UN Secretary General Research Articles

BUILD BACK BETTER WITH BROADBAND

The United Nations Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation states that “meaningful participation in today’s digital age requires a high-speed broadband connection to the Internet”, and that every person should have “safe and affordable access to the Internet by 2030, including meaningful use of digitally enabled services”. As part of efforts to achieve these goals, ITU launched the Connect2Recover initiative in September 2020, to help countries transition from responding to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and natural hazards to building back better with broadband. The initiative has the strong support of Australia, Japan, Lithuania and Saudi Arabia. As part of the Connect2Recover initiative, a research competition was launched in July 2021 to identify promising research proposals from across the world to accelerate digital inclusion during recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. This resulted in the selection of 15 winning research proposals in December 2021. The 15 research teams, which represent 43 universities and institutions from 22 countries, focused on the themes of digital inclusion (in the areas of education, health care, enterprises and job creation, and vulnerable groups), and digital connectivity and resilience. The wealth of knowledge and insights compiled within are based on diverse methodologies, including desktop research, surveys, interviews and focus groups, which covered 17 countries in Africa, the Americas, Arab States and Asia-Pacific. The research showed that, while the use of broadband and digital technologies has been critical for coping with the pandemic, many people faced challenges and barriers in their adoption and use. In schools and universities, teachers and students struggled to get access to online education. During lockdowns, many in rural communities were isolated from healthcare providers in cities. In the business sector, the financial needs of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) were not adequately addressed by financial institutions. The digital needs of vulnerable groups – such as women and girls, ageing populations and persons with disabilities – were also not adequately addressed. Ubiquitous and reliable network infrastructure, as well as affordable and accessible services, are essential to deliver digital solutions such as telemedicine, e-education and e-business services. Policy and regulatory enablers are also critical. Outdated policies or regulations that are not inclusive or do not meet post-pandemic recovery requirements need to be revamped. Digital skills gaps need to be addressed through sustained efforts for institutional and human capacity building. For instance, teachers, health-care providers and enterprises require digital skills and competencies to thrive and be successful; digital literacy is important for everyone, including vulnerable groups, so that they can fully participate in digital societies and economies. An estimated 2.7 billion people – or one-third of the world’s population – remain unconnected to the Internet in 2022. The goal of universal and meaningful connectivity cannot be addressed through improving coverage alone. By leveraging the lessons learned from these 15 published research reports – and working to ensure access, adoption, affordability and resiliency of broadband services – together we can build back better with broadband.

USSR and the UN Military Operation in the Congo 1960—1964

Drawing on UN documents, materials from Russian and British archives, the author examined the evolution of the Soviet line towards the UN military operation in the Congo in 1960—1964, exposed the intentions of the Soviet leadership to employ the UN military contingent in achieving its goals in the Congo, showed how the actions of the Western powers, their Congolese allies and the UN leadership frustrated the Soviet plans. The Soviet posture regarding the UN operation in the Congo varied depending on the escalation of the Congo crisis and its main actors’ behavior. At the initial stage (July — early August 1960), Khrushchev considered the conception of Africanization of resolving the crisis, submitted by Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah, suitable for turning UN forces into an instrument to protect the Lumumba government and increase Soviet influence in the Congo. The Soviet representative to the UN Security Council suggested that the Congolese operation be conducted by African states, and the USSR bypassed the UN by providing its civilian planes to transport the Ghanaian contingent of UN troops from Accra to Leopoldville. Since the Blue Helmets were used in the Congo, in the opinion of the Soviet government, “inappropriately”, i.e., not against Belgian forces and the Katanga separatists, it demanded that the UN command be replaced on August 6, 1960. Lumumba tried to regain control of Katanga by his own forces, but was ousted in two coups d’état in September 1960, directly supported by UN troops. Nikita Khrushchev did not intervene militarily in the Congo and privately called Nkrumah to allocate a Ghanaian contingent of UN troops at the disposal of Lumumba’s government. This was impossible without Soviet military support, but Khrushchev did not promise it. After Lumumba’s assassination, which became known on February 13, 1961, the USSR demanded the termination of the UN operation in the Congo within a month and the removal of the UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld as an “accomplice” to the Lumumba massacre. The overwhelming majority of UN members favored keeping UN troops in the Congo and Hammarskjöld as Secretary General. After the withdrawal of contingents of leftist African countries from the Congo in the winter and spring of 1961, the Soviet Union lost any ability to influence the UN operation in the Congo. It supported the military operations launched by the Blue Helmets against the Katanga separatists (December 1961 — January 1963) as being aimed at “the liquidation of the hotbed of interference of the colonial powers and their agents in Katanga”. After restoring territorial integrity of the Congo, the Soviet Union renewed its campaign for the withdrawal of UN troops and refused to participate in financing their upkeep. The Blue Helmets remained in the Congo until June 1964. The USSR failed to prevent the U.S. from turning the UN troops into a tool to combat “communist infiltration” in the Congo, and this contributed substantially to the Western victory in the battle for the “heart of Africa”.

Проблеми й шляхи трансформації ООН у контексті російсько-української війни

The article makes a brief excursion into the history of international relations and focuses on the search by the world community for uniform rules of international life and relevant mechanisms for its regulation. It is noted that this epochal search was implemented during the formation of the first system of international relations in the XVII century. After each of the 5 established systems of international relations had been formed, peoples agreed on the rules of international coexistence and created relevant international security institutions. The most renowned are the League of Nations and the United Nations Organization. The article claims that it was the UN, created after World War II, which functioned as an universal, legitimate and official mechanism for regulating relations between states. The author emphasizes that after the collapse of the USSR, the Yalta-Potsdam system of international relations ceased to function. The old UN still continues to operate, albeit under new geopolitical conditions. Examples of inefficiency of the UN in exercising its authority in modern circumstances are given; most importantly, we are talking about ineptitude in the prevention of international conflicts. The inefficiency of the UN structures and their leaders in the context of the treacherous attack of the Russian Federation on Ukraine and the unleashing of a full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war is clearly visible. The visit of UN Secretary General A. Guterres to Ukraine and its results are described. The principal approaches and models for reforming the UN proposed by states, regions, groups of diplomats are considered. The contribution of domestic diplomats to the renewal and reform of the UN is highlighted and specified. The conclusion is justified that Ukraine will play leading role in creation of post-war international security system.

Ceuta, Melilla Gibraltar y el Sáhara Occidental. Estrategias españolas y europeas para las ciudades de frontera exterior en África, y los peñones de Vélez y Alhucemas

CEUTA, MELILLA, GIBRALTAR AND WESTERN SAHARA. SPANISH AND EUROPEAN STRATEGIES FOR THE EXTERNAL BORDER CITIES IN AFRICA, AND THE ROCKS OF VÉLEZ AND ALHUCEMAS In Spain-Morocco relations, there is an imbalance in favour of Morocco in the territorial issues of the bilateral relationship. Various measures to consolidate and strengthen Ceuta and Melilla in the European Union are analysed, with short, medium- and long-term strategies that take into account the interests of the cities and Spain in the Strait of Gibraltar Area and Region.The objective of consolidating the EU in Spain’s Cities, Islands and Rocks on the African coast must be permanent in Spanish action, especially after the Ceuta crisis of 2021, with Morocco’s use of mass immigration as a diplomatic weapon against Spain; and the subsequent Spanish shift to Western Sahara in 2022. These events confer a certain international-legal precariousness on Ceuta and Melilla, given Spain’s lack of reaction to Morocco’s serious breaches of its international obligations.This paper analyses short- and medium-term strategies, such as the establishment of a European outermost region, and especially proposes the creation of a specific status in the EU adapted to the needs of Ceuta and Melilla, as ‘EU External Border Cities in Africa’, given the absolutely unique nature of their circumstances in the European and Mediterranean context.Long-term strategies that can serve to strengthen the Cities and serve Spain’s interests in the Strait region are also analysed. These include the possible analogy of future solutions for Gibraltar as an internationalised city linked to the EU. Along the same lines of the search for strategies, the possible geostrategic interest for Spain of the option of dividing up the Saharan territory, proposed by the UN Secretary General in 2002, as one of the options for resolving the Western Sahara conflict, is analysed. Finally, it analyses the situation of legal limbo in which the islands and rocks, particularly the rocks of Vélez and Al Hoceima, find themselves in Spanish law. The need for a policy of ‘Lawfare’ is raised, intensifying Spanish and European normative references. It is also proposed to consider new functions and meanings for the Peñones as places of memory and historical interpretation of the Rif wars of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Can we start recovering from the epidemic of corruption in South Africa?

The epidemic of corruption in South Africa and the divisions within our own government are hindering us from executing the UN Secretary-General's call for 2022 to be the year of recovery for everyone. We must first eradicate our local epidemic before tackling the larger pandemic.

Privatizing International Governance

The theme of this panel is “Privatizing International Governance.” As the opening vignettes should make clear, public-private partnerships of all kinds are increasingly common in the international system. Since United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's launch of the Global Compact in 2000, the United Nations has increasingly opened up to business entities. Now, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Global Compact, and the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights all encourage engaging with business entities as partners in developing and executing global governance agendas. These partnerships are seen by some as indispensable to sustainable development, international business regulation, climate change mitigation, and other global governance agendas. Business entities can offer expertise and funding, and their participation can soften resistance and increase buy-in for international regulatory agendas.

HEALTH IMPACTS OF AIR POLLUTION AND CLIMATE CHANGE

HEALTH IMPACTS OF AIR POLLUTION AND CLIMATE CHANGE

COP26 AND HEALTH: SOME PROGRESS, BUT TOO SLOW AND NOT ENOUGH

COP26 AND HEALTH: SOME PROGRESS, BUT TOO SLOW AND NOT ENOUGH

UN preventive diplomacy as a toll for preventive conflict situations

Problem setting. The specifics of the development of countries in the modern world are the strengthening of integration processes, the destruction of interstate and interregional barriers, coordination and joint efforts in solving global problems, creating a system of collective security, which caused significant changes in the concept of international security, interaction between countries, their cooperation. Such transformations have also affected the peacekeeping activities of the United Nations, which require it to step up its initiative, find new mechanisms and forms of conflict prevention that would correspond to current trends in the development of states and the specifics of conflict. Analysis of recent researches and publications. Mechanisms of preventive diplomacy are considered by many scientists, both domestic and foreign. Among domestic scientists, special attention is paid to this problem by I. Blyshchenko, M. Matsyakh, O. Gogosha, V. Makarov, I. Komirenko, D. Gorovtsov, A. Melkin, and S. Melnik. Regarding foreign scientists, we should pay attention to the works of such researchers as: G. Nicholson, M. Jensa, W. Latifi, J. Opio, W. Zartman, F. Mancini, A. Williams. It is worth paying attention to the publications of the UN Secretaries General: K. Annan, B. Boutros-Ghali. They detail the key functions of the United Nations, which is a key player in preventive diplomacy. Target of research. The purpose of the article is to define the concept of preventive diplomacy, the range of its subjects, the role in ensuring international and national security. Much attention is paid to the analysis of the activities of preventive diplomacy, which should actively cooperate with each other to effectively prevent conflicts. The authors try to summarize the experience of preventive diplomacy in the field of international and national security, and the obstacles that arise in the modern world in the implementation of its means. Article’s main body. The phrase “preventive diplomacy” came into use by the United Nations during the Cold War. In the late 1950s, UN Secretary-General Dаg Hammarskjöld used the phrase not as a method of preventing potential conflicts, but as a means of preventing conflicts. Boutros Boutros-Ghali’s 1992 Agenda for Peace states that diplomatic measures are best used to reduce tensions before they escalate into conflict and, if they do erupt, to contain the conflict quickly and resolving the controversies that caused it. Preventive diplomacy refers to actions aimed at preventing disputes between the parties, escalating existing disputes into conflicts and limiting the spread of the latter in the event of their occurrence. This definition provides an understanding of the objectives of preventive diplomacy, which the UN has associated with a range of actions, such as facilitation, mediation, conciliation, litigation and arbitration. The main areas of preventive diplomacy are: confidence-building measures, fact-finding, early warning, preventive deployment, and the creation of demilitarized zones. Subjective diplomacy actors such as the UN, the UN Secretary-General as its direct representative, regional bodies, national initiatives, humanitarian organizations and development agencies are widely considered. Conclusions and prospects for the development. The article summarizes the definition of the main problems of modern preventive diplomacy, which negatively affect the implementation of basic means of conflict prevention, confirms the effectiveness of preventive diplomacy in comparison with other instruments for maintaining peace and security in the world.

Waiora: the importance of Indigenous worldviews and spirituality to inspire and inform Planetary Health Promotion in the Anthropocene.

We now live in a new geological age, the Anthropocene – the age of humans – the start of which coincides with the founding of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) 70 years ago. In this article, we address the fundamental challenge facing health promotion in its next 70 years, which takes us almost to 2100: how do we achieve planetary health? We begin with a brief overview of the massive and rapid global ecological changes we face, the social, economic and technological driving forces behind those changes, and their health implications. At the heart of these driving forces lie a set of core values that are incompatible with planetary health. Central to our argument is the need for a new set of values, which heed and privilege the wisdom of Indigenous worldviews, as well as a renewed sense of spirituality that can re-establish a reverence for nature. We propose an Indigenous-informed framing to inspire and inform what we call planetary health promotion so that, as the United Nations Secretary General wrote recently, we can make peace with nature.

A Strategy for Efficient Preparation of Genus-Specific Diagnostic Antibodies for Snakebites.

As said by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, “Snakebite is the most important tropical disease you’ve never heard of.” Listed as a priority neglected tropical disease by the World Health Organization, snakebite envenoming (SBE) kills in excess of 125,000 people per year. However, due to the complexity and overlap of snake venom compositions, few reliable venom diagnostic methods for genus-/species-specific identification, which is crucial for successful SBE therapy, are available. Here, we develop a strategy to select and prepare genus-specific snake venom antibodies, which allows rapid and efficient clinical diagnosis of snakebite. Multi-omics approaches are used to choose candidate antigens from snake venoms and identify genus-specific antigenic epitope peptide fragments (GSAEPs) with ideal immunogenicity, specificity, and spatial accessibility. Double-antibody sandwich ELISA kit was established by matching a polyclonal antibody against a natural antigen and a monoclonal antibody that was prepared by natural protein as antigen and can specifically target the GSAEPs. The kit shows the ability to accurately identify venoms from similar genera of Trimeresurus and Protobothrops with a detection limit of 6.25 ng/ml on the snake venoms and a little cross-reaction, thus proving high feasibility and applicability.

Manage the environmental risks of perovskites

Manage the environmental risks of perovskites

Very simply, what do we mean by Food Systems?

The September 2021 Food Systems Summit to be convened by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres will be part of the Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The Summit will launch bold new actions to deliver progress on all 17 SDGs, each of which relies to some degree on healthier, more sustainable and equitable food systems.To better understand what is meant here by Food Systems, and how different the actions from this summit are likely to be from past summits, visit a brief by Hanh Nguyen (Value Chain Development Consultant of the Sustainable Markets, Agribusiness and Rural Transformations Team, FAO), whose concept and “why the summit?” are both very well captured.

Regional patterns of multilateral treaty cooperation: Is there a Latin American ‘commitment gap’?

Latin American states have long been active participants in multilateral treaty making. However, the rich history of Latin American legal activism contrasts with debates about the degree to which these states commit to international agreements. We probe the existence of this purported ‘commitment gap’ by analyzing the signing and ratification of multilateral treaties. Are Latin American states less likely to ratify agreements they have signed than states from other world regions? Using survival analysis of an original dataset on multilateral treaties deposited with the UN Secretary-General, we find no difference between Latin America and North America/Europe in terms of ratification. If a commitment gap exists, it appears to be more evident in other regions, particularly East Asia, Africa, and the Anglo-Caribbean. To the extent that there is a ‘commitment gap’ at the regional level in Latin America, it is unlikely to be due to country-level factors such as domestic institutions.

Bouncing forward: Knowledge Translation for policy making in response to the COVID-19 and climate change co-emergencies

BACKGROUND AND AIM: UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres claimed early on in the pandemic that, without appropriate actions from multiple sectors, the social and economic devastation caused by climate change will be greater than that of COVID-19 (Fearnow, 2020). Climate change exacerbates existing health inequalities and has been described as “the greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century” (Watts et al., 2016). These inequalities are being further compounded by the pandemic. It is important that public health professionals are involved when designing mitigation and adaptation strategies, in partnership with policy makers and other stakeholders (Costello et al., 2009). METHODS: The webinar series “Learning and Relearning for Planetary Health: Lessons from a Pandemic” offers a collection of session recordings and presentation documents. This webinar series is a product of the SFU Planetary Health research group, along with scholars, industry professionals, community advocates and practitioners. Between April 15, 2020 and June 24, 2020, the presenters covered a range of topics regarding the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic, planetary health, climate change and human health (in eleven sessions). The webinars explored policy options to “bounce forward and not back” into a post-COVID future; focusing on actions that transform the way we live and improve health for all, as we face the overarching threat of climate change. RESULTS:Knowledge Translation is the process of sharing research findings to multiple stakeholders in order to inform policy decisions. In order to broaden the learning of non-academic audiences, we have created a toolkit that presents key discussion points and recommendations from the webinars in a variety of formats. CONCLUSIONS:The toolkit is also a platform to communicate climate action opportunities and strategies emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic to policy makers. The toolkit includes policy briefs, a webpage, infographics, and op-eds that expand the reach of the knowledge presented in the webinar series. KEYWORDS: Climate, Policy and Practice, COVID-19, Knowledge Translation

Psychological impact of the outbreak of COVID-19 on Holocaust survivors in France

Identified in late 2019 as originating from Wuhan, China, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak has spread rapidly and globally. The health crisis that is linked to COVID-19 has been declared a public health emergency of international concern (Zhong et al., 2020) and was described by UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, as being the worst world crisis since Second world war. In France, first cases of COVID-19 were officially confirmed on January 24, 2020 (Bernard Stoecklin, Rolland, & Silue, 2020). In a televised address on March 16, 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron declared six times during a speech to nation that “we are at war” against virus. He used following warrior rhetoric: “We fight neither against an army or against another nation, but enemy is there, invisible, elusive and advancing” (Kauffmann, 2020). The overuse of war metaphor when speaking about coronavirus, as well as measures of advising social distancing and self-isolation to decrease spread of coronavirus, are causing unknown levels of fear and suffering for older people who are more vulnerable to stress and anxiety (Yang et al., 2020, Johal, 2009). In contexts such as COVID-19 health crisis, Holocaust survivors (HSs) are often more vulnerable to accumulative and/or new traumatic events, which may awaken or augment reactions to a previously experienced traumatic event (Kimron & Cohen, 2012, Baider, Peretz, & Kaplan De-Nour, 1993, Christenson, Walker, Ross, & Maltbie, 1981, Yehuda et al., 1995). Several studies have reported considerable emotional distress that was experienced among HSs during Gulf War scud missile attacks in 1991 (Solomon & Prager, 1992), during threat of terror in Israel (Zloof, Yaphe, Durst, Venuta, & Fusman, 2005) or after terrorist attacks on World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, in USA (Lamet & Dyer, 2004). For some HSs, home confinement and helplessness that are being experienced during COVID-19 health crisis have resulted in re-experiencing of wartime traumas that occurred more than 76 years ago. Few studies have examined negative psychological impact of COVID-19 in HSs (Cohn-Schwartz et al., 2020; Shrira, Maytles, & Frenkel-Yosef, 2020, Maytles, Frenkel-Yosef, & Shrira, 2021) and offspring of HSs (Shrira & Felsen, 2021, Felsen,2021) in Israel and in US. France has fourth largest number of Holocaust survivors in world (approximately 40,000 survivors are located in France), according to estimates from Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference). The COVID-19 health crisis provides a rare opportunity to examine how HSs in France may react to a second traumatic event that exhibits some similarities with original trauma, especially in regard to situation of lockdown combined with fear of death for either HS or for members of their family.

Reproductive Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Globally reproductive health services such as contraception and abortion are impacted and are not accessible to a considerable population. The International Planned Parenthood Federation reported anticipated shortage of contraception as the lockdown measures led to reduction in the manufacturing of contraceptives. A recent analysis by the Guttmacher Institute estimated the potential effects of the pandemic. It was found that a 10% decline of sexual and reproductive health services due to COVID-19, would mean an additional 15.4 million unintended pregnancies, over 3.3 million unsafe abortions and 28,000 maternal deaths. The UN Secretary General has issued a call to continue the delivery of sexual and reproductive health services even without prescription. The focus is now to provide vaccines, and therefore, a number of research organizations and pharmaceutical industries are working on their production. One of the reasons for vaccine refusal is the concern that it may affect female and male reproductive functions. However, it is important to correct this misunderstanding as vaccination does not affect fertility. In most cases, vaccination during pregnancy and lactation can be considered safe and effective.

The UN Secretary-General on the global digitalization and international cooperation

Nowadays, the establishment of peaceful cooperation between nations depends on the development of digital economy and its regulation. To a certain extent, this new reality challenges the basic principles of the old world and defines some new rules to which humankind is supposed to adapt. On May 13 during his visit to Moscow, Russia, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres was welcomed at MGIMO-University and conferred an Honorary Doctor degree. Following the ceremony, as is tradition, the Secretary-General delivered a doctoral lecture to students and faculty. TheSecretary-General touched on the subject of the consequences of digitalization, its impact on human rights protection and the role of the international community in the era of digital revolution.

The International Court of Justice and the Responsibility to Protect: Learning from the Case of The Gambia v. Myanmar

Abstract It is a commonplace in the R2P discourse to describe accountability measures as key means to implement the responsibility to protect. In particular, the International Criminal Court is regularly highlighted as a central actor, both in the literature, the annual R2P reports issued by the UN Secretary-General, and the subsequent debates in the UN General Assembly. Conspicuously absent from this conversation is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, the International Court of Justice (icj). This article examines the potential role of the ‘World Court’, as The Gambia in November 2019 started a new case under the UN Genocide Convention against Myanmar before the icj. Analysing the limitations and prospects and existing icj case-law, the article concludes that the International Court of Justice can make an important and unique contribution to the responsibility to protect.

UN Food Systems Summit 2021: Dismantling Democracy and Resetting Corporate Control of Food Systems

This article analyzes the development and organization of the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), which is being convened by UN Secretary General António Guterres in late 2021. Although few people will dispute that global food systems need transformation, it has become clear that the Summit is instead an effort by a powerful alliance of multinational corporations, philanthropies, and export-oriented countries to subvert multilateral institutions of food governance and capture the global narrative of “food systems transformation.” This article places the upcoming Summit in the context of previous world food summits and analyzes concerns that have been voiced by many within civil society. It elaborates how the current structure and forms of participant recruitment and public engagement lack basic transparency and accountability, fail to address significant conflicts of interest, and ignore human rights. As the COVID-19 pandemic illuminates the structural vulnerabilities of the neoliberal model of food systems and the consequences of climate change for food production, a high-level commitment to equitable and sustainable food systems is needed now more than ever. However, the authors suggest that the UNFSS instead seems to follow a trajectory in which efforts to govern global food systems in the public interest has been subverted to maintain colonial and corporate forms of control.