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Speaking at a conference on addressing development challenges of middle-income countries (MICs), in Rabat, Morocco, Amina Mohammed said recent crises have laid bare inequalities and exposed stark contrasts. “While developed countries have been able to protect and swiftly support their populations, other countries have been left dependent on the international community and the existing global support systems.” She said existing frameworks fall short in meeting the complex needs of...

Lenovo Group, LG AI Research, Mastercard, Microsoft, Salesforce, Telefonica, GSMA network of mobile phone operators, and INNIT have pledged to “integrate the values and principles” of UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of AI when designing and deploying AI systems. The announcement came at the UN education, science and culture agency’s Global Forum on AI, taking place in Slovenia on Monday and Tuesday. UNESCO forged a consensus between all its member States in November 2021 to adopt...

Since 7 October when Israel launched its military campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the militant group’s terror attacks in southern Israel that left some 1,200 dead and more than 250 taken hostage, Gaza health authorities have reported at least 25,700 killed and some 63,740 injured. In its case, which began earlier this month in the Hague, South Africa asked the Court – a principal organ of the UN – to indicate provisional measures in order to “protect against further severe and...

The report paints a bleak picture of socio-economic conditions since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, with the erosion of women’s rights and a banking system near collapse, identified as major areas of concern. The Afghan economy has not recovered from the cumulative 27 per cent shrinkage experienced since 2020 and appears to be stabilizing at a very low level of activity. Restrictions and disruptions This is largely due to restrictions on the banking sector, disruptions...

10 January 2024Economic Development Global unemployment is expected to rise this year, with growing inequality and stagnant productivity also a cause for concern on the economic horizon, the UN labour agency ILO said on Wednesday. Just over five per cent of the world’s workforce is without a job, according to the International Labour Organization’s World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2024 report. This is a better situation than before the pandemic, but it isn’t set to last, as...

The COVID-19 pandemic affected hundreds of millions of lives, caused millions of deaths and inflicted devastating impacts on humanity. After three years of unprecedented global efforts, on 5 May the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an end to COVID-19 as a public health emergency, stressing however, that it does not mean the disease is no longer a global threat. “Economic damage inflicted by the pandemic endures. Many healthcare systems are struggling. Millions of children are...

The flagship forecast launched in New York on Thursday indicates that last year’s stronger-than-expected GDP growth coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic masked short-term risks and structural vulnerabilities in the world economy. The sombre short-term outlook is based on persistently high interest rates, further escalation of conflicts, sluggish international trade, and increasing climate disasters, which all pose significant challenges to global growth. It points to a prolonged period of...

WHO said that 88 countries have no minimum age at which e-cigarettes can be bought and 74 countries have not implemented any e-cigarette regulations. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on countries to ramp up prevention measures, saying that “kids are being recruited and trapped at an early age to use e-cigarettes and may get hooked to nicotine”. Teen users spiking Children aged 13 to 15 worldwide are using e-cigarettes at rates higher than adults, WHO research has found, and in...

The new findings from the UNICEF research wing focus on Member States of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU). Analysing child support policies among the group of developed economies, the report finds that despite an overall decrease in poverty of nearly eight per cent over the seven year period, there were still more than 69 million children living in households earning less than 60 per cent of the average national income. Among...

That’s the message from the UN’s trade and development body UNCTAD, which called on Tuesday for urgent reform of the international financial system to support the world’s 46 Least Developed Countries. In line with the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, these most vulnerable economies urgently require foreign investment to add value to their economic output, avoid debt distress and finance a low-carbon transition. UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan stressed that the success of...