05.30.13
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Post-2015 Panel Propose 12 Goals to Shape Future Development Agenda

May 30, 2013 – The high-level panel tasked by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to advise him on the post-2015 development agenda has proposed a set of 12 global goals that range from empowering girls and women to ensuring peaceful societies.

The panel’s report, handed over to Ban at UNHQ on Thursday, states that the two main challenges identified in creating the blueprint were how to end poverty and how to promote sustainable development.

The report goes beyond the poverty, health and education focus of the Millennium Development Goals—set to expire in 2015—to include such targets as reducing violent deaths and guaranteeing access to government data as well as doubling the share of renewable energy, ending child marriage, ensuring the equal right of women to own and inherit property, increasing the number of startups, and ensuring people have access to indepedent media.

“The report recognizes peace and good governance as a core foundation for development,” Ban said in remarks to a closed-door briefing to member states earlier on Thursday, according to a transcript provided by his office. “Freedom from fear and violence is essential for building peaceful and prosperous societies.”

He said the report calls for “transformative shifts in our economies and societies” and that sustainability is not simply an environmental issue but one that must be fully integrated into the economic and social spheres.

The report will be debated by various stakeholders at the UN on Friday. Ban will present his own report to the General Assembly in September.

The 12 Goals are:

1. End Poverty
a) Bring the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day to zero and reduce by x% the share of people living below their country’s 2015 national poverty line 
b) Increase by x% the share of women and men, communities and businesses with secure rights to land, property, and other assets
c) Cover x% of people who are poor and vulnerable with social protection systems
d) Build resilience and reduce deaths from natural disasters by x%
(Note: where there is ‘x’ the specific target may be determined by gender, location, age, people living with disabilities, and relevant social group. Targets will only be considered ‘achieved’ if they are met for all relevant income and social groups.)

2. Empower Girls and Women and Achieve Gender Equality
a) Prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against girls and women
b) End child marriage
c) Ensure equal right of women to own and inherit property, sign a contract, register a business and open a bank account 
d) Eliminate discrimination against women in political, economic, and public life

3. Provide Quality Education and Lifelong Learning
a) Increase by x% the proportion of children able to access and complete preprimary education 
b) Ensure every child, regardless of circumstance, completes primary education able to read, write and count well enough to meet minimum learning standards 
c) Ensure every child, regardless of circumstance, has access to lower secondary education and increase the proportion of adolescents who achieve recognized and measurable learning outcomes to x%
d) Increase the number of young and adult women and men with the skills, including technical and vocational, needed for work by x%

4. Ensure Healthy Lives
a) End preventable infant and under-5 deaths
b) Increase by x% the proportion of children, adolescents, at-risk adults and older people that are fully vaccinated
c) Decrease the maternal mortality ratio to no more than x per 100,000 d) Ensure universal sexual and reproductive health and rights
e) Reduce the burden of disease from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, neglected tropical diseases and priority non-communicable diseases

5. Ensure Food Security and Good Nutrition
a) End hunger and protect the right of everyone to have access to sufficient, safe, affordable, and nutritious food
b) Reduce by x% stunting, wasting by y% and anemia by z% for all children under 5 
c) Increase agricultural productivity by x%, with a focus on sustainably increasing smallholder yields and access to irrigation.
d) Adopt sustainable agricultural, ocean, and freshwater fishery practices and rebuild designated fish stocks to sustainable levels 
e) Reduce postharvest loss and food waste by x%

6. Achieve Universal Access to Water and Sanitation
a) Provide universal access to safe drinking water at home and in schools, health centers and refugee camps
b) End open defecation and ensure universal access to sanitation at school and work, and increase access to sanitation at home by x%
c) Bring freshwater withdrawals in line with supply and increase water efficiency in agriculture by x%, industry by y% and urban areas by z%
d) Recycle or treat all municipal and industrial wastewater prior to discharge

7. Secure Sustainable Energy
a) Double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix
b) Ensure universal access to modern energy services
c) Double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency in buildings, industry, agriculture and transport 
d) Phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption

8. Create Jobs, Sustainable Livelihoods, and Equitable Growth
a) Increase the number of good and decent jobs and livelihoods by x
b) Decrease the number of young people not in education, employment or training by x%
c) Strengthen productive capacity by providing universal access to financial services and infrastructure such as transportation and ICT
d) Increase new start-ups by x and value added from new products by y through creating an enabling business environment and boosting entrepreneurship

9. Manage Natural Resource Assets Sustainably
a) Publish and use economic, social and environmental accounts in all governments and major companies
b) Increase consideration of sustainability in x% of government procurements
c) Safeguard ecosystems, species and genetic diversity
d) Reduce deforestation by x% and increase reforestation by y%
e) Improve soil quality, reduce soil erosion by x tonnes and combat desertification

10. Ensure Good Governance and Effective Institutions
a) Provide free and universal legal identity, such as birth registrations
b) Ensure that people enjoy freedom of speech, association, peaceful protest and access to independent media and information
c) Increase public participation in political processes and civic engagement at all levels
d) Guarantee the public’s right to information and access to government data
e) Reduce bribery and corruption and ensure officials can be held accountable

11. Ensure Stable and Peaceful Societies
a) Reduce violent deaths per 100,000 by x and eliminate all forms of violence against children
b) Ensure justice institutions are accessible, independent, well-resourced and respect due-process rights
c) Stem the external stressors that lead to conflict, including those related to organized crime
d) Enhance the capacity, professionalism and accountability of the security forces, police and judiciary

12. Create a Global Enabling Environment and Catalyze Long-Term Finance
a) Support an open, fair and development-friendly trading system, substantially reducing trade-distorting measures, including agricultural subsidies, while improving market access of developing country products
b) Implement reforms to ensure stability of the global financial system and encourage stable, long-term private foreign investment
c) Hold the increase in global average temperature below 2⁰ C above preindustrial levels, in line with international agreements
d) Developed countries that have not done so to make concrete efforts towards the target of 0.7% of gross national product (GNP) as official development assistance to developing countries and 0.15 to 0.20% of GNP of developed countries to least developed countries; other countries should move toward voluntary targets for complementary financial assistance
e) Reduce illicit flows and tax evasion and increase stolen-asset recovery by $x
f) Promote collaboration on and access to science, technology, innovation, and development data

–Denis Fitzgerald

05.20.13
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Annual World Health Assembly Highlights Global Health Burden

May 20, 2013 – The annual meeting of the World Health Assembly, the governing body of the World Health Organization, which opened in Geneva on Monday provides an interesting overview of the current global health situation and priorities for the years ahead.

The proposed $3.9 billion budget for the 2014-15 biennium includes an eight percent reduction in the budget for communicable diseases, with cuts in the HIV/Aids and Tuberculosis budgets, and a 20 percent increase in the budget to tackle non-communicable diseases (NCDs), aimed reducing the prevalence of cancer, cardio-vascular diseases and substance abuse.

The reduction in the HIV/Aids budget reflects the significant progress made in reducing new infections – a 20 percent overall decrease since 2003, including a 40 percent decrease in new infections among children over that period. Anti-retroviral drugs now reach eight million people living with HIV, up from two million in 2006.

The increase in the NCDs budget is indicative of the growing burden on health systems and the related increase in mortality: some two-thirds of the estimated 60 million deaths annually are a result of non-communicable diseases.

Among the primary aims of the increased NCDs budget is reducing harmful alcohol use, reducing tobacco use, and increasing mental health awareness and treatment – particularly in low-income countries. WHO’s mental health action plan notes that almost half the world’s population lives in countries where there is just one psychiatrist for 200,000 or more people.

Some facts and figures from documents and resolutions that will be discussed and voted on at the WHA over the next week:

– Close to 900,000 people commit suicide each year

– Between 76 precent and 85 percent of people with severe mental disorders receive no treatment for their in low-income and middle-income countries

– Between 2000 and 2011 the reported incidence of measles decreased globally by 65 percent, in tandem with more vaccinations

– 30 percent of married women in the West Bank and 51 percent of married women in the Gaza Strip had experienced violence from their husbands in the preceding 12 months

– As of Feb. 14 2013 the numbers of both cases of polio and countries experiencing cases were at their lowest-ever recorded levels: Globally, 222 cases had been reported in 2012, a 66% decline compared with 2011. Five countries reported cases in 2012 compared with 16 in 2011

– About 16 million adolescent girls between 15 years and 19 years give birth each year. Babies born to adolescent mothers account for roughly 11% of all births worldwide

– Denis Fitzgerald

04.23.13
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States Slowly Making Good on Syria Appeal Pledges

April 23, 2013 – More than $1.2 billion has been committed to aid the humanitarian response inside Syria and in neighboring countries hosting Syrian refugees, according to the lastest figures by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Some $2 billion had been pledged by donors in recent months, with $1.5 billion alone pledged at a donors conference in Kuwait City on Jan. 30.

It was just just last week that Kuwait made good on its $300 million pledge from Jan. 30, a contribution that U.N. Refugee Agency chief Antonio Gutteres said gave his and other humanitarian agencies “a breathing space” as they struggle to assist the more than 6 million people in need inside and outside of Syria.

The situation inside Syria is compounded by myriad bureaucratic hurdles placed on humanitarian actors. Valerie Amos, the head of OCHA, told the Security Council last week that aid convoys are stopped at 50 checkpoints on the 310 kilometer journey from Damascus to Aleppo. She also said that each aid truck requires a permit signed by two government ministers to pass through government checkpoints.

The top donors to the humanitarian appeal are Kuwait, $324 million; the United States, $214 million; the European Commission, $162 million; and the United Kingdom, $117 million.

A full list of the funds committed and outstanding pledges is here.

– Denis Fitzgerald

04.10.13
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First Timers Chad, Georgia, Lithuania and Saudi Arabia Among Those Vying for UNSC Seats in 2014-15

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The new Security Council members will deliberate in the newly renovated council chamber which re-opened this month. (photo: courtesy of Norway/UN)

April 10, 2013 – Six countries have declared their candidacy for the five vacancies up for grabs in October’s election for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council.

So far, Chad, Chile, Georgia, Lithuania, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia are running for election to the Council for 2014-15, though it’s looking more like an election process than race at this stage. 

Among the six, Georgia and Lithuania are the only two running in a competitive race. One of them will replace Azerbaijan who currently occupy the Eastern Europe seat, but whose term ends Dec. 31, 2013. Neither Tbilisi nor Vilnius has served on the Council, and Lithuania, if successful, would be the first Baltic country elected to the 15-nation body.

Chile, whose likely next president, Michele Bachelet, recently stepped down as head of U.N. Women, last served on the Council in 2003-04 and was one of the the so-called ‘Middle Six’ delegations whose vote was fought over by those for and against the invasion of Iraq. 

The Latin America group at the UN typically presents a “clean slate” for candidates meaning each candidate runs unopposed so Santiago is virtually guaranteed to replace Guatemala.

Nigeria and Chad are running for the two African seats to replace Morocco and Togo. Nigeria has served four times on the Council, most recently in 2010-11 while Chad has never. Unless other candidates are announced in the interim both are assured of a two-year term.

Saudi Arabia, one of the 51 founding members of the U.N. in 1945, has also never served on the Council. It looks set to replace Pakistan for the Asia-Pacific group Arab swing seat – the African and Asian groups take turns every two years to nominate an Arab country: Morocco was elected from the African group for 2011-13 so it is now Asia’s turn to nominate an Arab state.

– Denis Fitzgerald

04.09.13
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Amnesty: 21 Countries Used the Death Penalty Last Year

April 9, 2013 – China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United States were the world’s top executioners last year, according to Amnesty International’s annual review of the use of the death penalty.

The organization recorded 682 executions in 21 countries in 2012, virtually unchanged from 2011, when it recorded 680 executions in 21 countries. The figures do not include the estimated thousands of executions carried out in China, which does not publicly release information on its use of the death penalty.

A U.N. push to end the death penalty seems to be gaining traction with no executions recorded in 174 of the U.N.’s 193 member states (the two U.N. non-member states that carried out executions last year were Palestine and Taiwan). 

A General Assembly vote in November 2012 on putting a moratorium on the death penalty passed by a vote of 110 in favor, 39 against and 36 abstentions, a slight improvement from the same vote in 2010 and six more in favor than in a 2007 vote. A diplomat involved with the text said the aim is now to encourage states that have declared a moratorium to abolish executions, citing strong progress in Africa on ending the death penalty.

The U.S. is the only country in the Americas to still use the death penalty, carrying out 43 executions last year, the same as in 2011, but in only nine states, compared to 13 in 2011. There are 3,170 people still on death row in the U.S., according to Amnesty.

Belarus is the only country in Europe to still use the death penalty, carrying out at least three executions last year.

At least 557 executions were carried out in Middle East countries last year. Iran put 314 people to death in 2012; Iraq, 129; and Saudi Arabia, 79. Yemen, where a minimum of 28 people were executed last year, was the sixth biggest executioner in 2012. Those four countries accounted for 99 percent of all executions in the region last year.

Japan, seven executions last year, and the U.S. are the only G8 countries to still apply the death penalty. In Japan, as well as Belarus, prisoners were not informed of their forthcoming execution, nor were their families or lawyers, according to the Amnesty report.

Hanging remains the most commonly used method of execution followed by shooting. The U.S. and China both use lethal injection while Saudi Arabia still practices beheading, often in public.

The Amnesty report is here.

– Denis Fitzgerald

04.02.13
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Status of Recent Disarmament Accords Not Encouraging for Arms Trade Treaty

April 2, 2013 – Today’s adoption by the General Assembly of the Arms Trade Treaty text by a landslide vote is very much the beginning of the process for enacting a global binding accord on controlling weapons flows.

The treaty opens for signatories on June 3 and will come into force after 50 states have ratified it but will have limited impact unless ratified by the major arms producers and buyers.

The three most recent international treaties on arms control are not encouraging in this regard.

The 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions has 80 states parties and 31 signatories but China, Russia and the United States – three of the world’s top five arms exporters – are neither states parties nor signatories, while on the buyer side none of the Gulf states are party to it, nor are India, Pakistan, Turkey, South Korea and Israel. Lebanon is the only Middle East country to have ratified the treaty.

Similarly, the Mine Ban Treaty, which opened for signatory in 1997, has been acceded to by 165 countries but China, Russia and the United States are not among them. Qatar and Kuwait are but Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates are not. Egypt, India, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea and Israel have also not ratified the treaty.

The 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty has been ratified by 156 countries but cannot come into force unless 44 specific countries deemed “nuclear technology holders” have done so. Of those 44, eight – China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the U.S. – have not ratified the accord. 

–Denis Fitzgerald

03.26.13
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Why Syria’s Opposition Won’t Get UN Seat Anytime Soon

March 26, 2013 – Arab League members at their Doha summit on Tuesday agreed to give Syria’s seat to the opposition coalition. The Syrian government has been suspended from the 22-nation group since Nov. 2011.

The New York Times reported that opposition leader Moaz al-Khatib said after the meeting that the opposition now wanted “the seat of Syria at the United Nations and at other international organizations.”

A recent precedent would be the Sept. 2011 decision to grant Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) the country’s seat at the United Nations after a recommendation from the credentials committee and after a vote in the General Assembly to block the move was roundly defeated.

But by that stage, Libya’s UN delegation, along with several other of Tripoli’s diplomatic missions, had long defected to the NTC, and NATO-backed rebels were on their way to victory. Not so with Syria, whose UN envoy, Bashar Jaafari, continues in his post and continues to defend the regime, and the fall of Assad still not imminent.

That aside, the unanimity that existed among the nine credentials committee members with regard to Libya does not exist for Syria. While a new committee is appointed each year, there are three de-facto permanent members – the United States, along with China and Russia. The latter two have vetoed three draft Security Council resolutions on Syria in the past 18 months.

The list of credentials committee members for the current General Assembly session is here.

– Denis Fitzgerald

03.19.13
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Mary Robinson’s Appointment Highlights Lack of Women Among UNSG Envoys

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March 19, 2013 – Former Irish President Mary Robinson’s appointment on Monday as Secretary-General Ban Ki moon’s special envoy to Africa’s Great Lakes Region makes her only the sixth woman to currently hold such a post.

Of the 37 current personal and special representatives, envoys and advisors of Ban, 31 are men.

Non-governmental organizations have been pointing out for years that women are underrepresented in peace negotiations. In fact, no woman has ever been the lead negotiator in UN-sponsored peace talks.

Resolution 1325 passed in 2000 aimed to address that and calls for equal and full participation in peacekeeping, peacemaking and peacebuilding but progress has been slow because of a long held preference for appointing men to post-conflict roles.

As UN secretary-general in 2001, Kofi Annan had 54 personal envoys, including deputies, but only one was a woman.

That has slowly begun to change under Ban and he appointed Hilde Johsnon from Norway as his special representative to South Sudan, Karin Lundgren of Sweden as his special representative to Liberia and Margaret Vogt of Nigeria as his special representative and head of the integrated peacebuilding office in Central African Republic.

Among deputy personal envoys, he has appointed Finalnd’s Kaarina Immonen to Liberia and Burkina Faso’s Rosine Sori-Coulibal to Burundi.

Mary Robinson will represent Ban as the UN readies a new plan to end conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

A full list of Ban Ki-moon’s personal envoys is here.

– Denis Fitzgerald
On Twitter @denisfitz

photo: Un Photo/Paulo Filgueiras

03.11.13
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The Politics of Humanitarian Intervention Detailed in New Book by Former UN Aid Chief

Security Council Meeting: The question concerning Haiti.
John Holmes addressing a UN Security Council
meeting on Haiti in 2010 (UN Photo)

March 11, 2013 – A new book from John Holmes, former UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, discusses the politics involved in humanitarian aid and also provides some insights into Ban Ki-moon.

Holmes, who was the UK ambassador to Paris before coming to the UN, served as the top international aid official from 2007-2010, a period that covered the politically charged humanitarian crises resulting from Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza and the brutal end to Sri Lanka’s civil war.

In ”The Politics of Humanity,” Holmes writes of Ban, that, “In my experience, he was hardworking to a fault, totally honest, absolutely committed to the UN and its role and determined to make a difference where he could. His political instincts were usually sound and his readiness to tell his frequent senior visitors what they did not want to hear much greater than often supposed from the outside.”

“He has his weaker points, of which he is well aware, himself,” Holmes adds in the 400-page book released earlier this month. “He is not charismatic or a great strategic thinker. Like his predecessors he is not in a position to tell the big powers what to do nor to fix their disagreements (of course, they themselves do not really want a strong secretary-general whatever they claim in public.)”

The book’s title reflects the central theme of the often conflicting interaction between politics and humanitarian work Holmes experienced during during his stint, including the Security Council’s unwillingness to put Sri Lanka on its agenda and Ban Ki-moon barring him from speaking to Hamas officials about humanitarian aid delivery.

He calls it “absurd” that Sri Lanka was not on the Security Council’s agenda. “The Russians, Chinese, and others, no doubt with an eye to their freedom to attack their home-grown terrorists, were not prepared to agree that the situation went beyond an internal dispute,” Holmes writes.

He also says he advised Ban not to visit Sri Lanka immediately after the government’s military victory over the Tamil Tigers lest it be seen as tacit support for the government and their tactics, but to no avail. Ban, he writes, “liked being the first international leader on the scene after dramatic events.”

On Gaza, Holmes says he was “unable to talk directly to senior members of Hamas myself since the UN had decided, most unwisely in my view, to adhere to the 2006 ban on such contacts, agreed by the so-called Quartet of the US, EU, Russia and the UN, until Hamas met certain political conditions.”

“The ban should not have excluded humanitarian dialogue, but the sensitivities were considered too great even for that,” he states.

On his final visit to Gaza in 2010, the former British diplomat writes, “I tried again to persuade Ban Ki-moon that during this visit I should meet senior representatives of Hamas, to discuss humanitarian issues with them. This would have been entirely in line with the usual humanitarian policy of talking to anyone about getting aid through, and about their responsibilities under international law.”

Ban wouldn’t budge. “He continued to believe, contrary to the views of many UN officials, that the Quartet had some influence on the peace process … The American under secretary-general for political affairs, Lynn Pascoe, also believed strongly in the boycott of Hamas.”

Gaza and Sri Lanka are just two of the crises discussed in Holmes’ minutely detailed account of his time as the UN’s top humanitarian. Most of the 14 chapters are situation specific and there are sections on Afghanistan, Sudan, Haiti, Mynamar, Darfur, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The “Politics of Humanity” is published by Head of Zeus and is available on Amazon, Kindle edition, $5.99.

–Denis Fitzgerald
On Twitter @denisfitz

03.05.13
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UN Cancels Gaza Marathon After Hamas Bans Women Competitors

March 5, 2013 – Next month’s Gaza marathon has been canceled after Hamas banned women from participating, the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said Tuesday.

Some 551 local people, including 266 women, as well as 256 international runners, including 119 women, were registered to compete in the race or one of the associated events which included 2km and 10km walks. Gaza children attending UN schools were also set to take part in marathon relay teams.

“UNRWA regrets to announce that it has cancelled the third Gaza marathon which was to be held on 10 April,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday. “This follows the decision by the authorities in Gaza not to allow women to participate.”

Last year’s race was won by Nader el Masri, who is from Gaza and participated in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He had been helping UNRWA train locals for this year’s event, the agency said.

Hamas, who have ruled Gaza since 2007, previously banned women from riding on the back of motorcycles and banned men from working as hairdressers for women as part of what is called the group’s virtue campaign.

Funds raised from the marathon were to aid a summer program for Gaza’s children. 

The marathon course was planned to start at one end of the approximately 25-mile long Gaza Strip and end at the other.

– Denis Fitzgerald