United Nations

UN Ebola response now planned to continue into 2016

The news comes as health officials struggle to contain a resurgence of cases in both Sierra Leone and Guinea largely because of problems tracing patients.

The World Health Organization and its humanitarian partners indicated Wednesday that Phase Three of their Ebola response would continue into 2016. Those activities include stopping transmission of Ebola, indicating more cases are anticipated.

Fiji will host 2017 UN Summit

It is also continuing its engagement efforts by seeking membership of the UN Human Rights Council by 2017.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Ratu Inoke Kubuabola disclosed this in Parliament Monday.

He said – “Fiji is a founding member of the Ambassadorial Group of Friends of Oceans and Seas, and we are a leading  advocate of creating a triennial Summit on Oceans and Seas that would oversee the implementation of Goal 14.”

UN welcomes new partnership on sustainable energy efforts

This a huge environmental success that agreed to phase out ozone-depleting chemicals.

“Let us ensure that we protect our climate the way we have preserved the ozone layer,” Ban said in his message for the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, observed annually on 16 September.

“Not so long ago, humanity stood on the brink of a self-inflicted catastrophe,” he recalled. “Our use of ozone-depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) had torn a hole in the ozone layer that protects us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation.

UN urges Pacific governments to prepare for El Nino impact

The UN resident coordinator in Fiji, Osnat Lubrani, says it is expected to rival the 1997 El Nino which is the most severe on record.

Ms Lubrani says drought problems currently being experienced around parts of the region are just the beginning.

She says governments need to start raising awareness in communities and preparing national emergency plans.

UN issues stark warning on Pacific drought threat

The UN's Resident Coordinator, Osnat Lubrani, says communities and governments need to prepare now for the extreme weather changes El Niño usually triggers.

He says some countries are already implementing or drafting drought plans and the UN is ready to help co-ordinate this and to provide technical advice.

Over the coming months, countries on the equator can expect more rain, flooding and higher sea levels, presenting challenges for low-lying atolls already feeling the impacts of climate change.

Child mortality rates plunge by more than half

But it is not enough to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of a two-thirds reduction over the past 15 years, according to a new report released today by a number of United Nations agencies.

“We have to acknowledge tremendous global progress, especially since 2000 when many countries have tripled the rate of reduction of under-five mortality,” said the Deputy Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Geeta Rao Gupta.

Literacy for all must stand at the heart of new sustainable development agenda

The United Nations is emphasizing that literacy is essential to reach the newly-proposed Sustainable Development Goal on promoting inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all.

This is the message of International Literacy Day 2015. The Day is celebrated every year on 8 September to “raise the flag for literacy as a human right, as a force for dignity, and as a foundation for cohesive societies and sustainable development,” said Irina Bokova, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

China urged to help build momentum ahead of climate change conference

Ban made the appeal in separate meetings with the President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang, Vice Premier Liu Yandong, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing, where he attended commemorative events in the Chinese capital marking the 70th anniversary of the Second World War.

‘Global Goals’ campaign launched at UN

During a press conference at UN Headquarters today, the Global Goals campaign, founded by filmmaker Richard Curtis, was announced as aiming to make the 17 UN Goals famous and to push for their full implementation worldwide.

Described as an “unprecedented effort,” the campaign is supported by a variety of other social movements including action/2015 – a coalition of over 2000 organizations – and Global Citizen, a community of ordinary people that help fight extreme poverty.

Top UN official says Suva Declaration has urgency

She has been attending the Pacific Islands Development Forum in Fiji where Pacific island countries have been coming up with a position to take to crucial UN climate change talks in Paris in November.

The statement includes a demand on limiting global temperature to 1 point 5 degrees over pre-industrial levels.

Mrs Robinson says the statement will have an impact on industrialised nations.