The world is seeing an "explosion" in seizures of power by force and military coups are back, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told world leaders on Tuesday, lamenting that geopolitical divisions are undermining international cooperation as he called for strengthening global governance and re-igniting multilateralism.
In retrospect, it appeared that the bitterness of the war was still strong and the Ukrainian success in occupying Russian territory just a few days ago had added to the complexity of the situation. The positive US response to the visit, however, remains a silver lining in the dark clouds, notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
India slammed Pakistan at the UN after Prime Minister Imran Khan raked up the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in his address to the 76the UN General Assembly session on Friday.
Pak asks the UN to act before the situation snowballs into a 'full-fledged crisis'.
China has blocked a proposal by the US and India at the United Nations to blacklist Abdul Rauf Azhar, the brother of Jaish-e Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar and the deputy chief of the Pakistan-based terror group, in the second such move by Beijing in less than two months.
In an attempt to stem the spread of coronavirus in India, Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday announced a nationwide lockdown for three weeks.
The US took the lead, and many other council members also joined and made it clear that the Kashmir issue was not a matter for the UN body to discuss and is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan.
Interestingly, India had objected to the establishment of a UNHCHR when it was proposed by the US at the Vienna Conference on Human Rights in July 1993 and the whole proposal was remitted to the General Assembly in New York because India and others said that the whole issue should be examined in detail, says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan, who had led the Indian delegation for negotiating the terms of the HCHR.
Take more steps towards reform: Rice tells UN
Maria Sharapova has been suspended as a goodwill ambassador by the United Nations after the former world number one admitted she had tested positive for the banned substance meldonium at this year's Australian Open.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council have strongly condemned the attack on a UN base in South Sudan that killed 22 people, including two Indian peacekeepers, and asked the government there to swiftly investigate the "criminal act".
The United Nations has closed all its offices and suspended its operations in this northwestern Pakistani city due to security fears in the wake of an audacious terrorist attack on the US consulate. All UN offices in Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province, will remain closed for two days because of the security situation.
'Putin dreams about his legacy. He wants to forcibly restore the Russian empire.' 'Unfortunately, after three years of large-scale war with massive human losses, Putin will not budge from his goal because human life is the cheapest resource in the Russian State.'
Intervening in a Security Council debate on post-conflict peace-building, Indian Ambassador Nirupam Sen roundly criticised Bretton Woods institutions, including the International Monetary Fund, for non-involvement of such nations in the planning for development.
Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad alleged that after the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was signed into a law in December, the socio-political situation in the country has been witnessing "new heights of state-sponsored atrocities".
The 18 new members were elected by absolute majority through a secret ballot.
The UN report stated that China has committed to "other predominantly Muslim communities" in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
Stating that an investigation team will work under the full supervision of the United Nations to ensure complete transparency and impartiality, he said, "None of the outgoing government involved in the murder will be exempted."
US President Barack Obama will meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon next week in Washington to discuss a host of issues, including the global economic crisis, Sudan conflict and situation in Afghanistan and West Asia
'At least we had an asteroid. What's your excuse?'
Describing the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah as the deadliest in decades, Biden said lasting security for the people of the two countries cannot be achieved only on the battlefield.
Over 24,000 people have registered for the 'Modi & US Progress Together' event in Uniondale, New York.
India has informed the United States that Devyani Khobragade was accredited to the United Nations as a member of the country's delegation to the general assembly before her arrest in a visa fraud case.
UN spokesperson Michele Montas has said she no new information about reassessment of UN contracts with Satyam, now under investigation by Indian authorities for fraud. The UN, however, did not assign any reason for the action against the Indian IT company, which is smarting from the shock of a Rs 7,800 crore (Rs 78 billion) accounting fraud engineered by its founder Ramalinga Raju.
China was the sole member in the 15-nation UN organ to put a hold on India's application with the rest 14 members of the Council supporting New Delhi's bid to place Azhar on the 1267 sanctions list that would subject him to an assets freeze and travel ban.
The United Nations will now recognise all same-sex marriages of its staffers across the world as it put in place a new policy aimed at ensuring 'greater equality' with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling for rejection of homophobia.
India along with China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE voted against equal rights for gay staffers in UN
Strongly condemning the terrorist strikes in Afghanistan's capital Kabul, India has told the United Nations Security Council that these attacks reinforce the need for the world to stand unitedly against terrorism and all those who provide sanctuaries to terrorists.
Pakistan has formally communicated to the United Nations its protest and condemnation of the air-strike by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation that killed 24 soldiers and has strained ties between Washington and Islamabad. Pakistan's Ambassador to the United Nations Abdullah Hussain Haroon has written a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, informing him of the NATO attack of November 26 "on Pakistan's border posts (that) resulted in the martyrdom of 24 officers".
India on Tuesday contributed one million dollars to the core voluntary budget of the United Nations Women (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women) for the financial year 2012- 2013.
Pakistan on Tuesday said it has expressed "serious concern" to the United Nations over a draft bill in the Indian Parliament over the map of Kashmir and called upon the world body to uphold its resolutions and urge India to stop such acts which are in "violation of international law".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday made a strong push for reforming multilateral institutions, including the United Nations, and spoke glowingly of India's ties with the United States, saying the two countries stand at a new dawn in their relationship that will not only shape their destiny but also that of the world.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has charged the United Nations with not taking effective measures to protect the life of Tamil civilians fleeing the rebel held areas and denied killing the innocent people.
The initiative, which was launched by the United Nations Environment Programme in 2003 in collaboration with Indian banks, was aimed at providing loans to rural households for setting up solar energy systems. Besides, the 'Billion Tree Campaign' launched in 2006 and the 'Environmental Management of Iraqi Marshlands' leading to partial restoration of the largest wetland ecosystem in West Asia were among other UNEP projects which won the awards.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday said the UN would play a role in resolving the situation in Kashmir when India and Pakistan wanted the world body to step in.
India, the largest contributor to the United Nation peacekeepers, has stressed on the need to ensure missions are made relevant to current realities and peacekeepers are not tasked with achieving 'Christmas tree-like' mandates.
The United States, the United Nations and the European Union have welcomed the announcement by the militaries of India and Pakistan to strictly observe all agreements on ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir and other sectors, and hoped that it would lead to greater peace and stability in South Asia.
'While I would never wish for anyone to go through what we are, it has brought out the best in us by making each one of us a better version of ourselves.' 'Being courageous, fighting for freedom, taking the burden of responsibility to help each other...' 'I know hundreds and hundreds of examples where Ukrainians are risking their lives for complete strangers and it is only in moments like this that we truly understand what it means to be human.'
Addressing the annual session of UN Women's executive board on Tuesday, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri said work on gender equality and empowerment of women continues to remain 'chronically underfunded'.
