UN Insider

UNICEF Pledges Humanitarian Assistance in 11 Emergencies

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK (IDN) — UN Children's agency UNICEF has pledged to continue to support children and families facing humanitarian crises across the globe in 2023. "Today, there are more children in need of humanitarian assistance than at any other time since the Second World War," says UNICEF.

Worldwide, children and their families are facing a deadly mix of crises, from conflict and displacement to disease outbreaks and soaring rates of malnutrition. Climate change is making these crises worse and unleashing new ones.

: Ramesh Jaura; UN INSIDER; 03 January 2023

"In 2023, We Need Peace, Now More Than Ever"

By António Guterres, UN Secretary-General

NEW YORK (IDN) — Every New Year is a moment of rebirth.

We sweep out the ashes of the old year and prepare for a brighter day.

In 2022, millions of people around the world literally swept out ashes.

From Ukraine to Afghanistan to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and beyond, people left the ruins of their homes and lives in search of something better.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 01 January 2023

Photo: Then U.S. President Trump announcing withdrawal from Iran nuclear deal in May 2018. Credit: The White House Flickr.

Is the Iran Nuclear Deal Dead or Alive?

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — U.S. President Joe Biden's off-the-cuff remark, describing the nuclear deal with Iran as "dead", has led to widespread speculation about the future of the landmark agreement—and of the potential emergence of new nuclear powers in the horizon.

"It is dead, but we're not going to announce it," Biden said before adding, "long story".

Biden's quote was on a video circulating on social media filmed during an election event in November—and disclosed in December.

: Thalif Deen; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 30 December 2022

Image credit: Ben Buckland | Association for the Prevention of Torture

UN Concerned About 10 Million People Detained Worldwide

They are Threatened with Torture & ill-Treatment

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — According to a joke that was circulating in Washington political circles in a bygone era, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s notorious torture chamber in the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad—once held up as a symbol of barbarity—was never shut down.

After the US invasion and occupation of the country (2003-2011), a signboard outside the prison chamber apparently read: “Under New Management”.

: Thalif Deen; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 29 December 2022

Photo: Major General Lucky Irabor, Nigeria's Chief of Defence Staff. Credit: Twitter/@BashirAhmaad

Nigerian Military Performed "Forcible Abortions on Thousands"

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — U.S. security assistance and cooperation programs with Nigeria are facing a review after an investigation by a Reuters news team found evidence of a secret illegal abortion program carried out by the Nigerian military during its war against an insurgency in the largely Muslim northeast since at least 2013.

It was estimated that thousands of illegal abortions were carried out by soldiers in the belief that the women had been kidnapped and raped by the militants.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 28 December 2022

Photo: A Ukrainian soldier firing a Next Generation Light Anti-tank Weapon. Credit: AP

The Ukraine War: Paving the Road to a World War with 'Peace Plans'?

Viewpoint by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies*

NEW YORK (IDN) — On December 27, 2022, both Russia and Ukraine issued calls for ending the war in Ukraine, but only on non-negotiable terms that they each know the other side would reject.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Kuleba proposed a "peace summit" in February 2023 to be chaired by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, but with the precondition that Russia must first face prosecution for war crimes in an international court.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 28 December 2022

Photo: Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Air Force introduce the B-21 Raider, the world’s first sixth-generation aircraft. Credit: Northrop Grumman

The Dismal State of Nuclear Disarmament

Viewpoint by Jacqueline Cabasso

The writer is the Executive Director of the Western States Legal Foundation.

OAKLAND, California (IDN) — The year 2022 has been a nightmare for nuclear disarmament. The year started out with a mildly reassuring Joint Statement by the five original nuclear-armed states, issued on January 3, 2022, declaring:

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 25 December 2022

Photo: On 27 October 2022 in Puntland, Somalia, 1-year-old Aisha Mohamed is held by her mother, Isniino Ali, while being treated for severe acute malnutrition at Garowe General Hospital Stabilization Centre. Credit: UNICEF/UN0750315/Ekpu VII Photo

More Than 20 Million Children Suffering in The Horn of Africa

UNICEF Warns of Funding Shortfall in The Face of Drought

By Devendra Kamarajan

NAIROBI (IDN) — UN Children's Agency UNICEF has urged the international community to "commit to responding now for what might hit the Horn of Africa" in 2023, "and in the years to come".

UNICEF Deputy Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa Lieke van de Weil said on December 22: “We need a global effort to mobilize resources urgently to reduce further devastating and irreversible damage to children in the Horn of Africa. We must act now to save children’s lives, preserve their dignity and protect their futures.”

: Devendra Kamarajan; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 25 December 2022

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres briefs journalists at his end-of-year press conference on December 19. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garte

UN Chief to Convene "No Nonsense" Climate Summit to Avert Disaster

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — UN Secretary-General António Guterres has never ceased to warn about the impending hazards of climate change worldwide. “We are on a fast track to climate disaster,” he has predicted rather ominously and pointed out that some of the world’s major cities are under water.

“There are unprecedented heatwaves, terrifying storms and widespread water shortages. And the extinction of a million species of plants and animals.”

: Thalif Deen; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 22 December 2022

Photo: National negotiators inked a deal to protect nature in the early hours of 19 December in Montreal. Credit: Julian Haber/UN Biodiversity (CC BY 2.0)

A Landmark UN Biodiversity Agreement Achieved

By J C Suresh

TORONTO (IDN) — Countries around the world have agreed on a historic package of measures aimed at addressing the dangerous loss of biodiversity and restoring natural ecosystems. The agreement was achieved after a two-week-long 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity on December 19.

Convened under UN auspices, chaired by China, and hosted by Canada in Montreal, COP15 adopted the “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” (GBF), including four goals and 23 targets for achievement by 2030.