Global

30th anniversary of World Summit for Children – Today Children Need a New Initiative

By Richard Jolly
On the eve of the UN's 75th anniversary, Antonio Guterres, the UN’s Secretary-General has declared that the coronavirus pandemic is the world's top security threat. He has called for action - for greater international co-operation in controlling outbreaks and developing an affordable vaccine, available to all. Such action is needed and possible -even in the absence of a large gathering of world leaders in New York to celebrate the anniversary.  But children today in every country need more.

Q&A: How Fast Fashion Sits at the Crucial Intersection of Environmental & Gender Justice

By Samira Sadeque
Racism “keeps the global north oblivious to the effect of fast fashion addiction on the global south” say environmental and gender justice experts.

Judgment Free Online Platform Key to Helping Suicidal People, Says Survivor

By Fairuz Ahmed
Romana Hoque had it all, a comfortable life, a happy family. Despite this, the 43-year-old second-generation immigrant from Indonesia living in the United States was depressed enough to contemplate suicide.

No More Excuses – Time for Global Economic Solutions

By Tove Maria Ryding, Pooja Rangaprasad and Emilia Reyes
On 29 September, the world’s heads of state will come together (virtually) at an extraordinary meeting to discuss financing for development during the 75th UN general assembly. This will be crucial in the battle to address the Coronavirus crisis.

‘Leave No one Behind’: How Inclusive is World Leaders’ Call to Climate Action?

By Samira Sadeque
Wrapping up Climate Week at the United Nations General Assembly, global leaders called for climate action that may be “ambitious but achievable” and called for climate measures that would “leave no one behind”. But some climate activists remain concerned about how this can be achieved.

#TurnItAround: One Week to Mobilize for the Future

By Pénélope Hubert
The year 2020 will most certainly mark a critical moment for the planet and future mobilizations. In a society shaken by Covid-19, people are gathering, regrouping and acting collectively for a sustainable world, an egalitarian future, and for global awareness on the climate emergency.

Pushing the Reset Button will not Change the Game

By Jens Martens
Governments have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with unprecedented intensity. They have taken far-reaching regulatory measures to contain the pandemic and mobilized financial resources on an enormous scale.

What UN Needs is a Cease-Fire Inside its own Security Council

By Thalif Deen
With more than 20,000 civilians killed last year in conflicts in 10 countries — including Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen-- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated his call for a “global cease-fire”: a proposal which failed to generate a positive response since he first announced it last March.

Why Is Women’s Leadership Not in the Headlines?

The question has never been whether women can lead as capably as men. Women have always led, and women will always lead, especially when the times are hard, and their communities are in need. The question that we need to ask is, why is women’s leadership invisible? Why is their potential and their power stifled?

Making State-Owned Enterprises Work for Climate in China and Beyond

By Philippe Benoit and Alex Clark
President Xi Jinping announced on Tuesday China’s aim to become carbon neutral before 2060. Achieving this goal will require the support and engagement of China’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs), as they currently generate more than half of the country’s energy sector emissions. SOEs are major drivers of greenhouse gas emissions globally, particularly in emerging economies. 

The Future We Want, The UN We Need

By Robert W. Sandford
As we reflect on this week and celebrate the United Nations’ rise in the war-ravaged world some 75 years ago, humanity is again being asked to lay the foundation for a new world.

Trump Pitched his Vision of a Global Order — at Odds with the UN Charter

By Abby Maxman
President Trump took the UN stage to settle scores and shift blame as he sought to spin an alternate version of his administration’s response to the pandemic.

Scientists Draw up Guidelines to Help Agri-food Companies Align with 2030 Agenda

By Isaiah Esipisu
In Amuru district, 47 kilometres from Gulu town in northwestern Uganda, the Omer Farming Company has proven that it is possible to farm on thousands of acres of land using methods that conserve the environment and its biodiversity.

Bending the Curve on Biodiversity Loss Requires Nothing Less than Transformational Change

By Jamison Ervin
A spate of reports on biodiversity – the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystems, the Living Planet Report, the Global Forest Resources Assessment Report and the Global Biodiversity Outlook- paint a stark picture for the world’s biodiversity.

A Third World War – Which so Many Had Feared — Has Been Avoided, Says UN Chief

By Antonio Guterres
The ideals of the United Nations – peace, justice, equality and dignity — are beacons to a better world. But the Organization we celebrate today emerged only after immense suffering. It took two world wars, millions of deaths and the horrors of the Holocaust for world leaders to commit to international cooperation and the rule of law.

‘Populist’ Macroeconomic Policy

By Vladimir Popov and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
‘Ethno-populism’ has emerged and spread in recent decades in response to the mixed consequences of neoliberal globalization. It appropriates nationalist rhetoric for narrow ethnic, religious, cultural or other communal ends, typically with a chauvinist, jingoist rejection of selected Others as politically expedient.

SDGs: It’s Not Just About Collecting Data, it’s What You Do With it

By Tim Mohin
The unprecedented challenges posed by COVID-19 have reminded us that we are an interconnected global community. While this crisis rightly has dominated our attention, we must not lose sight of progress on the broader aims of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement.

Helping Make Education a Reality for the 75 million Children in Conflict Zones

By IPS Correspondents
Aryan is a 15-year-old girl from Afghanistan who lives with her family in a shelter in an undisclosed country in Europe. She doesn’t go to school. But she is hugely creative. And it shows in how she occupies her time during the day — writing poetry and making bracelets and earrings that she hopes to sell online one day.

After 75 Years, UN Claims 50:50 Gender Parity, But Falls Short of its Ultimate Goals

By Thalif Deen
When the United Nations was dominated by men, holding some of the highest positions in the staff hierarchy, women staffers were overwhelmingly administrative secretaries seen pounding on their Remington typewriters seated outside their bosses’ enclosed offices.

Philanthropy’s Role in the Missing Global Architecture

By Marcel Arsenault
The promise of the United Nations, as articulated 75 years ago, is a global system capable of managing global issues. As UN leadership knows, that promise is needed now more than ever in a multipolar world with increasingly complex challenges. This mission must be fulfilled, but is not possible without the collaboration of broad-based coalitions made up of innovative thinkers from all sectors of society working together.

The Culture of Peace: Change our World for the Better in the Age of COVID 19

By Nihal Saad
Last year, we paid tribute to the 20th Anniversary of the 1999 Declaration of the Program of Action on a Culture of Peace. Today, we need to ask ourselves if we had genuinely carried out our moral responsibilities to transition from a culture of hatred and violence to a culture of tolerance and peace.
Next Page »