacts, in lost income and harvests, Oxfam researchers reported.

Oxfam urges the international community to invest in stronger public services, and to help local people to recover from the immediate psychological, social, and economic impacts left by the disease.

Edited by Kitty Stapp

“Political negotiations, not military intervention, are the solution” said United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, on the rapidly deteriorating conflict situation in Yemen and recent developments in Syria at the Yarmouk refugee camp.

Speaking from the U.N. Headquarters in New York, Ban expressed concern that countless civilians have been abandoned to misery in recent days as violence has escalated.

“Yemeni families are struggling for the very basics – water, food, fuel and medicines. Hundreds have been killed. Hospitals and schools are shutting down – some of which are direct targets of the fighting,” said Ban.

Before the current crisis, Yemen’s overall humanitarian needs were on a similar scale to all other nine countries of the Sahel region combined, but now the country has almost doubled the number of people classified as ‘severely food insecure’, he added.

The territorial advance by the Houthis and their allies, undermining the legitimate government, is a clear violation of the Security Council resolutions and a violation of the international humanitarian law, Ban said.

The crisis in Yemen has worsened since the Arab coalition military operation led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the request of president Hadi.

Ban said, “The U.N.- brokered negotiations, endorsed by the Security Council, remain the best chance to help get the transition back on track and preserve the country’s unity and territorial integrity.”

On Syria, the Secretary-General addressed the situation in the Yarmouk refugee camp, in Damascus, where residents, including over 3,500 children, are being held hostage by Da’esh armed elements.

According to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), around 18,000 Palestinian and Syrian refugees are being held in the camp.

“Civilians must be spared. Civilians must be protected at all times,” remarked Ban, saying that he is urging world leaders, member states, governments and parties involved to end all forms of violence.

Also on Thursday, U.N. Special Advisers on both genocide and the Responsibility to Protect expressed concern about the situation in Yarmouk.

“The Special Advisers recalled the commitment by all Heads of State and government in 2005 to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity and to cooperate in fulfilling their collective responsibility to protect.”

Follow Valentina Ieri on Twitter @Valeieri

Edited by Roger Hamilton-Martin

To mark World Health Day, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has called on governments around the world and all sectors involved in the food business to introduce food safety policies into their political agendas.

Speaking at the United Nations headquarters in New York, WHO’s Executive Director, Jacob Kumaresan, said, “(Governments) should have comprehensive food safety policies which are matched with appropriate legislation. (This means) robust food safety strategies which include good storage, transportation, retail and good restaurant practices.”

Kumaresan also called for a “multi-sectoral collaboration, as food passes through multiple hands, from farm to plates. This is a test for governmental ability to foster dialogue and coordination between the health sectors, along with agriculture, trade, environment and tourism sectors.”

The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon remarked, “Changes to the way food is produced, distributed and consumed, the emergence of resistant bacteria, and increases in travel and trade make it difficult to manage pathogens and contaminants once they are in our food supply.”

This year, WHO’s slogan “from farm to plate: make food safe” has been chosen because of its impact on public health and upon the global economy, explained Kumaresan.

Today access to direct food supply is widespread, said Kumaresan. “However, food also contains harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites and sometimes chemicals substance, which are responsible for 200 diseases,” such as diarrhoea, heart diseases and cancer, he added.

“Unsafe food is a largely under-reported and an often overlooked global problem,” said Ban, adding that, “With the food supply chain stretching around the world, the need to strengthen food safety systems within and among countries is becoming more critical.”

According to WHO, food and waterborne diseases are linked to approximately 2 million deaths per year. The top offender bacteria are Salmonella Typhi and E.Coli, and the two most problematic areas for food safety are Africa and South Asia.

Environmental problems are a threat to food security, highlighted Kumaresan.

“Climate change offers difficulties in food production and distributions, biological and environmental contaminations, and anti-microbial resistance.”

Increases in travel and trade can pose challenges to food safety, as a local issue can easily become an international emergency, which requires a lot of money to contain, with consequences for the reputations of farms or countries where the food was produced, he added.

Germany’s 2011 E.coli outbreak, for example, caused 1.3 billion dollars in losses for farmers and industries, said Kumaresan.

“For the consumer, we need to handle food properly and we need to use basic hygiene,” concluded Kumaresan.

The WHO has developed five keys for people to handle food in a safer way. First, maintain hygiene practices – wash hands before eating, wash vegetable and fruits – second, separate raw food from cooked food. Thirdly, cook food thoroughly, so the heat can kill the germs. Fourthly, keep food in a safe temperature. Finally, use safe water while preparing food.

Follow Valentina Ieri on Twitter @Valeieri

Edited by Roger Hamilton-Martin

Children who work on tobacco farms in the U.S. are vulnerable to nicotine poisoning, especially when handling wet tobacco leaves. Credit: MgAdDept/CC-BY-SA

By Valentina Ieri
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 6 2015 (IPS)

For many young people, the summer is synonymous with free time, relaxation, or family vacations. For less fortunate kids the summer means labour, with scores of youths taking on part-time work to support their families.

In the U.S., not only is this work not optional, it is also unhealthy – especially for those unfortunate enough to seek employment on the country’s tobacco farms.

“The hardest of all the crops we’ve worked [with] is tobacco. You get tired. It takes energy out of you. You get sick, but then you have to go right back to the tobacco the next day.” -- Dario, a child labourer interviewed by Human Rights Watch (HRW)
A recent string of policies aimed at addressing child labour in this major industry signals a turning point – but activists say the uphill battle is not yet over.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently released a report detailing conditions of child labour in four of the country’s main tobacco-producing states – North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia – which together account for 90 percent of domestic tobacco production. In 2012, the total value of tobacco leaves produced in the U.S. touched 1.5 billion dollars.

According to the report, most of these children, sometimes as young as 12 years old, come from Hispanic immigrants families, and work on tobacco farms to help their families to pay rent and bills, and buy food and school supplies.

Margaret Wurth, co-author of the report and children’s rights researcher at HRW, told IPS that many children “chose to do this difficult job because there are no other job opportunities in the communities where they live […].”

Out of the 141 children interviewed by HRW, two-thirds suffered from acute nicotine poisoning, or Green Tobacco Sickness (GTS) while working on plantations. GTS happens when workers absorb nicotine through their skin while handling tobacco plants, especially when the leaves are wet.

Sixteen-year-old Dario, who has worked on farms in Kentucky, said in an interview with HRW, “The hardest of all the crops we’ve worked [with] is tobacco. You get tired. It takes energy out of you. You get sick, but then you have to go right back to the tobacco the next day.”

Typical symptoms include dizziness, vomiting, nausea, and headaches. Some children also reported that employers did not guarantee training courses or safety equipment. Some had to work barefoot; others wore only socks as they worked in fields thick with mud, according to HRW research.

Fabiana, 14, said to HRW, “I wore plastic bags because our clothes got wet in the morning. They put holes in the bag so our hands could go through them […]. Then the sun comes out and you feel suffocated in the bags. You want to take them off.”

A giant industry in need of reform

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2012 the U.S. produced nearly 800 million pounds of tobacco. The U.S. is the fourth leading tobacco producer in the world, after China, Brazil and India but unlike its competitors, the U.S. does not regulate the age of its employees on the tobacco fields, according to Alfonso Lopez, Democratic representative of the Virginia House of Delegates.

Recently, Virginia had the chance to become the first U.S. state to enact a law on child labour in tobacco plantations, in order to set a standard for all tobacco growers to protect children. But the proposed bill was defeated.

“My bill would prohibit hiring children under 18 to work in direct contact with tobacco leaves, or dried tobacco, with the exception of children who received parental consent to work in family farms,” Lopez explained to IPS.

Pressure from advocates, and studies like the one produced last year by HRW are slowly bearing fruit, with two large associations of tobacco farmers – the Tobacco Growers Association of North Carolina (TGANC) and the Council for Burley Tobacco in Kentucky – adopting new policies that prevent the hiring of children under the age of 16, and requiring parental consent for children aged 16-17.

This, in turn, led to two major U.S. tobacco companies – the Virginia-based Altria Group, parent company of Philip Morris USA, and the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJRT) – adopting similar policies, for the safety of children working along the tobacco supply chain, Wurth said.

In 2014, three companies – Philip Morris USA, Reynolds American Inc., and Lorillard – accounted for 85 percent of U.S. cigarettes sales.

An Altria Group spokesperson, Jeff Caldwell, told IPS that in 2014, Altria signed the global pledge of commitment to eliminate any form of child labour in the tobacco supply chain worldwide, promoted by the Eliminating Child Labour in Tobacco Growing Foundation (ECLT).

In 2015, Altria started buy tobacco directly from growers, instead of buying it from third parties, in order to ensure that growers were not hiring children under 18, Caldwell added.

“We also have a very robust programme to train our growers and communicate to all of them the standardised U.S. tobacco good agricultural practices, to ensure that all of these growers are aware of, trained on, and in compliance with policies and laws that govern tobacco growing in order to protect children,” he added.

However, these measures only apply to farms that are part of large corporate supply chains, said Lopez.

“Most of the major buyers of U.S.-grown tobacco have adopted child labour standards more protective than U.S. law. But I think that without a stronger [federal] regulatory framework, dozens of children will inevitably be left out,” he remarked.

Last week the U.S. Department of Labour released a recommended practices bulletin, issued jointly by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

A Department of Labour Spokesperson told IPS that the bulletin focuses on the hazards of working in unsafe and unhealthy working conditions. The guidelines are designed to educate tobacco companies, farmers, and workers on preventing the effects of GTS, through appropriate training and working equipment.

The guidelines recommend the use of gloves, long sleeve shirts, long pants and water-resistant clothing when handling tobacco leaves to prevent exposure to nicotine, while recognising that children may suffer worse consequences than adults if these regulations aren’t met, the spokesperson added.

However, the bulletin made no explicit mention of child labour, nor did it specify ways to tackle the problem through more concrete regulation.

Edited by Kanya D’Almeida

In 2014, the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) saw the worst escalation of hostilities since 1967, said a report by the United Nations Office of Coordination and Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), released on March 26.

The report, Fragmented Lives, said that the Gaza strip’s 1.8 million civilians were directly affected by the war. Over 1,500 were killed, more than 11,000 injured and 100,000 remain displaced. Meanwhile, settlement expansion and the forced displacement of Palestinians in Area C and East Jerusalem are continuing.

“The crisis stems from the prolonged occupation, and recurrent hostilities, alongside a system of policies that undermine the ability of Palestinians to live normal, self-sustaining lives and realize the full spectrum of their right to self-determination,” the report stated.

UNOCHA,who have detailed key humanitarian concerns in the oPt for the past four years, reports that about 4,000,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza strip remain under an Israeli military occupation that prevents them from exercising many of their basic human rights.

The U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the territory, James Rawley, told U.N. media that the economic and social problems are expanding from Gaza to East Jerusalem.

“A record number of 1,215 Palestinians were displaced due to home demolitions by Israeli authorities, while settlement and settler activity continued, in contravention of international law, and contributed to humanitarian vulnerability of affected Palestinian communities,” he noted.

The report was released on the same day as Robert Serry, the U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, briefed the U.N. Security Council about peace negotiations.

Nearing the end of his mandate, Serry expressed his disappointment at the failure of the negotiations between Israel and Palestine. Serry pointed out that a two-state solution cannot be forced by the international community, but can only succeed if both parties are willing and committed to such a peaceful solution.

“I must tell you, I am disheartened by seeing what has happened in these seven years, and these past three negotiations. If the parties wish to live in peace with each other, then there is no other alternative, and it is time to really think of a two state solution,” Serry said in comments to the press.

Serry urged the Security Council to revive talks, saying a greater focus should be put on Gaza.

“Gaza first, doesn’t mean Gaza only. But I don’t see how, this shattered piece (of land) can be ‘pieced’ together without addressing it now as a priority issue.”

24 hours after the shocking kidnap of more than 400 women and children in Nigeria by Boko Haram, the United Nations Security Council discussed the safety of children as victims of non-state armed groups.

In New York, the Permanent Representative of France called the meeting to urge countries to address the issue of violations of children’s rights in conflict areas.

The U.N. Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, said to the Council, “Since I last addressed the Council on this issue one year ago, hundreds of thousands more children have been confronted with the emergence or intensification of conflict, and have endured new and grave threats posed by armed groups.”

In 2014, it was estimated that 230 million children lived in areas where armed groups are fighting, and almost 15 million were direct victims of violence.

“The tactics of groups such as Daesh and Boko Haram make little distinction between civilians and combatants. These groups not only constitute a threat to international peace and security, but often target girls and boys,” he added.

U.N. Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui, said that from Nigeria to Iraq, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Mali and Syria, extremist actors militarise schools, abducting and recruiting children to become soldiers, or sexual slaves. Especially girls who suffer sexual abuse and are denied education.

“Armed groups are taking controls of lands, erasing borders, using modern technology to recruit people and to expose (the world to) their brutal actions,” said Zerrougui, who in 2014 jointly launched a programme with the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF), “Children not Soldiers”, aimed at ending the recruitment and use of children as soldiers by government forces by 2016.

Constructive dialogue, even if it seems a difficult task, may be one of the strategies that mediators and peacekeepers should pursue to protect children and fight extremism, she added.

“We need to think of all possibilities to engage with them…Taking into account children’s safety is essential if we want lasting peace,” Zerrougui concluded.

2015 is the 10^th anniversary of Security Council Resolution 1612, which condemns the recruitment of child soldiers by parties to armed conflicts.

Among the speakers, Junior Nzita, an ex-child soldier in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, brought to light the harsh realities of growing up as a child soldier.

Speaking to the Council, Nzita said, “We had to kill, and destroy infrastructure, we did everything they demanded, violating international human rights laws. Carrying munitions, we walked with one fundamental principle: ‘we must fire on whatever moves before they fire on us’. Innocent lives were taken without reason… I continue to regret it.”

Follow Valentina Ieri on Twitter @Valeieri

Edited by Roger Hamilton-Martin

Speaking from the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Wednesday, the U.N. Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, defined 2015 as the year to end violations of the rights of the children worldwide.

“It is time for us to end the shameful breaches of international law that violate the rights of millions of children by calling a halt to the militarization of schools, stopping the now-growing abduction of school pupils as weapons of war and insisting – even in conflict zones – that properly resourced ‘safe schools’ enable children to enjoy their education in peace”, Brown said.

The British ex-Prime Minister highlighted the case of South Sudan, saying “The tragedy in South Sudan with schools being militarized and over 12,000 children abducted to serve as child soldiers must be stopped.”

Having recently visited Pakistan, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan, Brown said that the international community should focus on several steps to change the status quo.

Firstly, Brown called for the international community to reach an agreement on a new multi-million dollar Global Humanitarian Fund for Education in Emergencies, to be set before the Oslo Summit on Global Education in July.

Brown also announced his call for a conference in Washington on April 16, on educating the half-million Syrian child refugees in Lebanon. Following an agreement reached with the Lebanese minister of education, the aim is to raise $163m for Lebanese schools to operate on a double-shift system to sustain Syrian children’s schooling.

Thirdly, Brown highlighted the importance of schemes like the Safe Schools Initiative, which has just been launched in Pakistan after initial success in Nigeria. The Pakistani government, in partnership with UNICEF and the Global Business Coalition for Education, will launch safety-assessment technology in around 1000 pilot schools in the country. Soon, the initiative will be extended to countries like South Sudan, Lebanon and the DRC.

In Nigeria, the Safe Schools Initiative has raised $30m, with a large contribution from the United States, said Brown. “Nearly 30,000 children displaced by Boko Haram are in double-shift schools and additional children in at-risk areas are benefiting from school relocation and increased security measures,” he added.

Brown invited all countries to sign the international Safe School Declaration (recognized now by 30 countries), which provides the same protection as Red Cross Hospitals.

In closing, Brown urged the international community to increase funding for education as a percentage of humanitarian aid, which is currently at 1 percent. “Insisting on a new fund for education in emergencies is necessary to prevent millions of children from falling through the cracks,” he said.

“We need to re-address aid funds for education and Sustainable Development Goals through partnership with the private sector, and the use of social impacts bonds.”

Follow Valentina Ieri on Twitter @Valeieri

Edited by Roger Hamilton-Martin

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, on Monday, appointed an independent panel of experts to examine new information that has emerged from the investigation into the death of former U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld. 

Ban designated the Chief Justice of the United Republic of Tanzania, Mohamed Chande Othman, as the head of the panel. The other panelists are Kerryn Macaulay, Australia’s Representative on the Council of the International Civil Aviation (ICAO), and Henrik Ejrup Larsen, a ballistics expert at the National Center of Forensic Services in the Danish National Police.

The panel is expected to assess the “probative value” of new information given to the secretary-general from the Hammarskjöld Commission, related to the plane crash, in which the ex-U.N. chief, and the party accompanying him, lost their lives.

In mid-March, Ban informed the General Assembly that the Hammarskjöld Commission had discovered “new evidence…relating to the conditions and circumstances” of the case.

The accident happened on the night of Sep. 17, 1961, in what is today Zambia.

Based on a General Assembly resolution adopted in December 2014, the panel will start its work on Mar. 30, 2015, and will report directly to the secretary-general Jun. 30, 2015.

All 193 member states have been encouraged to collaborate and release any relevant material relating to Hammarskjöld’s death.

Hammarskjöld, the second secretary-general of the U.N., served from 1953 until 1961. At the age of 47 he was nominated secretary-general, and remains the youngest man to have held the position. His plane crashed near the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo with Zambia, while he was on a mission to negotiate a ceasefire during the Katanga crisis.

Initially filed as a tragic plane accident, the United Nations is launching this investigation to clarify the doubts over the Swedish diplomat’s death.

Edited by Roger Hamilton-Martin