Sustainable Development Goals

The new resolution, tabled by Pakistan, calls for, among other things, concerted action to fight ongoing violence against Muslims and requests the UN Secretary-General to appoint a special envoy to combat Islamophobia. The world body created the International Day through a resolution adopted following attacks on two mosques Christchurch, New Zealand, that left 51 people dead on this day in 2019. Prior to adopting the new resolution, by a vote of 113 in favour to none against, with 44...

Global perspective Human stories A group of displaced people hosted in a school in the centre of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. 13 March 2024Humanitarian Aid The number of internally displaced people around the world is at a record high – well over 70 million – it’s a global crisis that needs collaborative solutions from the humanitarian community, the UN’s emergency relief chief said on Wednesday. Martin Griffiths was speaking at a review of humanitarian efforts to help people...

The 2023 Human Development Index stands at a new high following steep decline during 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP). Rich countries experienced unprecedented development, the Human Development Report details, yet half of the world’s poorest nations continue to languish below their pre-COVID crisis levels. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite of statistics measuring such factors as per capita income, educational...

Kanni Wignaraja, Director of UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, who recently visited the country, told correspondents in New York that 69 per cent of Afghans are “subsistence insecure” – meaning they do not have enough basic resources. “Something that really hit me … was the harsh impact of continuous natural disasters,” she said, adding that many parts of Afghanistan are facing “dramatic” scarcity of water further setting back development efforts. Lights out Since the...

7 March 2024Economic Development The benefits of cutting-edge technology remain out of reach for around 2.6 billion people globally who are still waiting for an Internet connection, the head of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) said on Thursday, outlining the agency’s plans to narrow the gap. Doreen Bogdan-Martin underscored ITU’s wide-ranging brief, emphasizing its pivotal role in fostering connectivity across the globe. Founded in 1865 as an international telegraph...

Nearly 8,600 people on the move died in 2023, a 20 per cent increase from 2022, according to the UN agency’s Missing Migrants Project online platform. It details the global movement of people risking their lives to escape conflict, economic crisis and natural disasters, including drought and flooding linked to climate change. IOM says the findings clearly show that there are far too few legal pathways for migrants. Hundreds of thousands of people are continuing to embark on dangerous and...

At Beabo Primary School in Ambovombe in the south of Madagascar, teams of students are in competition to cook the tastiest and most nutritional meal using locally available products which hopefully will encourage their parents and others to change to healthier diets. Fifteen-year-old Marie-Eliane is one of six junior chefs who have produced an impressive three-course menu bursting with varied flavours. School children prepare a three-course meal as part of the Tsikonina competition...

Their journey begins in the open fields every morning in search of these plants, which include cheeseweed – known locally as khubeezeh – which have been eaten by Palestinians as side dishes for generations. Now they have become a major food source for Gazans. Living conditions in the besieged enclave have reached an abysmal state and are systematically deteriorating, as the latest round of violence that began on 7 October with the Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel, continues to wreak havoc...

The Global teacher shortage alert was issued at a meeting on Monday of the International Task Force on Teachers for Education in Johannesburg, South Africa, where the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession announced a new set of recommendations to safeguard future learning for all. Quality education for ‘learning societies’ “Now, more than ever, we need to move towards learning societies. People everywhere need high-quality skills, knowledge and education. Above...

Civil aviation organization ICAO said that the numbers for the first quarter of 2024 indicate that airlines will sustain the return to profitability recorded in 2023. “The commitment of Member States to aligning their pandemic responses with the guidance developed by the ICAO Council has been crucial to the recovery of their air services,” said Council president Salvatore Sciacchitano. “The implementation of ICAO’s post-pandemic guidance is now equally crucial to ensuring the resilience...