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Photo: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets with winners of the Cannes Young Lions competition in France. Credit; UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

World’s ‘Big Six’ Advertisers Support UN’s 2030 Agenda

By Jaya Ramachandran

BERLIN | CANNES | NEW YORK (IDN) – Nearly six months before Ban Ki-moon relinquishes his post after ten years as UN Secretary-General, his unrelenting efforts underway since January to engage corporate leaders and entrepreneurs for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are beginning to bear fruit.

Speaking at the Lions Festival of Creativity, Cannes, on June 24, Ban said the world’s six biggest advertising and marketing services groups – Dentsu, Havas, IPG, Omnicom, Publicis and WPP – had decided to launch a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Common Ground initiative.

The initiative seeks “to beat ultra-competitors, poverty, inequality and injustice” by supporting a 15-year anti-poverty, pro-planet action plan, adopted by 193 Member States in September 2015. (P16) ARABIC | GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH | TURKISH

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 4; 29 June 2016

Photo: UN Secretary-General Attends Ceremony for Colombian Ceasefire Agreement, Havana. Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Women Played a Crucial Role in Colombia Ceasefire Accord

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – UN Women has joined Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in welcoming the “historic” agreement signed in Cuba’s capital Havana between the government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP), after 52 years of armed conflict and nearly four years of peace negotiations.

The June 23 accord “marks a definite step on the road to peace”, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said. “It is an occasion to be hopeful for the future and to strengthen our resolve to support this exemplary peace process,” she added in a statement on June 24.

UN Women, the United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women, assured that it stands in solidarity with the Colombian women who had become an unstoppable force for peace despite suffering so much in the protracted war.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 5; 25 June 2016

Islamophobia - Panel Discussion at the UN Geneva

At the UN in Geneva, the Geneva Center for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue with the support of the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, arranged this panel discussion for the fight against the scourge of so called “Islamophobia”. Participants included:

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 16; 22 June 2016

Photo: Evelyn Amony’s autobiography is an unforgettable story of war, rape and survival, and a chance to learn from the lived experiences of survivors. Credit: Erin Baines | UN Women.

Progress in Achieving Gender Equality No Cause for Complacency

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – UN Women, United Nations organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, has drawn attention to three “historic firsts” achieved this year in combatting sexual violence in conflict. At the same time, the organisation’s Deputy Executive Director Lakshmi Puri has stressed that “realizing gender equality has a deadline, and it is 2030”.

In run-up to the first International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict on June 19, United Nations organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women said all three historic firsts were “long overdue and all had one thing in common: the unstoppable force of women’s voice and leadership”.

According to the statement, in February 2016, a national court in Guatemala convicted two former military officers of committing sexual violence during the country’s civil war – the first time that a national court anywhere in the world considered charges of sexual slavery during armed conflict.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 5; 18 June 2016

Photo: The girl child has become the major beneficiary of the UN SDG5 as Zimbabwe fights to attain the goal. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo | INPS-IDN

Zimbabwe Inafanya Mafanikio katika Kufikia Usawa wa Kijinsia

Uchambuzi na Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (IDN) – Pamoja na vikwazo wanawake wanaendelea kukabiliana navyo nchini Zimbabwe, nchi hii imefanya mafanikio makubwa katika kufikia usawa wa kijinsia katika msitari na Lengo la 5 la Malengo Endelevu ya Maendeleo (MEM) yanayotazamiwa kupatikana ifikapo mwaka 2030.

Kuna uwakilishi bora wa wanawake bungeni na kuongezeka kwa idadi ya wasichana katika chuo kikuu kuliko wenzao wa kiume kwa sasa – na hii wanawake zaidi pia wamechukua kazi zinazoshikiliwa na wanaume.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Languages; Swahili; 17 June 2016

Photo: Child labour on family farms Credit: FAO/J. Thompson

UN Shows the Way Out for 168 Million Child Workers

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) - Child labour is rampant around the world: some 168 million children working in various sectors of the economy – ranging from agriculture to mining, from manufacturing to tourism – are producing goods and services consumed by millions every day.

Marking the World Day against Child Labour on June 12, the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) has drawn the focus on the plight of children toiling in some of the most hazardous jobs.

“That child labour has no place in well-functioning and well-regulated markets is evident. But the reality is that today, child labour remains widespread in supply chains,” said ILO Director-General Guy Ryder in a statement that focussed on child labour and supply chains.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 8; 13 June 2016

New Study Faults Lack of Transparency in Arms Trade

By Rodney Reynolds

NEW YORK (IDN) – A new study on the international trade in small arms and light weapons confirms the long standing traditional secrecy in the global market place.

Released June 6 – to coincide with the Sixth Biennial Meeting on the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms – the study pointedly says “export authorizations remain the most opaque dimension of small arms reporting”.

The 2016 Transparency Barometer, which evaluated the reporting practices of 49 countries, identified only three countries – Germany, the UK and the Netherlands – as “the most transparent major small arms exporters”.

The Netherlands was among the top three, due to improvements in reporting through its monthly arms export reports, which include new information on re-exports.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 16; 12 June 2016

Global Health Situation Needs Multiple Actions

Analysis by Martin Khor *

GENEVA (IDN | SOUTHNEWS) - The global health situation is facing many critical challenges, and multiple actions must be taken urgently to prevent crises from boiling over. This is the impression one gets from this year’s World Health Assembly held in Geneva on from May 23 to 28.

The WHA is the world’s prime public health event. This year 3,500 delegates from 194 countries took part, including Health Ministers of most countries. The one-week session provided a snapshot of the major medical problems and the actions being taken or proposed to deal with them.

In her opening speech, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan gave an overview of what went right and what is missing on the global health front.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 3; 12 June 2016

Zimbabwe Makes Headway in Achieving Gender Equality

Analysis by Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (IDN) - Despite the hurdles women continue to face in Zimbabwe, this country has made significant headway in achieving gender equality in line with Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be attained by 2030.

There is improved women parliamentary representation and increased numbers of girls in university than their male counterparts now – and this as more women have also taken up once male-dominated jobs.

According to UN Women, the United Nations organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, women’s representation in Zimbabwe’s Parliament more than doubled from 17 per cent following the 2008 general elections, to 35 per cent in the elections on July 31, 2013. (P15) ARABIC | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SWAHILI

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 5; 12 June 2016

If Wildlife Crime Makes You Wild – Get Wild for Life

By Dr Bradnee Chambers *

BONN (IDN) - Unless the science fiction of Michael Crichton’s “Jurassic Park” becomes science fact sometime soon, extinction will continue to mean gone forever; and if we want to avoid losing more species, we must start learning from the mistakes of the past; unfortunately the evidence suggests that all too often we seem determined to repeat them

Humans have hunted animals for food since time immemorial and taking “one for the pot” was not sport but quite simply the only way to feed one’s family. The artisanal methods using bow and arrow or nets made from home-spun twine and the level of the harvest meant such hunting was entirely sustainable. But now things have changed. In addition to other threats, man-made and natural, such as climate change, habitat loss, collisions with vehicles, power lines and wind turbines, wildlife faces another totally avoidable danger: illegal wildlife trade.