UN
International solidarity key to achieving DPoA for LDCs: Bangladesh
Bangladesh has underscored the need for "international solidarity and partnership" in achieving the concrete commitments and deliverables of the Doha Programme of Action (DPoA) for the least developed countries (LDCs).
Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN, Ambassador Rabab Fatima, said these while addressing the first part of the 5th United Nations Conference on the LDCs (LDC5) in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations in New York on Thursday.
Ambassador Fatima, along with the Permanent Representative of Canada Ambassador Robert Rae, co-chaired the preparatory process of this conference.
The General Assembly had earlier decided to hold the LDC5 conference in two parts. The second part will take place from 5th to 9th March, 2023, in Doha, according to a message received from New York.
The first part of the conference has been organised to adopt the Doha Programme of Action for the LDCs -- a decade-long development roadmap for these countries. The second part will focus on other substantive issues, where heads of states and governments are expected to attend
Speaking on behalf of the two co-chairs, Ambassador Fatima highlighted the unprecedented crisis created by the pandemic and uneven and inequitable responses to tackle it.
READ: Bangladesh to enjoy DFQF market access to Australia in post-LDC period
She commended the commitment and solidarity of the member states to adopt the DPoA, which provides an ambitious and well-defined action agenda for the LDCs and their development partners for the decade 2022-31.
She requested everyone to support the follow-up and monitoring mechanism of the DPoA with due diligence for its successful implementation. The Ambassador also urged the international community and the development partners to remain deeply engaged with the LDCs during the entire cycle of the DPOA implementation.
In this regard, she underscored the need for integrating the DPOA in the strategic plans and country programmes of the UN agencies, funds and programmes to ensure that the UN’s impact on the LDCs matches their needs and ground realities.
At the outset of the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, was elected as the president of the LDC5 conference.
Ambassador Fatima thanked him and Qatar for the leadership and support to host the 5th United Nations Conference on the LDCs.
The meeting was also attended by Lazarus Chakwera, President of Malawi, as the global chair of the LDCs and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, among others.
Climate change to uproot millions, especially in Asia: UN
The walls of Saifullah’s home in northern Jakarta are lined like tree rings, marking how high the floodwaters have reached each year -- some more than four feet from the damp dirt floor.
When the water gets too high, Saifullah, who like many Indonesians only uses one name, sends his family to stay with friends. He guards the house until the water can be drained using a makeshift pump. If the pump stops working, he uses a bucket or just waits until the water recedes.
“It’s a normal thing here,” Saifullah, 73, said. “But this is our home. Where should we go?”
As the world’s most rapidly sinking major city, Jakarta demonstrates how climate change is making more places uninhabitable. With an estimated one-third of the city expected to be submerged in the coming decades – in part because of the rising Java Sea – the Indonesian government is planning to move its capital some 1,240 miles (2,000 kilometers) northeast to the island of Borneo, relocating as many as 1.5 million civil servants.
It’s a huge undertaking and part of the mass movement of people that is expected to accelerate in the years ahead.
Read: Bangladesh calls for addressing root causes of climate-induced displacement
A staggering 143 million people will likely be uprooted over the next 30 years by rising seas, drought, searing temperatures and other climate catastrophes, according to an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report published Monday by the United Nations.
In Asia, governments are already scrambling to deal with it.
One in three migrants in the world today comes from Asia, which leads the world in the number of people being displaced by extreme weather, largely storms and flooding, according to the report. With rural villages emptying out and megacities like Jakarta at risk, scientists predict migration flows and the need for planned relocations will only grow.
“Under all global warming levels, some regions that are presently densely populated will become unsafe or uninhabitable,” the report said.
By one estimate, as many as 40 million people in South Asia may be forced to move over the next 30 years because of a lack of water, crop failure, storm surges and other disasters.
Rising temperatures are of particular concern, said Stanford University environmental scientist Chris Field, who chaired the U.N. report in previous years.
Bangladesh elected WFP executive board president
For the first time, Bangladesh has been elected the president of the executive board of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
The 36-member executive board of the Rome-based world's largest humanitarian organisation unanimously elected Bangladesh as the president of the board for 2022 in its first regular session on Monday, said Bangladeshi Ambassador to Italy Shameem Ahsan.
Also read: WFP ED lauds Bangladesh's development journey
UN to hold 2 meetings Monday on Russia's invasion of Ukraine
The U.N.’s two major bodies -- the 193-nation General Assembly and the more powerful 15-member Security Council -- will hold separate meetings Monday on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a reflection of widespread international demands for an immediate cease-fire and escalating concern for the plight of millions of Ukrainians caught up in the war.
The Security Council gave a green light Sunday for the first emergency session of the General Assembly in decades. It will give all U.N. members an opportunity to speak about the war Monday and vote on a resolution later in the week that U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said would “hold Russia to account for its indefensible actions and for its violations of the U.N. Charter.”
French Ambassador Nicolas De Riviere announced that the Security Council will hold a meeting Monday afternoon on the humanitarian impact of Russia’s invasion, a session sought by French President Emmanuel Macron to ensure the delivery of aid to growing numbers of those in need in Ukraine.
Both meetings follow Russia’s veto Friday of a Security Council resolution demanding that Moscow immediately stop its attack on Ukraine and withdraw all troops. The vote was 11-1, with China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining.
Read:Putin puts nuclear forces on high alert, escalating tensions
De Riviere said France and Mexico will propose a draft resolution “to demand the end of hostilities, protection of civilians, and safe and unhindered humanitarian access to meet the urgent needs of the population.” It said it will probably be put to a vote Tuesday.
Sunday's vote in the Security Council on a resolution co-sponsored by the United States and Albania to authorize the General Assembly session was exactly the same as on Friday -- 11-1 and three abstentions. But because council approval for such a session is considered a procedural vote there are no vetoes and the resolution got more than the minimum nine “yes” votes needed for approval.
Last week, Ukraine asked for a special session of the General Assembly to be held under the so-called “Uniting for Peace” resolution, initiated by the United States and adopted in November 1950 to circumvent vetoes by the Soviet Union during the 1950-53 Korean War. That resolution gives the General Assembly the power to call an emergency session to consider matters of international peace and security when the Security Council is unable to act because of the lack of unanimity among its five veto-wielding permanent members -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.
The U.S. ambassador told the council after Sunday’s vote that members had taken an important step forward in holding Russia accountable for its “unjustifiable assault, fabricated out of lies and the rewriting of history,” and now all nations can be heard in the General Assembly.
“We are alarmed by the mounting reports of civilian casualties, videos of Russian forces moving exceptionally lethal weaponry into Ukraine, and the widespread destruction of civilian facilities like residences, schools and hospitals,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “To the Russian officers and soldiers, I say: The world is watching. Photographic and video evidence is mounting, and you will be held accountable for your actions. We will not let atrocities slide.”
Albanian Ambassador Ferit Hoxha called Sunday’s resolution historic because it “opens the big doors of the place where the world meets -- the U.N. General Assembly -- to speak out and condemn an unprovoked and unjustified pure act of aggression.”
“Russia must be stopped in its attempt to break the international rules-based order to replace it with its will,” he said. “All member states, especially the small ones like mine which constitute the majority of the U.N., must remember that international law rules and the U.N. Charter are their best friend, their best army, their best defense, their best insurance.”
Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told the council that “Russia persists in its aggression” despite its initial invasion plan for this week that “failed -- and we all see it.”
“This failure prompted the bloody and mad Russian leadership to order heavy shellings of the residential areas, critical infrastructure and storages of hazardous materials, in retaliation for Ukrainian resilience and resistance,” he said. “It is extremely alarming that the Russian president has resorted today to open nuclear blackmail. The world must take this threat very seriously.”
Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said he voted against the resolution because the council hasn’t make “even a hint at an attempt to reach a constructive solution” on Moscow’s “legitimate concerns” about its security and NATO’s policy, which leave the door open to Ukraine’s membership.
During Sunday’s meeting, he said, “once again we hear lies, deceit and fakes about the indiscriminate shelling of Ukrainian cities, hospitals and schools,” he said. “The Russian army does not threaten civilians in Ukraine. It is not shelling civilian infrastructure.”
Read:Ukraine, Russia diplomats to meet on Belarus border
Nebenzia accused “Ukrainian nationalists” of seizing civilians and using them as human shields and taking heavy equipment and multiple rocket launchers into residential areas. And he said civilians are also being threatened by “prisoners, escapees from jail, ... marauders, thieves and criminals” who have been given weapons.
During the council meeting, many speakers called for diplomatic efforts to peacefully settle the crisis, and said they would be watching Ukraine-Russia meeting expected to take place on the Belarus border Monday.
Thomas-Greenfield praised the Ukrainian people “in the face of Russian guns and soldiers and bombs and rockets” and their courage to sit down and talk to the Russians.
Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun welcomed “the earliest possible direct dialogue and negotiations between Russia and Ukraine” and said Beijing also supports Europe and Russia “in conducting equal-footed dialogue on European security issues and upholding the principle of indivisible security.”
Ghana’s ambassador, Harold Agyeman, called on all U.N. members to participate in Monday’s emergency General Assembly meeting “to unite around the call for peace in stopping this unjustified war.” He said it should be done not only for this generation but in memory of those who “speak to us from the restless graves of the two world wars.”
General Assembly President lauds Bangladesh’s leadership at UN
President of the General Assembly (PGA) Abdulla Shahid has applauded Bangladesh’s “remarkable leadership, productive engagement and significant contribution” in recent times in various aspects of the United Nations.
The PGA was talking to Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen at a bilateral meeting held at the UN Headquarters on Thursday.
On 7 June 2021, the United Nations General Assembly elected Abdulla Shahid of Maldives as President of its seventy-sixth session, which runs from September 2021 until September 2022.
Shahid mentioned that Bangladesh is now holding three important positions - President of the UN Women Executive Board, Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission, and co-facilitator of the IMR. “All these signifies Bangladesh’s leadership role at the UN.”
At the outset of the meeting, Momen presented two proposals to the PGA.
These are, according to the Bangladesh Mission at the UN, to organize a high-level event on ‘Review of the implementation of SDGs’ and to take initiative to create a forum of the Finance, Foreign and Development Ministers for developing countries under South-South Cooperation (SSC).
Read:Bangladesh keen to increase engagement with ASEAN: PM
The foreign minister expressed concern on the funding gaps in the implementation of SDG, particularly in view of the Covid -19 pandemic.
1 year into Myanmar coup: Govts, businesses urged to intensify pressure on military
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has urged the international community to intensify pressure on the military to stop its campaign of violence against the people of Myanmar and to insist on the prompt restoration of civilian rule.
“One year after the military seized power, the people of Myanmar – who have paid a high cost in both lives and freedoms lost – continue to advocate relentlessly for their democracy,” Bachelet said.
“This week, I had a chance to speak in person with determined, courageous human rights defenders who are pleading to the international community not to abandon them, but to take robust, effective measures to ensure their rights are protected and the military is held accountable.”
The UN Human Rights Office will publish a report in March 2022 detailing the human rights situation in the country since the 1 February 2021 coup.
Also read: UN labor group says 1.6M jobs lost in Myanmar in 2021
“I urge governments – in the region and beyond – as well as businesses, to listen to this plea. It is time for an urgent, renewed effort to restore human rights and democracy in Myanmar and ensure that perpetrators of systemic human rights violations and abuses are held to account,” Bachelet said.
Bachelet said she had heard chilling accounts of journalists being tortured; factory workers being intimidated, silenced and exploited; intensified persecution of ethnic and religious minorities – including the Rohingya; arbitrary arrests, detentions and sham trials of political opponents; “clearance operations” targeting villagers; and indiscriminate attacks including through airstrikes and the use of heavy weaponry in populated areas, showing gross disregard for human life.
“And yet, courageous human rights defenders and trade unionists continue to protest, to advocate, to document and accumulate the mounting evidence of violations,” she said.
The brutal effort by security forces to crush dissent has led to the killing of at least 1,500 people by the military since the 1 February coup – but that figure does not include thousands more deaths from armed conflict and violence, which have intensified nationwide.
The UN Human Rights Office has documented gross human rights violations on a daily basis, the vast majority committed by security forces.
At least 11,787 people have been arbitrarily detained for voicing their opposition to the military either in peaceful protests or through their online activities, of whom 8,792 remain in custody.
At least 290 have died in detention, many likely due to the use of torture.
Armed clashes have grown in frequency and intensity, with every part of the country experiencing some level of violence. In those areas of highest intensity military activity – Sagaing region, Chin, Kachin, Kayah and Kayin states – the military has been punishing local communities for their assumed support of armed elements.
The Office has documented village burnings, including places of worship and medical clinics, mass arrests, summary executions and the use of torture.*
The crisis has been exacerbated by the combined forces of the COVID-19 pandemic and the collapse of the banking, transportation, education and other sectors, leaving the economy on the brink of collapse.
Also read: Myanmar military reverts to strategy of massacres, burnings
The daily lives of people have been severely impacted, with devastating effects on their enjoyment of economic and social rights. There are projections that nearly half of the population of 54 million may be driven into poverty this year.
“Members of Myanmar civil society have told me first-hand what the impact of the last year has been on their lives and those of their families and communities," Bachelet said.
“The people have shown extraordinary courage and resilience in standing up for their basic human rights and supporting each other. Now the international community must show its resolve to support them through concrete actions to end this crisis.”
While there has been near universal condemnation of the coup and the ensuing violence, the international response has been “ineffectual and lacks a sense of urgency commensurate to the magnitude of the crisis,” Bachelet said.
The actions taken by the UN Security Council and by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have been insufficient to convince Myanmar’s military to cease its violence and facilitate humanitarian access and aid deliveries.
The High Commissioner welcomed some private corporations’ decisions to withdraw based on human rights grounds, as a “powerful tool to apply pressure on the financing of the military’s operations against civilians.”
Bachelet also stressed that the current human rights crisis is “built upon the impunity with which the military leadership perpetrated the shocking campaign of violence resulting in gross human rights violations against the Rohingya communities of Myanmar four years ago – and other ethnic minorities over many decades beforehand.”
“As long as impunity prevails, stability in Myanmar will be a fiction. Accountability of the military remains crucial to any solution going forward – the people overwhelmingly demand this,” Bachelet said.
Rohingya Crisis: Dhaka seeks effective role from UN envoy for solution
Bangladesh has expressed disappointment for lack of progress towards Rohingyas repatriation and urged Noeleen Heyzer, the newly appointed UN Special Envoy on Myanmar, to play an effective role in finding a "durable solution" to the crisis.
Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen held a virtual meeting with the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Myanmar on Tuesday and made the request.
READ: Keep up pressure on Myanmar for Rohingya repatriation: FM to UK
Outlining Bangladesh’s priority, which is the repatriation of the Rohingyas to their homeland Myanmar, the Foreign Secretary highlighted Bangladesh’s expectations.
He expressed disappointment that in the fifth year of the crisis, Bangladesh is still grappling with multiple challenges of hosting more than a million forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals.
The prolonged presence of the Rohingyas in Bangladesh is creating security problems, such as, human and drug trafficking with ramifications across the region, Foreign Secretary added.
He emphasised that the office of the Special Envoy should work towards creating conducive conditions in Myanmar for the return of the Rohingyas in safety and security.
Masud Momen hoped that she would be able to bring positive results given the familiarity of the new Special Envoy with the issue and the region and having rich experience.
Commending Bangladesh’s exceptional humanitarian gesture, the Special Envoy conveyed her sincere thanks and gratitude to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for demonstrating the highest level of humanity by hosting more than a million persecuted Myanmar Nationals.
The Special Envoy shed some lights on her priorities and future plans.
READ: British parliamentary delegation visits Rohingya camps
She assured that the Rohingya issue would remain high on her agenda, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Noeleen Heyzer was appointed the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Myanmar in October 2021. She succeeded Christine Schraner Burgener.
Bangladesh navigates Covid-19 relatively well: UN
Amid sound macroeconomic policies, Bangladesh has navigated the Covid-19 pandemic relatively well, says the United Nations (UN).
The country's total economic output is projected to expand by 6 percent in 2022, according to the UN's World Economic Situation and Prospects 2022, which was launched recently.
Bangladesh economic activities ride on export growth and the rising demand for apparel, robust remittance inflows, and accommodative fiscal and monetary policies, it said.
However, the outlook is more challenging for other countries in South Asia, including those more dependent on tourism.
In the Maldives, economic activity is gradually improving partly due to a solid rebound in international tourism. But renewed Covid-19 outbreaks, locally and abroad, could easily derail the recovery.
The country's gross domestic product (GDP) may remain well below pre-pandemic levels; the risk of debt distress could be high.
In Sri Lanka, GDP growth is projected at 2.6 percent in 2022. Its major challenges include food shortages, dwindling foreign reserves and sovereign debt risks.
Afghanistan's severe downturn has come amid drastic political changes, a decline in international aid and a lack of access to offshore assets.
The worsening situation is leading to extreme poverty and food insecurity with the risk of the entire country becoming a humanitarian catastrophe.
Rohingyas want nothing more than safe return: UN expert
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Tom Andrews on Monday said Rohingyas want nothing more than safe and dignified to return to their homes in Myanmar, when conditions allow.
“The world must not forget the roughly one million Rohingyas from Myanmar forced to run for their lives from the military’s genocidal attack against them,” said Andrews who began his weeklong visit to Bangladesh.
The Special Rapporteur will visit the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, and the island of Bhasan Char - where many Rohingyas have been relocated.
READ: Prolonged stay of Rohingyas in Bangladesh is security threat to the region: FM
Andrews will meet the representatives of the government, as well as UN officials, representatives of civil society organisations and most importantly members of the Rohingya community.
“While the Myanmar junta continues to systematically violate the human rights of the people of Myanmar, it’s critical that the global community support those who’ve been forced to flee their homes in Myanmar for Bangladesh. I’m honoured to have the opportunity to meet with them,” Andrews said.
“I’m grateful for the access the Bangladesh government is providing me on this essential mission. This visit will be an important opportunity to meet relevant government officials, international organisations and civil society organisations in relation to Myanmar,” he said.
In particular, Andrews said, he looks forward to meeting with the Rohingyas to listen to them, lend support, and work together with them towards sustainable long-term solutions and pursuing accountability for the atrocities the military committed against them in Myanmar.
The Special Rapporteur will hold a press conference to share his preliminary observations with the media on December 19.
READ: Rohingyas the 'most vulnerable community' in region: Caritas
The Special Rapporteur’s findings will form part of his update presented to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2022.
Pressure on some water, soil ecosystems at critical point: UN
The pressure on water and land ecosystems at the global level was intense and, in some cases, at a critical point, which might put the goal of feeding the world's population by 2050 at risk, a UN report said Thursday.
The "State of the World's Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture – Systems at breaking point (SOLAW 2021)," launched by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), highlighted that around 33 per cent of the planet's soil was marked by moderate to high degradation.
While the trends in resource use were on the rise, and so was soil degradation, the availability of new land to devote to agricultural production was low.
Adding the effects of climate change and loss of biodiversity would mean that "the current agrifood production patterns are not proving to be sustainable," according to the report.
"Against this backdrop, it is clear that our future food security will depend on safeguarding our land, soil, and water resources," FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said.
Also read: World Soil Day observed focusing quality soil for growth
"The same agrifood systems could play a crucial role in changing these patterns, alleviating the current pressures on water and soil ecosystems, and reversing the land degradation process," he added.
"Sustainable agricultural practices could lead to direct improvements in the state of land, soil and water, generating ecosystem benefits and reducing emissions from land," the FAO report said.
Yet, it added that only a "much-reformed land and water governance" would allow remedial land management.
"Any advance in transforming food systems to meet future demand will require a focus on land resource planning in which systemic analyses of land, soils, and water are combined with poverty and food security monitoring," it said.
Also read: Illegal soil mining is Feni's biggest challenge