Tag Archives: United Nations

First Person: Turning ‘apathetic people into climate activists’; a young person’s view

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article from the United Nations News Service

An 18-year-old environmental campaigner from the United States has told UN News how she wants to “turn apathetic people into climate activists”. Sophia Kianni, whose family originally comes from Iran, is one of seven young people from across the world who have been selected to participate in the UN Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change. The group which was launched at the end of the July aims to engage young people in “an open and transparent dialogue” about climate issues.


Sophia Kianni is an 18-year-old climate and environmental activist from the United States. Photo by Joe Hobbs.

“I first became interested in the effects of climate change as an Iranian-American when I visited my relatives in Iran as a 12 or 13-year old. I noticed how polluted the sky was; I couldn’t see the stars at night. I realized this was a symptom of the climate crisis that was particularly bad in the Middle East, where temperatures are rising at a rate of more than twice the global average.

I talked to my relatives about the pollution and was startled they knew pretty much nothing about climate change even though they were adults and so it became my pet passion to educate them about the climate crisis. 

I understood that Iran as a country is facing many challenges and recognized that climate change was maybe not at the forefront of people’s minds, but I still thought that my Iranian family deserved to know about the climate crisis. 

Awareness growing

When I told them what that actually meant, and that I was worried about my future, they were pretty shocked. And following those conversations they have tried to be more conscientious about the impact of their daily activities, for example driving less and switching off lights. These are small steps to minimize their carbon footprint but if everyone took these steps it would make a huge difference.

I also realized there was no information in their language Farsi, so decided to translate information for them from English sources with the help of my mum.

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Question for this article:

Are we seeing the dawn of a global youth movement?

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This experience with my relatives in Iran inspired me to establish my international nonprofit organization, Climate Cardinals, which has just launched, and which has over 5,000 volunteers translating climate information into more than 100 languages and dialects, including everything from Spanish to Haitian Creole, or Farsi to an Indonesian dialect. 

These volunteers have an average age of 16-years-old. We started by translating 3,000 pages of a sustainable fashion glossary as well as a forest climate glossary for which we are now awaiting feedback. 

One-person show, to ‘gigantic’ project

So, a small one-person show of educating my family has turned into a gigantic project with over 5,000 people involved and now I am helping to educate thousands and thousands of people. I am very excited about our partnership with Radio Javan (Persian language internet radio station based in the United States) which has a reach of 11 million people on social media. So, I moved from educating 11 family members to 11 million people and it made me realise that small actions are the gateway for gigantic visions to develop. Everyone has a power to affect change in their own way.

Most young people I talk to believe the climate crisis is a big deal but their passion to change depends on how much information they have; the more we talk, the more we raise awareness, the more people understand how pressing this is. For me, this is about turning apathetic people into climate activists.

Message to UN Secretary-General

Our group has been meeting online and we are due to talk the UN Secretary-General in the next couple of weeks. We will be giving him feedback on his climate strategy and how the UN can better engage young people in the process. Personally, I would like to tell him that we need climate information in more than just the UN languages. 

The UN should also be engaging even younger people. At 18, I am the youngest in the group, but there are also many activists who are between the ages of 14 and 17, and their voices are very important. If more younger people are engaged in the climate discussion it is more likely they will become climate activists. 

The Individual v the political process 

Ultimately, I am optimistic that we can reverse climate change, but a lot of this will fall into the political process as no matter how much I or other individuals do on a personal level, it is really up to the government to pass comprehensive climate legislation. I really hope people become more engaged in the political process and educate themselves on which candidates support climate change policies.

The younger generation is more progressive so I am hopeful in the future we will be able to elect more politicians who care about climate change issues, and who will pass aggressive legislation.”

(Thank you to Phyllis Kotite, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

global, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, United Nations,

UN Secretary-General: Tackling Inequality: A New Social Contract for a New Era

.. HUMAN RIGHTS ..

A lecture from the United Nations

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres delivered the 18th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture virtually on Nelson Mandela International Day (18 July).

My dear friends, President Cyril Ramaphosa, excellencies, distinguished guests, friends, 
 
It is a privilege to join you in honouring Nelson Mandela, an extraordinary global leader, advocate, and role model.

I thank the Nelson Mandela Foundation for this opportunity and commend their work to keep his vision alive. And I send my deepest condolences to the Mandela family and to the Government and people of South Africa on the untimely passing of Ambassador Zindzi Mandela earlier this week. May she rest in peace. 

I was fortunate enough to meet Nelson Mandela several times. I will never forget his wisdom, determination and compassion, which shone forth in everything he said and did. 

Last August, I visited Madiba’s cell at Robben Island. I stood there, looking through the bars, humbled again by his enormous mental strength and incalculable courage. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison, 18 of them at Robben island. But he never allowed this experience to define him or his life. 

Nelson Mandela rose above his jailers to liberate millions of South Africans and become a global inspiration and a modern icon. 

He devoted his life to fighting the inequality that has reached crisis proportions around the world in recent decades – and that poses a growing threat to our future. 

And so today, on Madiba’s birthday, I will talk about how we can address the many mutually reinforcing strands and layers of inequality, before they destroy our economies and societies. 

Dear friends, COVID-19 is shining a spotlight on this injustice.  

The world is in turmoil. Economies are in freefall. 

We have been brought to our knees – by a microscopic virus. 

The pandemic has demonstrated the fragility of our world. 

It has laid bare risks we have ignored for decades: inadequate health systems; gaps in social protection; structural inequalities; environmental degradation; the climate crisis.  

Entire regions that were making progress on eradicating poverty and narrowing inequality have been set back years, in a matter of months. 

The virus poses the greatest risk to the most vulnerable: those living in poverty, older people, and people with disabilities and pre-existing conditions. 

Health workers are on the front lines, with more than 4,000 infected in South Africa alone. I pay tribute to them.

In some countries, health inequalities are amplified as not just private hospitals, but businesses and even individuals are hoarding precious equipment that is urgently needed for everyone. A tragic example of inequality.

The economic fallout of the pandemic is affecting those who work in the informal economy; small and medium-size businesses; and people with caring responsibilities, who are mainly women.  

We face the deepest global recession since World War II, and the broadest collapse in incomes since 1870. 

One hundred million more people could be pushed into extreme poverty. We could see famines of historic proportions. 

COVID-19 has been likened to an x-ray, revealing fractures in the fragile skeleton of the societies we have built.  

It is exposing fallacies and falsehoods everywhere: 

The lie that free markets can deliver healthcare for all; 

The fiction that unpaid care work is not work; 

The delusion that we live in a post-racist world;

The myth that we are all in the same boat. 

Because while we are all floating on the same sea, it’s clear that some are in superyachts while others are clinging to drifting debris. 

Dear friends, Inequality defines our time. 

More than 70 per cent of the world’s people are living with rising income and wealth inequality. The 26 richest people in the world hold as much wealth as half the global population. 

But income, pay and wealth are not the only measures of inequality. People’s chances in life depend on their gender, family and ethnic background, race, whether or not they have a disability, and other factors. 

Multiple inequalities intersect and reinforce each other across the generations. The lives and expectations of millions of people are largely determined by their circumstances at birth. 

In this way, inequality works against human development – for everyone. We all suffer its consequences. 

High levels of inequality are associated with economic instability, corruption, financial crises, increased crime and poor physical and mental health.   

Discrimination, abuse and lack of access to justice define inequality for many, particularly indigenous people, migrants, refugees and minorities of all kinds. Such inequalities are a direct assault on human rights. 

Addressing inequality has therefore been a driving force throughout history for social justice, labour rights and gender equality. 

The vision and promise of the United Nations is that food, healthcare, water and sanitation, education, decent work and social security are not commodities for sale to those who can afford them, but basic human rights to which we are all entitled. 

We work to reduce inequality, every day, everywhere.

That vision is as important today as it was 75 years ago. 

It is at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, our agreed blueprint for peace and prosperity on a healthy planet, captured in SDG 10: reduce inequality within and between countries.  

Dear friends, Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many people around the globe understood that inequality was undermining their life chances and opportunities. 

They saw a world out of balance.   

They felt left behind.

They saw economic policies channeling resources upwards to the privileged few. 

Millions of people from all continents took to the streets to make their voices heard. 

High and rising inequalities were a common factor. 

The anger feeding two recent social movements reflects utter disillusionment with the status quo. 

Women everywhere have called time on one of the most egregious examples of gender inequality: violence perpetrated by powerful men against women who are simply trying to do their jobs. 

The anti-racism movement that has spread from the United States around the world in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing is one more sign that people have had enough: 

Enough of inequality and discrimination that treats people as criminals on the basis of their skin colour; 

Enough of the structural racism and systematic injustice that deny people their fundamental human rights. 

These movements point to two of the historic sources of inequality in our world: colonialism and patriarchy.  

The Global North, specifically my own continent of Europe, imposed colonial rule on much of the Global South for centuries, through violence and coercion.

Colonialism created vast inequality within and between countries, including the evils of the Transatlantic slave trade and the apartheid regime here in South Africa.  

After the Second World War, the creation of the United Nations was based on a new global consensus around equality and human dignity. 

A wave of decolonization swept the world. 

But let’s not fool ourselves. 

The legacy of colonialism still reverberates. 

We see this in economic and social injustice, the rise of hate crimes and xenophobia; the persistence of institutionalized racism and white supremacy.

We see this in the global trade system. Economies that were colonized are at greater risk of getting locked into the production of raw materials and low-tech goods – a new form of colonialism. 

And we see this in global power relations. 

Africa has been a double victim. First, as a target of the colonial project. Second, African countries are under-represented in the international institutions that were created after the Second World War, before most of them had won independence.   

The nations that came out on top more than seven decades ago have refused to contemplate the reforms needed to change power relations in international institutions. The composition and voting rights in the United Nations Security Council and the boards of the Bretton Woods system are a case in point.  

Inequality starts at the top: in global institutions. Addressing inequality must start by reforming them.  

And let’s not forget another great source of inequality in our world: millennia of patriarchy.

We live in a male-dominated world with a male-dominated culture. 

Everywhere, women are worse off than men, simply because they are women. Inequality and discrimination are the norm. Violence against women, including femicide, is at epidemic levels.

Globally, women are still excluded from senior positions in governments and on corporate boards. Fewer than one in ten world leaders is a woman.

Gender inequality harms everyone because it prevents us from benefitting from the intelligence and experience of all of humanity. 

This is why, as a proud feminist, I have made gender equality a top priority, and gender parity now a reality in top UN jobs. I urge leaders of all kinds to do the same.  

And I am pleased to announce that South Africa’s Siya Kolisi is our new global champion for the United Nations-European Union Spotlight Initiative, engaging other men in fighting the global scourge of violence against women and girls. 

Dear friends, Recent decades have created new tensions and trends.

Globalization and technological change have indeed fueled enormous gains in income and prosperity.

More than a billion people have moved out of extreme poverty. 

But the expansion of trade and technological progress have also contributed to an unprecedented shift in income distribution.

Between 1980 and 2016, the world’s richest 1 per cent captured 27 per cent of the total cumulative growth in income. 

Low-skilled workers face an onslaught from new technologies, automation, the offshoring of manufacturing and the demise of labour organizations. 

Tax concessions, tax avoidance and tax evasion remain widespread. Corporate tax rates have fallen.

This has reduced resources to invest in the very services that can reduce inequality: social protection, education, healthcare. 

And a new generation of inequalities goes beyond income and wealth to encompass the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in today’s world. 

Deep disparities begin before birth and define lives – and early deaths. 

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Questions for this article:

What is the legacy of Nelson Mandela for us today?

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More than 50 per cent of 20-year-olds in countries with very high human development are in higher education. In low human development countries, that figure is 3 per cent. 

Even more shocking: some 17 per cent of the children born twenty years ago in countries with low human development have already died. 

Dear friends, Looking to the future, two seismic shifts will shape the 21st century: the climate crisis, and digital transformation. Both could widen inequalities even further. 

Some of the developments in today’s tech and innovation hubs are cause for serious concern. 

The heavily male-dominated tech industry is not only missing out on half the world’s expertise and perspectives. It is also using algorithms that could further entrench gender and racial discrimination.

The digital divide reinforces social and economic divides, from literacy to healthcare, from urban to rural, from kindergarten to college.

In 2019, some 87 per cent of people in developed countries used the internet, compared with just 19 per cent in the least developed countries. 

We are in danger of a two-speed world. 

At the same time, by 2050, we estimate that accelerating climate change will affect millions of people through malnutrition, malaria and other diseases, migration, and extreme weather events. 

This creates serious threats to inter-generational equality and justice. Today’s young climate protestors are on the frontlines of the fight against inequality.  

The countries that are most affected by climate disruption did the least to contribute to global heating. 

The green economy will be a new source of prosperity and employment. But let us not forget that some people will lose their jobs, particularly in the post-industrial rustbelts of our world. 

This is why we call not only for climate action, but climate justice. 

Political leaders must raise their ambition, businesses must raise their sights, and people everywhere must raise their voices. 

There is a better way, and we must take it.

Dear friends, The corrosive effects of today’s levels of inequality are clear.

We are sometimes told a rising tide of economic growth lifts all boats.

But in reality, rising inequality sinks all boats.

Confidence in institutions and leaders is eroding. Voter turnout has fallen by a global average of 10 per cent since the beginning of the 1990s. 

People who feel marginalized are vulnerable to arguments that blame their misfortunes on others, particularly those who look or behave differently.  

But populism, nationalism, extremism, racism and scapegoating will only create new inequalities and divisions within and between communities; between countries, between ethnicities, between religions. 

Dear friends, COVID-19 is a human tragedy. But it has also created a generational opportunity. 

An opportunity to build back a more equal and sustainable world.

The response to the pandemic, and to the widespread discontent that preceded it, must be based on a New Social Contract and a New Global Deal that create equal opportunities for all and respect the rights and freedoms of all. 

This is the only way that we will meet the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda – agreements that address precisely the failures that are being exposed and exploited by the pandemic. 

A New Social Contract within societies will enable young people to live in dignity; will ensure women have the same prospects and opportunities as men; and will protect the sick, the vulnerable, and minorities of all kinds. 

Education and digital technology must be two great enablers and equalizers. 

As Nelson Mandela said and I quote, “Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.” As always, Nelson Mandela said it first. 

Governments must prioritize equal access, from early learning to lifelong education. 

Neuroscience tells us that pre-school education changes the lives of individuals and brings enormous benefits to communities and societies. 

So when the richest children are seven times more likely than the poorest to attend pre-school, it is no surprise that inequality is inter-generational. 

To deliver quality education for all, we need to more than double education spending in low and middle-income countries by 2030 to $3 trillion a year.

Within a generation, all children in low- and middle-income countries could have access to quality education at all levels. 

This is possible. We just have to decide to do it. 

And as technology transforms our world, learning facts and skills is not enough. Governments need to prioritize investment in digital literacy and infrastructure. 

Learning how to learn, adapt and take on new skills will be essential. 

The digital revolution and artificial intelligence will change the nature of work, and the relationship between work, leisure and other activities, some of which we cannot even imagine today. 

The Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, launched at the United Nations last month, promotes a vision of an inclusive, sustainable digital future by connecting the remaining four billion people to the Internet by 2030. 

The United Nations has also launched ‘Giga’, an ambitious project to get every school in the world online. 

Technology can turbocharge the recovery from COVID-19 and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Dear friends, Growing gaps in trust between people, institutions and leaders threaten us all. 

People want social and economic systems that work for everyone. They want their human rights and fundamental freedoms to be respected. They want a say in decisions that affect their lives. 

The New Social Contract, between Governments, people, civil society, business and more, must integrate employment, sustainable development and social protection, based on equal rights and opportunities for all. 

Labour market policies, combined with constructive dialogue between employers and labour representatives, can improve pay and working conditions. 

Labour representation is also critical to manage the challenges posed to jobs by technology and structural transformation – including the transition to a green economy. 

The Labour movement has a proud history of fighting inequality and working for the rights and dignity of all. 

The gradual integration of the informal sector into social protection frameworks is essential. 

A changing world requires a new generation of social protection policies with new safety nets including Universal Health Coverage and the possibility of a Universal Basic Income. 

Establishing minimum levels of social protection, and reversing chronic underinvestment in public services including education, healthcare, and internet access are essential. 

But this is not enough to tackle entrenched inequalities. 

We need affirmative action programmes and targeted policies to address and redress historic inequalities in gender, race or ethnicity that have been reinforced by social norms.  

Taxation has also a role In the New Social Contract. Everyone – individuals and corporations – must pay their fair share. 

In some countries, there is a place for taxes that recognize that the wealthy and well-connected have benefitted enormously from the state, and from their fellow citizens. 

Governments should also shift the tax burden from payrolls to carbon. 

Taxing carbon rather than people will increase output and employment, while reducing emissions.   

We must break the vicious cycle of corruption, which is both a cause and effect of inequality. Corruption reduces and wastes funds available for social protection; it weakens social norms and the rule of law. 

Fighting corruption depends on accountability. The greatest guarantee of accountability is a vibrant civil society, including a free, independent media and responsible social media platforms that encourage healthy debate. 

Dear friends, Let’s face the facts. The global political and economic system is not delivering on critical global public goods: public health, climate action, sustainable development, peace. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought home the tragic disconnect between self-interest and the common interest; and the huge gaps in governance structures and ethical frameworks. 

To close those gaps, and to make the New Social Contract possible, we need a New Global Deal to ensure that power, wealth and opportunities are shared more broadly and fairly at the international level.

A new model for global governance must be based on full, inclusive and equal participation in global institutions. 

Without that, we face even wider inequalities and gaps in solidarity – like those we see today in the fragmented global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Developed countries are strongly invested in their own survival in the face of the pandemic. But they have failed to deliver enough support needed to help the developing world through these dangerous times. 

A New Global Deal, based on a fair globalization, on the rights and dignity of every human being, on living in balance with nature, on taking account of the rights of future generations, and on success measured in human rather than economic terms, is the best way to change this. 

The worldwide consultation process around the 75th anniversary of the United Nations has made clear that people want a global governance system that delivers for them.  

The developing world must have a far stronger voice in global decision-making. 

We also need a more inclusive and balanced multilateral trading system that enables developing countries to move up global value chains.  


Illicit financial flows, money-laundering and tax evasion must be prevented. A global consensus to end tax havens is essential. 

We must work together to integrate the principles of sustainable development into financial decision-making. Financial markets must be full partners in shifting the flow of resources away from the brown and the grey to the green, the sustainable and the equitable. 

Reform of the debt architecture and access to affordable credit must create fiscal space for countries to move investment in the same direction. 

Dear friends, As Nelson Mandela said: “One of the challenges of our time… is to re-instill in the consciousness of our people that sense of human solidarity, of being in the world for one another and because of and through others.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced this message more strongly than ever. 

We belong to each other. 

We stand together, or we fall apart. 

Today, in demonstrations for racial equality… in campaigns against hate speech… in the struggles of people claiming their rights and standing up for future generations… we see the beginnings of a new movement. 

This movement rejects inequality and division, and unites young people, civil society, the private sector, cities, regions and others behind policies for peace, our planet, justice and human rights for all. It is already making a difference. 

Now is the time for global leaders to decide: 

Will we succumb to chaos, division and inequality?

Or will we right the wrongs of the past and move forward together, for the good of all?

We are at breaking point. But we know which side of history we are on. 

Thank you.

(Thank you to Phyllis Kotite, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

global, HUMAN RIGHTS, United Nations,

Adolescents in Cuba delve into the culture of peace

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An article from the Inter Press Service of Cuba (translation by CPNN)

Although for adolescents the pandemic has closed schools, canceled projects and distanced them from their friends, a Cuban initiative is encourageing the creation of new ways to have fun together.

The initiative uses the potential of culture to identify and protect adolescents from acts of discrimination, abuse or violence, both in the domestic sphere and in digital spaces, according to a summary of the project.


Foto from UNICEF Cuba

It is also an opportunity for young participants to develop creative skills and enjoy free time in new ways.

This is the first edition of the virtual workshop “Living adolescence in times of covid-19: promoting good practices from culture as a protective environment”, held from June 15 to 26, with 30 adolescents living in the Cuban capital.

The initiative is led by the Caribbean island office of the United Nations Children’s Program (UNICEF), as part of the new Cooperation Program (2020-2024), between UNICEF and the Government of Cuba.

A team of specialists from the a + adolescent spaces Center , the University of Havana and the Enrique José Varona University of Pedagogical Sciences also participated .

It is aligned with the principle that “all children should be protected from violence and exploitation”, focused on preventing violence and strengthening the protective environments of adolescence with a focus on rights and equity.

According to the organizers, this experience constitutes a pioneering and innovative way of learning in the country and paves the way for reaching adolescents through the responsible use of technologies.

Complex stage

Adolescence is a very complex stage of life, due to the multiple physical, psychological and emotional changes that are experienced, which generate fears, anxieties, doubts and uncertainties.

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(Click here for the original version in Spanish)

Question for discussion

How can we work together to overcome this medical and economic crisis?

Does Cuba promote a culture of peace?

As a consequence of the pandemic and the necessary physical and social distancing, this age group experiences more than others feelings such as loneliness and sadness, as they cannot share activities related to study, recreation and leisure with their peers, according to the specialists.

This can be especially heartbreaking for those who live in violent family environments or are more frequently exposed to the risks of digital scenarios, they warn.

“During this time I have seen my 13-year-old son, Adrián, at times anxious, irritable, not being able to go out to play with his friends and stay whole weeks at home,” said Yuriana Sáez, a resident of the city of Moa, in the eastern province of Holguín.

For her part, Tailenis Céspedes, a resident of Old Havana, stated that her 15-year-old daughter Adianet “has been fortunate to live with one of her cousins, which is why she is not so bored: otherwise, I imagine she would have been very depressed without someone her age to share with.

The experience

According to specialists added to the initiative, isolation reduces the chances of receiving professional advice and services from professionals.

For this reason, the workshop was implemented through the WhatsApp social network, an easy-to-use tool that is very popular with adolescents.

This allowed psychologists, sociologists, social communicators and artists to reach a group and encourage them to participate in processes that contribute to the promotion of their rights and the prevention of violence under the concept of culture as a protective environment.

At the same time, it provided them with tools to resolve doubts, socialize experiences and opinions, as well as obtain resources for better performance and self-protection in situations of discrimination, abuse or violence.

Due to limitations in connectivity, so far only 30 adolescents from the capital have participated in the experiment, but the objective is to benefit at least a hundred from different provinces of the country.

The aim is to facilitate the exchange with the teaching team, the study of support materials, the analysis of bibliographic and audiovisual materials and participation in debates.

Some of the participants acknowledge that they have increased their knowledge and tools to prevent domestic violence and violence on digital platforms.

The workshop has encouraged the use of various artistic expressions such as poetry, drawing, photography, song, and radio messages, among others.

Through these manifestations, the participants have reflected their views on the importance of culture to understand and transform attitudes, traditions, customs, behaviors and habits that hinder and negatively impact the normal development of childhood and adolescence.

It also increased their motivation to be part of a social movement that raises their voice, with the aim of ending all types of violence.

Latin America, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY, United Nations,

United Nations: ‘Women Rise for All’ to shape leadership in pandemic response and recovery

. WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article from UN News

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has generated an unprecedented global health, humanitarian and development crisis, it has also revealed the power of women’s leadership, according to the UN Deputy Secretary-General.



Graça Machel in video from UN Web TV

“Over the past months, people around the world have come to see what many of us already knew: women’s leadership makes a profound difference”, Amina Mohammed said on Tuesday.

In this devastating #COVID19 crisis we have an opportunity to hit the reset button, to deliver on the Decade of Action. This will only be possible when we recognize the value of women front and centre, together leading the way and rising for all.

“The evidence has shown — in country after country — how governments led by women are more effective in flattening the curve and positioning for economic recovery.”

Ms. Mohammed was addressing Women Rise for All, a virtual gathering of influential women from across different regions, sectors and generations, to examine how their leadership is shaping pandemic response and recovery that benefits all people.

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Question related to this article:
 
How can we work together to overcome this medical and economic crisis?

Do women have a special role to play in the peace movement?

(continued from left column).

“We want to shape the way we define leadership. And ensure that we emerge from this pandemic with women leading, in equal numbers, and equal partnership”, she explained.

‘Silver lining’ in the crisis

Women’s proven leadership has emerged as a “silver lining” in the pandemic, one of the world’s leading advocates for the rights of women and children told the gathering.

Graça Machel believes it was no accident that countries with women Heads of State—such as New Zealand, Germany, Finland and Taiwan—have been comparatively successful in beating back the deadly new coronavirus.

“This crisis has brought to light an undeniable truth: that the leadership of women is essential for us to effectively recreate the world…that is more human-centred, that is more equal; a world in which such social justice is the goal”, she said in her keynote address.

For former Mozambican minister Ms. Machel, the pandemic must also lead to a re-examining of dominant value systems as the world cannot return to how it was prior to the crisis.

“We must live on a planet where materialism, greed, inequalities no longer divide the human family”, she stated.

Solidarity for all

Women Rise for All was launched on social media in April, to support the UN Secretary-General’s call for solidarity and urgent action during the pandemic.

Even in the midst of this “devastating crisis”, there is an opportunity to build a better world that works for all, according to Ms. Mohammed.
“That will only be possible when we recognize the value of women front and centre, together leading the way and rising for all”, she said.

(Thank you to Phyllis Kotite, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

global, United Nations, WOMEN'S EQUALITY,

The growing use of weaponised drones risks destabilising global peace and security

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from UN News

The growing use of weaponised drones risks destabilising global peace and security and creating a “drone power club” among nations, that face no effective accountability for deploying them as part of their “war on terror”, a senior UN-appointed independent rights expert said on Thursday.

At the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said that more than 100 countries have military drones and more than a third are thought to possess the largest and deadliest autonomous weapons.

‘No red lines’ in drone warfare?

States who used them on the grounds of self-defence, “defined in a very elastic fashion” against purported terrorists, risked creating a situation where “there will be no red lines really”, she told journalists later.

“As more Government and non-State actors acquire armed drones and use them for targeted killing, there is a clear danger that war will come to be seen as normal rather than the opposite of peace,” Ms. Callamard said. “War is at risk of being normalized as a necessary companion to peace, and not its opposite.”

Appealing for greater regulation of the weapons, and lending her support to calls for a UN-led forum to discuss the deployment of drones specifically, the Special Rapporteur insisted that their growing use increased the danger of a “global conflagration”.

(Article continued in right column)

Question for this article:

Drones (unmanned bombers), Should they be outlawed?

(Article continued from left column)

‘Influential States’ rewriting the rules

Such a move was necessary because “a small number of rather influential States” had sought to reinterpret the law of self-defence under Article  51 of the UN Charter, she explained.

She urged UN Security Council to meet in formal session to review and debate all such self-defence claim, before recommending that the High Commissioner for Human Rights should produce an annual report on drone strikes casualties for the Human Rights Council.

There was now the “very real prospect that States may opt to ‘strategically’ eliminate high-ranking military officials outside the context of a ‘known’ war”, she explained, and that they might seek to justify the killing “on the grounds of necessity – not imminence” as the target was classified as a “terrorist who posed a potential, undefined, future threat”.

Iranian general’s chilling death

In particular, she cited the killing by drone strike in Iraq of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani on 3 January for which the United States claimed responsibility and which she insisted was a violation of the UN Charter.

“Targeted killings until very recently to drones had been limited to non-state actors,” she told journalists. Until, for the first time in January 2020, a State armed drone targeted a high-level official of a foreign State and did so on the territory of a third State.”

Drone strikes were the preferred option for “decision makers and military alike for their relative efficiency, effectiveness, adaptability, acceptability, deniability, and political gain”, the rights expert maintained.

But she noted that their benefits were as “illusory” as the “myth of a surgical strike”. 

Because of the current absence of effective oversight, it was “practically impossible to know whether a person(s) killed in a drone strike was, in fact, a lawful target”, Ms. Callamard said, adding that harm to civilian populations, including deaths, injuries and trauma, was likely largely under-reported.   

(Thank you to Phyllis Kotite, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global, Uncategorized, United Nations,

Israeli annexation of parts of the Palestinian West Bank would break international law – UN experts call on the international community to ensure accountability 

. . HUMAN RIGHTS . .

A news article from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

The agreement by the new coalition Government of Israel to annex significant parts of the occupied Palestinian West Bank after 1 July would violate a cornerstone principle of international law and must be meaningfully opposed by the international community, UN experts said today. Forty-seven of the independent Special Procedures mandates appointed by the Human Rights Council issued the following statement [on June 16]:

“The annexation of occupied territory is a serious violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the Geneva Conventions, and contrary to the fundamental rule affirmed many times by the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly that the acquisition of territory by war or force is inadmissible. The international community has prohibited annexation precisely because it incites wars, economic devastation, political instability, systematic human rights abuses and widespread human suffering.

Israel’s stated plans for annexation would extend sovereignty over most of the Jordan Valley and all of the more than 235 illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. This would amount to approximately 30 percent of the West Bank. The annexation of this territory was endorsed by the American Peace to Prosperity Plan, released in late January 2020.

The United Nations has stated on many occasions that the 53-year-old Israeli occupation is the source of profound human rights violations against the Palestinian people. These violations include land confiscation, settler violence, discriminatory planning laws, the confiscation of natural resources, home demolitions, forcible population transfer, excessive use of force and torture, labour exploitation, extensive infringements of privacy rights, restrictions on the media and freedom of expression, the targeting of women activists and journalists, the detention of children, poisoning by exposure to toxic wastes, forced evictions and displacement, economic deprivation and extreme poverty, arbitrary detention, lack of freedom of movement, food insecurity, discriminatory law enforcement and the imposition of a two-tier system of disparate political, legal, social, cultural and economic rights based on ethnicity and nationality. Palestinian and Israeli human rights defenders, who peacefully bring public attention to these violations, are slandered, criminalised or labeled as terrorists. Above all, the Israeli occupation has meant the denial of the right of Palestinian self-determination.

(continued in right column)

Question related to this article:

Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

Israel/Palestine, is the situation like South Africa?

(continued from left column)

These human rights violations would only intensify after annexation. What would be left of the West Bank would be a Palestinian Bantustan, islands of disconnected land completely surrounded by Israel and with no territorial connection to the outside world. Israel has recently promised that it will maintain permanent security control between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River. Thus, the morning after annexation would be the crystallisation of an already unjust reality: two peoples living in the same space, ruled by the same state, but with profoundly unequal rights. This is a vision of a 21st century apartheid.

Twice before, Israel has annexed occupied land – East Jerusalem in 1980 and the Syrian Golan Heights in 1981. On both occasions, the UN Security Council immediately condemned the annexations as unlawful but took no meaningful countermeasures to oppose Israel’s actions.

Similarly, the Security Council has repeatedly criticised the Israeli settlements as a flagrant violation under international law. Yet, Israel’s defiance of these resolutions and its ongoing entrenchment of the settlements has gone unanswered by the international community.

This time must be different. The international community has solemn legal and political responsibilities to defend a rules-based international order, to oppose violations of human rights and fundamental principles of international law and to give effect to its many resolutions critical of Israel’s conduct of this protracted occupation. In particular, states have a duty not to recognise, aid or assist another state in any form of illegal activity, such as annexation or the creation of civilian settlements in occupied territory. The lessons from the past are clear: Criticism without consequences will neither forestall annexation nor end the occupation.

Accountability and an end to impunity must become an immediate priority for the international community. Available to it is a broad menu of accountability measures that have been widely and successfully applied by the UN Security Council in other international crises over the past 60 years. The accountability measures that are selected must be taken in full conformity with international law, be proportionate, effective, subject to regular review, consistent with human rights, humanitarian and refugee law, and designed to undo the annexations and bring the occupation and the conflict to a just and durable conclusion. Palestinians and Israelis deserve no less.

We express great regret about the role of the United States of America in supporting and encouraging Israel’s unlawful plans for the further annexation of occupied territory. On many occasions over the past 75 years, the United States has played an important role in the advancement of global human rights. On this occasion, it should be ardently opposing the imminent breach of a fundamental principle of international law, rather than actively abetting its violation.”

HUMAN RIGHTS, Mideast, United Nations,

International Fellowship of Reonciliation: Open letter to the United Nations

TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

An open letter published by Pressenza (reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license)

His Excellency Mr. Antonio Guterres Secretary-General
United Nations Headquarters, New York City

Dear Mr. Secretary-General,

We are writing to you as International Fellowship of Reconciliation, a global movement seeking to transform, through nonviolence, the world away from endless cycles of violence towards justice, reconciliation, and lasting peace. As a concerned international NGO, accredited to the UN ECOSOC, we are writing to you to express our appreciation for your efforts dealing with the current health crisis in the world and to share some of our thoughts with you at this difficult time.

We join with you in recognizing “the fury of [COVID-19] illustrates the folly of war,” and we thank you for your leadership in calling for a global ceasefire as a first step to “end the sickness of war”. We are encouraged that your call has resonated with millions across the world, and gained endorsements from 70 Member States, with expressions of acceptance from parties to conflict, and non-state actors as well.

We call on all UN member States to support Your appeal, to the General Assembly and to the Security Council, and put it into practice.

The pandemic has revealed the single common vulnerability of humankind, which knows no border. We who are but one of the species on the planet earth must shun our urge for identity superiority or risk even more devastating pandemics. With this shattered illusion of separateness, humanity cannot tolerate war and violence anywhere, as it threatens health and peace for everyone everywhere. Countries are grappling internally with political, economic, racial, and social divides that exacerbate efforts to contain the virus, while inequity in the global community reveals the new depths of suffering in countries that already bear the brunt of the pain caused by climate change, hunger, economic sanctions and exploitation, and armed conflicts.

While the impact of COVID-19 on the countries where we have active members has varied, together, we affirm the urgency for a new and creative way forward that builds human security globally through health, economic justice and peace. We therefore appeal:

(continued in right column)

Question related to this article:
 
How can we work together to overcome this medical and economic crisis?

(continued from left column).

1. Prioritize the protection of poor and marginalized people. Economic inequality increases the impact of the pandemic and sets the stage for more devastation with the risk of even greater lethality. For instance, underinvestment in healthcare means many countries are unable to meet the simple challenge of providing personal protective equipment to those in need. Concentrated poverty means sheltering in isolation, and for women and children locked down with abusers, it promises new levels of violence, abuse, and death.

2. Protect civil liberties and human rights. Emergency legislation rushed through in many coun- tries may serve as cover for oppressive measures and the violation of human rights. Traditionally marginalized communities are forgotten or ignored, and vulnerable people are cut off from offi- cial support. We urge you, Mr. Secretary-General, to prioritize and support the work of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Michelle Bachelet to adapt the global index for hu- man rights to ensure that it monitors abuses in a world now reshaped by COVID-19 legislation. We urge you to call on all member States for accountability.

3. Use the momentum of this global crisis to shift resources to meet human needs and create lasting peace. Weapons of war cannot defeat a virus, address climate change, nor solve any other world problem. As States pursue ‘business as usual’ military strategies to contain the virus and create security, the world wastes opportunities to coalesce around creative responses that match the grave nature of this crisis, like protecting the most vulnerable from harsh economic impacts and working in solidarity to ensure global health emergency preparedness. These are the kinds of creative responses that lead to lasting peace. We call for disarmament and a major reduction in military spending worldwide, starting with the abolition of all nuclear weapons. We call for the conversion of military industry to civilian production and for the end of exports of weapons to states at war or violating human rights. Humanity will thrive with equitable local community investment and the shift from funding warfare to funding healthcare and peace. We urge the United Nations to invest more capacity and financial support in nonviolent conflict transfor- mation, mediation and Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeping.

Now is the time to create a “new normal” built on a culture of peace and non-violence. We call for global bridge-building and cooperation, and global leadership encouraging increased global solidarity. The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals recognize the interconnected reality of our world. With branches, groups, and affiliates in more than 40 countries, IFOR offers its support to UN agencies in achieving these goals. By highlighting the centrality of peace to a world free from poverty and ine- qualities, the SDGs challenge the world to put into practice a new way of thinking. Addressing the issues named above ensures that nations can create roadmaps out of COVID-19 that leave no one behind.

We wish you well and further success in your work.

Charlotte Sjöström Becker, President of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation

[Editor’s note: The International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) was founded in 1914 in response to the horrors of war in Europe. Today IFOR counts 71 branches, groups and affiliates in 48 countries on all continents.]

global, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY, United Nations,

United Nations Alliance of Civilizations: Five Youth-Led Organizations Selected as Recipients of the Youth Solidarity Fund for 2019

. TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

Excerpts from the newsletter of United Nations Alliance of Civilizations

UNAOC has announced the latest recipients of the Youth Solidarity Fund (YSF) [ announced in 2019]. More than 600 proposals were received from over 70 countries in response to the call for applications. Five organizations based in Africa and Asia were then selected to receive seed funding of up to USD 25,000 for the purpose of implementing projects with innovative and effective approaches to intercultural dialogue and interfaith harmony. These five recipients join a group of 63 other youth-led organizations that have been funded by UNAOC since 2008.

In addition to seed funding, YSF recipients will also receive technical support to strengthen the implementation of their projects. UNAOC has partnered with Search for Common Ground to facilitate a capacity-building programme called Youth 360, involving online workshops and ongoing support from mentors. YSF recipients will have access to this support until the end of their project implementation period in November 2020.

The current edition of YSF is implemented through financial contributions from the Governments of Finland, Malta and the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Umoja Mashinani – Kenya

“Our project, Umoja Mashinani, can be loosely translated to mean Peace Ambassadors in the Grassroots. We aim to enhance the capacity of community radio journalists to promote messages on non-violence, religious respect and intercul- tural cohesion. With UNAOC, we hope to build a sustainable and impactful platform together, fostering a community of young people who work for peace.”

Bonface Ochieng Opany, 27 years old
Project Coordinator, Umoja Mashinani
Youth Solidarity Fund Recipient, Amani Centre (Kenya)

Theatre for Peace – Sri Lanka

“Our project will bring young people with diverse backgrounds together to connect, create and transform. Through theater, we will facilitate a process of introspection to explore and challenge our own identities, beliefs, biases and perspectives. With the resources and the solidarity shared through UNAOC we will be stronger to stand up and challenge the polarization and separation in our society.”
Sivatharsini Raveendran, 28 years old Project Coordinator, Theatre for Peace – Connect.Create. Transform

For Youth Solidarity Fund Recipient, Centre for Communication Training (Sri Lanka)

(continued in right column)

Question related to this article:
 
Youth initiatives for a culture of peace, How can we ensure they get the attention and funding they deserve?

How can just one or a few persons contribute to peace and justice?

(continued from left column)

We Play for Peace – Lebanon

“We are launching ‘We Play for Peace!’ which is a project funded by UNAOC to create a safe space for youth from different religions, nationalities and backgrounds. Through sports, young people from the North Bekaa region of Lebanon will get the opportunity to set their differences aside and play together in peace. Youth will erase the memory of conflict and be a source of positive change for the future.”

Mehdi Houssein Yehya, 31 years old
Project Coordinator, We Play for Peace! Youth Solidarity Fund Recipient, Peace of Art (Lebanon)

Dismantling Stereotypes – Kingdom of Eswatini

“We are curating interfaith and intercultural conversations amongst young people of different religious and cultural backgrounds. With the grant from UNAOC, we aim to inculcate a culture of mutual understanding, respect and tolerance for these young people. Our goal is to place youth in the center of pre- venting any religious and cultural differences from breaking out into violence or developing into mechanisms for excluding other people.”

Sicelo Christopher Gama, 29 years old Project Coordinator,
Dismantling Religious and Cultural Stereotypes for Social Cohesion and Sustainable Peac
Youth Solidarity Fund Recipient, Swaziland Intent Youth Organization (Kingdom of Eswatini)

Nurturing for Peace – Uganda

“We thank UNAOC for their support of our project that will engage youth from seven sects of Islam and Christianity to strengthen interfaith understanding and foster new friendships. The project aims to reduce support for religiously motivated recruitment and acts of violent extremism in Eastern Uganda. We are confident that our project will be a living symbol to the ideals of interfaith cooperation and friendship among faiths.”

Zulaika Nanfuka, 32 years old
Project Coordinator, Nurturing for Peace
Youth Solidarity Fund Recipient, Uganda Muslim Youth Development Forum (Uganda)

Africa, Mideast, South Asia, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY, United Nations, , ,

United Nations: Debt-laden countries at risk, as financial markets screech to a halt

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article from United Nations News

Economists and finance experts are warning that countries with “high” or “distressed” public debt levels are at risk of severe economic shocks amid the COVID-19 pandemic and calling for restructuring plans based on the principle of solidarity.


A girl in Timor-Leste shows the online platform she will use to study while her school is closed, due to the new coronavirus pandemic. ©UNICEF/Bernardino Soares

Since the start of the pandemic, financial institutions including the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – along with UN entities, regional organizations and country groups such as the G20 – have been examining the tools available to stabilize markets, prevent job losses and preserve hard-fought development gains.

At a joint high-level meeting of the IMF and the World Bank on Mobilizing with Africa on Friday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres commended the bodies’ swift actions to support member countries, while emphasizing that more work will be needed.

“We know this virus will spread like wildfire and there are no firewalls,” he said.  “Alleviating crushing debt is absolutely crucial.”

The UN chief noted that in Africa, households and businesses were suffering liquidity challenges even before the virus gained a toehold on the continent.  As countries work to prevent millions from plunging into poverty, already unacceptable levels of inequalities are growing, fragility is increasing and commodity prices are declining.

Debt and pandemic: a ‘perfect storm’

The current health and economic emergencies sparked by COVID-19 have emerged against the backdrop of high indebtedness for many developing nations – including middle-income countries – around the globe.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, public external debt in many developing countries has spiked. Low interest rates and high liquidity boosted many countries’ access to commercial lending. By January 2020, the debt of 44 per cent of least developed and other low-income developing countries was already considered at high risk or in distress. 

(Article continued in the right side of the page)

Question for this article:

Can UN agencies help eradicate poverty in the world?

How can we work together to overcome this medical and economic crisis?

(Article continued from the left side of the page)

The COVID-19-induced contraction is having disastrous consequences. Global financial markets are coming to a standstill as investors race to pull funds out of emerging-markets and other high-risk sec­tors.  The pandemic is straining national budgets as countries struggle to meet health needs, respond to rising unemployment and support their economies.

UN experts warn that Africa may be in its first recession in 25 years, while Latin America and the Caribbean is facing the worst recession in its history. Similar decelerations are being seen in Asia and the Arab Region.

Shaping proactive responses

Against that backdrop, the UN is advocating for a comprehensive COVID-19 response package amounting to a double-digit percentage of global GDP.

It is also urging international financial institutions to do everything possible to prevent a devastating debt crisis with disorderly defaults, stressing that debt relief must play a central role in the global response to the pandemic.

Speaking at the joint IMF/World Bank meeting, the Secretary-General welcomed initial steps by the G20, including the suspension of debt service payments for all International Development Association nations. 

He also called for more resources for the IMF – including through the issuance of special drawing rights – as well as enhanced support for the World Bank and other global financial institutions and bilateral mechanisms.

Three-phase plan to tackle debt

The Organization has put forward a three-step strategy aimed at preventing heavily indebted countries from suffering the worst impacts of the COVID-19 emergency.

First, it calls for an across-the-board “debt standstill” for developing countries with no access to financial markets.  Second, it requests more comprehensive options for debt sustainability with instruments, such as debt swaps, and a debt mechanism for the Sustainable Development Goals.

Third, the plan calls for tackling structural issues in the international debt architecture, to prevent defaults.

The framework is built on a foundation of shared responsibility among debtors and creditors, as well as the understanding that debt restructuring should be timely, orderly, effective, fair and negotiated in good faith. 

“In all our efforts, we must focus on the most vulnerable and ensuring that the rights of all people are protected,” the UN Chief said.

(Thank you to Phyllis Kotite, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

global, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, United Nations,

Coronavirus reveals need to bridge the digital divide

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An article from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

The global crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic has pushed us further into a digital world, and changes in behaviour are likely to have lasting effects when the economy starts to pick up. But not everyone is ready to embrace a more digitized existence.

A new analysis from UNCTAD  maps the changing digital landscape since the last major global calamity, the 2008/09 financial crisis. It looks at how a digitally enabled world is working for some, but not all equally.

According to the analysis, the coronavirus crisis has accelerated the uptake of digital solutions, tools, and services, speeding up the global transition towards a digital economy.

However, it has also exposed the wide chasm between the connected and the unconnected, revealing just how far behind many are on digital uptake.  
 
“Inequalities in digital readiness hamper the ability of large parts of the world to take advantage of technologies that help us cope with the coronavirus pandemic by staying at home,” said UNCTAD’s technology and logistics director, Shamika Sirimanne.

“This situation has significant development implications that cannot be ignored. We need to ensure that we do not leave those who are less digitally equipped even further behind in a post-coronavirus world.”

The power of digital revealed

The analysis provides snapshots of how technology is being used as a critical tool in maintaining business and life continuity.

Measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic have seen more businesses and governments move their operations and services online to limit physical interaction to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Digital platforms are also thriving as consumers seek entertainment, shopping opportunities and new ways of connecting during the crisis.

“There are incredible positives emerging that show the potential of a digitally transformed world,” notes Ms. Sirimanne.

Digitalization is allowing telemedicine, telework and online education to proliferate. It is also generating more data on the expansion of the virus and helping information exchanges for research.

There has been a leap in teleworking and online conferencing, amplifying the demand for online conferencing software such as Microsoft Teams, Skype, Cisco’s Webex and Zoom, the analysis says.

According to Microsoft, the number of people using its software for online collaboration climbed nearly 40% in a week.

(Article continued in right column.)

Question related to this article:

Is Internet freedom a basic human right?

(Article continued from left column.)

In China, the use of digital work applications from WeChat, Tencent and Ding took off at the end of January when lockdown measures started to take effect.

Other benefits include using artificial intelligence to help find a cure and a significant shift to e-commerce, benefitting small and big businesses alike.

However not all technology companies are profiting and there are some serious consequences of the rush to online platforms. These include mounting security and privacy concerns, according to UNCTAD.

The downside and the digital divide

The fast-paced shift towards digitalization is likely to strengthen the market positions of a few mega-digital platforms, the analysis finds.

This finding echoes the conclusions drawn in UNCTAD’s 2019 Digital Economy Report, which pointed out that the world’s top seven digital platforms already accounted for two-thirds of the value of digital platforms globally in 2017.

They have benefitted from network effects and from their ability to extract, control and analyse data, then transform it into digital intelligence that can be monetized.

“This situation will now be amplified as more people come or are forced online due to the coronavirus crisis,” said Torbjörn Fredriksson, UNCTAD’s digital economy head. “Those that do not have access are at risk of being left further behind as digital transformation accelerates, especially those in least developed countries.”

The least developed countries (LDCs) are the most vulnerable to the human and economic consequences of the pandemic, and they also lag farthest behind in digital readiness.

Only one in five people in LDCs use the Internet, and in most developing countries, well below 5% of the population currently buy goods or services online.

Lack of Internet access at home also limits connectivity, cramping, for example, the possibilities for students to be connected if schools are closed. “The education gap may also expand in developing countries, compounding inequalities,” said Sirimanne.

Low broadband quality hampers the ability to use teleconferencing tools. Mobile data costs also remain expensive across the developing world.

A development opportunity?

The coronavirus pandemic’s ability to show fractures can, hopefully, be turned into an opportunity, said Ms. Sirimanne. “More developing countries are exploring e-commerce and other digital solutions that can help build local resilience to future shocks,” she said.

The main policy takeaway from the analysis is that much more attention should be given to bridging existing and emerging digital divides to allow more countries to take advantage of digitalization.

New policies and regulations are needed to ensure a fair distribution of the gains from digital disruptions.

“If left unaddressed, the yawning gap between under-connected and hyper-digitalized countries will widen, thereby exacerbating existing inequalities,” she added.

“As with the coronavirus crisis and other development challenges, the world will need a coordinated multilateral response to deal with the challenge of digitalization.”

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global, HUMAN RIGHTS, United Nations,