1945

Partnerships for the Goals

Towards universal primary education

Main Title: UN Chronicle 44, pp 23 - 24 (2007)

Dec 2007

Article

Margaret Simwanza Sitta

The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania recognizes the central role of education in achieving the overall development goal of improving the quality of life for its citizens. It considers the provision of quality universal primary education for all the most reliable way of building a sustainable future for the country. This is well articulated in the Tanzania Development Vision 2025 and the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty. Tanzania is also a signatory of several international agreements, including on Education for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Commit to love and respect our planet

Main Title: UN Chronicle 47, pp 7 - 8 (2012)

Apr 2012

Article

Ricardo Cervantes Gutiérrez

Nearly every day on television or in the newspapers we see reports of natural disasters in different parts of the world, causing concern and alarm. Our planet is going through a most difficult time because mankind, in its eagerness to improve upon personal economic and living conditions, has forgotten that its actions cause pollution and uncontrollable climate change. According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, this term is used to refer to global climatic change that is directly and indirectly attributable to human activities that change the atmospheres composition.

Cyberconflicts and national security

Main Title: UN Chronicle 50, pp 13 - 14 (2013)

Oct 2013

Article

Whenever national cybersecurity policy is discussed, the same stories come up again and again. Whether the examples are called acts of cyberwar, cyberespionage, hacktivism, or cyberterrorism, they all affect national interest, and there is a corresponding call for some sort of national cyberdefence.

The role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in counteracting threats to peace and security

Main Title: UN Chronicle 54, pp 34 - 37 (2017)

Nov 2017

Article

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was established as a multilateral association to ensure security and maintain stability across the vast Eurasian region, join forces to counteract emerging challenges and threats, and enhance trade, as well as cultural and humanitarian cooperation.

Vignettes from my half a century : alongside the group of 77

Main Title: UN Chronicle 51, pp 16 - 20 (2014)

Jul 2014

Article

Branislav Gosovic

The birth of the Group of 77 (G-77) was the decisive element that launched me on the course of my professional career and life mission devoted to development and the cause of the developing countries. In 1966, as a PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, I was in search of a topic for my dissertation. My advisor, Professor Ernst B. Haas, suggested that, while back home in Yugoslavia for the summer break, I contact and consult Leo Mates, a leading Yugoslav political figure and intellectual and one of the architects of the Non-Aligned Movement. Mates spoke to me about the establishment of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the birth of the G-77 and suggested that my thesis be on decision-making and the group system in UNCTAD.

The evolving role of the United Nations in securing human rights

Main Title: UN Chronicle 53, pp 6 - 8 (2017)

Feb 2017

Article

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein

From the vantage point of the twenty-first century, it is sometimes easy to forget just how revolutionary the concept of human rights is. Few who witnessed the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 could have imagined its impact over the last seven decades. International law no longer governs only relations among States. Rather, the treatment of individuals by States is a matter of international law and concern. Today, people who have been abused or silenced at the national level regularly speak at the United Nations Human Rights Council, or bring complaints about violations of human rights treaties to Committees of experts. The voices of the voiceless are now amplified at the international level.

The United Nations and Disarmament Treaties

Main Title: UN Chronicle 51, pp 25 - 28 (2014)

Dec 2014

Article

Rebecca Johnson

Established upon the ashes of the Second World War to represent We the Peoples, it is not surprising that both peace and security were fundamental objectives for the United Nations. While many also wanted disarmament, countervailing lessons were drawn by some political leaders, which made it difficult to get multilateral agreements on disarmament for several decades. Debates around nuclear weapons epitomized and sharpened the challenges. Academics in the United States of America led in developing theories of deterrence to provide legitimacy for these weapons of mass destruction, which soon became embedded in the military doctrines and political rhetoric of further Governments, from NATO allies to the Eastern bloc and beyond. Deterrence theory sought to invert the normative relationship between peace and disarmament by arguing that nuclear weapons were actually peacekeepers amassed to deter aggressors rather than to fight them. From there it became a short step for some countriesincluding permanent Members of the Security Council of the United Nationsto promote ideologies that equated security and peace with high defence budgets and military-industrial dependence on arms manufacture and trade. This is the backdrop for understanding how the United Nations System and disarmament approaches have intersected since 1945, and the way in which reframing disarmament as a universal humanitarian imperative has opened more productive opportunities for future multilateral disarmament treaties.

Education is key to reducing child mortality

Main Title: UN Chronicle 44, pp 33 - 34 (2007)

Dec 2007

Article

In 2006, for the first time in recent history, the total number of annual deaths among children under the age of five fell below 10 million, to 9.7 million. This represents a 60-per-cent drop in the rate of child mortality since 1960. Data compiled by the Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation reveals that progress has been made in every region of the world. Since 1990, China’s under-five mortality rate has declined from 45 deaths for every 1,000 live births to 24 per 1,000, a reduction of 47 per cent; India’s rate declined by 34 per cent. The rates in six countries—Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bolivia, Eritrea, Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Nepal—fell by 50 per cent or more from 1990 to 2006, although under-five mortality rates in these countries remain high. Ethiopia achieved a nearly 40-per-cent reduction during the same period.

W. Arthur Lewis: Pioneer of development economics

Main Title: UN Chronicle 45, pp 45 - 46 (2008)

Dec 2008

Article

Kari Polanyi Levitt

W. Arthur Lewis’ best-known contribution to development economics was his path-breaking work on the transfer of labour from a traditional to a modern capitalist sector in conditions of unlimited supplies of labour. His article, “Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour” (1954), contributed to the establishment of development economics as a specialized field of study. It addressed the mechanisms of transferring surplus labour from traditional activity to a modern capitalist sector under conditions of unlimited supply of labour.

From COP21 to the new urban agenda

Main Title: UN Chronicle 52, pp 4 - 5 (2013)

Apr 2013

Article

We are just a few days away from the opening of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21). A new climate agreement is an important stepping stone for the implementation of the global sustainable development agenda. Besides achieving an ambitious climate agreement, addressing climate financing and galvanizing action by all relevant stakeholders are further crucial elements of a successful COP21. This is a prime opportunity to move forward on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to pave the way for a more sustainable future.

Reduce inequality within and among countries

Main Title: UN Chronicle 51, pp 23 - 25 (2015)

Jun 2015

Article

Chantal Line Carpentier, Richard Kozul-Wright and Fabio David Passos

The Rio+20 negotiations began amidst the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis, which made it abundantly clear that the economic, social and environmental imbalances that had built up recently could no longer be tackled separately, sequentially, or by countries acting alone. Despite rapid export growth, strong capital inflows and high commodity prices in the developing world, the resulting income gains had been unevenly distributed, and many poorer countries and communities remained vulnerable to shocks and reversals. Crisis came in the wake of slow growth, massive income redistribution in favour of the top 1 per cent and an explosion in private debt, provoking not only a degree of moral soul-searching but also raising concerns about the fragility of the social compact.

Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

Main Title: UN Chronicle 51, pp 21 - 22 (2015)

Jun 2015

Article

Investing in basic, sustainable infrastructure is essential to improving the living standards for communities worldwide. When we speak of the basics, we mean the fundamentals. These are issues which comprise common human needs all over the world. Just because these are basics, however, does not mean that addressing such concerns correctly is a simple task. In the case of infrastructure it requires coordinated, long-term planning that stretches across geographic, political and cultural boundaries.

Advancing the debate on a culture of conflict prevention

Main Title: UN Chronicle 54, pp 24 - 26 (2017)

Nov 2017

Article

“The best way to prevent societies from descending into crisis is to ensure they are resilient through investment in inclusive sustainable development.” This truth, as stated by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, underpins his recent vision for conflict prevention, in which the maxim of reversing inequalities and strengthening institutions applies to all countries. Putting prevention first is at the forefront of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and it frames the global community’s commitment to “strengthen universal peace in larger freedom”, captured in the preamble of United Nations General Assembly resolution 70/1 that introduced the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to the world in October 2015. The specific framework for prevention is found in SDG 16 which seeks to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels”. SDG 16 places political action at the forefront of the peace-security-development nexus by recognizing that governance deficits are largely responsible for poverty and conflict. By virtue of this debate, the SDGs direct the international community to prioritize prevention by removing the causes of conflict through political process and the pursuit of development outcomes which leaves no one behind.

Saving water, saving lives

Main Title: UN Chronicle 47, pp 9 - 11 (2012)

Apr 2012

Article

Water is a basic necessity of life, and it may seem inconceivable to imagine living without it. But the stark reality is that many people around the world do. The availability of fresh water for drinking and sanitation poses an urgent and challenging problem, particularly in many developing countries

Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

Main Title: UN Chronicle 51, pp 40 - 43 (2015)

Jun 2015

Article

The year 2015 will be seminal for the development agenda at the United Nations. Financing sustainable development will be the main subject of an anticipated agreement in Addis Ababa in July 2015. Later, in September of the same year, a global summit will adopt an outcome document containing the post-2015 development agenda, and expectations are high that in December 2015 an ambitious and farreaching agreement will be achieved on climate change in Paris at the twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This array of agreements will frame transformative actions, directions and approaches for people and for our fragile planet.

Placing people at the centre of our sustainable urban future

Main Title: UN Chronicle 53, pp 12 - 15 (2016)

Apr 2016

Article

The United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development— Habitat III—to be held in Quito, Ecuador, in October 2016, will be a historic event.

Towards cyberpeace: Managing cyberwar through international cooperation

Main Title: UN Chronicle 50, pp 7 - 9 (2013)

Oct 2013

Article

Anna-Maria Talihärm

The ubiquitous use of information and communication technologies (ICT) serves both as an enabler of growth and innovation as well as the source of asymmetrical cyberthreats. Around the globe, about 2 million people are connected to the Internet, and the use of the Internet and ICT-enabled services is becoming more and more an indispensible part of our everyday lives. With the increasing dependence on ICT and the interlinked nature with critical infrastructure, we have become alarmingly vulnerable to possible disruption and exploitation by malicious cyberactivities.

The panel of the wise: Its role in preventing violent conflicts in Africa

Main Title: UN Chronicle 54, pp 16 - 20 (2017)

Nov 2017

Article

Kapinga Yvette Ngandu

The insufficient participation of women in formal conflict prevention and at the peace table is an important area of United Nations Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) that remains poorly implemented. The significant contribution and strong role of women in local mediation and conflict prevention initiatives continue to be largely unrecognized and weakly supported. Thus, since 2010, the African Union (AU) Panel of the Wise—already with a mandate to draw the public’s attention to largely overlooked issues—has considered ways to strengthen the participation of women and youth at the peace table and raise awareness of the impact of war and sexual violence against women and children, through a document entitled “Mitigating Vulnerabilities of Women and Children in Armed Conflicts”. The report advocates for at least four key actions to be taken by the African Union Commission: a) the establishment of the Office of the Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security; b) the launch of the AU five-year Gender Peace and Security Programme (GPSP) 2015-2020; c) the implementation of an Open Session of the Council on Women, Peace and Security; and d) the launch of the African Network of Women in Conflict Prevention and Peace Mediation (FemWise).

The values of the G-77 are more actual than ever

Main Title: UN Chronicle 51, pp 36 - 38 (2014)

Jul 2014

Article

As the founder of Inter Press Service, which is also celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year, let me share some reflections, which are of course my personal views, as I do not belong to the intergovernmental system. If I look at the enthusiasm and hope that marked 1964, when we all hoped to build a more balanced and just system of international relations, when solidarity was a key word, and at the sense of gloom and stagnation that marks international relations today, I cannot but reflect on what went wrong. The fact that millions of citizens today in various Gallup polls worldwide look to the world not as an element of stability, but as a serious factor of incertitude, must be an important consideration. I will, therefore, present my personal opinion on what went wrong, and why we are in the present global incertitude.

Building an Agenda for Humanity

Main Title: UN Chronicle 53, pp 13 - 15 (2016)

Jun 2016

Article

Antoine Gérard

Humanitarian action has never reached so many people in so many places. Around the world, more actors than ever are involved in delivering life-saving assistance and protection to people in need: from Governments, which bear the primary responsibility for providing assistance to their people, to international and national organizations and networks, to businesses and private foundations.

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