UN Insider

Photo: The "Good Defeats Evil" sculpture, located at UN Headquarters in New York, depicts an allegorical St. George slaying a double-headed dragon—symbolic of a nuclear war vanquished by historic treaties between the Soviet Union and the United States. UN/Ingrid Kasper

The Ukraine War Should Alert Us to The Need to Ban Nuclear Weapons

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — In the year 2000, President Vladimir Putin, having just won his first election, made his own contribution to solving the nuclear weapons imbroglio. He said in a speech that Moscow was prepared to drastically reduce its stockpile of nuclear missiles. Putin's call was not just for further cuts than the US suggested ceiling of 2,500 for each side but for reductions far below Moscow's previous target of 1,500. (At present, Russia has around 6,000 warheads and the US 5,400.)

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 15 January 2023

Photo: Participants in a Forum in 2022 to explore job possibilities for Sri Lankans in Singapore with the country's High Commissioner Sashikala Premarwardhane in first row centre. Source: High Commission of Sri Lanka in Singapore.

The “Job” Culture Is Changing in The Post-Pandemics Era

Viewpoint by Jayasri Priyalal*

SINGAPORE (IDN) — How many of us can predict continuing to hold the job that we do currently into the future? That is the challenge many policyholders grapple to address to develop strategies to stimulate the stalled economies to grow sustainably.

The concept of a job is disappearing as there is an increasing trend of atomization of work processes with technological infiltration. As such, job security is fading away, and the employability of human talent is gaining prominence.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 14 January 2023

UN Report Finds Survival Chances of a Child or Youth Worrisome

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) — Some five million children died before their fifth birthday and another 2.1 million children and youth aged between 5–24 years lost their lives in 2021, according to the latest estimates released by the United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME).

: Ramesh Jaura; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 14 January 2023

Security Disorder: Is There a Way Out?

Viewpoint by Herbert Wulf

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

BONN (IDN) — Putin's war against Ukraine has not only damaged the cooperative security architecture but destroyed it permanently. The Helsinki Act of 1975, the Paris Charter of 1990 and the NATO-Russia Founding Act of 1997 created a basis for security cooperation in Europe – even "a new era of democracy, peace and unity" as the Paris Charter titled euphorically. At least that's how state leaders saw it at the decade after the end of the Cold War.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 13 January 2023

Photo: The foreign affairs ministers of the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, France, China, the European Union and Iran (Lausanne, March 30, 2015). Wikimedia Commons.

US Must Offer a Nuclear Deal That Iran Cannot Afford to Decline

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The policies of Iran’s government are not set in stone, as critics interminably suggest. Early December Iran’s prosecutor-general was reported as saying that the morality police were being disbanded. Clearly two months of demonstrations, led mainly by women, and now with open support by Iran’s football World Cup team while competing in Qatar, have made some in the government have a big think about its long-term policies.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 12 January 2023

Image: The powerful Group of 20 agreed on Nov. 16 at their summit in Indonesia that threats and use of nuclear weapons are “inadmissible.” Source: Twitter@g20org

The Nuclear Taboo Remains Strong for Now

Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball

The writer is the Executive Director of the Arms Control Association (ACA). The following text was published in the organization’s monthly journal, Arms Control Today.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) — Even before his disastrous decision to invade Ukraine last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin had demonstrated a malign indifference toward basic norms of international behavior, an uneven record of compliance with cornerstone arms control agreements, and a penchant for bullying and using deadly force against opponents.

: Arms Control Association; OPINION; 11 January 2023

Image: Screenshot of YouTube video '9 sustainable development events to look out for in 2023'. Credit: UN DESA.

UN Focuses on Global Sustainable Development in 2023

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) — The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) comprising 169 targets, which are an urgent call for action by all—developed and developing in a global partnership.

: J Nastranis; SUSTAINABILITY; Global Partnerships; 09 January 2023

Water Is Key to Climate Action and Sustainable Development

UN 2023 Water Conference will be the first of its kind since 1977

Viewpoint by Gilbert F. Houngbo*

This article was issued by Africa Renewal and is being republished with their permission.

NEW YORK (IDN) — Water flows through all major global issues; from health to hunger, gender equity to jobs, education to industry, disasters to peace.

For that reason, it has to be made an integral part of all global meetings to do with making the world a better, safer and fairer place. Right now, this is not the case.

: Africa Renewal; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 05 January 2023

Photo: US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev after signing in Prague the "New START", the only arms control agreement still surviving. Credit: Kremlin.ru

The Decline & Fall of Nuclear Disarmament in 2022

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — As a politically and militarily tense 2022 came to an inglorious end, nuclear threats kept hitting the front pages of newspapers with monotonous regularity last year.

The rising tensions were triggered primarily by threats from Russia, the continuous military rhetoric spilling out of North Korea and Iran's unwillingness to give up its nuclear option—and its increasingly close relationship with two of the world’s major nuclear powers, Russia and China.

: Thalif Deen; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 04 January 2023

Photo: (From left to right) Ambassador Mr. Alexander Kmentt, Ms. Rebecca Jovin and Ms. Elena Sokova address the audience about the key role of disarmament education in advancing international peace and security, and the indispensability of partnerships in these effortsImage credit: UNICEF/UN0579998/Lateef

UN Takes to New Ways to Promote Nuclear Disarmament

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) — UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced on 24 May 2018 his Agenda for Disarmament, which outlines a set of practical measures across the entire range of disarmament issues, including weapons of mass destruction, conventional arms and future weapon technologies.

Action 1 for "Securing Our Common Future," the title of the Agenda, aims to "facilitate dialogue for nuclear disarmament". It underlines that disarmament and non-proliferation remain indispensable tools for the creation of a secure environment favourable to human development, as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.