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UN Chronicle - Volume 48, Issue 4, 2011
Volume 48, Issue 4, 2011
A must-read for every concerned world citizen, the United Nations Chronicle is a quarterly, easy-to-read report on the work of the United Nations and its agencies. Produced by the United Nations Department of Public Information, every issue covers a wide range United Nations related activities: from fighting the drug war to fighting racial discrimination, from relief and development to nuclear disarmament, terrorism, and the world-wide environmental crisis.
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Sustainability agenda in retrospect and in prospect
Author: Yamei ShenAt a time when mega crises in economic activities, social life, and natural environment are becoming “the new normal” for mankind, it is only wise to search for a way out of this new normal by taking an integrated approach, revealing the essential value of sustainable development in combining economic, social, and natural considerations.
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Climate finance: Putting the puzzle together
Author: Monique BarbutAfter the disappointment of the much-heralded 2009 Copenhagen Accord, the 2010 Cancun Agreements were considered to have achieved progress, because an agreement was reached to establish the Green Climate Fund in order to scale up the provision of long-term financing for developing countries.
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The global dividend for maximum impact (GDM-I): Advancing women for global equity and innovation
Author: Lorna Jean EdmondsImagine for a moment meeting a young girl in Afghanistan or Eritrea, walking to primary school in the morning. She tells you that she loves school; she tells you with enthusiasm that she wonders what is out there in our galaxy. You can see that she has the confidence to let her imagination explore the possibilities for affecting real change, and she yearns to learn more. While her primary education undoubtedly will provide her with the tools to be a better and more informed family member, mother, and contributor to her community, you are left with the certainty that she is capable of more. At age 12, there are few, if any, options available for her to continue beyond primary education. In fact, we know this girl and what her future holds. It does not look like yours. She is hardly empowered and, in the long term, who benefits?
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A quiet diplomat for challenging times
Author: Francesco ManciniBan Ki-moon was appointed to a second five-year term as Secretary-General of the United Nations in his typical style: quietly. In a time of divisive power plays in the Security Council, all 15 members supported him and, a week later, the General Assembly gave its unanimous consent. No other candidate had been put forward and no fuss was raised among Member States. This was an impressive achievement for Ban Ki-moon—one that should be saluted as a major political victory.
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Human rights and the UN: Progress and challenges
Author: Alex J. BellamyEnduring structural improvements in human rights are very difficult to achieve. Global indices suggest that the world is little different today from a decade ago. In 2002, Freedom House, a non-governmental organization in the United States, recorded that 85 states were “free”, 59 were “partly free” and 48 were “not free”. In 2011 only two additional countries were judged “free” and one fewer “not free”. The Political Terror Scale, an annual report which focuses on integrity violations and which is compiled from reports of Amnesty International and the US State Department, tells a similar story. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the best and 5 the worst, the global average in 2001 was 2.58. Despite differences within data, the global average in 2010 remained at 2.58. This apparent intractability seems to confirm mounting evidence that foreign assistance for governance and human rights are unlikely to deliver sustainable national improvements without genuine local political leadership. These figures might also tell us that in the face of strong countervailing forces, the United Nations has to run just to stand still.
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The UN role and efforts in combating the proliferation of small arms and light weapons: A Jamaican CARICOM perspective
Author: Raymond O. WolfeThe proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) in various parts of the globe continues to pose a systemic and pervasive threat to the long-term social and economic development of many nations, particularly in small developing states.
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If you want the peace of the dead, prepare for nuclear war
Author: Ramesh ThakurThe world faces two existential threats: climate change, and nuclear Armageddon. Action on both is required urgently. Tackling the first will impose significant economic costs and lifestyle adjustments, while tackling the second will bring economic benefits without any lifestyle implications. Those who reject the first are derided as denialists; those dismissive of the second are praised as realists. Although action is needed now in order to keep the world on this side of the tipping point, a climate change-induced apocalypse will not occur until decades into the future. A nuclear catastrophe could destroy us at any time, although, if our luck holds out, it could be delayed for another six decades. The uncomfortable reality is that nuclear peace has been upheld, owing as much to good luck as to sound stewardship. Because we have learned to live with nuclear weapons for 66 years, we have become desensitized to the gravity and immediacy of the threat. The tyranny of complacency could yet exact a fearful price if we sleepwalk our way into a nuclear Armageddon. The time to lift the spectre of a mushroom cloud from the international body politic is long overdue.
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Improving UN responses to humanitarian crises
Author: Jayshree BajoriaIn the aftermath of the Second World War, the creation of the United Nations and documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Genocide Convention, the four Geneva Conventions of 1949, and their Additional Protocols, as well as concepts such as responsibility to protect (R2P), have transformed international law and the basis for how states must conduct international relations. Yet, as David Rieff, who has covered several wars and humanitarian emergencies, remarks in his book A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis, the “murderous twentieth century remained just as murderous”. In fact, the twenty-first century remains no stranger to humanitarian emergencies: from man-made and natural disasters to wars and revolutions, millions of lives remain at risk. Today, world politics is testing many of these laws and humanitarian relief work in unforeseen ways. At the same time, the Internet and mobile technologies have provided a means to improve data collection and humanitarian response, which provides the United Nations with an opportunity to play a more dynamic role in how it coordinates and responds to humanitarian emergencies.
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The dilemma of democratization in fragile states
Author: Pauline H. BakerConventional thinking juxtaposes democracy and dictatorship as mutually exclusive systems. It is often assumed that when one system collapses, it is replaced by the other, as if this was the natural order of things. Some theorists, such as Francis Fukuyama, argued that liberal democracy had decisively defeated tyranny with the collapse of the Soviet Union, which marked the “end of history”. Indeed, since then, while there have been setbacks in countries such as Ukraine and Zimbabwe, dictatorship has been in retreat.
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Advancing the global health agenda
Author: Ilona KickbuschIn just over two decades, global health has gained a political visibility and status that some authors have called a political revolution. As health related issues have become a centre piece of the global agenda, significant resources in development aid have been made available to address major health problems. Global health has gained this political prominence because three agendas have reinforced one another in a variety of ways
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Rejecting ageism and supporting the human rights of seniors
Author: Linda SaputelliWhen the UN Chronicle asked the Association of Former International Civil Servants (AFICS/NY) on the eve of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s second term in office to contribute to an issue devoted to looking at what the United Nations can do in the next five years, reflecting on achievements and lessons learned from the past, there was no hesitation on our part. Even if at first blush retirees might not seem to be the most obvious interlocutors to call on for ideas on strengthening the United Nations, the very raison d’être of AFICS/NY contradicts this notion.
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