Category Archives: United Nations

International Day of Peace

The United Nations International Day of Peace yesterday was dedicated to young people. It started with the ringing of the Peace Bell from UN Headquarters by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. To mark the day, millions of people around … Continue reading

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Phones, Facebook and Freedom

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in May in Geneva this year underlined the potential and dangers of communications technology and online social networking. On the positive side, online social networking (such as Facebook and Twitter) allows people … Continue reading

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19 men + 0 women=gender equality?

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s recent appointment of an all-male High Level Advisory Board on Climate Change Financing angered gender equality activists around the world. The appointment came as a surprise, as the UN has shown some progress in … Continue reading

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Implementing the Beijing Platform for Action

The  Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), starting next week, will undertake a fifteen-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The Platform identifies twelve critical areas1 of concern considered to be major obstacles … Continue reading

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Sexual Violence in War

“Absent from ceasefire agreements, not subject to disarmament programmes, and rarely mentioned at the peace-table, mass rape is a war tactic that lingers long after the guns fall silent.”1 The last decade shows alarming figures: 250,000–500,000 women and girls were … Continue reading

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