United Nations Archives - The Gulf Indians

India beats China to win crucial election to UN Commission on women

The Gulf Indians — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 04:49:58 +0000

In a significant victory, India won the hotly-contested election, as Member of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, beating its counterpart China.

The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is a principal body focussed on gender equality and women empowerment. This is a functional commission of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

The 54-member ECOSOC, holding the first plenary meeting of its 2021 session in the General Assembly Hall on September 14, held elections for two seats in the Asia-Pacific States category with Afghanistan, India and China as candidates.

Afghanistan, which is led by Ambassador Adela Raz at the UN, garnered 39 votes and India got 38 votes of the 54 ballots cast.

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti shared his happiness about the victory. “India wins seat in prestigious #ECOSOC body! India elected Member of Commission on Status of Women #CSW. It’s a ringing endorsement of our commitment to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in all our endeavours. We thank member states for their support,” he wrote.

India wins seat in prestigious #ECOSOC body!

India elected Member of Commission on Status of Women #CSW. It’s a ringing endorsement of our commitment to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in all our endeavours.

We thank member states for their support. @MEAIndia pic.twitter.com/C7cKrMxzOV

— Amb T S Tirumurti (@ambtstirumurti) September 14, 2020

China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, got only 27 votes and could not even cross the half-way mark and also failed to get the required majority of 28 votes.

The rare win for India happened at a time when the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, that was held in Beijing in 1995, is being commemorated around the world.

It is highly notable and telling that China lost this election when the silver jubilee anniversary of the landmark Beijing conference on women is being commemorated and of which China takes a lot of ownership on.

The election result is being seen as sending a strong signal about China’s own record of women’s equality and empowerment.

India and Afghanistan will join Argentina, Austria, Dominican Republic, Israel, Latvia, Nigeria, Turkey and Zambia, which were elected by acclamation, to the Commission on the Status of Women for a four-year term beginning from 2021-2025.

India’s election win at the CSW is highly significant as it comes on the eve of India gearing up to sit at the UN Security Council high table as non-permanent member for a two-year term beginning January 1, 2021.

The Commission on the Status of Women is instrumental in promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women.

In 1996, ECOSOC expanded the Commission’s mandate and decided that it should take a leading role in monitoring and reviewing progress and problems in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and in mainstreaming a gender perspective in UN activities.

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Hunger set to soar as COVID-19 obliterates lives, livelihoods: UN

The Gulf Indians — Sat, 18 Jul 2020 06:55:01 +0000

People in 25 countries are set to face devastating levels of hunger in coming months due to the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. While the greatest concentration of need is in Africa, countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and in the Middle East and Asia – including middle-income countries – are also being ravaged by crippling levels of food insecurity, according to the Early Warning Analysis of Acute Food Security Hotspots, compiled by the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, published on July 17.
“Three months ago at the UN Security Council, I told world leaders that we ran the risk of a famine of biblical proportions,” said WFP Executive Director David Beasley. “Today, our latest data tell us that, since then, millions of the world’s very poorest families have been forced even closer to the abyss. Livelihoods are being destroyed at an unprecedented rate and now their lives are in imminent danger from starvation. Make no mistake – if we do not act now to end this pandemic of human suffering, many people will die.”
To prevent the worst, WFP is scaling up to provide food assistance to an unprecedented 138 million people who face desperate levels of hunger as the pandemic tightens its grip on some of the most fragile countries on earth.
The cost of WFP’s response to this burgeoning food insecurity is estimated at US$ 4.9 billion, with an additional $500 million being earmarked to prevent the outbreak of famine in countries most at risk.
This represents more than half of the updated COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan, the largest appeal in the UN’s history, launched today, for more than US$ 10 billion. The plan covers wide-ranging humanitarian needs in more than 60 countries, many of them already reeling from the impact of conflict, climate change and economic crisis.
The number of acute food insecure people in these at-risk countries could increase from an estimated 149 million pre-COVID-19 to 270 million before the end of the year if life-saving assistance is not provided urgently. Recent estimates also suggest that up to 6,000 children could die every day from preventable causes over the next six months as a result of pandemic-related disruptions to essential health and nutrition services.

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Nations should jointly exploit COVID-19 situation: NITI Ayog Vice-Chairman

The Gulf Indians — Mon, 13 Jul 2020 09:20:04 +0000

All countries must come together to convert the COVID-19 situation into an opportunity for accelerating the progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals’ targets, according to NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Dr. Rajeev Kumar said. He said that the role of international cooperation is more critical than ever before.

Presenting India’s second Voluntary National Review at the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development-2020, Mr. Kumar highlighted India’s response towards COVID-19 pandemic under the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign. He said, India has achieved remarkable progress in reducing multi-dimensional poverty, providing food safety and clean cooking fuel and ensuring education for all. He said that India operationalised the world’s largest health insurance programme by covering 500 million citizens. He highlighted the leading role India has been playing in promoting global engagement platforms such as International Solar Alliance, Sendai Framework and the Paris Climate Agreement.

NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant said that the government is committed to undertake new initiatives to accelerate progress on the SDG’s targets for long-term transformation. He said, in this endeavour, peer learning and knowledge sharing will play a key role which the government is actively fostering among States and Union Territories.

The India Voluntary National Review-2020 report was also unveiled during this event. The report is a comprehensive account of the adoption and implementation of the 2030 agenda in India. Apart from presenting a review of progress on the 17 SDGs, the report discusses at length the policy and enabling environment, India’s approach to localising SDGs and strengthening means of implementation. NITI Aayog prepared and presented India’s first Voluntary National Review in 2017. The High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development 2020 is an international platform for follow-up and review of progress on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Leveraging science, technology and innovation for SDGs, and costing and financing of SDGs are the two levers of strengthening means of implementation which have been introduced this year.

In line with the theme of Taking SDGs from Global to Local, the goal-wise account of progress on the SDGs has been appended with examples of a range of diverse good practices and success stories of interventions from the States, especially Aspirational Districts.

NITI Aayog has the mandate of overseeing the adoption and monitoring of SDGs at the national and sub-national level. The India VNR 2020 represents NITI Aayog’s efforts in embodying the whole-of-society approach and its commitment towards localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

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