About This Source - United Nations
The United Nations (UN) was established after World War II with the aim of preventing future wars. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states.
The UN’s chief administrative officer is the Secretary-General, currently Portuguese politician and diplomat António Guterres, who began his five year-term on 1 January 2017.
Recent from United Nations:
United Nations published this video item, entitled “Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons & other topics- Daily Briefing (22 Jan 2021)” – below is their description.
Daily Press Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General.
– Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
– New Start Treaty
– Mozambique and Southern Africa
– Ethiopia
– Mali
– DR Congo
– Sahel
– Darfur
– Iraq
– Libya
– Press Briefing Monday
– Honour Roll
TREATY ON THE PROHIBITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has entered into force today. This is the first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty in more than twenty years.
In a video message issued early this morning, the Secretary-General said that the TPNW is an important step towards the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons and a strong [demonstration] of support for multilateral approaches to nuclear disarmament.
He commends the States that have ratified it and welcomes the instrumental role of civil society in advancing the Treaty’s negotiation and entry into force. The survivors of nuclear explosions and nuclear tests offered tragic testimonies and were a moral force behind the Treaty, he said. Entry into force is a tribute to their enduring advocacy.
The Secretary-General looks forward to carrying out the functions assigned by the Treaty, including the preparations for the first Meeting of States Parties.
Just to add that nuclear weapons pose growing dangers and the world needs urgent action to ensure their elimination and to prevent the catastrophic human and environmental consequences they would cause.
The Secretary-General calls on all States to work together to realize this ambition to advance common security and collective safety.
NEW START TREATY
Also, on nuclear disarmament, I just wanted to make some comments relating to the latest developments surrounding the new START treaty. The Secretary-General welcomes the decision by the United States to seek a five-year extension of the “New START” treaty, as well as the Russian Federation’s reiteration that it also seeks a five-year extension.
A five-year extension will not only maintain verifiable caps on the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals, but it will also provide time to negotiate new nuclear arms control agreements to grapple with our increasingly complex international environment.
The Secretary-General encourages both States to work quickly to complete the necessary procedures for “New START’s” extension before the 5 February expiration and move as soon as possible to negotiations on new arms control measures.
MOZAMBIQUE AND SOUTHERN AFRICA
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is supporting governments across the region to prepare for, and respond to, the approaching Tropical Cyclone Eloise.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, the cyclone is expected to make landfall near Beira, in central Mozambique, early tomorrow, local time. As you will recall this is the same area that was hit by Cyclone Idai less than two years ago and the Secretary-General has visited Beira in July of 2019.
We are obviously concerned about the prospects of significant flooding, particularly in Mozambique, where rivers are already at alert levels and flooding has been reported in several locations ahead of Eloise’s landfall.
The Government of Mozambique is carrying out evacuations and we and our partners have deployed personnel and supplies in advance, to be ready to respond quickly. After landfall in Mozambique, the cyclone is expected to weaken but could bring heavy rains to neighbouring countries, including Zimbabwe, South Africa and Botswana.
Humanitarian organizations in the region are already overstretched by ongoing operations, especially in Mozambique and Zimbabwe. It is expected that more funding will be urgently needed.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=22%20January%202021
United Nations YouTube Channel
Got a comment? Leave your thoughts in the comments section, below. Please note comments are moderated before publication.
In This Story: Botswana
Botswana, a landlocked country in Southern Africa, has a landscape defined by the Kalahari Desert and the Okavango Delta, which becomes a lush animal habitat during the seasonal floods. The massive Central Kalahari Game Reserve, with its fossilized river valleys and undulating grasslands, is home to numerous animals including giraffes, cheetahs, hyenas and wild dogs.
4 Recent Items: Botswana
In This Story: Cyclone
In meteorology, a cyclone is a large scale air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure. Cyclones are characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate about a zone of low pressure and typically bring winds, rain, high waves and storm surges to the areas they pass.
In the Atlantic and the northeastern Pacific oceans, a tropical cyclone is generally referred to as a hurricane (from the name of the ancient Central American deity of wind, Huracan), in the Indian and south Pacific oceans it is called a cyclone, and in the northwestern Pacific it is called a typhoon.
2 Recent Items: Cyclone
In This Story: Ethiopia
3 Recent Items: Ethiopia
In This Story: Iraq
Iraq has a coastline measuring 58 km (36 miles) on the northern Persian Gulf and encompasses the Mesopotamian Alluvial Plain, the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range and the eastern part of the Syrian Desert. Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation.
Iraq is a federal parliamentary republic consisting of 19 governorates, four of which make up the autonomous Kurdistan Region. Disputes over the sovereignty of Kurdistan Region continue.
Iraq is a founding member of the UN as well as of the Arab League, OIC, Non-Aligned Movement and the IMF.
2 Recent Items: Iraq
In This Story: Libya
Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa, bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad to the south, Niger to the southwest, Algeria to the west, and Tunisia to the northwest.
The sovereign state is made of three historical regions: Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyrenaica. The largest city and capital, Tripoli, is located in western Libya and contains over three million of Libya’s seven million people. The second-largest city is Benghazi, which is located in eastern Libya.
Libya became independent as a kingdom in 1951. A military coup in 1969 overthrew King Idris I. Parts of Libya are currently split between rival Tobruk and Tripoli-based governments, as well as various tribal and Islamist militias.
Libya is a member of the United Nations (since 1955), the Non-Aligned Movement, the Arab League, the OIC and OPEC. The country’s official religion is Islam, with 96.6% of the Libyan population being Sunni Muslims.
2 Recent Items: Libya
In This Story: Mali
2 Recent Items: Mali
In This Story: Mozambique
2 Recent Items: Mozambique
In This Story: Nuclear Weapons
A nuclear weapon (also called an atom bomb, nuke, atomic bomb, nuclear warhead, A-bomb, or nuclear bomb) is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or from a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb). Both bomb types release large quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter.
A nuclear device no larger than traditional bombs can devastate an entire city by blast, fire, and radiation. Since they are weapons of mass destruction, the proliferation of nuclear weapons is a focus of international relations policy.
2 Recent Items: Nuclear Weapons
In This Story: South Africa
