Unhealthy diets could undo progress on food security in Asia-Pacific, warns UN report
10 November 2017 – Urgent action is needed to tackle malnutrition and promote consumption of healthier foods in the Asia-Pacific region – home to most of the world's undernourished people – the United Nations food security agency said Friday.
Good nutrition depends on , as well as efficient, affordable and sustainable systems to deliver that food, said Kundhavi Kadiresan, the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization () in the Asia-Pacific region, announcing findings from the agency's regional report on food security and nutrition.
If we are to reach the Sustainable Development Goal of [ending hunger] in the region, we must invest to improve our food systems and pool our knowledge and resources to meet our current food and nutrition challenges head on.
Accelerating Action on the SDGs: A Guide for Universities
Universities across the world are aware of the crucial role they play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but very little guidance has been available on how to incorporate these goals into academic life and work. The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Australia/Pacific, however, has recently issued a new guide that helps bridge this gap.
Use antibiotics wisely to combat rising drug resistance
9 November 2017- In the lead-up to World Antibiotic Awareness Week (13-19 November 2017), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) are together calling for responsible use of antibiotics in humans and animals to reduce the emergence of antibiotic resistance.
Antibiotic resistance is rising to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world and threatening our ability to treat common infectious diseases.
Infections affecting people - including pneumonia, tuberculosis, blood poisoning and gonorrhoea - and animals alike are becoming harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat as antibiotics become less effective.
3D chalk painting for International Day of the Girl inspires
8 November 2017 - The UN Information Centre (UNIC) Manama commemorated the Ìý²¹²Ô»åÌý by partnering with talented chalk artist Jincy Babu to create a 1240 square foot 3D chalk piece on the importance of empowering girls as well as the Sustainable Development Goals.
Ms. Babu started the artwork on 11 October - to coincide with the International Day of the Girl Child - at the Ramli Mall in the Kingdom of Bahrain. It depicts a refugee girl immersed in water holding the earth as though raising it from the water while being surrounded by six floats, each representing a Global Goal that is crucial to the well-being of girls. The intended effect of the artwork can be enjoyed by viewing it from a certain angle, either through a 3D lens or one's mobile phone camera.
Bonn: UN climate conference aims for greater ambition as 2017 set to be among top three hottest years
6 November 2017 – The United Nations Climate Conference opened on Monday in Bonn, Germany, with the aim of a greater ambition for climate action, as the world body's weather agency issued a stark warning that 2017 is set to be among the three hottest years on record.
°Õ³ó±ðÌý of the State Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNTCC), informally known as COP 23 and which runs until 17 November, is chaired by Fiji, an island State particularly affected by the impacts of our warming climate.
The need for urgency is obvious. Our world is in distress from the extreme weather events caused by climate change – destructive hurricanes, fires, floods, droughts, melting ice, and changes to agriculture that threaten our food security, said COP 23 President and Prime Minister of Fiji Frank Bainimarama, at the opening of the conference.
A first atlas on rural migration in sub-Saharan Africa
2 November 2017, Rome – A first atlas to offer a better understanding of complex rural migration patterns in sub-Saharan Africa has been published today.
The atlas – – also highlights the important role rural areas will continue to play in shaping the continent's migration for decades to come.
People without nationality face 'stark realities' of discrimination and persecution – UN report
3 November 2017 – Discrimination, exclusion and persecution are stark realities for many of the world's stateless minorities, the United Nations refugee agency warned in a new report, calling for immediate action to secure equal nationality rights for all.
Stateless people are just seeking the same basic rights that all citizens enjoy. But stateless minorities, like the Rohingya, often suffer from  and a systematic denial of their rights, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said Friday on the launch of the report, .
The role of education in promoting the rights of children in Africa
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as a human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier. Children at birth take on the social and economic status of their parents and may be subject to abuse if special care and attention is not given them. They are minors who are socialized through education, formal or informal. At birth every child by nature can be said to be a social animal that can only develop its personality through social interaction. Through social interaction, children are taught their cultural values and duties. In the same way, through education, children can be taught their fundamental rights. Not only do children come to learn their rights through education, education also guarantees the enjoyment of those rights.Â
Universal rights of children
Books as a sign of hope: a reading festival in Mosul
According to a popular Arabic proverb, books are written in Cairo, published in Beirut and read in Baghdad. If this isn't testimony enough for the traditional love for knowledge and literature among Iraqis, citizens of Mosul organized their first reading festival just a few months after the liberation of the city from its occupation by ISIL.
The occupation of Mosul—Iraq's third largest city—by ISIL in June 2014 led to widespread destruction of monuments as well as books and anarchy. The library of Mosul University was razed to the ground, allegedly by ISIL, and nearly all of its 200,000 books had been destroyed by the end of the fighting.
2018 CTAUN Poster Competition for College Students
The 2018 Committee On Teaching About the United Nations (CTAUN) Conference will take place at UN Headquarters, New York on Friday 6 April 2018. This year's theme of the conference is:Â Stepping Up to Protect the World's Children.
CTAUN is now accepting submissions for its Poster Competition until the midnight of 28 February 2018. College students can submit a poster by emailing intlcoll@bridgeport.edu. Questions regarding the Poster Competition can be directed to the same email address.
Submission Guidelines
Carbon dioxide levels surge to new high in 2016, UN weather agency reports
30 October 2017 – Levels of carbon dioxide (C02) surged at record-breaking speed to new highs in 2016, the United Nations weather agency announced on Monday.
Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), issued the warning in Geneva, at the launch of the organization's .
The report indicates that carbon dioxide concentrations reached 403.3 parts per million in 2016, up from 400 ppm in 2015.
We have never seen such big growth in one year as we have been seeing last year in carbon dioxide concentration, said Mr. Taalas, telling journalists that it is time for governments to fulfil the pledges they made in Paris in 2015 to take steps to reduce global warming.
Security Council debate on 'women, peace and security' spotlights prevention and gender equality links
27 October 2017 – At the Security Council today, a senior United Nations official called on Member States, regional organizations and civil society for greater partnership to boost women's participation at all levels and help ensure UN peace efforts are stronger and more sustainable.
We will ensure our prevention initiatives and monitoring include a focus on women's rights violations [and] we will tackle the structural and root causes of crisis, including gender inequality, Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, the Chef de Cabinet, speaking on behalf of the Secretary-General, told a day-long debate in the Security Council, underlining the need for more action on the 'women, peace and security agenda' – with prevention as a core pillar.
UN, African Union pledge to help Kenya ensure credible rerun of presidential poll
23 October 2017 – The heads of the United Nations and the African Union have expressed their organizations' commitment to assist Kenya in ensuring a credible and transparent process in the forthcoming rerun of the recent presidential election.
In a joint statement issued Sunday by the two organizations, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat urged all political actors, parties and their supporters to create conditions for a peaceful election and refrain from any act of violence.
On 1 September, the Supreme Court of Kenya nullified the August 2017 election and ordered the holding of a new one.
Rohingya crisis: UNICEF issues 'Child Alert,' outlines urgent action to save lives
20 October 2017 – Issuing a dire warning on the desperate situation of Rohingya refugee children, who now number more than 320,000 in Bangladesh, the United Nations Children's Fund () has called for an end to the atrocities targeting civilians in Myanmar's Rakhine state, and immediate and unfettered access to all children affected by the violence there.
At present, UNICEF has no access to Rohingya children in northern Rakhine state, where horrific violence since late August has driven over half a million members of the minority Muslim community to seek refuge across the border in Bangladesh.
From failed governance to building a new future: the case of the Central African Republic
An article submitted by Euclid University (Pôle Universitaire Euclide), an intergovernmental university with headquarters in Bangui, on the occasion of the visit of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to the Central African Republic (24–26 October 2017)
The Central African Republic—often referred to as 'CAR' or Centrafrique—is literally the heart of Africa. One of only two countries in Africa which incorporate the continent's name, the Central African Republic is in some ways little known and may evoke the image of forbidden diamonds, endangered elephants, a disgraced former Emperor (Bokassa)—or, more broadly, of yet another country struggling with one postcolonial tragedy after another.