Goal 8 - SDGs for All

The Need to Engage Youth Social Entrepreneurs to Accelerate the SDGs

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

Ms. Alisjahbana, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) was Professor of Economics at Universitas Padjadjaran in Bandung, Indonesia.

BANGKOK (IDN) – This year, the United Nations is marking its 75th anniversary – a milestone of extraordinary economic and social progress in Asia and the Pacific. While the Organization enjoys a lifespan almost equal to the world’s improved average life expectancy, the future lies with those who have recently embarked on theirs: our young people.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 8; 30 October 2020

Photo: Farmer Nurul Haque stands near his 13-year-old daughter in Bangladesh, saying he may have to pull her from school and marry her off to an older man because he has few financial options left. Credit: UNICEF/UN0159775/Nybo.

UN Agency Points to Linkages Between Human Trafficking and Forced Marriage

By Richard Jacobsen

VIENNA (IDN) – A new UN report has documented the interlinkages between trafficking in persons and marriage, and specified steps for governments and other authorities to strike back. Published by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the report points out that across the world, girls as young as 12 are being forced or tricked into marrying men who exploit them for sex and domestic work, in what the UNODC has called an "under-reported, global form of human trafficking".

: Admin; Goal 8; 08 October 2020

Photo: Many of the huge numbers of people not covered by social insurance programmes are informal workers, low-waged, women and young people, refugees and migrants, and people with disabilities – and they are the ones hardest hit by this crisis. Photo: UNDP Bangladesh/Fahad Kaizer

UNDP Favours Temporary Basic Income to Protect the World's Poorest from The Impact of COVID-19

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) – A new report by the United Nations is pleading for the immediate introduction of a Temporary Basic Income for the world’s poorest people, arguing that this could slow the current surge in COVID-19 pandemic cases by enabling nearly three billion people to stay at home.

A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report estimates that it would cost from $199 billion per month to provide a time-bound, guaranteed basic income to the 2.7 billion people living below or just above the poverty line in 132 developing countries. JAPANESE

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 1; 23 July 2020

Image: Small Island States at the forefront. Credit: Simon Sees at Flickr.

Sustainable Tourism and Fisheries Key to Growth in Post-COVID Pacific

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

The writer, Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

BANGKOK (IDN) – Developing countries of Asia and the Pacific are experiencing unbalanced tolls of the COVID-19 pandemic. Grim milestones in infections and deaths have left countlessly devastated. Yet, we must look at the economic and social impacts in small island developing States (SIDS), where setbacks are likely to undo years of development gains and push many people back into poverty.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 3; 30 June 2020

Photo: Factory workers in an assembly line in Cambodia. Credit: ILO/Marcel Crozet

COVID-19: UN Chief Warns of an Unprecedented Jobs Crisis

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – The world of work is deeply suffering from the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. Almost all of the planet's workers, some 94 per cent, were living in countries with some type of workplace closure measures in place in May 2020, according to the UN Secretary-General's Policy Brief on the World of Work and COVID-19 prepared with the International Labour Organization (ILO).

UN Chief António Guterres has, therefore, called for a three-phased response to the situation.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 3; 20 June 2020

COVID-19 Crisis: How South-South Cooperation Can Support Economic Recovery

Viewpoint by Richard Kozul-Wright

The writer is Director of Globalization and Development Strategies, UNCTAD.

GENEVA (IDN) – The COVID-19 crisis is stress testing the capacity of governance arrangements to deal with unexpected shocks.

Results point to considerable variation at the national level, but it’s difficult to give anything above a B minus to the response at the multilateral level.

UNCTAD’s Trade and Development Report Update sets out how South-South cooperation, though not a substitute for a proper international response to the crisis, can point towards a better future.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 3; 03 June 2020

Photo: IOM Libya staff assist migrants at a disembarkation point in Tripoli, Libya. Credit: IOM.

UN Migration Ramps Up Coronavirus Response Worldwide

By Jaya Ramachandran with IOM Press Release

GENEVA (IDN) – In the face of the number of rising new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has expanded the scope of its Global Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP) to include far-reaching interventions that aim to mitigate the dire health and socio-economic impacts of the pandemic. A revised appeal was launched on April 15 for $499 million to support vital preparedness, response and recovery activities in over 140 countries.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 8; 16 April 2020

Photo: Santosa island and Singapore harbour one of the busiest ports in the world. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne | IDN-INPS

Globalization of Job Market Riles Singapore Locals

By Kainga Seneviratne

SINGAPORE (IDN) – The small Southeast Asian island republic of Singapore has been praised by both global business leaders and the international media for its openness to global trade and professional talent movements. It has made this nation of just over 4 million people – 1 million of who are foreigner – one of the richest nations in the world on a per-capita basis.

But, the open economic policy that has led to this may have run its course with locals becoming increasingly resentful of having to compete with “foreign talent” for jobs.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 8; 19 January 2020

Photo: Ola Henrikson, IOM’s Regional Director for the EU, has asked Croatia – which assumed the six-month rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) – on 1 January 2020, to encourage any discussion on migration policy as a positive contribution of migrants for inclusive growth and sustainable development, including within the EU. Credit: European Union

New Research Pleads for Recognizing Contribution of African Migrants To Sustainable Development

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) – A new set of European Commissioners has taken office in Brussels. The main migration focus of the previous cabinet of Commissioners was halting migration – which led to deals with third countries on stopping and returning refugees and migrants. People evacuated from Libya, for example, are brought to Niger and Rwanda, where they are processed before those successfully registered as refugees are taken to Europe – often after long processes filled with uncertainty.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 8; 18 January 2020

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres is photographed by a student during a visit to a school run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) at Baqa’a Camp in Jordan. Credit: UN

UN Chief Regards Youth As the ‘Greatest Source’ Of Hope

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – With “uncertainty and insecurity all around”, Secretary-General António Guterres has described young people as “the greatest source of hope”. In welcoming the New Year, he said: “The United Nations stands with you and belongs to you”.

According to the UN chief, the current situation is characterized by: Persistent inequality and rising hatred. A warring world and a warming planet. Climate change is not only a long-term problem but a clear and present danger, he said. “We cannot afford to be the generation that fiddled while the planet burned.”