UN chief
UN chief lauds Bangladesh’s socio-economic development
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has termed Bangladesh a friend of the UN and lauded Bangladesh’s socio-economic development under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
He said Bangladesh is a valued member of the UN and is making an important contribution to the work of the global body.
The UN chief made the remarks when Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations Muhammad Abdul Muhith presented his credentials to the UN chief in the UN headquarters on Tuesday.
Read: Khalid Mahmud welcomes US support for inland waterways management
Prior to this on Thursday, 28th of July he joined the Mission.
Abdul Muhith is the 16th Permanent Representative (PR) of Bangladesh to the UN since 1974 when Bangladesh became the member of the apex body under the leadership of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Ambassador Muhith was Bangladesh Ambassador to Austria prior to this appointment.
UN chief warns world is one step from 'nuclear annihilation'
The United Nations chief warned Monday that “humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation,” citing the war in Ukraine, nuclear threats in Asia and the Middle East and many other factors.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres gave the dire warning at the opening of the long-delayed high-level meeting to review the landmark 50-year-old treaty aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and eventually achieving a nuclear-free world.
The danger of increasing nuclear threats and a nuclear catastrophe was also raised by the United States, Japan, Germany, the U.N. nuclear chief and many other opening speakers at the meeting to review progress and agree to future steps to implement the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, known as the NPT.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said North Korea is preparing to conduct its seventh nuclear test, Iran “has either been unwilling or unable” to accept a deal to return to the 2015 nuclear agreement aimed at reining in its nuclear program, and Russia is “engaged in reckless, dangerous nuclear saber-rattling” in Ukraine.
Also read: UN chief calls for more holistic approach to road safety
He cited Russian President Vladimir Putin’s warning after its Feb. 24 invasion that any attempt to interfere would lead to “consequences you have never seen,” emphasizing that his country is “one of the most potent nuclear powers.”
This is contrary to assurances given to Ukraine of its sovereignty and independence when in gave up its Soviet-era nuclear weapons in 1994, Blinken said, and sends “the worst possible message” to any country thinking it needs nuclear weapons to defend itself and deter aggression.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said divisions in the world since the last review conference in 2015, which ended without a consensus document, have become greater, stressing that Russia’s threat to use nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war has contributed “to worldwide concern that yet another catastrophe by nuclear weapon use is a real possibility.”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock accused Russia of “brutally violating the assurances” it gave Ukraine in 1994 and said Moscow's “reckless nuclear rhetoric” since its invasion of its smaller neighbor “is putting at risk everything the NPT has achieved in five decades.”
Putin appeared to roll back on his nuclear warning in a message of greetings to NPT participants posted on his website Monday.
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“We believe that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought, and we stand for equal and indivisible security for all members of the world community,” the Russian leader said.
Putin said his country “consistently follows the letter and spirit" of the NPT and expects all parties to “strictly comply with their commitments” and make “a significant contribution" at the conference to strengthening the non-proliferation regime “to ensure peace, security and stability in the world.”
Most recently, Blinken said Russia seized Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhya and is using it as a military base to fire at Ukrainians, “knowing that they can’t and won’t shoot back because they might accidentally strike a nuclear reactor or highly radioactive waste in storage.” He said this brings the notion of having “a human shield to an entirely different and horrific level.”
Russia’s delegation to the NPT issued a statement Monday night strongly rejecting Blinken’s contention that Russia is using the Zaporizhzhya plant as a military base, saying a limited number of servicemen are there “to ensure safety and security at the power plant.”
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the Ukraine conflict is “so grave that the specter of a potential nuclear confrontation, or accident, has raised its terrifying head again.”
He warned that at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant “the situation is becoming more perilous by the day,” and he urged all countries to help make possible his visit to the plant with a team of IAEA safety and security experts, saying his efforts for the past two months have been unsuccessful.
Guterres told many ministers, officials and diplomats gathered in the General Assembly Hall that the month-long review conference is taking place “at a time of nuclear danger not seen since the height of the Cold War.”
The conference is “an opportunity to hammer out the measures that will help avoid certain disaster, and to put humanity on a new path towards a world free of nuclear weapons,” the secretary-general said.
But Guterres warned that “geopolitical weapons are reaching new highs,” almost 13,000 nuclear weapons are in arsenals around the world, and countries seeking “false security” are spending hundreds of billions of dollars on “doomsday weapons.”
“All this at a time when the risks of proliferation are growing and guardrails to prevent escalation are weakening,” he said, “And when crises -- with nuclear undertones -- are festering from the Middle East and the Korean Peninsula to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, and to many other factors around the world.”
Guterres called on conference participants to take several actions: urgently reinforce and reaffirm “the 77-year-old norm against the use of nuclear weapons,” work relentlessly toward eliminating nuclear weapons with new commitments to reduce arsenals, address “the simmering tensions in the Middle Est and Asia” and promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology.
“Future generations are counting on your commitment to step back from the abyss,” he implored the ministers and diplomats. “This is our moment to meet this fundamental test and lift the cloud of nuclear annihilation once and for all.”
Japan’s Kishida, recalling his home city of Hiroshima where the first atomic bomb was dropped in August 1945, echoed many of Guterres’ points saying the path to a world without nuclear weapons has become harder but “giving up is not an option.”
In force since 1970, the Nonproliferation Treaty known as the NPT has the widest adherence of any arms control agreement, with some 191 countries that are members.
Under its provisions, the five original nuclear powers -- the United States, China, Russia (then the Soviet Union), Britain and France -- agreed to negotiate toward eliminating their arsenals someday and nations without nuclear weapons promised not to acquire them in exchange for a guarantee to be able to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
India and Pakistan, which didn’t join the NPT, went on to get the bomb. So did North Korea, which ratified the pact but later announced it was withdrawing. Non-signatory Israel is believed to have a nuclear arsenal but neither confirms nor denies it. Nonetheless, the treaty has been credited with limiting the number of nuclear newcomers (U.S. President John F. Kennedy once foresaw as many as 20 nuclear-armed nations) as a framework for international cooperation on disarmament.
The meeting, which ends Aug. 26, aims to generate a consensus on next steps, but expectations are low for a substantial — if any — agreement. There were 133 speakers as of Monday, plus dozens of side events.
The NPT’s five-year review was supposed to take place in 2020, when the world already faced plenty of crisis, but was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Patricia Lewis, former director of the U.N. Institute for Disarmament Research who is now in charge of international security programs at the international affairs think tank Chatham House in London, said “President Putin’s threats to use nuclear weapons have shocked the international community.”
Russia is not only an NPT signatory but a depository for treaty ratifications and in January it joined the four other nuclear powers in reiterating the statement by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that “a nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought,” she told The Associated Press.
Lewis said countries participating in the review conference will have a difficult decision to make.
To support the treaty and what it stands for, “governments will have to address Russia’s behavior and threats,” she said. “On the other hand, to do so risks dividing the treaty members -- some of whom have been persuaded by Russia’s propaganda or at least are not as concerned, for example, as the NATO states.”
And “Russia no doubt will strenuously object to being named in statements and any outcome documents,” Lewis said.
Human trafficking only getting worse: Guterres
Human trafficking is an all-out assault on people's rights, safety and dignity, Secretary-General António Guterres said Friday, the eve of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.
"Tragically, it is also a problem that is growing worse – especially for women and girls, who represent the majority of detected trafficked persons globally," he added.
Conflicts, forced displacement, climate change, inequality and poverty, have left tens of millions of people around the world destitute, isolated and vulnerable.
And the Covid-19 pandemic has separated children and young people from their friends and peers, pushing them into spending more time alone and online.
Human traffickers are taking advantage of these vulnerabilities, using sophisticated technology to identify, track, control and exploit victims, the UN chief said.
Often using the "dark web," online platforms allow criminals to recruit people with false promises.
And technology anonymously allows dangerous and degrading content that fuels human trafficking, including the sexual exploitation of children.
This year's theme – "Use and Abuse of Technology" – reminds everyone that while it can enable human trafficking, technology can also be a critical tool in fighting it.
"As part of 2023's Summit of the Future, I have proposed a global digital compact to rally the world around the need to bring good governance to the digital space," Guterres said, calling on everyone to "give this issue the attention and action it deserves and work to end the scourge of human trafficking once and for all."
Read: Fighting hate speech a job for everyone: UN chief
Ghada Waly, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said although digital technologies have been a vital lifeline during pandemic restrictions, they are being increasingly exploited by criminals.
The borderless nature of information and communications technologies enables traffickers to expand their reach and profits with even greater impunity.
More than 60 percent of known human trafficking victims over the last 15 years have been women and girls, most of them trafficked for sexual exploitation.
And as conflicts and crises increase misery, countless others are in danger of being targeted with false promises of opportunities, jobs, and a better life.
To protect people, digital spaces must be shielded from criminal abuse by harnessing technologies for good.
Partnerships with tech companies and the private sector can keep traffickers from preying on the vulnerable and stop the circulation of online content that amplifies the suffering of trafficking victims, Ghada said.
With the right support, law enforcement can use artificial intelligence, data mining and other tools to detect and investigate trafficking networks, she added.
A group of UN-appointed independent human rights experts underscored that the international community must strengthen prevention and accountability for trafficking in persons in conflict situations.
Women and girls, particularly those who are displaced, are disproportionately affected by trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation, forced and child marriage, forced labour and domestic servitude.
"These risks of exploitation, occurring in times of crisis, are not new. They are linked to and stem from existing, structural inequalities, often based on intersectional identities, gender-based discrimination and violence, racism, poverty and weaknesses in child protection systems," the experts said.
Refugees, migrants, internally displaced and stateless people are particularly at risk of attacks and abductions that lead to trafficking.
And the dangers are increased by continued restrictions on protection and assistance, limited resettlement and family reunification, inadequate labour safeguards and restrictive migration policies.
Read: Overseas aid cuts imperil SDGs: UN chief
Such structural inequalities are exacerbated in the periods before, during and after conflicts, and disproportionately affect children, the experts added.
Sexual violence against children persists, and often leads to trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy and forced marriage, as well as forced labour and domestic servitude.
While girls are more often trafficked for sexual exploitation, boys do not escape the scourge.
Gender stereotyping and discrimination may result in not identifying men and boys as victims, leaving them without assistance or protection.
Men and boys may face additional obstacles to disclosing experiences of exploitation, particularly sexual exploitation, the experts said.
Also, in conflict situations, organ harvesting trafficking is another concern, along with law enforcement's inability to regulate and control armed groups and other traffickers' finances – domestically and across borders.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, Friday said protection services for refugees and migrants making perilous journeys from the Sahel and Horn of Africa towards North Africa and Europe, including survivors of human trafficking, are severely lacking.
Its newly released report maps the protection services available to asylum-seekers, refugees, and migrants as they travel along these routes.
It also highlights protection gaps in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Somalia, and Sudan – notably in shelters, survivor identification and responses to gender-based violence and trafficking.
UN chief calls for more holistic approach to road safety
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a more holistic approach to road safety.
He made the remarks at a high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on improving road safety on Thursday.
Guterres said that road fatalities are closely linked to poor infrastructure, unplanned urbanization, lax social protection and health care systems, limited road safety literacy and persistent inequalities both within and between countries.
Also read: Perilous roads in Bangladesh; 6,284 killed in 2021: RSF
Meanwhile, he pointed out that unsafe roads are a key obstacle to development.
"Traffic accidents can push entire families into poverty through either the loss of a breadwinner or the costs associated with lost income and prolonged medical care," he said, noting that developing countries lose between 2 and 5 percent of GDP every year because of them.
UN agencies have set goals of cutting road traffic deaths and injuries by half by 2030 and promote sustainable mobility with safety at its core.
To achieve the goals need more ambitious and urgent action to reduce the biggest risks such as speeding, and increased financing for sustainable and safe infrastructure and investments in cleaner mobility and greener urban planning, the UN chief said.
"And we need to adopt a more holistic approach to road safety," he stated.
"This means better integrating road safety in national policies - from education, health, and transport to climate mitigation, land-use planning, and disaster response," he said.
The secretary-general called on all member states to accede to UN road safety conventions and implement whole-of-society action plans, taking a strong prevention approach.
He also urged all donors to scale up much-needed financial and technical contributions through the UN Road Safety Fund.
Also read: Road accidents kill 4, injure 7 in five districts
"Together, we can save lives, support development, and steer our world to safer roads ahead, leaving no one behind," he said.
UN chief for working together to build peaceful, inclusive societies
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged all to work together to safeguard the human rights of all people and build peaceful and inclusive societies.
“Together, we can realize the vision of a world free of racism and racial discrimination,” he said in a message marking the 100-day countdown to the International Day of Peace.
Every year on 21 September, the UN chief said, the United Nations calls on all people to lay down weapons and reaffirm their commitment to living in harmony with one another.
“Today, as we mark the 100-day countdown to the International Day of Peace, this shared aspiration is more pressing than ever,” he said.
This year’s theme is “End racism. Build peace.” The UN chief said racism poisons societies, normalizes discrimination and spurs violence.
READ: Overseas aid cuts imperil SDGs: UN chief
“We must fight it by countering hate speech, promoting dialogue and addressing the root causes of inequality,” he said.
Each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on 21 September.
The UN General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire.
There're no real democratic societies without press freedom: Guterres
On World Press Freedom Day, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said they honour the essential work of the media in speaking truth to power, exposing lies, and building strong, resilient institutions and societies.
"We call on governments, media organizations and technology companies everywhere to support these crucial efforts," he said in a message marking the day on Tuesday.
The United Nations is working to support journalists and media workers everywhere.
Read: Press Council sets roadmap for creating journalists' database: Info Minister
"Ten years ago, we established a Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists, to protect media workers and end impunity for crimes committed against them," said the UN chief.
Without freedom of the press, he said, there are no real democratic societies and without freedom of the press, there is no freedom.
On World Press Freedom Day, Guterres said they shine a spotlight on the essential work of journalists and other media workers who seek transparency and accountability from those in power, often at great personal risk.
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, many media workers have been on the frontlines, providing accurate, science-based reporting to inform decision-makers and save lives.
"At the same time, journalists who cover climate, biodiversity and pollution have succeeded in bringing global attention to this triple planetary crisis," said the UN chief.
But the threats to the freedom of journalists and media workers are growing by the day, he said.
From global health to the climate crisis, corruption and human rights abuses, they face increased politicization of their work and attempts to silence them from many sides, Guterres said.
"Digital technology has democratized access to information. But it has also created serious challenges."
Read:UN chief says global warming goal on 'life support'
The business models of many social media platforms are based not on increasing access to accurate reporting, but on increasing engagement – which often means provoking outrage and spreading lies, Guterres said.
Media workers in war zones are threatened not only by bombs and bullets, but by the weapons of falsification and disinformation that accompany modern warfare.
"They may be attacked as the enemy, accused of espionage, detained, or killed, simply for doing their jobs," said the UN chief.
Digital technology also makes censorship even easier, he said.
Many journalists and editors around the world are at constant risk of their programmes and reports being taken offline.
"And digital technology creates new channels for oppression and abuse. Women journalists are at particular risk of online harassment and violence," Guterres said.
UNESCO found that nearly three in four women respondents had experienced online violence. Hacking and illegal surveillance also prevent journalists from doing their jobs.
The methods and tools change, but the goal of discrediting the media and covering up the truth remains the same as ever, said the UN chief.
"The results are also the same: people and societies that are unable to distinguish fact from fiction, and can be manipulated in horrifying ways," he said.
UN chief calls for cease-fire on Moscow visit
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has called for a cease-fire in Ukraine at his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Guterres is visiting Moscow and is then scheduled to visit the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, this week.
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“We are extremely interested in finding ways in order to create the conditions for effective dialog, create the conditions for a cease-fire as soon as possible, create the conditions for a peaceful solution,” Guterres said, speaking in televised comments at the start of the meeting.
Guterres also said he wanted to reduce the impact of fighting in Ukraine on food security in other parts of the world. Lavrov said they would discuss “the situation around Ukraine that acts as a catalyst for a great number of problems which had piled up over recent decades in the Euro-Atlantic region.”
Also read:Russia to open Mariupol evacuation corridor
Guterres is also expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin later Tuesday.
UN chief to meet with Putin, Zelenskyy to press for peace
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is set to meet separately with the presidents of Russia and Ukraine next week to make urgent, face-to-face pleas for peace, the world body said Friday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Guterres is to meet Tuesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and that Putin will also host the U.N. chief.
The U.N. later said that Guterres will head Thursday to Ukraine to see President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
In both visits, Guterres aims to discuss “steps that can be taken right now” to stop the fighting and help people get to safety, U.N. spokesperson Eri Kaneko said.
Also Read: Satellite photos show possible mass graves near Mariupol
“He hopes to talk about what can be done to bring peace to Ukraine urgently,” she said.
Guterres had asked Tuesday to meet with the presidents in their respective capitals.
Guterres has urged Russia to stop its attack since it began two months ago, in what he called “the saddest moment” in his five years in the U.N.’s top job. He appealed Tuesday for a four-day “humanitarian pause” in fighting leading up to Sunday’s Orthodox Easter holiday.
“Stop the bloodshed and destruction. Open a window for dialogue and peace,” he implored.
Guterres sent the U.N.’s top humanitarian official to Moscow and Kyiv earlier this month to explore the possibilities of a cease-fire.
But the secretary-general had faced questions about whether he himself should travel to press for peace. In a recent letter, former U.N. officials called on him to step up his personal, public involvement.
Whatever overtures may have been made privately, the now-planned trip “is a visible symbol of what the United Nations is supposed to be standing for, which is peace and security,” one of the letter-writers, former U.N. political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman, said by phone Friday.
“I don’t think any of us should have exaggerated expectations about what the secretary-general will be able to accomplish, but he has significant moral power,” said Feltman, now a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “It’s important that the secretary-general have these conversations.”
Also Read: Zelenskyy gets John F. Kennedy award for defending democracy
Former Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon went to Moscow and Kyiv in March 2014 to try to foster talks and diplomacy as Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
UN chief wants Ukraine humanitarian cease-fire
The United Nations chief has launched an initiative to immediately explore possible arrangements for “a humanitarian cease-fire in Ukraine” in order to allow the delivery of desperately needed aid and pave the way for serious political negotiations to end the month-long war.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday he asked Undersecretary-General Martin Griffiths, the head of the U.N.’s worldwide humanitarian operations, to explore the possibility of a cease-fire with Russia and Ukraine. He said Griffiths has already made some contacts.
Also read: Ukraine refugees near 4 million. Will exodus slowdown last?
The 193-member U.N. General Assembly, by an overwhelming majority of about 140 nations, has called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Ukraine twice -- on March 2 and on March 24 -- and Guterres told reporters he thinks “this is the moment” for the United Nations “to assume the initiative.”
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, the secretary-general said there has been a “senseless loss of thousands of lives,” displacement of 10 million people, systematic destruction of homes, schools, hospitals and other essential infrastructure, “and skyrocketing food and energy prices worldwide.”
Also read: Ukraine pleads for help, says Russia wants to split nation
UN chief warns war is hurting poor countries
The United Nations chief warned Monday that Russia’s war on Ukraine is holding “a sword of Damocles” over the global economy, especially poor developing countries that face skyrocketing food, fuel and fertilizer prices and are now seeing their breadbasket “being bombed.”
Also read: Russia keeps up attacks in Ukraine as two sides hold talks
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters that “Russia and Ukraine represent more than half of the world’s supply of sunflower oil and about 30 percent of the world’s wheat” and that “grain prices have already exceeded those at the start of the Arab Spring and the food riots of 2007-2008.”
He told reporters that 45 African and least developed countries import at least one-third of their wheat from Ukraine and Russia, and 18 of them import at least 50%. These countries include Egypt, Congo, Burkina Faso, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, he said.
Also read: Asian stocks mixed, oil falls as Russian attacks intensify
“All of this is hitting the poorest the hardest and planting the seeds for political instability and unrest around the globe,” Guterres warned.