Naming and Shaming Human Rights Violators

Fifty years ago, this was the day I first heard the sound of war. I was three and a half years old and, while fragmentary, I can still remember military men milling around our home in Amman, an armoured car stationed nearby and later, planes that flew overhead.

Post-Soviet Russian economic collapse

Wide-ranging economic reforms following the demise of the Soviet Union at the end of December 1991 mainly resulted in economic collapse in most successor states. By the mid-1990s, output had fallen by about half compared to 1989.

Renewing Commitment to SDGs: Private Sector Gets Active

Just last month business representatives from around the world joined the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Fund commemorate their work as part of the Private Sector Advisory Group (PSAG).

Saving the Oceans, Saving the Future: Officials Tackle Marine Pollution

The oceans’ health is only getting worse and the cycle of decline must be reversed, said representatives at the opening of a high-level UN conference.

Instability Widens in Mali and the Sahel Region of Africa

The first foreign visit of the new French President Emmanuel Macron, after a now habitual trip to Berlin, was to Gao in northern Mali as head of the French military.

Charting a Course to a Blue Commonwealth

The United Nations Ocean Conference offers an historic opportunity to safeguard the ocean environment and support small island and vulnerable developing coastal states, who depend on the seas for national economic growth and sustainable development.

US Pull-out from Paris Deal: What it Means

By withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement, President Donald Trump abdicated not only leadership but membership of the community of nations cooperating to tackle climate change, the most serious crisis facing humanity.

Asia – Indigenous Women Fight for Justice, Influence and Equity

Indigenous women in Asia are setting examples in their efforts for a more peaceful, fair and equal world. But discrimination, poverty and lack of recognition still hinder indigenous women from fully participating in developing their societies.

Re-Connect with Nature Now… Before It Is Too Late!

Now that president Donald Trump has announced the withdrawal of the world’s largest polluter in history—the United States, from the Paris Accord, perhaps one of the most specific warnings is what a United Nations independent expert on rights and the environment has just said: “We should be fully aware that we cannot enjoy our basic human rights without a healthy environment.”

Aggression against children in the Arab region needs to come to an end

On 20 February 1997, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 51/77 to promote the rights of children. This Resolution was considered a milestone in promoting and advancing the right of children in conflict and wars.

Global South Calls for International Body to Fight Tax Havens

Tax havens are “one of the worst enemies of our democracies,” said state representatives during a meeting at the United Nations.

AIDS Pandemic Far From Over: 37 Million Living with HIV Globally

During the process of developing the Sustainable Development Goals it was clear to me how relevant and innovative the approach to ending AIDS had been and how important it would continue to be.

New Research to Unearth UAE’s Renewable Energy Potential

A report by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) states that supplying the world with 95 per cent renewable sources by 2050 will not only reduce 80 per cent of GHG emissions from the energy sector but also save four trillion euros annually.

Why We Need to Save Our Oceans Now—Not Later

What if the blue fades away as seawaters become brown and coral reefs become white as marine grasslands wither and life below water vanishes?

Mixed Reactions to U.S. Withdrawal from Climate Deal

The United States is expected to withdraw from the landmark Paris climate agreement, prompting mixed reactions from civil society and political representatives.

Why Do International Financial Crises Happen?

International currency and financial crises have become more frequent since the 1990s, and with good reason. But the contributory factors are neither simple nor straightforward. Such financial crises have, in turn, contributed to more frequent economic difficulties for the economies affected, as evident following the 2008-2009 financial crisis and the ensuing Great Recession still evident almost a decade later.

A UN of the Future to Effectively Serve all Member States

Through a series of recent global agreements on sustainable development, climate change, sustaining peace, disaster risk reduction, and financing for development, Member States have provided a broad vision of the future they want. I am committed to advancing meaningful reforms to adapt the United Nations to this complex world, so that it can effectively serve all of its Member States in achieving that future and managing shared challenges and opportunities along the way.

Genetically Engineered Crops: Fake News Disappointments

Fake news plaguing the progress of genetically engineered (GE) crops is nothing new since their first commercial cultivation 21 years ago. One of the most recent examples of fake news reports was churned out by  economist, Jomo Kwame Sundaram and his co-author Tan Zhai Gen, https://ipsnews.net/2017/05/genetically-engineered-disappointments.

How to Produce More Food with Less Damage to Soil, Water, Forests

Massive agriculture intensification is contributing to increased deforestation, water scarcity, soil depletion and the level of greenhouse gas emission, the United Nations warns.

Proposed UN Pay Cuts Threaten Work Stoppage in Geneva

Facing significant reductions in US financial contributions from a politically-unpredictable Donald Trump administration, the UN Secretariat is gearing itself for a rash of austerity measures and budgetary cuts, including downsizing peacekeeping operations and cuts in development aid, reproductive health and overseas travel.

Forty-Five Years Since Stockholm, Twenty-Five Years Since the Earth Summit and Five Years Since Rio+20

Over the past five years, I have written with a number of co-authors the history of the sustainable development movement at the global level prior to the first UN Conference on Human Environment held in 1972 through the 1992 Earth Summit and Rio+20 to the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. I like to think of these books as the ‘Vienna Café Trilogy’ after the café in the basement of the United Nations headquarters in New York, where many deals are done over coffee. Also, with deference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Five Parts, this trilogy may also have future books.