Month: March 2023
Cracking the code to a fairer digital future for women
Despite the increasing digitalization of everyone’s daily lives, the digital gender gap has grown; globally around 63 per cent of women have access to the internet today, compared to 69 per cent of men. Across all areas of digital technology, women and girls remain under-represented, from coding and creating, to accessing services, and drafting regulations…
Read MoreClose gaps to drive progress for next generations, youth delegates tell LDC5
Today, the world counts 1.8 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 24: the largest such generation in history. Close to 90 per cent of those in this age range live in developing countries, where they make up a large proportion of the population. However, from the ever-increasing effects of climate change to…
Read MoreTropical cyclone Freddy set to further weaken cholera-hit Malawi
“Malawi is really experiencing the deadliest cholera outbreak in its recorded history – nothing less than that – and the country is also struggling to respond to an earlier outbreak and ongoing COVID-19 cases across the nation,” said Rudolf Schwenk, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Malawi Representative. In an update to journalists in Geneva, Mr. Schwenk…
Read MoreTropical Cyclone Freddy on track to become record-breaking storm
WMO continues to monitor the “remarkable” tropical storm, which has cut a destructive path across the two countries since it first developed a month ago. At least 21 people have been killed, and thousands more displaced, with the latest deaths reported in Madagascar on Monday. Major impact “Freddy is having a major socio-economic and…
Read MoreMore than 850,000 Syrian, Turkish children displaced by earthquakes
“Families forced from their homes by the earthquakes have spent the past four weeks focused on survival, their lives on hold while aftershocks continue to rumble,” said UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, Afshan Khan. She said it is now critical “to do all we can to help families begin…
Read MorePeru: UN experts call for end to violence during demonstrations
In an appeal for “genuine dialogue” to resolve the crisis, the experts expressed deep concern about the reported repression, arbitrary killings, arrests, detention and enforced disappearances of demonstrators in Peru. The situation stems from Congress’s removal of then president, Pedro Castillo on 7 December, after he was accused of trying to dissolve it. Mr. Castillo remains in…
Read MoreDR Congo: Guterres urges M23 rebels to respect Tuesday ceasefire agreement
In a statement released by his Spokesperson, António Guterres welcomed the international and regional efforts which took place last week, led by the President of Angola and African Union (AU) Champion for Peace and Reconciliation, João Lourenço, with the Mouvement du 23 Mars (M23). Eastern DRC is home to multiple armed groups, including the rebel M23 force, which has been…
Read MoreLDC5: UN conference calls for more inclusive and fair digital transformation in world’s least developed countries
On Monday at the Fifth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5), a series of roundtable discussions saw global leaders, ci confront two of the most fundamental hurdles facing LDCs: how to make better use of science, technology and innovation (STI), and how to promote structural transformations that can help overcome the real impediments…
Read MoreCSW: Advancing women’s rights since 1946
At current rates, it will take almost another three centuries to bring about equality for women and girls. Hobbled by persistent inequalities, about 383 million women and girls live in extreme poverty, and every 11 minutes, a woman or girl is killed by someone in her own family. These are some of the reasons…
Read MoreNo more excuses; Guterres calls for ‘revolution of support’ to aid world’s least developed countries
Three years after the world began its epic struggle against COVID-19, the least developed countries (LDCs) – already grappling with severe structural impediments to sustainable development and highly vulnerable to economic and environmental shocks – have found themselves stranded amid a rising tide of crisis, uncertainty, climate chaos and deep global injustice. “Systems are stretched…
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