Latest
Press Release
25 May 2022
Op-Ed: The power of partnerships: Why supporting our peacekeepers matters more now than ever by Under-Secretary-General, Jean-Pierre Lacroix
Learn more
Story
25 May 2022
"On Africa Day, we celebrate the enormous promise and potential of this diverse and dynamic continent"
Learn more
Press Release
25 May 2022
Op-Ed: 'Two years after the killing of George Floyd and the global reckoning on racial injustice, mass shooting in Buffalo beckons the urgency for ending racial inequalities and discrimination to be at the top of the United Nations agenda.'
Learn more
Latest
The Sustainable Development Goals in South Africa
The Sustainable Development Goals are a global call to action to end poverty, protect the earth’s environment and climate, and ensure that people everywhere can enjoy peace and prosperity. These are the goals the UN is working on in South Africa:
Press Release
25 April 2022
MEDIA ADVISORY: The United Nations in South Africa will visit the affected areas in Kwazulu-Natal province
Pretoria - The United Nations in South Africa, represented by a technical team comprising of members from various UN agencies, will undertake a visit to the Province of KwaZulu-Natal from Monday, 25 April 2022 to Thursday, 28 April 2022, following the devastating floods that has impacted communities in many parts of the province earlier this month.
The technical team will meet with the Provincial Disaster Management Centre and the eThekwini Municipality to assess the areas of support by the United Nations Development System.
“We have been supporting the province following the floods in 2019 and the civil unrest of 2021 and will continue to support rebuilding efforts to ensure that no-one is left behind as part of the Memorandum of Understanding that we have in place with the provincial leadership in that province. We stand committed and ready to assist where needed,” said Mr. Ayodele Odusola, the Acting Resident Coordinator for the UN in South Africa.
#####
For interviews and media enquiries, please contact Zeenat Abdool, UN South Africa - Associate Public Information Officer, at abdool@un.org or 0827788080
1 of 5
Press Release
19 April 2022
PRESS RELEASE: Government of South Africa and The United Nations in South Africa sign the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework
Pretoria - The Presidency of South Africa and the United Nations in South Africa today signed the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) at the headquarters of the Government Communication Information System (GCIS) in Pretoria.
The ceremony, led by the Minister in the Presidency, Mr. Mondli Gungubele, the outgoing Resident Coordinator for the UN South Africa office, Ms. Nardos Bekele-Thomas, and the Acting Resident Coordinator, Dr Ayodele Odusola, began with a moment of silence for those affected by the recent floods in KwaZulu-Natal.
The UNSDCF is a partnership framework comprehensively detailing the works of the UN in South Africa for the period 2020-2025 following a detailed consultation process that included the private sector, civil society, academia and research institutions, women, and youth.
In her remarks, Ms. Bekele-Thomas spoke of the need for “coherent and critical results-based programming based on national needs and priorities” before noting that “our dream is becoming a reality today.”
Delivering the keynote address, Minister Gungubele emphasised the commitment of Government to implementing the UNSCDF while highlighting this “truly consultative process that is an integration of global, continental and national goals.”
Following the actual signing of the Framework, the UN Resident Coordinator (a.i.), Dr Ayodele Odusola, emphasized South Africa’s unique relationship with the United Nations before reminding those present that “effective implementation of the cooperation framework will depend on strong accountability mechanism’.
General Assembly resolution 72/279 elevates the UNSDCF as “the most important instrument for planning and implementation of the UN development activities at country level in support of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda).”
In closing the ceremony, Dr Ayodele noted that “coherence coordination and collaboration is why it is very important for us to deliver together.”
#####
For interviews and media enquiries, please contact Zeenat Abdool, UN South Africa - Associate Public Information Officer, at abdool@un.org or +27 827788080
1 of 5
Press Release
12 April 2022
PRESS RELEASE: The United Nations in South Africa deeply concerned about violent attacks against foreign nationals
Pretoria – The Acting Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in South Africa, Dr. Ayodele Odusola, notes with growing concern about the ongoing incidents of violence, intimidation and harassment against foreign nationals, including the brutal killing last Wednesday of Elvis Nyathi, a father of four children, in Diepsloot in the Johannesburg metropolitan area.
“It is deeply worrisome and unfortunate that this is happening in a country with one of the most inclusive Constitutions globally,” said Dr. Odusola. “Over the recent past we have noted with deep concern as movements such as Operation Dudula are illegally forcing people suspected to be undocumented foreign nationals to show their papers. Our thoughts are with the family of Mr. Nyathi and with all of those families affected by similar violence in the recent months.”
It is important to note that the Government of South Africa has ratified several international human rights and refugee instruments that are also an integral part of national law. This requires that the human rights of all persons residing in South Africa, regardless of their nationality or immigration status, must be respected. This includes individuals who may be refugees, asylum seekers or stateless persons.
The Acting UN Resident Coordinator in South Africa has expressed strong concerns about violence in all its forms. The UN stands by the recent statements by Government representatives opposing actions by the violent protesters and urging people not to take the law into their hands. One example of this includes President Cyril Ramaphosa, stating that “As a country founded on tolerance, respect for diversity and non-discrimination, we must never allow ourselves to turn against people who come from beyond our borders.” And that, “Acts of lawlessness directed at foreign nationals, whether documented or undocumented, could not be tolerated”.
#####
For interviews and media enquiries, please contact Zeenat Abdool, UN South Africa - Associate Public Information Officer, at abdool@un.org or 0827788080
1 of 5
Story
12 July 2021
‘We are with you’: The Sinawe Thuthuzela Care Centre providing hope for survivors of sexual violence
Lerato,* a 20-year-old first-year student at the local university, hunkers down on her chair a few metres from where I’m sitting, with her head fixed to the floor. She looks sad, tired and dejected, avoiding any eye contact, obviously ashamed of what we were going to talk about.
During our roughly ten-minute talk, she gave short, hesitant answers. Dressed in a pink tank top and fading jeans with a small yellow handbag sitting on her lap, Lerato had come for her second assessment at a care centre for victims of rape.
On a quiet early Saturday evening – about a week before I met Lerato – while walking back home from the shops, a car abruptly stopped in the middle of the road and two men violently dragged her inside before speeding off. A few minutes later, the car stopped at a dark spot. Shocked and helpless – and before she could process what was happening, one man raped her as the other watched.
Overnight, Lerato became one of the latest victims of sexual violence against women in South Africa. According to police statistics, there were 53,295 reported sexual offenses during the year between April 2019 and March 2020, an increase of 1.7% from the previous reporting period. This is the equivalent of a sexual offense every ten minutes. And these are only cases reported to the police. Experts believe the majority of the offenses are never reported.
We are with you
Some women, like Lerato, end up at care centres specifically set up to help victims of sexual violence. There are more than 50 such centres scattered throughout South Africa serving as “one-stop facilities” or frontline posts in the war against rape. Their key role is “to reduce secondary victimization, improve conviction rates and reduce the time” between when a crime is committed and when the perpetrator is finally convicted. The centres are attached or located close to hospitals, ensuring victims have access to urgent medical attention.
One such facility is the Sinawe Thuthuzela Care Centre located in the small town of Mthatha in Eastern Cape Province. Sinawe means “we are with you” in Xhosa, one of the country’s eleven official languages. It was at this centre that the head of the United Nations in South Africa (also called the UN Resident Coordinator), Nardos Bekele-Thomas, and her team – which included the head of the UN Women in Southern Africa, Anne Githuku-Shongwe – converged to sign an agreement with the government to revive the struggling local care centres, among other projects.
The plan is to pilot an approach to development that targets specific districts identified as most vulnerable to operational bottlenecks that slows down the delivery of social services to local communities. Three districts in the provinces of Eastern Cape, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal are expected to benefit from the programme termed “the district development model”.
Impact of Thuthuzela Centres
For many years, one-stop crisis centres made remarkable progress in living up to expectations. In 2012-2013, the Sinawe Centre won an award for being the best-run care centre in South Africa.
Dr. Nomonde Ndyalvan, an energetic, highly motivated and enthusiastic woman, heads the Sinawe Centre, which sits across the road from the provincial Mthatha General Hospital. She wears several hats as an activist on gender, disability and mental health issues. Dr. Ndyalavan is also “an active member” of the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC).
A qualified medical doctor, Dr. Ndyalvan, 53, started as a volunteer in 2002, a year after the Sinawe Centre was launched. Notwithstanding the countless and formidable hurdles she faces as the manager, one easily senses the high energy and enthusiasm she exhibits once she starts talking about her job at the centre.
“The management needed doctors, counsellors, mental health specialists and nurses to come work here. It was emotionally challenging knowing how the women were being raped,” she recalls. Herself disabled, Dr. Ndyalvan says as a disability activist, “I realized that people with disabilities were targets for rape. And the statistics on this are high.”
Night doctors
Shocked by the enormity of sexual violence in the district, Dr. Ndyalvan opted to work full time at the centre in March 2009. “There was no full-time doctor. The patients would wait for the whole day for university doctors to come, and they would only be seen at night.”
As the years went by, the Thuthuzela model gained fame. Incident reports from rape victims shot up. Prosecutors upped their game. The upshot was high conviction rates of offenders as more women felt safe enough to report cases to the police and care centres. Because the care centres offered dignified and friendly settings, they reduced secondary trauma among survivors.
“Now we see about 60 to 80 patients a month on a low season,” says Dr. Ndyalvan, as she sat behind her office desk, a stone’s throw away from Mthatha General Hospital. “During holidays and festive seasons, rape cases go up to between 100 and 120 per month. We cover patients from as far as 200kms away. We go beyond OR Tambo municipality.” OR Tambo is one of the poorest municipalities in Eastern Cape Province, itself the most-poverty stricken of South Africa’s nine provinces.
In 2012, UNICEF completed the construction of the building currently occupied by the Sinawe centre with funds from the Danish government and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Asked who was funding the care centres, Dr. Ndyalvan conceded it wasn’t clear. “The bigger chunk of the budget to run the centre comes from the Department of Health. The department has also been maintaining the centre. But now we have been told that the department doesn’t have money anymore” as the budget for the centre is not clear where it is coming from. The centre now relies on funds from other stakeholders for its running costs. The programme is an “orphan” as the centre does not feature at all in the hospital’s organogram.
“We are just treating victims”
According to Dr. Ndyalvan, the current set up is that each department pays for its people, i.e., health workers receive their salaries from their respective departments. For example, doctors and nurses are paid by the health department, social workers by the social development department while prosecutors and magistrates, NGOs and police – who are all located at or closer to the centres – are on the payroll of relevant government departments.
When I asked Dr. Ndyalvan what she would consider as the main challenge facing the Thuthuzela centres, she said without hesitation: “The lack of a coordinator and a clear reporting structure. There is no one [entity] stakeholder from the multidisciplinary team which is directly responsible for the centre.” NPA has been trying to coordinate and lead but challenges still remain.
“The municipalities are not involved. Now that UN is here, we hope they will assist to align it and develop this centre through the district development model,” she said, adding, “Gender-based violence is such a bigger challenge in this part of the world. The districts must own these centres because the current model doesn’t address the issues of preventing rape. They are just treating victims.”
The challenge for the UN is do the best it can under the circumstances while at the same time managing the expectations that Dr. Ndyalvan and Lerato might have of the UN given its limited resources.
*Not her real name.
Services offered at the Thuthuzela Care Centres
Welcome and comfort from a site coordinator or nurse.
An explanation of how the medical examination will be conducted and what clothing might be taken for evidence.
A consent form to sign that allows the doctor to conduct the medical examination.
A nurse in the examination room.
After the medical examination, there are bath and shower facilities for the victims to use.
An investigation officer will interview the survivor and take his/her statement.
A social worker or nurse will offer counselling.
A nurse arranges for follow-up visits, treatment and medication for Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), HIV and AIDS.
A referral letter or appointment will be made for long-term counselling
The victim (survivor) is offered transportation home by an ambulance or the investigating officer.
Arrangements for the survivor to go to a place of safety, if necessary.
Consultations with a specialist prosecutor before the case go to court.
Court preparation by a victim assistant officer.
An explanation of the outcome and update of the trial process by a case manager.
Source: National Prosecuting Authority, “Thuthuzela Care Centre: Turning Victims into Survivors”
1 of 5
Story
07 July 2021
The District Development Model launch kicks-off in Waterberg
The initiative by the Government and the United Nations in South Africa to resuscitate district projects in the country’s three provinces picked up momentum in June when they gathered in Waterberg, Limpopo Province, to launch the partnership following a similar event in the Eastern Cape Province in April.
The head of the United Nations in South Africa and Resident Coordinator, Ms. Nardos Bekele-Thomas, joined the Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, at the official launch of the partnership designed to implement what is officially termed the District Development Model (DDM).
The event, held on 11 June, was the culmination of a three-day programme that included visits to the sites in Waterberg District that have been identified for restoration which included Business Solution Centres, Thusong Service Centres as well as Thuthuzela Care Centres as conduits to drive inclusive economic growth, social transformation and improve service delivery.
Speaking at the gathering, Ms. Bekele-Thomas said her visit to the Thuthuzela Care Centres and Victim Support Centres in the district “highlighted that partnerships between stakeholders are key to their success. A multi-sectoral and a multi-stakeholder approach is needed to ensure that victims of gender-based violence receive the support that they deserve and are empowered to reintegrate back into society.”
“We need to build upon the architecture of our support by strengthening our victim referral systems. As we move forward, we must find ways to address the infrastructural and security challenges that leave victims feeling unsafe,” said Ms. Bekele-Thomas.
She emphasized the need to present a united whole-of-society approach that is rooted in partnership, community and acting with urgency and shared the “three key factors that I believe are essential to the success of our shared endeavour.”
The first key factor was the need for communities to be placed at the heart of the district development model through engagement, consultations and empowerment. “They need to be brought into the decision-making process. Communities confer legitimacy on what we do. We need to improve communication, improve consultations, we need to make sure that our policies are informed by a bottom-up process.”
The second factor was to fully embrace change in how services are delivered and technology harnessed to improve people’s lives in a post-pandemic world. “South Africa, Limpopo and the Waterberg District cannot be, must not be, left behind,” she said. “Embracing change means a just transition from fossil fuels and embracing the Green Economy. It means fully embracing a mindset that truly embraces the concept of service to the people.”
The third factor was to translate words, policies and dialogue into results, the Resident Coordinator said. “The people have been patient for long enough – we should not try their patience further! The longer policies and plans take to translate into palpable, concrete results, the less legitimacy they have, the less legitimacy we have.” She reminded her audience that they didn’t have the luxury of time. “We need a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach.”
The Waterberg integrated implementation plan will unlock the economic value chains, deliberately focusing on growing an inclusive and sustainable economy. It is also expected to tackle Gender-Based Violence and Femicide through increased stakeholder partnerships and advocacy to engender social transformation, whilst enhancing service delivery and the capacity of the municipality, through the Thusong Service Centres, as a one stop shop for access to information and services.
In her speech, Minister Dlamini-Zuma emphasized that the DDM was not a project but rather an inclusive way of working that is premised on social partnership between government, business and communities. “As we pay homage to Mama Charlotte Maxeke, we are reminded of her reverberating words that when you rise, rise with someone, and I’m confident that the DDM will assist our communities to rise,” she said.
Minister Dlamini Zuma was joined by the Minister of Small Business Development, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, who is the DDM District Champion; the Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu; a Member of the Executive Committee in Limpopo, Basikopo Makamu; and the Executive Mayor of Waterberg District, Cllr Morris Mataboge, as well as mayors of local municipalities.
1 of 5
Story
25 May 2022
"On Africa Day, we celebrate the enormous promise and potential of this diverse and dynamic continent"
The prospects on the horizon are bright – from Africa’s growing and vibrant youth population, to initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area, the Decade of Women’s Financial and Economic Inclusion, and the African Union’s bold vision for the future, Agenda 2063.
But today, we are also reminded of the multiple challenges preventing Africa from reaching its full potential – including the COVID 19 pandemic and its devastating impact on African economies, climate change, unresolved conflicts, and a severe food crisis.
To compound all this, the war in Ukraine is creating a perfect storm for developing countries, especially in Africa. This crisis is resulting in soaring costs for food, energy and fertilizer with devastating consequences on nutrition and food systems, while making it even more difficult for the continent to mobilize the financial resources needed to invest in its people.
The African Union has designated 2022 as the Year of Nutrition. On this year’s Africa Day, the world must join together in solidarity with all Africans to strengthen food security, and put nutrition within reach of every person.
We must also intensify our efforts to end the pandemic, reform the global financial system, stop climate change and silence the guns across all conflicts.
The United Nations will continue standing proudly with Africans as we work to deliver on the promise of a prosperous and peaceful Africa for all.
See video message: https://youtu.be/efZqsQxspU0
1 of 5
Story
20 May 2022
Food insecurity threatens societies, exacerbates conflicts and ‘no country is immune’
Conflict means hunger
Last year, most of the 140 million people suffering acute hunger around the world lived in just ten countries: Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Haiti, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen – eight of which are on the Council’s agenda.
“Let there be no doubt: when this Council debates conflict, you debate hunger. When you make decisions about peacekeeping and political missions, you make decisions about hunger. And when you fail to reach consensus, hungry people pay a high price,” Mr. Guterres spelled out.
Though pleased to announce that the Central Emergency Response Fund is releasing $30 million to meet food security needs in Niger, Mali, Chad and Burkina Faso, he said sadly: “But it is a drop in the ocean”.
Emergency levels of hunger
The UN chief expressed concern over food insecurity in the Horn of Africa, which is suffering its longest drought in four decades, impacting more than 18 million people, while continuous conflict and insecurity plague the people of Ethiopia and Somalia.
Globally, 44 million people in 38 countries are at emergency levels of hunger, known as IPC 4 – just one step away from famine.
More than half a million people in Ethiopia, South Sudan, Yemen and Madagascar are already in IPC level 5: catastrophic or famine conditions.
‘Frightening new dimension’
“The war in Ukraine is now adding a frightening new dimension to this picture of global hunger,” said the UN chief.
Russia’s invasion has meant a huge drop in food exports and triggered price increases of up to 30 per cent for staple foods, threatening people in countries across Africa and the Middle East.
Leaders of Senegal, Niger and Nigeria confirmed to Mr. Guterres that they were on the brink of devastation.
While UN humanitarian operations are gearing up to help, they too are suffering the impact of rising food prices, including in East Africa where the cost of food assistance has increased 65 per cent on average, in the past year.
Feeding the hungry is an investment in global peace and security – UN chief
Breaking ‘deadly dynamic’
The top UN official outlined four actions countries can take to break “the deadly dynamic of conflict and hunger,” beginning with investing in political solutions to end conflicts, prevent new ones and build sustainable peace.
“Most important of all, we need to end the war in Ukraine,” he said, calling on the Council to do everything in its power “to silence the guns and promote peace, in Ukraine and everywhere”.
Secondly, he underscored the importance of protecting humanitarian access and essential goods and supplies for civilians, drawing attention to the members’ “critical role in demanding adherence to international humanitarian law, and pursuing accountability when it is breached”.
Third, he said there needed to be “far greater coordination and leadership” to mitigate the interconnected risks of food insecurity, energy and financing, while reminding that “any meaningful solution to global food insecurity requires reintegrating Ukraine’s agricultural production and the food and fertilizer production of Russia and Belarus into world markets – despite the war”.
Finally, it is “more necessary than ever” for donors must fully fund humanitarian appeals with official development assistance.
“Diverting it to other priorities is not an option while the world is on the brink of mass hunger…Feeding the hungry is an investment in global peace and security,” said the Secretary-General.
In a world of plenty, no one should accept “a single child, woman or man” dying from hunger, including “the members of this Council”, he concluded.
‘Marching to starvation’
The head of the World Food Programme (WFP), David Beasley, spoke extensively of “the perfect storm” driving hunger, namely conflict, climate change and the COVID pandemic.
Act with urgency today – WFP chief
He cited destabilizing dynamics in Mali, Chad, Malawi, and Burkina Faso; riots and protests in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Pakistan and Peru; conflicts in Ethiopia and Afghanistan; drought and famine in Africa, and a “ring of fire around the world” as an escalating number of people continue “marching to starvation”.
“Food security is critical to peace and stability” globally, he underscored.
The WFP chief said 276 million people are struggling to find food, and 49 million in 43 countries are “knocking on famine’s door,” which results not only in death but “unmatched migration,” which destabilizes societies.
And while the “perfect storm” has resulted in a rise in food prices in 2022, he said that food availability would be the big concern in 2023.
Mr. Beasley stressed the importance of increasing production, opening Ukraine’s ports and emptying its silos to stabilize markets and address the global food crisis.
“Act with urgency today,” he told the Council.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe: David Beasley, Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme, briefs the Security Council meeting on conflict and food security under maintenance of international peace and security.
Reversing prosperity
The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Director-General, Qu Dongyu, discussed the importance of people, peace, prosperity and the planet.
“Worldwide, prosperity is being reversed,” he said. “There is less food security, health security and income” while inequality becomes greater.
He pointed to a “spike in acute hunger globally,” with 2022 threatening even further deterioration.
While FAO has strengthened agri-food systems to save lives and protect livelihoods for the most vulnerable, “more needs to be done together,” according to its top official, who called conflict “the single greatest driver of hunger”.
Protect thy neighbour
Meanwhile, the Ukraine war is impacting the world with “historically high” food and energy prices, according to Mr. Qu – “putting the global harvest at risk”.
He reminded that we “are neighbours on this small planet village. What happens to one affects us all” and flagged the need to prevent accelerated acute food insecurity in the coming months and years.
“We must protect people, agriculture food system and economics against future shock…increase sustainable productivity, [and] strengthen the capacity to deliver relevant services,” said Mr. Qu.
UN Photo/Manuel Elías: Qu Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization, briefs the Security Council meeting on conflict and food security under maintenance of international peace and security.
‘Play our part’
Nobody needs to go hungry “if we all play our part”, he added, describing investing in agri-food systems as “more relevant than ever”.
Ending his remarks with a poem in Chinese, the FAO chief said:
“The mountain is high. People depend on food to survive. We need to stay united, working cohesively to serve millions of people around the world”.
Click here to watch the meeting in its entirety. Published by UN News Centre
1 of 5
Story
20 May 2022
Rampant climate disinformation online is distorting dangers, delaying climate action
Time is slipping away from us. There is no doubt the world must act now to avoid catastrophic ecological collapse. But climate action is being undermined by bad actors seeking to deflect, distract, and deny efforts to save the planet. Disinformation, spread via social media, is their weapon of choice.
Recent floods, droughts, wildfires and heat waves have made it harder deny the existence of climate change outright. So peddlers of climate disinformation have turned to other methods to delay efforts to decarbonize the global economy. And their tactics are growing increasingly sophisticated.
One recent example saw several climate scientists say they were tricked into taking part in online conferences hosted by a group that denies human activity is to blame for climate change. Offering “the truth,” the group describes the climate crisis as the “CO2 fraud” and the “scam of the century.”
The group, which reportedly has links to conspiracists, engages high-profile speakers to address its events. Some guests later told the BBC their words had been manipulated, taken out of context, or that they hadn’t been made aware of the group’s views. The organization denies any wrongdoing.
These underhand tactics are by no means unique. Those with a vested interest in keeping us hooked on fossil fuels are spending huge sums on think tanks and influencer campaigns to sow doubt about climate science, spreading everything from distorted stories to conspiracy theories and outright lies.
Analysis by our partner, First Draft News, shows that climate disinformation is being shared widely on a range of platforms. From vicious attacks on activists, to divisive content intended to confuse and deflect attention, campaigns all seek the same outcome: a deadly delay in climate action.
Much of this content comes from just a few sources. A recent report by non-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate found that 10 publishers are behind 69% of all climate change denial content on Facebook. Ad revenue, the report added, even makes these lies a lucrative outlet for these firms.
Renewable energy is a clear target of these campaigns, which seek to muddy the water, undermine consensus, and sow division. Similar tactics were pursued by big tobacco while suppressing findings which linked smoking and cancer. The internet has only supercharged their reach.
And the fossil fuel lobby is using every trick in the book. A 2021 report found that bots deployed on social media were generating and amplifying lies, automatically joining and dominating online conversations. The content is then shared by users unaware they are spreading misinformation.
Recent studies show these tactics work. The latest UN IPCC report was the first ever to call out climate disinformation, stating that a “deliberate undermining of science” was contributing to “misperceptions of the scientific consensus, uncertainty, disregarded risk and urgency, and dissent.”
And all the while, time is running out. The science is crystal clear: the world must cut global emissions by 45 percent this decade to keep the 1.5°C limit agreed in Paris within grasp. We need everyone on board if we’re going to make it. That’s why climate disinformation is so dangerous.
We know there are no silver bullets to tackle this. We must do better at holding those intentionally spreading harmful lies to account, and push for better enforcement of Google, YouTube and Meta and Twitter’s pledges to ban or flag climate disinformation. But taking down lies is only half the battle.
Our focus must equally be on raising awareness. My team and I at the United Nations have been working with social impact agency Purpose on ways to fight back against disinformation, encourage conscious sharing, and flood feeds with reliable, accurate information in shareable nuggets.
Communicators can help audiences spot false content and the tell-tale signs of disinformation. Every person with the skills to call out fake experts, conspiracies, and massaged facts is one fewer to fall for the old tactics of deflect, distract, and deny. One thing is clear. There can be no more delay.
By Melissa Fleming, Under-Secretary-General, Department of Global Communications (DGC)
1 of 5
Story
20 May 2022
Proper social security can save 15 million children from becoming child labour statistics in 2022 – Unicef
If most countries put proper social protection measures in place, child labour can decline by 15 million by the end of 2022, thus allowing a significant improvement in sustainable development goals (SDG) 8.7. - so said Mohamed Fall, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa.
Fall, however, warned that the outlook for children trapped or at risk of being dragged into child labour does not look rosy.
“Children continue to suffer from income and employment losses, and also suffer from health shocks,” he said.
Fall was speaking during the plenary of the 5 th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour on the official launch of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report titled: “Child Labour: Global estimates 2020, trends and the road forward”.
The report by the two co-custodians of target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals, describes the scale and key characteristics of child labour today, and its changes over time. SGD Target 8.7 calls on all to take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of all forms of child labour as an essential step to achieving decent work for all, full and productive employment and inclusive and sustained economic growth. The report comes on the back of child labour being identified as a persistent problem in the world today. The report estimates that 160 million children – 63 million girls and 97 million boys – were in child labour globally at the beginning of 2020, accounting for almost 1 in 10 of all children worldwide. Seventy-nine million children – nearly half of all those in child labour – were in hazardous work that directly endangers their health, safety and moral development. Key findings of the report were that: Child labour is higher for boys than girls at all ages - Among all boys, 11.2 percent are in child labour compared to 7.8 per cent of all girls. In absolute numbers, boys in child labour outnumber girls by 34 million. Child labour is much more common in rural areas - There are 122.7 million rural children in child labour compared to 37.3 million urban children. The prevalence of child labour in rural areas (13.9 per cent) is close to three times higher than in urban areas (4.7 per cent). Most child labour – for boys and girls alike – continues to occur in agriculture - Seventy percent of all children in child labour, 112 million children in total, are in agriculture. The largest share of child labour takes place within families - Seventy- two per cent of all child labour and 83 per cent of child labour among children aged 5 to 11 occurs within families, primarily on family farms or in family microenterprises. Family-based child labour is frequently hazardous despite common perceptions of the family as offering a safer work environment. Global progress against child labour has stalled for the first time since we began producing global estimates two decades ago. In addition, without urgent mitigation measures, the COVID-19 crisis is likely to push millions more children into child labour. “The school closures – experienced through the Covid-19 is going to increase the risk. To reverse this trend a multi-sectoral approach is critical and that approach means a strong social protection regime. Evidence is clear, social protection including child benefits have a potential to mitigate this risk of children sliding into child labour,” Fall said. He was at pains that only 26,6 percent of children worldwide were receiving social protection. According to the ILO-UNICEF report, child labour is more common in rural than in urban areas in almost all regions. It said Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest share of young children in child labour, while Latin America and the Caribbean have the largest share of older children. The report cited the worst forms of child labour as comprising practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom, and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict; the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances; the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties; and work that, by its nature or circumstances, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children. The 2020 ILO-UNICEF global estimates indicate a critical juncture in the worldwide effort against child labour. “Global progress has ground to a halt over the last four years after having already slowed considerably in the four years before that. The ongoing COVID-19 crisis threatens to further erode past gains. In this United Nations International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour, we must act with renewed urgency to put progress back on track,” the ILO-UNICEF report said.
Immediate steps are needed to avoid falling further behind during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The pandemic has clearly heightened the risk of child labour, above all through a sharp rise in poverty that may increase families’ reliance on child labour, and through school closures that deny families the logical alternative to sending children to work.
The report said to reduce these risks, there was a need for implementation of expanded income support measures for families in situations of vulnerability, child benefits and other means, which will be critical. So too will back-to-school campaigns and stepped-up remedial learning to get children back in the classroom.
“We are at a critical juncture in the worldwide drive to stop child labour. COVID-19 threatens to further erode past gains. While nearly 86 million fewer children are in child labour now than when we began measuring the phenomenon globally in 2000, recent trends affirm we have fallen far behind on our collective commitment to ending all forms by 2025.
The report calls for: special attention to address the heightened risk of child labour in growing crises, conflicts and disasters; addressing child labour risks in domestic and global supply chains; Sound policy choices and resource allocation; Governments will need to adopt creative resource mobilization strategies to expand their fiscal space; extending debt relief and debt restructuring in already heavily indebted
countries so that social spending is not crowded out by increasing debt service payments.
The conference will end on Friday with the adoption of a Durban Call to Action programme.
The report by the two co-custodians of target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals, describes the scale and key characteristics of child labour today, and its changes over time. SGD Target 8.7 calls on all to take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of all forms of child labour as an essential step to achieving decent work for all, full and productive employment and inclusive and sustained economic growth. The report comes on the back of child labour being identified as a persistent problem in the world today. The report estimates that 160 million children – 63 million girls and 97 million boys – were in child labour globally at the beginning of 2020, accounting for almost 1 in 10 of all children worldwide. Seventy-nine million children – nearly half of all those in child labour – were in hazardous work that directly endangers their health, safety and moral development. Key findings of the report were that: Child labour is higher for boys than girls at all ages - Among all boys, 11.2 percent are in child labour compared to 7.8 per cent of all girls. In absolute numbers, boys in child labour outnumber girls by 34 million. Child labour is much more common in rural areas - There are 122.7 million rural children in child labour compared to 37.3 million urban children. The prevalence of child labour in rural areas (13.9 per cent) is close to three times higher than in urban areas (4.7 per cent). Most child labour – for boys and girls alike – continues to occur in agriculture - Seventy percent of all children in child labour, 112 million children in total, are in agriculture. The largest share of child labour takes place within families - Seventy- two per cent of all child labour and 83 per cent of child labour among children aged 5 to 11 occurs within families, primarily on family farms or in family microenterprises. Family-based child labour is frequently hazardous despite common perceptions of the family as offering a safer work environment. Global progress against child labour has stalled for the first time since we began producing global estimates two decades ago. In addition, without urgent mitigation measures, the COVID-19 crisis is likely to push millions more children into child labour. “The school closures – experienced through the Covid-19 is going to increase the risk. To reverse this trend a multi-sectoral approach is critical and that approach means a strong social protection regime. Evidence is clear, social protection including child benefits have a potential to mitigate this risk of children sliding into child labour,” Fall said. He was at pains that only 26,6 percent of children worldwide were receiving social protection. According to the ILO-UNICEF report, child labour is more common in rural than in urban areas in almost all regions. It said Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest share of young children in child labour, while Latin America and the Caribbean have the largest share of older children. The report cited the worst forms of child labour as comprising practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom, and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict; the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances; the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties; and work that, by its nature or circumstances, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children. The 2020 ILO-UNICEF global estimates indicate a critical juncture in the worldwide effort against child labour. “Global progress has ground to a halt over the last four years after having already slowed considerably in the four years before that. The ongoing COVID-19 crisis threatens to further erode past gains. In this United Nations International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour, we must act with renewed urgency to put progress back on track,” the ILO-UNICEF report said.
Immediate steps are needed to avoid falling further behind during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The pandemic has clearly heightened the risk of child labour, above all through a sharp rise in poverty that may increase families’ reliance on child labour, and through school closures that deny families the logical alternative to sending children to work.
The report said to reduce these risks, there was a need for implementation of expanded income support measures for families in situations of vulnerability, child benefits and other means, which will be critical. So too will back-to-school campaigns and stepped-up remedial learning to get children back in the classroom.
“We are at a critical juncture in the worldwide drive to stop child labour. COVID-19 threatens to further erode past gains. While nearly 86 million fewer children are in child labour now than when we began measuring the phenomenon globally in 2000, recent trends affirm we have fallen far behind on our collective commitment to ending all forms by 2025.
The report calls for: special attention to address the heightened risk of child labour in growing crises, conflicts and disasters; addressing child labour risks in domestic and global supply chains; Sound policy choices and resource allocation; Governments will need to adopt creative resource mobilization strategies to expand their fiscal space; extending debt relief and debt restructuring in already heavily indebted
countries so that social spending is not crowded out by increasing debt service payments.
The conference will end on Friday with the adoption of a Durban Call to Action programme.
1 of 5
Story
19 May 2022
Mamelodi youth to get entrepreneurial skills boost through launch of Mamelodi Business Hub
The Mamelodi Business Hub, launched on the 13 May 2022, will provide young people across the township and further afield with an opportunity to pursue their creativity and realize their ambitions to achieve entrepreneurial and social impact.
The Hub, based at the University of Pretoria, Mamelodi Campus, has been established in collaboration with UNICEF South Africa and Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC).
“The Mamelodi Business Hub will endeavour to become a key catalyst in township revival and enhancement, not only focusing on entrepreneurial development but also on significant social impact via its focused service offerings to an array of communities in the region,” says the University of Pretoria Vice-Chancellor Professor Tawana Kupe.
The Mamelodi Business Hub will focus on:
Developing women’s leadership development with an entrepreneurial flair
Introducing new 4IR technology via its maker space, design lab, and skills development
Co-creating innovative new products and services for youth entrepreneurs via our interdisciplinary orientated teams and strategic partners
Merging the needs of the micro-business environment in Mamelodi with the skills of undergraduate and postgraduate students
Creating a base for collaborative international research advancing the body of knowledge on the informal sector entrepreneur and socio-economic development, and,
Creating a unique entrepreneurship enablement model to be replicated in South Africa and across Africa
Shirley Machaba, the Chief Executive Officer of Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) South Africa, says the collaboration with UP and UNICEF allows the firm to stay true to its core values and to contribute to the growth and development of the country and continent.
“South Africa faces a myriad of challenges relating to preparing for the new world of work. PwC South Africa and UNICEF, together with their delivery partners, and through the best-in-class methodologies and emerging smart technologies, are enhancing these programmes to improve the overall chances of employability and foster an entrepreneurial spirit for young and disadvantaged people between the ages of 15-24.
Within this context, UNICEF and the University of Pretoria will be utilising the UP Mamelodi Campus to increase scale and reach in bridging the skills divide in offering youth within the community to develop entrepreneurship skills,” Machaba adds.
“Providing young people with the space and opportunities to pursue their entrepreneurial ambitions is a priority in South Africa,” says Muriel Mafico, UNICEF South Africa Deputy Representative.
“This collaboration, as part of the Generation Unlimited initiative, will help young people to transform their social and economic prospects to improve their wellbeing and that of their communities and South Africa as a whole,” adds Mafico.
In 2011, the Mamelodi Business Hub (MBH), originally known as the Mamelodi Business Clinic, was established by the Department of Business Management within the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences and became a crucial role player in the implementation of community development initiatives. The primary purpose of the MBH is to enable community development through innovative interventions to enhance the development of entrepreneurs in the local community.
For more than a decade, the Mamelodi Business Clinic touched the lives of more than 14 000 entrepreneurs. But now what Prof Kupe describes as UP’s best-kept secret, has reached a point where it is ready to scale its activities for greater impact.
Thus, the revitalised Hub is borne out of a greater vision for not just Mamelodi but the country and the African continent. “We are a university whose new five-year strategic plan is to be future-oriented and future-focused in addressing both historical and present challenges. One of the core strategic goals of UP is to embed community engagement and civic commitment in its academic mission.
“The MBH will from today focus on being more than just a business incubator,” adds Prof Kupe.
Prof Kupe says the work of the MBH will integrate with the mandates of the Centre for the Future of Work and the Centre for Entrepreneurship towards creating and transferring new knowledge, innovation, and the strategic trajectory of UP within a changing socio‐political, economic and higher education environment.
“The success of the MBH is directly linked to the synergy and the strong relationships established over time in driving a shared vision of social impact. We thank PwC and UNICEF for funding and advising the new business model and program,” he adds.
***END***
About the University of Pretoria
The University of Pretoria (UP) is one of the largest contact and residential universities in South Africa, with its administration offices located on the Hatfield Campus, Pretoria. This 114-year-old institution is also the largest producer of research in South Africa.
For more information, go to www.up.ac.za
About UNICEF
UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in over 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special efforts on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children everywhere.
Working with a range of partners, UNICEF has had a presence in South Africa since the end of apartheid and continues to work towards bettering the lives of all children in the country.
Follow UNICEF South Africa on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
1 of 5
Press Release
25 May 2022
Op-Ed: 'Two years after the killing of George Floyd and the global reckoning on racial injustice, mass shooting in Buffalo beckons the urgency for ending racial inequalities and discrimination to be at the top of the United Nations agenda.'
On May 14, 2022, in Buffalo, New York, a white supremacist livestreamed his terrorist attack against black people at a local supermarket killing ten, injuring three others, yelling racial slurs during the incident. 11 of the victims were black. The killer endorsed the far-right "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory.
These killings shocked the world and resonated within the glass walls of the United Nations headquarters in New York.
Following the incident in Buffalo, the United Nations Secretary-General condemned in the strongest terms racism in all its forms and discrimination. Mr. António Guterres stated that “we must all work together towards building more peaceful and inclusive societies”.
We wholeheartedly support our Secretary-General, a leader whose deep commitment to a better world is unquestionable and echo his condemnation of the mass shooting in Buffalo. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims and the community.
We strongly condemn this heinous crime and senseless act motivated by hatred and extremism and committed against people of African descent.
We must however admit that we have been here before. The question is, when is enough, enough? Haven’t we had enough of inequality and discrimination? Enough of structural racism and systematic injustice?
We have met! There were the two World Conferences, to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination, held in Geneva in 1978 and 1983. It’s been almost 30 years since the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna calling for the speedy and comprehensive elimination of all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. 20 years have gone by since the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, was held in Durban, South Africa.
We have noted! Racism is a precursor for violent atrocities. Several United Nations Conventions note the linkages, including the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the 1984 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. United Nations Member States have made a commitment to “Advancing national and international efforts to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity, as well as their incitement.”
Despite all these efforts, Africans and Afro-decedents from Buffalo to Brazil continue to be victims of racial injustice. Addressing racism must be a matter of urgent priority. On 25 May 2020, exactly two years ago, George Floyd, an African American man was brutally murdered in broad daylight in Minnesota. Derek Chauvin, a white American police officer was later 2 convicted for murdering Floyd.
About a month after the killing of George Floyd, more than 20 United Nations senior officials of African descent penned an Op-Ed to express our outrage at the injustice of racism. We wrote that “racism continues to be pervasive in our Host Country and across the world.” Committed to do more, we stated that we “owe it to George Floyd and to all victims of racial discrimination and police brutality to dismantle racism in institutions”.
While denouncing racism in the world, we are aware that systemic racism exists even in the United Nations system, negatively impacting black, brown and other persons of color, particularly Africans and Afro descendants. The United Nations was created over 75 years ago when many nations were still ruled by colonial “masters” and the asymmetries of power were accepted. At the same time, the foundation of the United Nations is the conviction that all human beings are equal and entitled to live without fear of persecution.
That is why in the 2020 Op-Ed, the Senior Officials of African Descent called for an urgent and honest assessment of racism within our institution. Translated into about 20 languages covering all continents, the Op-Ed started an important conversation within the United Nations. Subsequently, we created the United Nations Senior Officials of African Descent Group, also known as UNSAG. UNSAG assembles dozens of international civil servants who, inspired by the values and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, stand together to challenge racism within the UN and in the world.
Soon after, the Secretary-General established a Task Force on Addressing Racism and Promoting Dignity for All. He launched an organization-wide dialogue on racism in our workplace in October 2020. The Task Force delivered a Strategic Action Plan on racial discrimination. Launching the Plan, the Secretary-General promised to establish a Steering Group to oversee implementation and to appoint a Special Adviser to support him in this important work. UNSAG salutes the SecretaryGeneral for the courageous decisions he has taken to end racism within the UN and looks forward to the fulfillment of these promises.
In the two years that have passed since the killing of George Floyd and before the mass killings in Buffalo, many other victims of racism fell under the violence of haters around the world. Keeping silent now is not an option. UNSAG says that silence is complicity. Ending structural and systemic racism is everyone’s business, everyone must play their part, in all countries and in every society. UNSAG calls on leaders of political entities, the business sector, inter-governmental and civil society organizations and citizens in their communities to prioritize ending racial injustice.
These are difficult times. The world is faced with multiple crises. As Secretary-General Guterres leads the world to avert a climate crisis, spur economic recovery from Covid 19, end wars and maintain peace, and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, UNSAG takes the opportunity to remind him that none of these objectives can be achieved without addressing multiple inequalities that intersect and reinforce each other across generations – and these include racial inequalities. When the UN General Assembly declared 2015–2024 to be the International Decade for People of African Descent, the family of nations recognized that “people of African descent represent a distinct group whose human rights must be promoted and protected”.
It is time for the United Nations to act decisively to end systemic racism against UN personnel of African descent. UNSAG calls for urgent and effective follow-up of the recommendations of the Task Force on Racism set up by the Secretary-General and eagerly awaits on-boarding of the Special Adviser on Racism announced at the staff townhall in February of this year.
On behalf of UNSAG members, I express our confidence and commitment to support SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres efforts to eradicate racism within the UN. We salute our colleagues, 3 members of the United Nations People of African Descent, also known as UNPAD for their tireless efforts and urge the UN Secretariat and all UN entities to empower and collaborate with UNPAD.
So close to the conclusion of the International decade for People of African Descent, and almost 500 years after the revolting Transatlantic trade of Africans began, recurring racist incidents around the world like the one in Buffalo remind us that indeed the arc of the moral universe is long but that it bends toward justice. We, international civil servants under the United Nations flag know that racism will not be eradicated overnight. Nevertheless, we are individually and collectively committed to effectively contribute towards the realization of an equal and just world where brutal manifestations of blatant anti-black racism are eliminated.
We will undertake this fight, starting at our workplace, the United Nations. To this effect, we are encouraged by the leadership and vision of Secretary-General António Guterres.
Our struggle continues.
Winnie Byanyima, United Nations Under-Secretary-General UNAIDS Executive Director and co-Chair, UNSAG
(Op Ed by the United Nations Senior Officials of African Descent Group (UNSAG) May 25, 2022)
1 of 5
Press Release
25 May 2022
Op-Ed: The power of partnerships: Why supporting our peacekeepers matters more now than ever by Under-Secretary-General, Jean-Pierre Lacroix
Every day, United Nations peacekeepers work to protect hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people in the world’s most fragile political and security situations.
Our civilian and uniformed personnel support ceasefires, prevent and respond to violence, investigate human rights violations and abuses, and help build peace, recovery, and development in conflict-affected countries. There is no doubt that lives are saved and changed by their presence.
In South Sudan, more than 80 percent of respondents to a recent perception survey reported feeling safer due to the presence of UN peacekeepers. Communities in other conflict zones also testify about the impact of peacekeeping. During operation “Let Peace Reign” in the Central African Republic, local leaders reported that increased patrols were deterring armed groups while the provision of clean water, medical assistance, and road rehabilitation by peacekeepers had significantly improved their lives. “It prevents the enemies of peace in our region so that peace returns, allowing us to move freely,” said Iyo Feikoumon from Doyi Village.
In some peace operations, a primary task is to provide robust protection of civilians due to the nature of the threat on the ground. Our military and police personnel make every effort to carry out this mandate in challenging and, often dangerous, conditions. However, the ultimate objective is to create the conditions for political solutions and sustainable peace. That is the true measure of our success.
Achieving that outcome is becoming more difficult in an increasingly tense global political and security climate.
Conflicts are more complex and multi-layered with local tensions fueled by national, regional, and international forces acting in their own interests. An increasing number of actors are involved in violence, including criminal, terrorist, and other armed elements. It is difficult to engage with these individuals and groups, with diverse motives and objectives and often links to transnational organized crime, because they have no real interest in reaching political settlements that foster lasting peace.
We are witnessing a less united approach to conflict resolution among global powers due to widening political divisions which, in turn, takes the pressure off warring parties to end violence and make concessions. These divides are exposed in Security Council resolutions relating to peacekeeping mandates, with less unanimity in the decisions made by Member States, notably on mandate renewals, but also less support to our missions when they face challenges on the ground.
A surge in mis-and disinformation is also creating new and growing threats to the safety of UN personnel and the communities they serve. In places like Mali, Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo, fake news fuels fighting as well as hostility towards peacekeeping missions. We are experiencing an increase in attacks on our bases, ambushes of convoys, and the increased use of improvised explosive devices. In this environment, the iconic blue flag that should provide safety for peacekeepers now risks making them a target.
Despite our best efforts to keep personnel safe, more peacekeepers are being injured or killed in these volatile conditions. The frequency of malicious attacks against peacekeepers increased from 280 in 2020 to 463 last year. In 2021, there were 24 fatalities due to these violent acts.
Among those we have lost are eight peacekeepers who died when their helicopter went down in the eastern DRC in March, during a reconnaissance mission to help protect civilians. I attended a very moving memorial service alongside colleagues in Goma. We all understand that risk, and loss, is inevitable given the nature of our work but, coming together in these tragic circumstances reminds us of the immense price paid by fallen peacekeepers and their families. I want to pay tribute to them. Their sacrifice inspires us to redouble our efforts to build peace and stability.
UN peacekeeping is not alone in this endeavor. Many partners work alongside us in the cause of peace.
Among them are humanitarians who provide life-saving assistance to the most vulnerable. Strong partnerships with communities are also critical. They inspire us with their resilience and persistence in helping resolve tensions, supporting reconciliation, and building peace. Women and youth are also vital partners as powerful champions for peace as are civil society and the media who shine light on the challenges and help promote solutions. We continue to strengthen our partnerships with the 122 Member States that contribute more than 75,000 military and police personnel to our 12 peacekeeping operations. We rely on the consent and active participation of host governments as well as the strong, united support of regional and international partners to persuade parties to put aside their differences and make the necessary concessions to reach political settlements.
That is why, this year, we are marking the International Day of UN Peacekeepers under the theme “People. Peace. Progress. The Power of Partnerships”. It is a chance to thank partners for their contributions and to issue a fresh call to action in the pursuit of global peace and security.
Peacekeeping is an imperfect tool that can never meet all needs or expectations. There are times when we are prevented from, or fail to carry out our mandates, and let ourselves, and those we serve, down, including in cases of misconduct by our personnel.
When this happens, we will continue to be held accountable, to constantly interrogate our performance, and find ways to be more innovative and effective, particularly through the Action for Peacekeeping initiative, which establishes priority areas where progress is needed. This includes strengthening our capacity to advance political solutions and support sustainable peace, improving protection of civilians as well as the safety of peacekeepers, implementing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, and rigorously evaluating our own performance.
Our goals are ambitious and not all will be achieved.
Questions may sometimes be asked about the value and impact of peacekeeping.
But if not peacekeeping, what else? Does a better solution exist today to maintain ceasefires, protect civilians, prevent chaos, and support peace efforts in the complex, conflict-affected environments where our operations are deployed?
Despite these questions, and in the face of many challenges, UN Peacekeeping will persevere alongside our partners, to be a strong force for change in a collective effort to achieve peace and progress for all peoples. Op-Ed written by: Under-Secretary-General, Jean-Pierre Lacroix
1 of 5
Press Release
18 May 2022
FAO adds voice to calls for an end to child labour in agriculture
Durban – The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is adding its voice to renewed calls for an end to child labour in agriculture, at the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour, underway in South Africa this week.
“In Sub-Saharan Africa, 4 out of 5 child labourers are found working too many hours, undertaking heavy and dangerous work in crop farming, livestock, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture. Those children are not able to benefit from compulsory education. This needs to stop,” Qu Dongyu, FAO Director-General, said by video message at the conference.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, numbers of child labourers rose by more than 15 million from 2016 to 2020. There are now more children in child labour in sub-Saharan Africa than in the rest of the world combined – the majority work on family farms.
“We want children to become young people who are enthusiastic about farming and agriculture. We need educated young farmers who are innovative and can feed both their families and the world, to protect the planet and sustain peace,” Qu Dongyu said.
Child labour overwhelmingly occurs in agriculture – the sector accounts for more than 70 percent of child labour worldwide. This means 112 million boys and girls in total working long hours and often performing hazardous tasks in the agricultural sector. The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated the situation: Child labour often filled gaps in agriculture production due to movement restrictions, or compensated income loss within families.
Household poverty remains one of the main drivers of child labour in the agricultural sector. Many families and communities feel that they have no other choice than to rely on their children to meet their needs for food and income. Children who work are likely to become the hungry of tomorrow, perpetrating the cycle of rural poverty.
To drive progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal target of eliminating all forms of child labour (SDG 8.7), FAO is calling for a breakthrough in agriculture.
“We need to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security, nutrition and livelihoods of the most vulnerable families. We need financial instruments in agriculture that address the vulnerabilities of small-scale farmers to climate change effects and conflicts [to eliminate child labour],” Abebe Haile-Gabriel, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa said during today’s conference session on policy priorities to end child labour in Africa.
Solutions - Acting together
Child labour in agriculture is a cross-sectoral problem that requires a cross-sectoral solution. FAO is calling on all actors in agrifood systems to take on an active role in ending child labour. Research institutions can contribute to building evidence, which is essential to raising awareness, initiating dialogue and designing appropriate actions. Producers’ organizations are able to provide services that contribute to ending the dependence of family farms and enterprises on child labour. These include training to increase the efficiency of adult workers and promotion of sustainable technologies and alternative practices that improve safety and productivity. They also can help identify and address the use of child labour in the supply chains. Agricultural extension agents are on the frontline, interacting with farmers, fishers, livestock raisers daily, they can address some of the root causes of child labour in agriculture by supporting shifts to improved practices and technologies. The private sector must be more proactive and comply with human rights obligations. FAO at the 5th Global Conference FAO is organizing a dedicated high-level thematic panel on child labour in agriculture and a side-event focused on the artisanal fisheries and aquaculture sector. These sessions will present solutions, renew commitment from agricultural actors, and call for more cross-sectoral actions and investments to alleviate poverty and transform our agrifood systems. FAO is also presenting during the high-level thematic panel on the central role of social protection in tackling child labour. On the sidelines of the conference, FAO has launched a new publication: Ten years of FAO experience on ending child labour in agriculture in Africa. The compendium is the result of an inventory exercise, the first of its kind, examining FAO's activities to combat child labour in agriculture in Malawi, Mali, Uganda, Niger and the United Republic of Tanzania over a decade (2010-2020). It aims to make a practical contribution to the field of the elimination of child labour in agriculture, highlighting some of the activities supported by FAO, processes and practices within countries, achievements and lessons learned. The 5th Global Conference On Child Labour is being held in Durban from 15-20 May and is co-organised by the Government of South Africa and the International Labour Organization. ***ENDS*** FAO’s events at the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour Visit here to find out more about the high-level thematic panel on child labour in agriculture on Thursday 19 May, 12:30-14:15 CET Click here to join the side-event focused on the fisheries sector on Thursday 19 May, 11:15-12:15 CET Visit here to find out more about the high-level thematic panel on the central role of social protection in tackling child labour on Wednesday 18 May, 12:30-14:15 CET Fast facts: · Child labour is a grave violation of human rights: it is harmful for children, it hinders their education, health and future employability, perpetuating poverty. · Worldwide, 160 million children are trapped in child labour - an increase of 8.4 million in the last four years, which marks a dramatic reversal of years of progress. · Today, nearly 1 in 10 children are trapped in child labour worldwide. · In Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of child labourers rose by more than 15 million since 2016. There are now more children in child labour in sub-Saharan Africa than in the rest of the world combined. · Worldwide, agriculture accounts for 70 percent of child labour (112 million boys and girl), with children starting to work as young as 5 years old as unpaid family labour. · An additional four million children were drawn into child labour in agriculture over the period 2016-2020. · The socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 on rural populations has been dramatic. Children have been used to compensate for income loss and the lack of workforce in food and agriculture production. Find out more: · New publication: Ten years of FAO experience on ending child labour in agriculture in Africa · FAO website: Child labour in agriculture · FAO pledge to intensify efforts to end child labour in agriculture · FAO Framework on Ending Child labour in Agriculture · FAO/ILO e-learning courses on child labour in agriculture Contacts: Zoie Jones, FAO Regional Office for Africa - Communications, Email: Zoie.Jones@fao.org
Child labour in agriculture is a cross-sectoral problem that requires a cross-sectoral solution. FAO is calling on all actors in agrifood systems to take on an active role in ending child labour. Research institutions can contribute to building evidence, which is essential to raising awareness, initiating dialogue and designing appropriate actions. Producers’ organizations are able to provide services that contribute to ending the dependence of family farms and enterprises on child labour. These include training to increase the efficiency of adult workers and promotion of sustainable technologies and alternative practices that improve safety and productivity. They also can help identify and address the use of child labour in the supply chains. Agricultural extension agents are on the frontline, interacting with farmers, fishers, livestock raisers daily, they can address some of the root causes of child labour in agriculture by supporting shifts to improved practices and technologies. The private sector must be more proactive and comply with human rights obligations. FAO at the 5th Global Conference FAO is organizing a dedicated high-level thematic panel on child labour in agriculture and a side-event focused on the artisanal fisheries and aquaculture sector. These sessions will present solutions, renew commitment from agricultural actors, and call for more cross-sectoral actions and investments to alleviate poverty and transform our agrifood systems. FAO is also presenting during the high-level thematic panel on the central role of social protection in tackling child labour. On the sidelines of the conference, FAO has launched a new publication: Ten years of FAO experience on ending child labour in agriculture in Africa. The compendium is the result of an inventory exercise, the first of its kind, examining FAO's activities to combat child labour in agriculture in Malawi, Mali, Uganda, Niger and the United Republic of Tanzania over a decade (2010-2020). It aims to make a practical contribution to the field of the elimination of child labour in agriculture, highlighting some of the activities supported by FAO, processes and practices within countries, achievements and lessons learned. The 5th Global Conference On Child Labour is being held in Durban from 15-20 May and is co-organised by the Government of South Africa and the International Labour Organization. ***ENDS*** FAO’s events at the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour Visit here to find out more about the high-level thematic panel on child labour in agriculture on Thursday 19 May, 12:30-14:15 CET Click here to join the side-event focused on the fisheries sector on Thursday 19 May, 11:15-12:15 CET Visit here to find out more about the high-level thematic panel on the central role of social protection in tackling child labour on Wednesday 18 May, 12:30-14:15 CET Fast facts: · Child labour is a grave violation of human rights: it is harmful for children, it hinders their education, health and future employability, perpetuating poverty. · Worldwide, 160 million children are trapped in child labour - an increase of 8.4 million in the last four years, which marks a dramatic reversal of years of progress. · Today, nearly 1 in 10 children are trapped in child labour worldwide. · In Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of child labourers rose by more than 15 million since 2016. There are now more children in child labour in sub-Saharan Africa than in the rest of the world combined. · Worldwide, agriculture accounts for 70 percent of child labour (112 million boys and girl), with children starting to work as young as 5 years old as unpaid family labour. · An additional four million children were drawn into child labour in agriculture over the period 2016-2020. · The socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 on rural populations has been dramatic. Children have been used to compensate for income loss and the lack of workforce in food and agriculture production. Find out more: · New publication: Ten years of FAO experience on ending child labour in agriculture in Africa · FAO website: Child labour in agriculture · FAO pledge to intensify efforts to end child labour in agriculture · FAO Framework on Ending Child labour in Agriculture · FAO/ILO e-learning courses on child labour in agriculture Contacts: Zoie Jones, FAO Regional Office for Africa - Communications, Email: Zoie.Jones@fao.org
1 of 5
Press Release
12 May 2022
The United Nations in South Africa contributes towards rebuilding efforts in KwaZulu-Natal Province in response to the devastation caused by floods
Durban, KwaZulu-Natal – The Acting Resident Coordinator and head of the United Nations in South Africa, Mr. Ayodele Odusola, today outlined the support the UN will provide to the KwaZulu-Natal Province following last month’s devastating floods.
Speaking at a joint media briefing held in Durban with Mr. Sihle Zikalala, the provincial Premier, Mr. Odusola commended the relationship between the UN and the province, spanning over a decade, and the support contributed during times of crises, including the Covid-19 pandemic and the civil unrest of last year.
The UN has reallocated R 21 million of its programming budget to support the Government’s response in the hardest hit communities. Over the coming weeks, the UN will work directly with Government departments to implement various activities in affected communities. It will also participate in the Provincial Disaster Risk Coordination structures to integrate UN programmes into existing sector plans and to ensure inclusion of its reporting into current structures. The UN plans to complete all its support within three months and submit a final report to the Provincial Government of KwaZulu-Natal detailing its work.
“The floods, compounded by the ongoing socio-economic challenges facing the people of South Africa, is both an opportunity and ultimatum for us all. It is a clear sign that the impact of climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time,” said Mr. Odusola. Since the destruction caused by the floods, UN agencies have been working closely with Government departments to provide support to the affected communities.
Premier Zikalala welcomed the UN support adding the province is “grateful for the commitment by the UN outlined by the Resident Coordinator and thank you for the network that has been established and the resources that you have mobilised to assist us. This has been a very painful experience and the worst catastrophe we have seen, so the support you have brought is welcomed.”
The UN will also work with the eThekwini Municipality to build on existing work with the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs through the District Development Model and KwaZulu-Natal’s own Operation Sukuma Sakhe, which aims to accelerate service delivery, assess progress on repairs to infrastructure that was damaged by recent storms and assist in providing humanitarian support to affected communities.
#####
For interviews and media enquiries, please contact Zeenat Abdool, UN South Africa - Associate Public Information Officer, at abdool@un.org or 0827788080
1 of 5
Press Release
28 April 2022
MTN Group (MTN) partners with UN Women and joins the HeForShe Alliance to accelerate its gender equality efforts
MTN is pleased to announce further progress in its efforts to drive gender equality by partnering with United Nations (UN) Women and joining the HeForShe Alliance in a drive to enhance its gender efforts.
The HeForShe Alliance aims to develop the largest set of scalable and shareable solutions for gender equality’s most pressing challenges. Convening global trailblazers from across sectors, these HeForShe Alliance members will spearhead transformative change across countries, companies, campuses, and communities, inspiring many other to follow suit and demonstrating the value of allyship in accelerating progress.
"At MTN, we are clear that a diverse and inclusive culture will be critical to our success and sustainability. Partnering with the HeForShe Alliance will help us accelerate our efforts to create an environment where women thrive and have a deep sense of belonging within MTN,” says MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita. “We have three priorities that we are focused on. Firstly, to achieve gender equity by no later than 2030, with a target of 50% women in the workforce, from a 2021 base of 39%. Our efforts on gender equity extend to the executive leadership groups and the boards within our governance structures. Secondly, higher representation of women within technology roles, with a goal of at least 30% by 2030, off an existing base of 17%. Thirdly, to close the gender pay gaps we have across our businesses.”
The partnership, a $1.6 million commitment over a period of five years, will see the Group accelerate its efforts to advance gender equality. MTN’s approach to gender equality is not only about the women in the business but about the girls and women in broader society. Working with UN Women, MTN will develop and upskill women and girls to ensure they can actively participate in the Digital Economy.
The HeForShe Alliance stems from the global HeForShe solidarity movement, a flagship initiative of UN Women, the United Nations entity for Gender Equality, that invites men and boys as allies for a more equal world. This international movement engages men and boys through programs and partnerships with the aim of accelerating women’s economic empowerment, supporting women’s role in peace and security processes, advancing women’s leadership and eliminating gender-based violence. Since its inception in 2014, the movement has led to over 1.3 billion conversations across the globe.
Hazel Gooding PhD, Representative ad interim, reiterates that “the UN Women South Africa Multi-Country Office (SAMCO) is constantly innovating its approach with respect to strategic partnerships that can strongly amplify Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. UN Women looks forward to closely collaborating with MTN on the identified areas of Digital Economy and Ending Violence against Women and Girls to make a positive and sustainable impact on the lives of women and girls.”
Edward Wageni, Global Head of HeForShe, said “MTN’s commitment to fortify access, skills, and leaders to achieve gender equality in the workforce and increase the representation of women in leadership is an aspirational beacon for the telecommunications industry at large. We are proud to be partnering with such a connected organization in advancing the shared vision of an equal and supportive workplace for all.”
For MTN, gender equality is not only a moral imperative, but a business imperative too and that is why the company recognises that it cannot reach a sustainable future without the empowerment of women and girls and the commitment of all stakeholders, including men and boys, to achieving this goal. The Group is a signatory to the UN Global Compact and Women Empowerment Principles, MTN is committed to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals - including Goal 5 for Gender Equality.
******END*****
About the MTN Group
Launched in 1994, the MTN Group is a leading emerging market operator with a clear vision to lead the delivery of a bold new digital world to our customers. We are inspired by our belief that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life. The MTN Group is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in South Africa under the share code ‘MTN’. Our strategy is Ambition 2025: Leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress.
For more information, please contact:
MTN Group Press Office | MTNGroup.PressOffice@mtn.com
About UN Women
UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide.
For more information, visit www.unwomen.org. Agnes Utunga Phiri, Partnerships Specialist Pretoria, South Africa, Email: agness.phiri@unwomen.org, UN Women, 220 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017, New York. Tel: +1 646 781-4400. Fax: +1 646 781-4496. For more information, visit www.unwomen.org.
About HeForShe
Created by UN Women, the United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women, HeForShe is a solidarity movement for gender equality that invites men and boys as allies for a more equal world. HeForShe provides a systematic approach and targeted platform where a global audience can engage and become change agents for the achievement of gender equality in our lifetime. The movement invites people around the world to stand together as equal partners to craft a shared vision of a gender-equal world and implement specific, locally relevant solutions for the good of all of humanity.
For more information, visit: www.HeForShe.org/en.
1 of 5
Latest Resources
1 / 11
Resources
10 February 2022
Resources
08 February 2022
1 / 11