Category: World

Brazil urges ‘new globalization’ at G20 meet

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Post date 29 February 2024
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Brazilian officials said they were working on a compact final statement that would steer clear of divisive issues such as the Ukraine and Gaza wars….reports Asian Lite News

Brazil called for a “new globalization” to address poverty and climate change as finance ministers from the world’s top economies met Wednesday, but the Ukraine and Gaza wars risked overshadowing the plea.

“It is time to redefine globalization,” Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad told his counterparts from the Group of 20 leading economies, opening their first meeting of the year in Sao Paulo.

“We need to create incentives to ensure international capital flows are no longer decided by immediate profit but by social and environmental principles,” said Haddad, who gave his speech remotely after coming down with Covid-19.

The meeting, which follows one by foreign ministers in Rio de Janeiro last week, will lay the economic policy groundwork for the annual G20 leaders’ summit, to be held in Rio in November.

Brazilian officials said they were working on a compact final statement that would steer clear of divisive issues such as the Ukraine and Gaza wars.

“We know the world is going through a tense geopolitical moment,” said finance ministry executive secretary Dario Durigan.

But “there’s consensus on the economic issues,” he told journalists. “The whole world speaks the same economic language.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wants to use the rotating G20 presidency this year to push issues like the fights against poverty and climate change, reducing the crushing debt burdens of low-income nations, and giving developing countries more say at institutions like the United Nations.

International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva called for bolder climate action, urging countries to accelerate emissions cuts, end fossil fuel subsidies — which reached an estimated $1.3 trillion worldwide last year — and massively mobilize climate financing.

“The climate crisis is already upon us, and we have to admit we have been a bit slow to address it,” she said at a panel discussion on the sidelines of the meeting.

Also on the agenda: increasing taxes on corporations and the super-rich.

“We need to ensure the billionaires of the world pay their fair share of taxes,” said Haddad.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire backed that call, telling journalists that Paris is pushing to “accelerate” international negotiations on a minimum tax on the ultra-wealthy.

However, Durigan said the issue was unlikely to make it into the final statement. Even before the meeting opened, the conflict in Ukraine took center stage.

The Group of Seven countries — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, plus the European Union — held their own meeting on the sidelines to discuss shoring up Western support for Kyiv.

Officials said the meeting — attended remotely by Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko — focused on proposals to seize an estimated $397 billion in Russian assets frozen by the West.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Tuesday the issue was “urgent.” But there were divisions among G7 members.

“I want to be very clear: We don’t have the legal basis for seizing the Russian assets now. We need to work further… The G7 must act abiding by the rule of law,” said France’s Le Maire.

ALSO READ: Brazil Slams UNSC’s ‘Paralysis’ on Gaza, Ukraine

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World Leaders Gather in Nairobi for UN Environment Assembly

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Post date 26 February 2024
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The UN Environment Assembly is the world’s highest decision-making body on the environment — its membership includes all 193 UN member states…reports Asian Lite News

Ministers of environment and other leaders from more than 180 nations convened in Nairobi on Monday for the start of the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6), to be held till March 1.

More than 7,000 delegates from 182 UN member states and more than 170 ministers have registered for UNEA-6, taking place under the theme ‘effective, inclusive and sustainable multilateral actions to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution’.

With a focus on strengthening environmental multilateralism to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature loss and pollution, this year’s Assembly will be negotiating resolutions on issues ranging from nature-based solutions and highly hazardous pesticides to land degradation and drought, and environmental aspects of minerals and metals.

The UN Environment Assembly is the world’s highest decision-making body on the environment — its membership includes all 193 UN member states.

It meets biennially to set priorities for global environmental policies and develop international environmental law; decisions and resolutions then taken by member states at the Assembly also define the work of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

“We are living in a time of turmoil. And I know that in this room, there are people who are, or who know, those deeply affected by this turmoil. Our response must demonstrate that multilateral diplomacy can deliver,” said Leila Benali, President of UNEA-6 and Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Morocco.

“As we meet here in 2024, we must be self-critical and work towards inclusive, networked and effective multilateralism that can make a tangible difference to people’s lives.”

As climate change intensifies, a million species head towards extinction, and pollution remains one of the world’s leading causes of premature death, UNEA-6 will see countries consider some 19 resolutions, part of a broader push to spur more ambitious multilateral environmental action.

The resolutions cover, among other issues, circular economy; solar radiation modification; effective, inclusive, and sustainable multilateral actions towards climate justice; sound management of chemicals and waste, and sand and dust storms.

Delegates this week will include heads of state, representatives from government, civil society, and the private sector.

A series of leadership and multi-stakeholder dialogues and more than 30 official side events and associated events are expected to lay the grounds for strengthened future global and regional coordinated efforts by the United Nations, member states and partners to deliver high-impact planetary action.

ALSO READ-COP 28 Team Meets Leaders in Amazon Region

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WHO: 286K+ in Afghanistan Hit by Respiratory Illness

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Post date 26 February 2024
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Earlier this month, the World Bank in a report said that Afghanistan’s struggling economy has led to deflation and poverty, Khaama Press reported. This deflationary trend persisted from April 2023 to December 2023…reports Asian Lite News

The World Health Organization has announced that more than 286,000 people have been afflicted with respiratory illness in Afghanistan since the beginning of January 2024. Among those, 668 people have lost their lives, Afghanistan-based Khaama Press reported.

On February 24, the WHO reported hundreds of deaths and infections due to respiratory illness in Afghanistan, coinciding with the onset of winter, according to the report.

According to the World Health Organization, the rise in the number of people afflicted with respiratory issues is due to cold weather conditions, particularly affecting children, according to the Khaama Press report.

According to a WHO report, more than 63 per cent of the patients are children aged below five years, with nearly 50 per cent of them being women.

Previously, the World Health Organization stated that the average recorded statistics of respiratory illnesses in Afghanistan have increased in comparison to the same period from 2020 to 2022.

With the arrival of the cold season and increased air pollution, concerns over the spread of respiratory illnesses in Afghanistan have intensified. Previously, thousands of people died due to acute respiratory illnesses in Afghanistan, Khaama Press reported.

Amidst the increased deportation of Afghan refugees from neighbouring countries like Pakistan, more than half a million people are returning home and face dire conditions like lacking food, shelter, water, and job opportunities.

According to the report, Afghanistan has been facing economic challenges due to reduced aggregate demand, including factors like the stronger local currency, dwindling household savings, reduced public spending, and the ban on opium cultivation causing farmers to lose income.

Afghanistan has witnessed a significant decrease in headline inflation, with a negative 9.7 per cent year-on-year rate in December 2023. Food inflation reduced to negative 14.5 per cent and non-food inflation dropped to negative 4.2 per cent, reflecting weak demand. Core inflation, excluding food and energy prices, also reduced to a negative 6.0 per cent year-on-year.

These economic struggles have increased unemployment and pushed half of the population into poverty, with 15 million people facing food insecurity. Coal exports dropped by 46 per cent in 2023 to USD 257 million.

Furthermore, food exports witnessed a rise of 13 per cent, reaching USD 1.3 billion. Textile exports increased by 46 per cent in 2023 and reached USD 281 million, with Pakistan and India remaining primary export destinations. Imports in Afghanistan increased by 23 per cent in 2023 and reached USD 7.8 billion, with food, minerals, and textiles making up a major portion. (ANI)

ALSO READ-WHO weighs AI risks, benefits for healthcare

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Environment World World News

UNEA Set to Address Triple Planetary Crisis

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Post date 26 February 2024
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Observers said there are 20 draft resolutions and two decisions on the table, among them a resolution on the metals and minerals issue, reports Vishal Gulati

In the backdrop of 2023 being the warmest year on record, with resultant heatwaves, storms and droughts causing havoc, heads of state and more than 5,000 representatives and leaders will gather in Nairobi in Kenya from Monday for the five-day sixth UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) to strengthen multilateral effort to address the planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste.

The Assembly, which usually meets biennially and sees visionaries from the business sector, governments, scientific institutions, and civil society, is the world’s top decision-making body on matters related to the environment and includes all 193 UN member states.

Observers told IANS that there are 20 draft resolutions and two decisions on the table, among them a resolution on the metals and minerals issue.

“UNEA-VI will place particular focus on how stronger multilateralism can help us to do this,” said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen earlier this month.

“It will drive united, inclusive and multilateral action that addresses every strand of the triple planetary crisis as one indivisible challenge.”

In the run-up to the UNEA, aptly called “world’s parliament on the environment,” ministers and partners of the UNEP-convened Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) launched a Clean Air Flagship effort to provide a platform to boost regional coordination and private sector engagement, data-led policy action, financing, science and advocacy.

UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis will deliver his address at the opening of the high-level segment that will be held on February 29 and March 1.

The segment will consist of an opening plenary with statements by key dignitaries, national statements; three leadership dialogues, a multi-stakeholder dialogue, and a closing plenary meeting during which UNEA will take action on the draft Ministerial declaration as well as the draft resolutions and decisions.

India will be represented by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change’s Additional Secretary Naresh Pal Gangwar.

Government leaders plan to use the Assembly to renew calls for progress on the sustainable development goals, a global blueprint for protecting the planet and promoting prosperity. Just 15 per cent of the goals, which come due in 2030, are on track.

“We must find practical ways to advance the human rights to a healthy environment, which is crucial for sustainable development,” said Leila Benali, Morocco’s energy transition minister and the President of UNEA-VI.

“We know that when we protect the natural world, public health improves. When we focus on sustainable solutions to the climate crisis, our economies get stronger.”

Also on the agenda of the Assembly will be ways to tackle the dramatic increase of wasteful and fuel-intensive plastics, which is feeding the climate crisis.

More than 99 per cent of plastic is made from chemicals sourced from fossil fuels, the substances responsible for 86 per cent of C02 emissions in the last decade. Plastic pollution reinforces the need for a binding plastics treaty as well as a fossil fuel treaty that can tackle the root cause of both the plastics pollution crisis and the climate crisis through phasing out oil, gas and coal production.

In 2022, the Assembly ended with countries agreeing to launch negotiations on a legally binding global instrument to end plastic pollution.

That was one in a recent string of ambitious international agreements on environment. Last September, countries and businesses inked a landmark pact to prevent pollution from chemicals and waste.

Two months later, at the UN Climate Change Conference, countries vowed for the first time to transition away from the fossil fuels that are superheating the earth and driving climate change.

Researchers find that if no action is taken, annual plastic production will rise 22 per cent between 2024 and 2050, and plastic pollution will jump 62 per cent between 2024 and 2050. By continuing with business as usual, the world would generate enough litter between 2010 and 2050 to cover the entire island of Manhattan with a 3.5-km-tall heap of plastic — nearly 10 times the height of the Empire State Building.

With a strong UN plastics treaty that incorporates the right mix of nine plastic reduction policies, however, plastic pollution could be virtually eliminated in 2040 — with the generation of mismanaged waste reduced by 89 per cent to a more manageable 10 million metric ton per year in 2040.

Tags UN Environment Assembly, UNEA

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Jaishankar: Quad Reflects Growth of Multipolar Order

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Post date 24 February 2024
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Dr S. Jaishankar was addressing the ‘Quad Think Tank Forum’ session at the Raisina Dialogue. The session was primarily focused on the Quad, as well as a free and open Indo-Pacific

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said the coming together of India, US, Australia and Japan as part of the Quad group serves to illustrate the growth of a multipolar order and advance a post-Cold War thinking against ‘spheres of influence’.

“I believe it (Quad) has five messages. One, it reflects the growth of a multipolar order. Two, it is post-Alliance and post-Cold War thinking. Three, it is against spheres of influence. Four, It expresses the democratizing of the global space and a collaborative, not unilateral approach. And five, it is a statement that in this day and age, others cannot have a veto on our choices,” EAM Jaishankar said on the closing day of the Raisina Dialogue in the national capital on Saturday.

Jaishankar was addressing the ‘Quad Think Tank Forum’ session at the Raisina Dialogue. The session was primarily focused on the Quad, as well as a free and open Indo-Pacific

Highlighting the significance of Quad grouping in Indo-Pacific at the session, the EAM said, “Now, this in turn would elicit the question, why the Indo-Pacific? And the answer, I think, by now is very clear. The post-1945 division of what till then was perceived to be a cohesive threat resulted in our contemplating the Indian Ocean and the Pacific one as two separate entities. This separation was an outcome of American strategic priorities in 1945.”

Invoking the Quad’s history and events, he said they strengthened the grouping of four nations to discuss multi-faceted issues.

Addressing the inaugural Quad Think Tank Forum on the sidelines of #RaisinaDialogue2024 https://t.co/YXIwdxS4Vh
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) February 24, 2024

“The origins of the Quad go back to the tsunami response. This was an event which happened in late December 2004. I happen to be the coordinator for that response on the Indian side. In 2006, the actual idea of a Quad was put forward by the then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. But as I said earlier, it unravelled within a year, and in fact Abe himself had left office at that time,” Jaishankar said.

“In 2017, after a full decade, Quad was resumed, first at the Foreign Secretary’s level, and then was upgraded in 2019 to the ministerial one. Coincidentally, I happen to be occupying both positions at that particular juncture. In 2021, we, all four of us, upgraded it to the summit level and it has flourished since. And it’s been my privilege to have participated in all the meetings that have taken place since then,” he added.

The common refrain at the session was that the grouping should be in the interest of all countries in the region amid concerns around the Quad being an exclusive partnership between the four members. This session will also feature discussions on the state of recent efforts to expand the grouping’s outreach to other like-minded countries.

Before EAM Jaishankar, US Deputy Secretary of State, Kurt M. Campbell, addressed the session on behalf of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, saying, “The strength of the Quad is its ability to harness the resources and capabilities of our four nations (US, India, Australia, Japan) to deliver concrete outcomes that benefit us all. In 2024, it has enabled us to promote that common good for the people across the IndoPacific.”

Dr S. Jaishankar receives U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s Admiral John Aquilino in New Delhi on the sidelines of Raisina Dialogue.

“I want to emphasise the defining feature of our partnership – the Quad stands for our affirmative vision of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP), in which we collectively build the capacity of our allies and partners. The Quad is not about forcing the region to choose between strategic competitors. It is about preserving and creating options so that communities, institutions and countries can make decisions to benefit their people,” he added.

Australian FM Penny Wong, who addressed the session virtually, stressed the positive impact of Quad in the Indo-Pacific, saying, “We’ve maintained strong momentum in offering but never imposing transparent valued public goods. that responded to priorities.”

“I described the quad is a lighthouse, which brings together our countries to illuminate a positive vision for the Indo-Pacific,” she added.

Raisina Dialogue is India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics, committed to addressing the most challenging issues facing the global community.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was the chief guest and keynote speaker at the ongoing 9th Raisina Dialogue. He inaugurated the dialogue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 21. (ANI)

ALSO READ: Jaishankar Stresses Broad Engagement with Russia

Tags India, jaishankar, new delhi, QUAD, Raisina Dialogue

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Over 3.45 Million Internally Displaced in Somalia

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Post date 21 February 2024
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displaced people in somalia(https://www.wfp.org/)

According to the IOM, as of January, some 155,710 returnees and 9.05 million residents in 17 regions and 10,999 assessed locations had also been mapped…reports Asian Lite News

More than 3.45 million people had been internally displaced in Somalia as of January 2024 due to multiple shocks, including drought, floods, and conflict, the UN migration agency said.

According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the vast majority (88 per cent) of internally displaced persons (IDPs) were living in IDP sites, and only 12 per cent were residing among host communities, Xinhua news agency reported.

“Of the 3.5 million IDPs identified in 2023, 84 per cent were in urban areas, settled in nearly 4,000 IDP sites,” the IOM said on Wednesday in its latest assessment report released in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.

IDP sites in Somalia are informal settlements, mostly on privately owned land, and as a result, land tenure security issues are a major challenge, and IDPs are often at risk of forced eviction.

According to the IOM, as of January, some 155,710 returnees and 9.05 million residents in 17 regions and 10,999 assessed locations had also been mapped.

“The majority of returnees (81 per cent) were residing in rural areas, and 19 per cent were living in urban settlements. Returnees were mainly concentrated in the Bay and Bakool regions (44 per cent and 32 per cent, respectively),” the IOM added.

Somalia has experienced countless conflicts, episodes of violence, and natural disasters since the outbreak of the civil war in 1991.

This, the IOM said, has led to large recurring waves of forced displacement both within Somalia and to neighbouring countries and beyond.

ALSO READ-Somalia Faces Escalating Cholera Crisis

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Guterres calls for global order that works for everyone

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Post date 18 February 2024
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Guterres says the multipolarity has created important opportunities for balance and justice for new leadership on the global stage…reports Asian Lite News

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said global politics is in a deadlock and does not work in favor of anyone. In his opening speech at the 60th Munich Security Conference on Friday, Guterres addressed diplomats around the world at a panel titled Growing the Pie: A Global Order That Works for Everyone.

“As the title of our discussion implies, today’s global order is not working for everyone. In fact, I will go further and say it’s not working for anyone. Our world is facing existential challenges, but the global community is more fragmented and divided than at any time during the past 75 years,” the UN chief said.

Guterres said there is no justification for the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 or Israel’s military response, which included collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

“The situation in Gaza is an appalling indictment of the deadlock in global relations. The level of death and destruction is shocking in itself, and the war is also spilling over borders across the region and affecting global trades.”

The UN chief said the humanitarian aid operation is no longer on life support in Gaza but is barely functioning.

“Humanitarians are working under unimaginable conditions, including live fire, multiple physical obstacles — and these are all restrictions — as well as the breakdown of public order.”

Commenting on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vowing to carry out an extensive military offensive on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Guterres said the military action on the densely populated city should never take place.

“Rafah is at the core of the entire humanitarian aid operation. An all-out offensive on the city will be devastating for the 1.5 million Palestinian civilians there, who are already on the edge of survival.”

The UN chief reiterated his call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and a humanitarian cease-fire in the besieged enclave, saying: “That is the only way to massively scale up a delivery in Gaza. And this must be the foundation for concrete and reversible steps toward a two-state solution based on international law and UN resolutions.”

The UN chief later commented on the war in Ukraine, saying the cost of human lives is appalling.

“The war triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in clear violation of the UN Charter has no place in Europe of the 21st century. Two years in, the cost of human lives and suffering is appalling and the impact on the global economy has been particularly devastating for developing countries.

“We desperately need a just and sustained peace for Ukraine, for Russia and the world; but a peace in line with UN Charter and international law, which establishes the obligation to respect the territorial integrity of sovereign states.”

In his comparison of today’s “world order” to the previous eras, the UN chief said: “Even the Cold War era was in some ways less dangerous. The threat of nuclear war was real and existential. That’s why the United States and the Soviet Union agreed on arms reductions and controls and other mechanisms to prevent mutually assured destruction.”

“Today, in our multipolar worlds, we still face nuclear dangers and we are dealing with two more threats with existential dimensions, the climate crisis and the risks of uncontrolled artificial intelligence and we have been unable to take effective steps to respond to any of these existential challenges.”

Guterres says the multipolarity has created important opportunities for balance and justice for new leadership on the global stage.

“But the transition to multipolarity without strong global institutions can create chaos. When power relations are vague, the dangers of aggressive opportunism and miscalculation grow and today we see countries doing whatever they like, with no accountability. Impunity seems to be the name of the game. And so we must all be determined to reestablish the primacy of the rule of law.”

World leaders gather in Munich

Meanwhile, political leaders from some 40 nations will open the Munich Security Conference on Friday where US Vice President Kamala Harris, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are expected to speak.

The annual event, which is often called the “Davos for Defense,” will focus on the war in Ukraine and Western policy toward Russia, according to the organizers.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to make the opening speech via videolink and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will be at the conference in person.

Earlier, Munich Security Conference’s chairman Christoph Heusgen said the official representatives of Russia are not invited so as “not to give them a platform for their propaganda.”

Germany’s Scholz is scheduled to deliver a speech Friday on Berlin’s new foreign and defense policy, followed by a speech by French President Emmanuel Macron on his foreign policy vision.

Harris and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will address the conference on Saturday on the issues of transatlantic security and cooperation.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace are among the participants.

ALSO READ: Uyghur Policy Act Passes US House

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Russia, China clash with US, UK at UN

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Post date 15 February 2024
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Russia’s deputy UN ambassador and China’s UN envoy argue that UNSC never authorised military action against Yemen…reports Asian Lite News

Russia and China on Wednesday accused the United States and Britain of illegally attacking military sites used by Yemen’s Houthi rebels to launch missiles at commercial vessels in the Red Sea, disrupting global shipping.

US deputy ambassador Robert Wood and UK Ambassador Barbara Woodward countered that the Houthi attacks are illegal, and their “proportionate and legal action” against the Yemen rebels are being taken in self-defense.

Woodward said the Houthi attacks are “driving up the costs of global shipping, including the costs of food supplies and humanitarian aid in the region.”

But Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador Dmitry Polyansky and China’s U.N. envoy Zhang Jun argued that the U.N. Security Council never authorized military action against Yemen.

The clashes came at a council meeting where U.N. special envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said promising efforts to restore peace to Yemen have been slowed by rising regional tensions linked to the war in Gaza and “in particular the military escalation in the Red Sea.”

Since November, the Houthi rebels have targeted ships in the Red Sea to demand a cease-fire in Israel’s offensive in Gaza. They have frequently attacked vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, imperiling shipping in a key route for trade among Asia, the Mideast and Europe.

In recent weeks, the United States and the United Kingdom, backed by other allies, have launched airstrikes targeting Houthi missile arsenals and launch sites for its attacks.

Wood, the U.S. envoy, said American strikes in response to attacks on U.S. naval vessels, “aim to disrupt and degrade the Houthis’ ability to continue their reckless attacks against vessels and commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden.”

Since 2014, he said, Iran has provided the Houthis with “a growing arsenal of advanced weapons” that they have used to target commercial ships, and “Iran cannot deny its role in enabling and supporting the attacks carried out by the Houthis.”

Wood accused the Houthis of “trying to apply a chokehold on global shipping through the Red Sea” and urged all countries, especially those with direct channels to Iran, “to press Iran’s leaders to rein in the Houthis and stop these lawless attacks.”

Russia’s Polyansky stressed that Moscow “categorically condemns attacks and seizures of commercial vessels and (…) any attacks which impede freedom of navigation.” He said Russia has conveyed messages to the Houthi leaders to focus on Yemen’s domestic agenda and pursue peace.

Grundberg, the U.N. envoy, said that in late December the Houthis, who control the capital and much of the country’s north, and Yemen’s internationally recognized government “committed to a nationwide cease-fire, measures to improve living conditions, and restarting an intra-Yemeni political process.”

But he said Yemen’s peace process can’t be cordoned off from the events in the region, and the U.S. and UK attacks on Houthi targets, and the U.S. designation of the Houthis as a “Specially Designated Terrorist Group” are “concerning.”

“Despite potential complications, my work will continue no matter what,” he said. “It is therefore imperative that we protect the political space, that communication channels are kept open and that all actors remain actively engaged with my efforts.”

Russia’s Polyansky said the root cause of the current situation is Israel’s military offensive in Gaza following Hamas’ surprise attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, which has provoked a chain reaction in the Middle East including by the Houthis.

“An immediate cease-fire in Gaza will help to stabilize the situation in the Red Sea, and the de-escalation in those waters will in turn unblock the efforts of the special envoy, Mr. Grundberg,” Polyansky said.

Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis swept down from their northern stronghold and chased the internationally recognized government from Sanaa. A Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year on behalf of the government and in time the conflict turned into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The war has devastated Yemen, already the Arab region’s poorest country, and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

Edem Wosornu, the U.N. humanitarian office’s director of operations, told the council that Yemen faces “massive continuing needs.”

This year, she said, over 18 million people – over half the country’s population – will need humanitarian aid.

The U.N. anticipates that 17.6 million people will be “severely food insecure” — facing serious hunger, she said. “Nearly half of all children under five face moderate to severe stunting” of their growth and development.

Last year, the U.N. received just 40% of its $4.3 billion humanitarian appeal, she said. This year, the Yemen appeal is more targeted and seeks $2.7 billion to reach 11.2 million people across Yemen.

ALSO READ: Russia puts Estonian PM on wanted list

Tags china, russia, UK, USA

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Reform IMF, WB with BRICS Involvement, UN Chief Bats for Global South

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Post date 9 February 2024
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Guterres emphasised BRICS’ vital role for developing nations but warns against fracturing the global economy….reports Arul Louis

The international financial and development institutions should be reformed to reflect the interests of the Global South, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said.

While the BRICS can play an important and complementary role for developing nations, he stressed that it should not contribute to a fragmentation of the world economy.

The international financial institutions — the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank — and the Security Council that were created in the 1940s after World War II reflect “what the power relations and the global economy were at that time” but aren’t relevant to today’s world, he said at a news conference here on Thursday.

Since they don’t “correspond to the power relations and to the global economy as it is today”, he said, “it will be very important for those institutions to reform in order to represent today’s global economy, to be truly universal and truly inclusive”.

Modi’s participation at BRICS summit showcases India’s Strategic Autonomy doctrine.(photo:IN)

“We obviously need that those institutions reflect more obviously the interests of the Global South”, he emphasised.

Asked about the role of BRICS, he said that “it is important to have a multiplicity of different organisations to support developing countries” in the finance and trade sectors.

“But”, he added, “it is essential that (it) doesn’t correspond to a fragmentation of the global economy”.

“One of the most important aspects that we need to preserve today is One Global Economy, One Global Market, One Global Internet and to avoid the fragmentation of that global economy”, he said.

“Within a united global economy, I think that many of these institutions (like BRICS) can play an extremely important and complementary role”, he added.

BRICS, made up originally of emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has expanded to include Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with membership queries from 34 countries pending.

The group, which aims to foster trade and financial cooperation has created the New Development Bank to fund development projects and help financial stabilisation in the member countries, functioning in some ways like the established financial institutions.

About the fitness of the Bretonwoods Institutions — as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are known for the venue of their founding — to meet contemporary needs, Guterres said that besides the unrepresentative character of their power structure and orientation, they are undercapitalized and too small for the current global needs.

“The truth is that they became too small”, he said, pointing out that “the paid-in capital of the World Bank as a percentage of global GDP today is less than one-fifth of what it was in 1960”.

“So we obviously need a meaningful capitalisation of those institutions”, he said.

While the UN cannot reform them, Guterres said that he would like to see the United Nations Summit of the Future in September give some directions for the way those institutions “should structurally move”.

Assessing the global political situation, Guterres said, “We are no longer in a bipolar or unipolar world, as I said, we are in a kind of on the way to a multipolar world, but in a very chaotic situation”.

“Power relations became unclear and what we see today in the world is political actors doing whatever they want and with total impunity”, he said.

To end the multitude of conflicts and divisions and to effectively address threats posed by Artificial Intelligence, to act on climate action and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, “a serious conversation between developed and developing countries; between rich and emerging economies; between north and south, east and west” is needed, he said.

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Tags brics, imf, India, WB