China Made in Germany

By Sandra Petersmann (DW) — The podium is decorated with pink and white plastic flowers. The Chinese man behind it speaks at length about a laser radar system for detecting stealth aircraft. Amid the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, his audience joins him virtually for the talk.
A young participant is curious — why is quantum research so important [...]

Guterres Will Travel to Srebrenica this July

WebPublicaPress (New York / Sarajevo) – Munira Subasic, president of the Association “Movement of Mothers of the Srebrenica and Žepa Enclaves”, after meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) Antonio Guterres, said from New York that Guterres will visit Srebrenica this year.
In New York, Guterres met with representatives of the victims’ association [...]

Nuclear Free World Starts With Young People

By Thalif Deen - UNITED NATIONS, New York — The United Nations now believes—and perhaps rightly so—that a world free of nuclear weapons should begin primarily with young future leaders.
In pursuing this ambitious goal, the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and the government of Japan are calling on young people to apply for an innovative [...]

When Woman Will be the First Head of the UN

By Thalif Deen – UNITED NATIONS – When the General Assembly elected its President for 2023-2024 last week, it continued a longstanding tradition of male dominance in the UN’s highest policy making body.
The new President for the 78th session, Ambassador Dennis Francis of Trinidad and Tobago, a longstanding career diplomat and a former Permanent Representative, [...]

Water is Almost Everywhere But is it Fit to Drink

By Thalif Deen - UNITED NATIONS  — A much-quoted line in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s lyrical ballad, ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’, reads: “’water, water everywhere—nor any drop to drink’.

The poem goes back to the year 1798—and more than five centuries later, the cry for water, described as a basic human right, is reverberating throughout the [...]

Who Occupy Seats in the UN Security Council & How

By Thalif Deen – UNITED NATIONS – Come April 1, a post-Ukraine Russia, will preside over the UN Security Council in a month-long presidency on the basis of alphabetical rotation.
But Russia will not be the first or the only country – accused of war crimes or charged with violating the UN charter—to be either a [...]

Ukraine Grain Shipments Still Flow – Despite War

By John J. Metzler – Despite a widening war with Russia, shipments of Ukrainian food and grain are still being shipped to global markets under a complex but fragile accord brokered by the
United Nations and nearby Turkey.  Since the deal was initiated last Summer, The Black Sea Grain Initiative has allowed for the export of 24 million metric tons of [...]

Gender Empowerment Falters at Highest UN Posts

By Thalif Deen – UNITED NATIONS – When Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressed the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) last week, he said the annual meeting takes on even greater significance at a time when women’s rights are being “abused, threatened, and violated around the world.”
Progress won over decades is vanishing before our [...]

UN Unified Treaty Achieved

WebPublicaPress -United Nations –  New York — For the first time, United Nations members have agreed on a unified treaty to protect biodiversity in the high seas — nearly half the planet’s surface — concluding two weeks of talks in New York., AP (Associated Press) has reported.
The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea [...]

UNGA’s Korosi: “Friend in Need is Friend Indeed”

WebPublicPress (New York / Doha) – “Governments do not have a monopoly on wisdom. We need your wisdom. We need your knowledge. We need your experience,” said Csaba Korosi, President of the 77th session of the General Assembly on the High-level opening of the Civil Society Forum at the LDC5 (Least Developed Countries) Conference in Doha, Qatar.
Mr. Korosi added the LDC are [...]