Poverty

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres addresses the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. 19 January 2017. Credit: World Economic Forum/Valeriano Di Domenico.

Conflict Prevention Needs UN Reform and Much More

By António Guterres, UN Secretary-General

"The best prevention for conflict and the best prevention for other negative impacts on societies is, of course, sustainable and inclusive development," said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in remarks at the special session on “Cooperation for Peace: Tackling the Root Causes of Global Crises” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 19. He also urged the need for "a new generation of partnerships, partnerships not only with governments, not only with civil society and academia but equally partnerships with the business community". Following are detailed excerpts from his remarks.

DAVOS (IDN-INPS) - We live in a dangerous world. We see a proliferation of new conflicts; old conflicts seem never to die. Conflicts are becoming more and more interlinked, more linked with the new threat of global terrorism.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 20 January 2017

Photo: An early morning outside the Opera Tavern in Stockholm, with a gang of beggars waiting for delivery of the scraps from the previous day. Sweden, 1868. Credit: Y. Broling in Ny illustrerad tidning 1868. - Julius Ejdestam: De fattigas Sverige, Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

The Poorest Are a Fast Decreasing Breed

By Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - President-elect Donald Trump is about to make the American rich even richer with his plan to cut their taxes. A cause for shame. Nevertheless, the history of America is that poorer people have done better than is commonly thought over the last two centuries.

Today they have indoor plumbing, heating, electricity, smallpox and tuberculosis-free lives, adequate nutrition, much lower child and maternal mortality, doubled life expectancy, increasingly sophisticated medical attention, the availability of contraception, secondary level schooling for their children and a shot at university, buses, trains and bicycles, much less racial prejudice, longer retirement, a rising quality of the goods they buy, better working conditions and the vote.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 06 December 2016

Photo: ACP Secretary-General Dr Patrick I Gomes (left) and UNIDO Director General LI Yong (right). Credit: UNIDO

The Challenge of Sustainable Industrial Development

By Dr. Patrick I. Gomes, ACP Secretary-General

Note: The following text is based on ACP Secretary-General's address on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) on 21 November 2016 in Vienna.

VIENNA | BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) - UNIDO cooperation has been very fruitful in strengthening investment capacities in the 79 member states of the ACP Group, particularly to promote sustainable energy, value addition to commodities and development of small and medium enterprise.

In responding to the questions: How the ACP Secretariat is contributing and will be contributing to the promotion of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Developments Goals we are happy to highlight two principles that underlie the approach of the ACP Group to sustainable development.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes - ACP Seretary-General; OPINION; 22 November 2016

Family in Sierra Leone. UN Photo/ Martine Perret

UN Has Good and Bad News for the Poor

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) - Those in their late 20s but still living in poverty have been assured that the United Nations continues to have them on its radar. Though recent estimates show that despite significant gains since 2002 – the number of people living below the poverty line dropped by half – 1 in 8 people still live in extreme poverty, including 800 million people who do not have enough to eat.

An estimated 2.4 billion people have no access to improved sanitation, 1.1 billion people have no access to electricity and 880 million people live in urban slums. In fact opportunities continue to remain scarce for the world’s most vulnerable people – 59 million children of primary school age are out of school and the youth unemployment rate is 15 per cent, more than three times the rate of adults.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 17 October 2016

Photo: Rafael Correa, President of Ecuador, addresses the general debate of the General Assembly’s seventieth session on 28 September 2015 at the United Nations in New York. UN Photo/Kim Haughton.

People Key to Ecuador's Sustainable Development Goals

Viewpoint by Nelsy Lizarazo*

QUITO (IDN) - I visited to San Pablo 15 years ago and it was clearly the poorest neighbourhood of Portoviejo, the regional capital of Manabí Province.

Then, there was no drinking water. Families could not even imagine the possibility of free basic education for all, and secondary education even less. You could not walk on the streets after 5 in the evening and the health centre had neither sufficient medical staff nor medicine to cover the neighbourhood’s needs.

I returned to San Pablo at the beginning of September this year.

: Nelsy Lizarazo; OPINION; 12 September 2016

Photo: Uniformed children in class in Ha Nqabeni primary school, Lesotho. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

UN Gears Up to Help Lesotho End Poverty

By Majara Molupe

MASERU (IDN) - The United Nations in Lesotho is set to help the Mountain Kingdom implement Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in particular Goal One: End Poverty in all its manifestations, including extreme poverty, over the next 15 years in order to achieve the 2030 Agenda, comprising 17 Goals approved by UN member states on September 25, 2015.

Sylvia Tiisetso Khabele, the UN Volunteer on UN Communications told IDN that the key priorities of the world body's work on SDGs in 2016 include strengthening national capacities and those of the UN system for implementation of the Agenda 2030.

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Poverty; 03 September 2016

Photo: Nobel Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Social Business a Way Out of Misery for World's 3 Billion

Viewpoint by Prof Muhammad Yunus*

DHAKA (IDN-INPS) - We are living in a time of unparalleled prosperity, fuelled in part by revolutions in knowledge, science, and technology, particularly information technology. This prosperity has changed the lives of many, yet billions of people still suffer from poverty, hunger, and disease. And now, food, oil price and financial crises have combined forces to bring even greater misery and frustration to the world bottom 3 billion people.

Sadly, however, we saw headlines reporting news of a sort many people assumed we would never experience again: skyrocketing prices for staple foodstuffs like grains and vegetables (wheat alone having risen in price by 200 percent since the year 2000); food shortages in many countries; rising rates of death from malnutrition and undernourishment; environmental threats to agricultural production; even food riots threatening the stability of countries around the globe.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; OPINION; 19 August 2016

Photo: Aerial view of San Francisco, California. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten

UN Expert Praises Media Initiative Focusing on Homelessness

NEW YORK (IDN) – Media can play an important role in bringing the issue of homelessness to the forefront of discussions and encourage civil engagement. With this in view, the United Nations human rights expert on housing has commended a large media initiative in the U.S. city of San Francisco.

Leilani Farha, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, said in a statement issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “The portrayal of homeless people in the media has a significant impact on public perception and empathy. I believe the San Francisco media push will encourage other media to report on homelessness in new ways, with a view to assessing accountability and offering solutions.”