Barbara Adams, with the Global Policy Forum, talked about the money the U.S. contributes to the United Nations and how that amount compares to contributions by other countries. She also discussed the efficiency of U.N. programs.
This program was part of C-SPAN’s “Your Money” series. Each Monday morning the last hour of “Washington Journal” is devoted to a federal program, focusing on its mission, participants, and cost.
By Roberto Bissio
Last August 2 in New York, the United Nations agreed on the new sustainable development agenda as the guide for their global, regional and national policies over the coming fifteen years.
At the core of this new global consensus, seventeen “sustainable development goals” (SDGs) spell out a vision for a better future where poverty everywhere will be eradicated, inequalities within and between countries will be substantially reduced, and current unsustainable consumption and production patterns will be transformed. Read more…
By Barbara Adams
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) negotiated painstakingly over two years by all UN Member States with thousands of public interest organizations providing their commitment and expertise have been copyrighted. And by whom? The UN you would think? But no. They have been re-branded as Global Goals (GGs) and the copyrighted by Project Everyone, a private company incorporated and registered in London. Read more…
New York City, 22 September 2015. More than a hundred Heads of State and Government will gather in New York this week to adopt the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This agenda is intended to make the UN ‘fit for purpose’, but it is important to ask, ‘whose purpose will it be fit for’? Read more…
“The UN must champion a process of truth and reconciliation” in development, said Barbara Adams, on behalf of Global Policy Forum and Social Watch during a round table at the United Nations in New York. Adams emphasised that “those who have benefitted the most from the past and current model are those that need to change the most”. Read more…
On September 10, 2015, the international community must take an important step towards better prevention and resolution of sovereign debt crises. Adoption of the UN General Assembly Resolution “Basic Principles on Sovereign Debt Restructuring Processes” would be a milestone towards ensuring that debt crises can be tackled in a timely, orderly, effective and fair manner. An international coalition of civil society organisations working on debt justice urges representatives of European countries at the United Nations to vote in favour of this Resolution. Read more …
As of 1 January 2019, the name of the UN Department of Public Information (DPI) has changed and is now Department of Global Communications. The new name anticipates the new ways of working underscoring the interactivity and co-operation in information management between the United Nations and its stakeholders. Due to the expansion of activities of our Unit, NGO Relations (DPI NGO) is changing its name to become Civil Society Unit. The Liaison functions of the former Non-governmental Liaison Service (NGLS) are a new addition to the Unit which will allow for a well-rounded coordination of the civil society engagement in the United Nations activities. https://outreach.un.org/ngorelations/
UN General Assembly Adopts 1st Resolution on Sexual Harassment
The resolution, passed by the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee, urges states to take effective action to prevent and eliminate sexual harassment against women and girls, to address structural and underlying causes and risk factors, and to protect victims of all forms of violence, including sexual harassment. It calls on states to take necessary measures to ensure that employers in all sectors are held accountable when they fail to abide by laws and regulations addressing sexual harassment.
The text calls on states to encourage digital technology companies, including internet service providers and digital platforms, to strengthen or adopt positive measures with a view to eliminating violence and sexual harassment in digital contexts. It also urges states to ensure the promotion and protection of the human rights of all women and their sexual and reproductive health, and reproductive rights. As the committee debated, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres emphasized in his remarks commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women that violence against women and girls was a “global pandemic”. “Not until the half of our population represented by women and girls can live free from fear, violence and everyday insecurity, can we truly say we live in a fair and equal world.”
A strong and dynamic World Health Organisation (WHO) is critical for the achievement of the SDGs, especially SDG 3 on health and well-being. The WHO constitution mandates the organization “to act as the directing and co-ordinating authority on international health work”. However, its ability to fulfill this mandate is circumscribed by the nature of its financial resources. WHO’s biennial budget for 2018-2019 is US$ 4.42 billion, 2 just over a quarter of the total sales of the top-selling medicine Humira (Adalimumab) in 2016 (US$ 16.08 billion).
In part this is because many of the organization’s donors share the view that WHO may not need a huge budget to carry out its constitutional mandate, which mainly consists of setting norms and standards in the area of public health. However, a large part of the organization’s spending in 2016-2017 went to activities related to service delivery rather than to norms and standard setting. For example, US$ 1.16 billion (25.67%) was spent on its polio eradication programme. Read more at https://www.2030spotlight.org/en/book/1730/chapter/sdg-3-need-strengthen-public-funding-who
SPOTLIGHT Enfoques sobre Desarrollo Sostenible
El informe de este año consta de tres partes: La primera parte engloba dos artículos que resumen las principales conclusiones de las contribuciones a este informe y los mensajes de los informes nacionales de la sociedad civil. La segunda parte se centra en cinco capítulos sobre áreas transversales de reforma política que demuestran las interrelaciones entre varios ODS, la necesidad de “des-compartimentar” los enfoques políticos actuales y de promover políticas que sean verdaderamente coherentes en aras del desarrollo sostenible, los derechos humanos y la justicia de género. La tercera parte incluye 17 enfoques breves sobre los ODS que destacan una selección de ejemplos de buenas o malas políticas en función de objetivos específicos.
El informe cuenta con el apoyo de una amplia gama de organizaciones de la sociedad civil y sindicatos, enumerados como socios. También se basa en las experiencias y los informes de grupos y coaliciones nacionales y regionales de todas partes del mundo. Las contribuciones cubren muchos aspectos de la Agenda 2030 y de los ODS (y más), y reflejan la rica diversidad geográfica y cultural de sus autores. Pero lo que todas las contribuciones tienen en común es la convicción de que el mundo todavía está lejos de alcanzar el desarrollo sostenible y que son necesarios —y posibles— cambios fundamentales en las políticas y enfoques para desplegar el potencial transformador de los ODS.
The United Nations and system organizations should engage with donors in a dialogue at the strategic level for the adoption of donor reporting templates and accommodating the common information needs, demands and requirements of donors and the regulatory frameworks and capacities of the organizations.
This is one of the main recommendations highlighted in a new report by the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU), an independent external oversight body of the United Nations system, reviewing donor reporting requirements across the UN system.
The JIU review focused on the United Nations system organizations that have the highest number of donor reports and on the 16 major donors to the United Nations system, including the European Commission. Read More.
