Reporting the underreported about the plan of action for People, Planet and Prosperity, and efforts to make the promise of the SDGs a reality.
A project of the Non-profit International Press Syndicate Group with IDN as the Flagship Agency in partnership with Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.
By Caroline Mwanga
NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations is concerned about corruption in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which it says is proving "to be even more damaging in its impact on the most vulnerable".
UN Secretary-General António Guterres described corruption as "criminal, immoral and the ultimate betrayal of public trust. It is even more damaging in times of crisis – as the world is experiencing now with the COVID-19 pandemic".
By Jamshed Baruah
GENEVA (IDN) – "The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift towards a more digital world. The changes we make now will have lasting effects as the world economy begins to recover," says Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The acceleration of online shopping globally underscores the urgency of ensuring all countries can seize the opportunities offered by digitalization as the world moves from pandemic response to recovery, he adds. (P19) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | TURKISH
Viewpoint by Randall Hansen*
TORONTO (IDN) – In November 2019, a federal government official visited the University of Toronto’s Munk School and asked its faculty to delineate coming global threats. We spoke of inequality, hunger, climate change, sanitation, and plastic pollution, among others. No one mentioned a microbe; a discussion of the threat of immunity to antibiotics was as close as we got.
Four months later, everyone in that room was under lockdown. COVID-19 hit the world as a freight train hits a car stalled at a railroad crossing. The virus has shredded the rhythm of our daily lives, and it will reconfigure our economies and politics.
By Kalinga Seneviratne
SYDNEY (IDN) – The COVID-19 crisis has hit tourism-dependent Pacific Island countries severely. Fiji, the largest of these states, is feeling the impact badly, with laid-off workers of tourism-related industries, such as hotels and travel companies, turning to farming and fishing for survival. Because of its larger land mass and fishing grounds in the sea, Fiji’s population is trying to cushion the impact depending on their natural resources.
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – In a significant move to mobilise global support, the United Nations, Project Everyone and 72 Films are launching 'Nations United - Urgent Solutions for Urgent Times'. A first of its kind film has been released September 19 on the UN YouTube channel and global broadcast networks. Watch video
The importance of the move lies in the fact that with just ten years to go for the 2030 deadline, implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is far from satisfactory. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic is threatening decade of global progress.
By Kalinga Seneviratne
SYDNEY (IDN) – China may have one nation and two systems, but in Australia, it looks like there is one nation and six systems. As the second wave of coronavirus spreads across the continent, the State Premiers have taken unilateral decisions to close borders to travellers from other states to the dismay of Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Speaking at the Bush (Regional) Summit on August 28, Morrison bemoaned “Australia was not built to have internal borders, in fact the very point of federalism was not to have them”. While acknowledging that COVID-19 has touched people everywhere, he added, “We must not allow this crisis, this pandemic, to force us to retreat into provincialism. That’s not the answer”.
By Devendra Kamarajan
JOHANNESBURG (IDN) – The COVID-19 pandemic will push South Africa's overall GDP down by 7.9% in 2020 leading to major setbacks in addressing poverty, unemployment and inequality, the government's development priorities, according to new research by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The study expects the economy to recover slowly through 2024.
It points out that female-headed households, persons with lower levels of education and the Informal Sector are hit hardest. Those with access to technology and digitisation are faring better. Innovative government policies and action are therefore needed for recovery, emphasizes the report. COVID-19 negatively impacts the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
By Ronald Joshua
GENEVA | BRAZZAVILLE (IDN) – While COVID-19 pandemic is playing havoc with the global economy and a frantic search continues for a vaccine, thanks to a concerted campaign of immunization, Africa is free of a highly infectious disease which mainly affects children under 5 years of age. It is a significant development marking the eradication of the second virus from the face of the continent since smallpox 40 years ago.
"Today is a historic day for Africa," said Professor Rose Gana Fomban Leke, Chairperson of the African Regional Certification Commission for Polio eradication (ARCC), which has declared the region free of polio. (P14) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH
By Radwan Jakeem
NEW YORK (IDN) – Two United Nations agencies have warned that about 3.3 million people in Burkina Faso are facing acute food insecurity. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) cited alarming new data, and the World Food Programme (WFP), stressed that “urgent and sustained action” is needed to address the worsening food and nutrition situation throughout the landlocked West African country.
According to the latest analysis, acute food insecurity has increased more than 50 per cent since the situation in Burkina Faso was last assessed in March. The UN survey points out that in a country already reeling from conflict and climate change, COVID-19 has intensified people’s inability to earn money to cover their daily needs.
By Jeffrey Moyo
MUSINA, South Africa (IDN) – His three teenage children play home-made paper ball on the dusty streets of Musina, exercise books scattered on the veranda of their rented home in the South African border town with Zimbabwe. Yet Gerald Gava, the children's 47-year old father, lies on a reed mat spread on the veranda, apparently with nothing to do after he stopped working three months ago as the lockdown took toll on the construction company that employed him.
Gava, who is a migrant from Zimbabwe, said even his children have had to remain home as schools also shut down, thanks to the coronavirus that has pounded the entire globe. (P13) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SWAHILI
