The UN Role In Climate Change Action: Taking The Lead Towards A Global Response
Over the coming weeks and months, the three Special Envoys on climate change appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will be making whistle-stop tours of key capital cities to build a solid and sustainable consensus on action over climate change.
The UN Role and Efforts in Combating the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons
The proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) in various parts of the globe continues to pose a systemic and pervasive threat to the long-term social and economic development of many nations, particularly in small developing states.
An Era of Unprecedented Opportunity?
The world is experiencing a dramatic rise in food prices. It began gradually in 2006 and has now escalated into a massive surge. It has caused hunger, protests, riots and even fears for international security. Low-Income Food-Deficit Countries have been hardest hit but the problem is global. Reports of the impact of dearer food on the poor in many developing countries have led to calls for international action to reverse the slide towards increasing poverty and malnutrition.
The Secretary-General's Agenda: Prioritizing Commitment To Combat Global Poverty
As the first Secretary-General of the United Nations elected in the twenty-first century, Ban Ki-moon has inherited responsibilities that span the globe and run the gamut of issues, which included peace, prosperity and everything in between.
Social Protection for Women
Periods of economic upheaval are always destabilizing and, as such, outcomes are uncertain. We are right now faced with a great danger and a great opportunity. The danger is that recovery efforts will favour those in positions of strength, reinforcing existing inequalities between and within countries. As this occurs, we will see existing disparities deepen, leading to social exclusion with grave social, economic and political repercussions. The opportunity is that leadership and bold policy action could reduce inequalities among countries and across gender lines.
Double Standards of Justice: The Case of Gernarlow Wilson
Four years ago, in Douglasville, Georgia, a 17-year-old high school senior made a fateful mistake, one that would cost a surprising price. During a New Year's Eve celebration, Gernarlow Wilson participated in consensual sexual act with a 15-year-old girl.
Is Africa Ready?
The evidence for climate change is overwhelming. It has been reconfirmed by successive international studies and reports over the last two decades. Catastrophic climate change, which will threaten our entire ecosystem as we know it, is possible, though not yet probable. It is likely to happen if we do not change course and continue to ignore the evidence before our eyes: escalating temperatures will cause a big rise in sea level and the release of methane from the tundra will take us towards a tipping point where living creatures are unable to adapt to the changes fast enough.
The Promise Of Solar Energy: A Low-Carbon Energy Strategy For The 21st Century
In an increasingly carbon-constrained world, solar energy technologies represent one of the least carbon-intensive means of electricity generation. Solar power produces no emissions during generation itself, and life-cycle assessments clearly demonstrate that it has a smaller carbon footprint from cradle-to-grave than fossil fuels.
Saving Water, Saving Lives
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.
Keep the Promise for Mothers and Children: An Agenda to Improve Maternal and Child Health
Despite the concerted efforts of many players, global progress in child survival has slowed compared to the advances of previous decades. Maternal mortality -- deaths of women in pregnancy and childbirth -- remains at almost the same level as 20 years ago.
Global Health: Priority Agenda for the 21st Century
At the core of the United Nations Millennium Declaration of 2000 are the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for 2015, which recognize that global health is a priority agenda for the twenty-first century. Achieving the MDGs is essential for world peace and economic stability, and for addressing the critical issues of human rights, equality, and equity.
The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations
Handbook is something of a misnomer for a work of this genre.The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations contents and informed analysis are on a scale that makes it invaluable to hand for learned reference. But a handbook, as such, it is not.
WSIS and the Broadband Divide: Obstacles and Solutions
At the beginning of 2011, there were 5.4 billion mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide, meaning that we have effectively achieved the goal of bringing all of the world's people within reach of the benefits of information and communication technologies (ICTs). It is a good time for us to take stock, therefore, with just four years left before the 2015 deadline set to achieve the targets set by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), in combination with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Breaking the Cycle of Poverty in Achieving the MDGs: Investing in Reproductive Health and Rights
A bold and ambitious agenda was set forth in the Millennium Development Goals to raise the quality of life of all individuals and promote human development. The MDGs represent our collective aspirations for a better life and provide a minimum road map on how to get there.
At What Point Does One Lose One's Humanity?
I have been incredibly blessed in my life to be able to travel. Seeing the world and its diversity first hand has been the greatest teacher, and never have I learned a more difficult lesson then when I visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 2009. The DRC, bordered by nine different countries, is home to over 200 ethnic groups, making it literally the heart of Africa. This country is in a state of emergency. Various militias and complicated politics all play a part in the devastation of the land and the population, but no one is suffering more than the women and young girls. Hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been beaten, tortured and raped -- atrocities beyond anything that I have ever heard of or could imagine.