United Nations - The African Mirror

Oct

2020

Can the United Nations protect human rights in the age of COVID-19?

ON the 75th anniversary of the U.N.’s founding, experts warn human rights violations are flourishing and say the U.N. must adapt CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON DEFENDING human rights, a key mission of the United Nations, it seems, has never been harder. A global pandemic has deepened inequality, pushed millions out of work and seen governments enforce restrictions on people's movement and ramp up surveillance. Oct 24 marks 75 years since the U.N. was founded in the aftermath of World War II. The Thomson Reuters Foundation asked five former and current U.N. advisors how COVID-19 is impacting it's ability to protect human rights…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Divided world is failing COVID-19 test, says frustrated

COVID-19

SERGIO GONCALVES A divided world has failed to rise to the challenge of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said and warned concerted action was needed to prevent millions of people being pushed into poverty and hunger. The former Portuguese prime minister said far more could have been done if countries had worked together to combat the disease, which has killed more than one million people. "The COVID-19 pandemic is a major global challenge for the entire international community, for multilateralism and for me, as secretary-general of the United Nations," Guterres told Portuguese news agency Lusa. "Unfortunately…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

UN food agency WFP hails Peace Nobel as call to action against hunger

WORLD

NERIJUS ADOMAITIS and STEPHANIE NEBEHAY THE United Nations' World Food Programme, which has coordinated medical logistics during the coronavirus pandemic, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in what its boss said was a call to action that no one should go hungry with the wealth in the world today. The head of the awards committee called the WFP a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict, and said the COVID-19 pandemic, which the WFP says could double hunger worldwide, had made it even more relevant. At one point at…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Climate-menaced nations say survival depends on stronger 2020 action

ENVIRONMENT

DEVELOPING countries at risk from wilder weather and rising seas urged all governments to meet a deadline to deliver stronger national climate action plans to the United Nations by the end of 2020, stressing that their survival depended on it. About 195 nations committed under the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change to submit updated plans this year, with a view to boosting so-far inadequate pledges to curb planet-heating emissions and adapt to the impacts of warming. But the health and economic crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have thrown climate diplomacy off track and forced a delay of this…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Why the UN must set up an independent body to tackle sexual abuse

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ANDERS KOMPASS SIX years ago, I became a UN whistleblower, intervening to stop the sexual abuse of children by soldiers in Central African Republic. The revelation led to an independent investigation into how the UN had handled the affair and, in 2015, to a damning report that identified severe structural and systemic weaknesses within the UN system. At the end of it, in 2016, I resigned from the United Nations, making a final call for structural change in the ethical standards of the organisation. Since then, I have looked from a distance as Sweden’s ambassador in Central America, still hoping…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

As U.S, China squabble at U.N, a plea – and warning – from one of world’s smallest states

WORLD

MICHELLE NICHOLS AS China and the United States feuded at the United Nations this week over COVID-19 and climate, one of the world's smallest states pleaded for detente. "Micronesia asks our American and Chinese friends to reinforce their cooperation and friendship with each other ... to achieve what is best for our global community," the Federated States of Micronesia President David Panuelo told the U.N. General Assembly in a video address. Micronesia - with a population of about 113,000 - and its Pacific Island neighbors have long been stuck in a diplomatic tug-of-war between the world's biggest economic powers as…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

South Africa calls for UN reform, lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe and Sudan

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER South Africa has called for a radical reform of the United Nations and a lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe and Sudan. In a special address to mark the 75th anniversary of the UN, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said changes had to be made because “the UN Security Council does not reflect the world in which we live.” The President, who is also chair of the African Union (AU), repeated South Africa’s call for greater representation of African countries on the Security Council and asked that the call be taken up with urgency at the intergovernmental negotiations.…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Africa, a continent of more than a billion people, must have a permanent seat at the UN Security Council’

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

CYRIL RAMAPHOSA THE United Nations will this week begin the 75th session of its General Assembly, where the nations of the world gather to seek collective solutions to global challenges. In any other year, heads of state and government would travel to the UN headquarters in New York to address the General Assembly. But this year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, this gathering is taking place virtually, using technology to bridge the distance between the capitals of the world. This is an important moment for the United Nations. It is 75 years since its formation following the destruction of the…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

World leaders to mark United Nations at 75 as pandemic challenges organization

NEWS

MICHELLE NICHOLS WORLD leaders will come together, virtually, today to mark the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, as the deadly coronavirus pandemic challenges the effectiveness and solidarity of the 193-member world body. As COVID-19, which emerged in China late last year, began to spread around the world, forcing millions of people to shelter at home and dealing a devastating economic blow, countries turned inward and diplomats say the United Nations struggled to assert itself. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Reuters that the pandemic has exposed the world's fragilities. He plans to tell world leaders on Monday that they need…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Burundi impunity for abuses continues, says UN report, as another mass grave opened

NEWS

IMPUNITY for rape, murder and other abuses is still widespread in Burundi despite a change of government, according to a United Nations report. The report comes days after Burundi's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is examining past atrocities and investigating mass graves, issued rare criticism of local leaders in charge during a 1972 massacre. The U.N. report said there had been numerous rights abuses in Burundi connected to elections held in May. The new president, retired general Evariste Ndayishimiye, took power in June. He formerly served as the interior minister. Ndayishimiye has promoted high-ranking military officers involved in human rights…