Tag Archives: United Nations

Zero under 18 – Armed Conflicts Are No Place for Children

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According to the United Nations, grave violations are currently taking place against children and youth in more than twenty war-affected countries. This ongoing problem is being highlighted this year during the UN International Year of Youth.

Forcing children into the killing fields is one of the most despicable of human rights violations, and it’s a problem that impacts all of us.   While there are things individuals can do to help stop the use of child combatants, the United Nations is expanding its efforts to protect war-affected children.

The UN’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict – Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy – works with the General Assembly, the Security Council, regional organizations and bilateral contacts to garner political will from the international community to effectively protect war-affected children.  In addition, UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations has incorporated children’s issues into its work.

Coomaraswamy’s “Zero under Eighteen” campaign aims to achieve by 2012 the universal ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, which condemns the use of child combatants.

In June 2010, the UN Security Council expressed its readiness to impose asset freezing, arms embargoes and travel restrictions against persistent violators who recruit and abuse children in war.

In the United States, the Child Soldiers Accountability Act allows the U.S. government to prosecute persons in the United States who have knowingly recruited or used children as child soldiers, even if the children were recruited or served as soldiers outside the United States.

What do you think it will take for governments to get serious about ending the use of child soldiers?

The International Year of Youth

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In 2009 the United Nations declared that August 2010 – August 2011 would be the International Year of Youth.  Now that 2011 has begun, and there are only nine months remaining in the International Year of Youth (IYY), it’s a good time to refocus our attention on the unique needs, desires, talent and aspirations of youth around the world. 

First, let’s remember what youth, who represent 18% of the world’s population, are facing in today’s global environment.  United Nations fact sheets tell us:

–  In 2009, about 81 million young people were unemployed, the most ever;

–  In 2008, young people accounted for 40% of all new global HIV infections in people aged 15  years and older;

–  Children and youth are uniquely vulnerable to involuntary military recruitment;

–  More that 1.8 million young people aged 15 to 24 die each year, mostly due to preventable causes.

But not all the news about today’s youth is discouraging.   Young people everywhere are improving their societies and focusing their energies on the issues that matter most to them.  For example, youth are leading the way on climate change, organizing campaigns to help victims of natural disasters, preparing to be the next generation of government leaders, and innovating new ways to educate their fellow young global citizens.  In August President Obama’s Forum with Young African Leaders brought dozens of young men and women to Washington, DC to discuss the future of the African continent.

Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has said, “Youth should be given a chance to take an active part in the decision-making of local, national and global levels.”   The IYY encourages “Everyone… to promote the ideals of peace, freedom, progress and solidarity towards the promotion of youth development.”

What will you do in 2011 to support youth in your community?

U.S. to Host World Press Freedom Day in 2011

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The United States will play host to UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day event in 2011, from May 1 – May 3.  The celebration will be held in Washington, DC, and will carry the theme “21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers.”

During the event, UNESCO will award the Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, which honors a person, organization or institution that has notably contributed to the defense and/or promotion of press freedom, especially where risks have been undertaken.   The recipient is determined by an independent jury of international journalists.

In a statement about World Press Freedom Day 2011, Philip J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of State said:

“New media has empowered citizens around the world to report on their circumstances, express opinions on world events, and exchange information in environments sometimes hostile to such exercises of individuals’ right to freedom of expression.  At the same time, we are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals, and to restrict the free flow of information.  We mark events such as World Press Freedom Day in the context of our enduring commitment to support and expand press freedom and the free flow of information in this digital age.” 

For further information regarding World Press Freedom Day Events for program content, you can visit the World Press Freedom Facebook page http://www.connect.connect.facebook.com/WPFD2011

Contest: “Your World, Your Future: Voices of a New Generation”

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What is the most vital challenge to international peace and security facing your generation?  If you’re under the age of 21, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations wants to hear your answer to that question.

Simply create a video no more than one minute in length (or write 250 words or less) and submit it to the Mission by December 14.  The three most compelling submissions will become the topics of debate among Security Council members at an event that will be broadcast live at www.un.org/webcast directly from the Security Council Chamber at United Nations Headquarters in New York.   Ambassador Rice’s video announcing the event is here.

According to the Mission, “The challenges we face as a global community have never been tougher, and the youth of the world have an important perspective to share.  Now is your chance to be heard.”

Complete instructions as well as terms and conditions of participation are available at http://usun.state.gov/youth.  Please write to us at youth@state.gov with any questions.

World Press Freedom Day

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In 1993, the United Nations General Assembly designated 3 May as World Press Freedom Day.  For the past seventeen years, this day has highlighted the importance of freedom of the press, and paid tribute to journalists who have lost their lives while doing their jobs. 

Last week, Freedom House reminded us all that there is still much work to be done to ensure freedom of the press around the world when they released a study that says global press freedom declined in 2009.

This week, America.gov’s entire Democracy and Human Rights page is devoted to the topic of freedom of the press.  There are articles, a photo gallery, and information about upcoming webchats (one in English, one in French) with journalists.

Update: Statement by Secretary Clinton on World Press Freedom Day

Update: President Obama on World Press Freedom Day

The Olympic Truce

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With many athletes participating in traditional sports as Winter Olympics XXI takes place in Vancouver, Canada, the United Nations has also taken up an ancient Greek tradition: calling for an Olympic Truce.

“Peace and stability are essential for people to reach their true potential. The Olympic Truce is based on that yearning, and on ideals shared by the UN and the Olympic movement alike: global friendship, harmony, non-violence and nondiscrimination,” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said (PDF, 95KB) at the start of the games February 12.

“I therefore join the United Nations General Assembly, the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Movement in urging warring parties all over the world to lay down their weapons during the XXI Olympic Winter Games. Let us start with the Olympic Truce, and continue even after the games are played and the medals awarded,” Ban said. (The United Nations passed an Olympic Truce resolution for the 2010 Winter Olympics (PDF, 35KB) on October 15, 2009.)

Do you think the Olympic Truce can make a difference in resolving conflicts around the world?

President Obama: the anti-nuclear activist-in-chief

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You may have noticed that President Obama is not a fan of nuclear weapons. At a speech in Prague this past April he called for their abolition. He has been working with Russia to reduce the number of U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons and launchers. And he has also been trying to prevent Iran and North Korea from developing nuclear weapons of their own.

Today marked another indication that nuclear nonproliferation is a huge priority of the Obama administration when the president called a summit meeting of the United Nations Security Council and became the first U.S. head of state to ever chair the body. It was also only the fifth time the Security Council has met at the head of state level since its formation in 1946. The first was held in 1992 to discuss the dissolution of the former Soviet Union.

Can you guess what the topic was today?

What President Obama and the other heads of state achieved from this summit was the first U.N. Security Council resolution calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons and which sets out a broad framework on how to reduce nuclear dangers in pursuit of that goal.

The spread and use of nuclear weapons is a “fundamental threat to the security of all peoples and all nations,” Obama said. If one nuclear weapon exploded in a major world city, it would kill thousands, and “it would badly destabilize our security, our economies, and our very way of life.”

The president said every country has the right to peaceful nuclear energy, but those which already have nuclear weapons “have the responsibility to move toward disarmament,” and those who don’t “have the responsibility to forsake them.”

What do you think? Is a world without nuclear weapons achievable? How can this goal become a reality?

Nine months in: has the U.S. global image changed?

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Yesterday at President Obama’s speech before the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly, he said that when he was sworn in nine months ago, he was aware that many viewed the United States with “skepticism and distrust,” whether due to opposition to U.S. policies, unilateral action, or misperceptions and misinformation.

In response, “This has fed an almost reflexive anti-Americanism, which too often has served as an excuse for collective inaction,” he said.

So, nine months later, does the “skepticism and mistrust” remain or is the United States seen in a somewhat better light?

It is interesting that President Obama alluded to his global standing by saying he is “well aware of the expectations that accompany my presidency around the world.”

But those expectations “are not about me,” he continued. “[T]hey are rooted, I believe, in a discontent with a status quo that has allowed us to be increasingly defined by our differences, and outpaced by our problems. But they are also rooted in … the hope that real change is possible, and the hope that America will be a leader in bringing about such change.”

What do you think about where the U.S. image is right now? Since nine months is roughly the same amount of time as the American school year, why don’t you send us a report card?

Also, check out the full text of his speech. Or you can also read my summary of it.

No nation can escape climate change, Obama says

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Meeting with world leaders at the United Nations’ Climate Change Summit, President Obama said “no nation, however large or small, wealthy or poor, can escape the impact of climate change.”

The effects of climate change can be reversed, Obama said. While the United States may have not done enough in the past, “it is a new era. … I am proud to say that the United States has done more to promote clean energy and reduce carbon pollution in the last eight months than at any other time in our history.”

The United States is increasing its investment in renewable energies and will work with other nations to seek other solutions.

“Because no one nation can meet this challenge alone, the United States has also engaged more allies and partners in finding a solution than ever before,” Obama said. The president acknowledged that international cooperation on the topic is challenging, but that “difficulty is no excuse for complacency.”

What do you think – can the effects of climate change be reversed? And do you believe governments will work together to make this happen?

The transcript of Obama’s remarks is available on America.gov.

Day 70: United States will seek seat on UN Human Rights Council

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In keeping with the Obama administration’s “new era of engagement,” the State Department announced today that the United States will seek a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council.

“Human rights are an essential element of American global foreign policy” said Secretary Clinton. “With others, we will engage in the work of improving the UN human rights system to advance the vision of the UN Declaration on Human Rights.

The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations that seeks to strengthen and promote human rights around the world. The United States had previously declined to join the council, created in 2006.

“The U.S. is seeking election to the council because we believe that working from within, we can make the council a more effective forum to promote and protect human rights,” said Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Do you agree?