Expressez-Vous

By Ban Ki-moon (United Nations Secretary-General)

I am regularly inspired by the good will, talent and idealism of the young people I meet across the world.

This year’s commemoration of International Youth Day also marks the launch of the International Year of Youth, under the theme “Dialogue and Mutual Understanding”.

Today’s challenging social and economic environment warrant a special focus on youth. Eighty-seven per cent of people aged 15 to 24 live in developing countries. The global economic crisis has had a disproportionate impact on young people; they have lost jobs, struggled to find even low-wage employment and seen access to education curtailed. As economies slowly begin to stabilize, the needs of young people should be paramount.

This is a moral imperative and a developmental necessity. But it is also an opportunity: the energy of youth can ignite faltering economies. I am regularly inspired by the good will, talent and idealism of the young people I meet across the world. They are making important contributions to our work to eradicate poverty, contain the spread of disease, combat climate change and achieve the Millennium Development Goals. I call on Member States to increase their investments in young people so they can do even more.

During the International Year, the United Nations and its youth organization partners will focus on the need to encourage dialogue and understanding across generations, cultures and religions. In a world in which different peoples and traditions are coming into closer, more frequent contact than ever before, it is crucial that young people learn how to listen intently, empathize with others, acknowledge divergent opinions, and be able to resolve conflicts. Few endeavors are more important than nurturing these skills, and educating young people about human rights, for in them we not only see the next generation of leaders, but also crucial stakeholders of today. Let us also recognize that older generations themselves stand to learn a great deal from the experiences and examples of young people as they come of age in a world of accelerating interconnectedness.

As we launch this International Year, let us acknowledge and celebrate what youth can do to build a safer, more just world. Let us strengthen our efforts to include young people in policies, programmes and decision-making processes that benefit their futures and ours. 

(Source: http://www.un.org/en/events/youthday/sg.shtml) 

UNAIDS Outlook Report 2010

New UNAIDS report shows that young people are leading the prevention revolution, with 15 of the most severely affected countries reporting a 25% drop in HIV prevalence among this key population. New global opinion poll shows that AIDS continues to be of major importance for the public around the world.

The new UNAIDS Outlook report outlines a radically simplified HIV treatment platform called Treatment 2.0 that could decrease the number of AIDS-related deaths drastically and could also greatly reduce the number of new HIV infections. Evidence shows that new HIV infections among young people, in the 15 countries most affected by HIV, are dropping significantly as young people embrace safer sexual behaviours.

Also in the report, a sweeping new UNAIDS and Zogby International public opinion poll shows that nearly 30 years into the AIDS epidemic, region by region, countries continue to rank AIDS high on the list of the most important issues facing the world.

And an economic analysis makes the case for making health a necessity, not a luxury, outlining the critical need for donor countries to sustain AIDS investments and calling on richer developing countries to invest more in HIV and health.

The report was launched in Geneva ahead of the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna. The UNAIDS Executive Director, Mr Michel Sidibé, stressed that innovation in the AIDS response can save more lives. “For countries to reach their universal access targets and commitments, we must reshape the AIDS response. Through innovation we can bring down costs so investments can reach more people.”

According to UNAIDS’ estimates there were 33.4 million people living with HIV worldwide at the end of 2008. In the same year there were nearly 2.7 million new HIV infections and 2 million AIDS-related deaths.

Treatment 2.0 saves lives:

Treatment 2.0 is a new approach to simplify the way HIV treatment is currently provided and to scale up access to life saving medicines. Using a combination of efforts it could bring down treatment costs, make treatment regimens simpler and smarter, reduce the burden on health systems and improve the quality of life for people living with HIV and their families. Modelling suggests that compared with current treatment approaches, Treatment 2.0 could avert an additional 10 million deaths by 2025.

In addition, the new approach could also reduce new HIV infections by up to 1 million annually if countries provide antiretroviral therapy to all people in need, following revised WHO treatment guidelines. Today, 5 million of the 15 million people in need are accessing these life-saving medicines.

“Not only could Treatment 2.0 save lives, it has the potential to give us a significant prevention dividend,” said Mr Sidibé, speaking at the launch of the report.

Young people leading the prevention revolution:

A new UNAIDS study shows that young people are leading the HIV prevention revolution. HIV prevalence among young people has declined by more than 25% in 15 of the 25 countries most affected by AIDS. These declines are largely due to falling new HIV infections among young people.

In eight countries—Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe—significant HIV prevalence declines have been accompanied by positive changes in sexual behaviour among young people.

For example, in Kenya there was a 60% decline in HIV prevalence between 2000 and 2005. HIV prevalence dropped from 14.2% to 5.4% in urban areas and from 9.2% to 3.6% in rural areas in the same period. Similarly in Ethiopia there was a 47% reduction in HIV prevalence among pregnant young women in urban areas and a 29% change in rural areas.

Young people in 13 countries, including Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Malawi, are waiting longer before they become sexually active. Young people were also having fewer multiple partners in 13 countries. And condom use by young people during last sex act increased in 13 countries.

There are 5 million young people living with HIV worldwide, making up about 40% of new infections.

American cities as unequal as African and Latin American cities according to UN-HABITAT’s new State of the World’s Cities Report 2008/9: Harmonious Cities

Major cities in the United States, such as Atlanta, New Orleans, Washington D.C., Miami, and New York, have the highest levels of inequality in the country, similar to those of Abidjan, Nairobi, Buenos Aires, and Santiago. At the other end of the world, Beijing is considered to be the most equal city in the world while, on average, the most egalitarian cities in the world are located in Western Europe.

These are some of the startling findings of the new UN-HABITAT report on the State of the World’s Cities 2008/9: Harmonious Cities. As Ban Ki-moon the Secretary-General of the United Nations points out in his foreword to the report, “The data and analysis contained in this report are intended to improve our understanding of how cities function and what we, as a global community, can do to increase their liveability and unity.”

Aimed at policymakers and planners and all those concerned with the welfare of a rapidly urbanizing world, the report breaks new ground by taking the Gini coefficient , normally used to measure inequality at the national level, and using it to measure inequality at the city level.

Basing their research on such economic statistics, the authors find that though the cities in the United States of America have relatively lower levels of poverty than many other cities in the developed world, their levels of income inequality are quite high, and have risen above the international alert line of 0.4.

According to the report, in Canada and the United States, one of the most important factors determining levels of inequality is race. In western New York State, for instance, nearly 40 per cent of the black, Hispanic, and mixed-race households earned less than US $15,000 in 1999, compared with 15 per cent of non-Hispanic white households. The life expectancy of African Americans in the United States is about the same as that of people living in China and some states of India, despite the fact that the United States is far richer than the other two countries.

At the global level, the report finds that, on average, the most egalitarian cities in the world are located in Western Europe. In the developed world, specifically European countries, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, and Slovenia, exhibit relatively low levels of inequality (Gini coefficient below 0.25, the lowest in the world). Inequalities are also low in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxemburg, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, where the Gini coefficients range from between 0.25 and 0.3. Low levels of inequality reflect the performance of national and regional economies in these countries and the regulatory, distributive and redistributive capacity of the national and local welfare states.

Analysing the rate of urban inequality in the developing world, the report finds that the cities of Asia are the most equal: the urban Gini coefficient of Asian cities is 0.39, slightly below the unacceptable inequality threshold of 0.4. However, there are significant income distribution differences among cities, even within the same country, which shows that national aggregatesare not necessarily reflected at the local level.

For instance, Beijing, the capital of China, is the most equal city in Asia; its Gini coefficient is not only the lowest among Asian cities, but is the lowest in the world (0.22), whereas Hong Kong, the Special Administrative Region of China, has the highest Gini coefficient among all Asian cities, and a relatively high value by international standards (0.53).

The report also marshals evidence to show that India is undergoing an inequality trend somewhat similar to that of China as a result of economic liberalization and globalization. All of these changes in the occupational structure of the country are affecting levels of inequality. In 2002, for instance, the income gain of the richest 10 per cent of the population was about 4 times higher than the gain of the poorest 10 per cent.

Focusing its attention on Latin America and the Caribbean, the report finds that the Gini coefficients in urban areas and selected cities in the region are among the highest in the world. For example, in Brazil, unemployment rose from 4.3 per centin 1990 to 12.3 per cent in 2003, and average wages of employees in the formal industrial sector fell by 4.3 per cent in 2003. Unemployment and declining wages in urban areas have polarized income distribution in urban areas. For this and other historical reasons, Brazilian cities today have the greatest disparities in income distribution in the world.

It comes as no surprise that cities in Sub-Saharan African have the highest levels of urban poverty in the world. Although rural poverty is pervasive in the region, more than 50 per cent of the urban population in the poorest countries lives below the poverty line. Though Freetown in Sierra Leone, Dire Dawa in Ethiopia and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania are among the most equal cities in sub-Saharan Africa, with Gini coefficients of 0.32, 0.39 and 0.36, respectively, the Gini coefficient in urban Kenya rose from 0.47 in the 1980s to 0.575 in the 1990s.

In South African and Namibian cities, inequalities are most pronounced and extraordinarily high, despite the dismantling of apartheid in the early 1990s. In fact, urban inequalities in these two countries are even higher than those of Latin American cities. The average Gini coefficient for South African cities is 0.73, while that of Namibian cities is 0.62, compared to the average of 0.5 urban Latin America. Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, also stands out as a city with high levels of consumption inequality, with a Gini coefficient of 0.52.

Concerned about the increasing levels of urban inequality, in her introduction, Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UNHABITAT, calls for enlightened and committed political leadership combined with effective urban planning, governance and management. She concludes by emphasizing the need to promote equity and sustainability in order to build harmonious cities.

Today, one of the most inspiring youth climate activists Sara Svensson addressed the opening plenary of the UNEP Governing Council meeting/Global Ministerial Environment Forum. She Said:

Thank you Mr Chair.

Distinguished Delegates,

My name is Sara Svensson, and I will be 65 years old in 2050. I’m here as a representative for half of the world’s human population, Children & Youth.

We are desperately aware that humanity is on track of driving ourselves into extinction. Millions of species with intrinsic value have already gone extinct because of shortsighted human activities. Pushing the deadline for biodiversity targets literally means crossing the line to death. Despite this, 2010 is called the International Year of Biodiversity.

Where is our reason to celebrate?
In 2009, millions of people all over the world mobilised in the lead-up to Copenhagen. Personally I was fasting for climate justice. I spent 43 days and 44 nights eating nothing and drinking only water. I felt a moral response was needed to an immoral situation. COP15 didn’t give us the climate deal we need. United Nations became the Divided Nations and observers were locked out of the room.

Where is our reason to celebrate?
In desperate urgency, we now have a choice. We can raise to the challenge, restructure our economies, redefine our common values and do what is best for the greater good. The world needs a a total paradigm shift, and we have the tremendous opportunity to make it happen.

That is our reason to celebrate.

Children & Youth announce with confidence that the sustainable future is coming. We’re not pleading for change anymore, we’re creating it ourselves. Over the next 40 years we’re committing our entire working lives to gradually transform our societies and create a sustainable future.

If we can’t trust you – as our appointed leaders – to save the world, it won’t take long before Children & Youth kick you out of office and take your place.

You can speed up the process by showing bold leadership today. Give us the green jobs we want. You have the power, we have the energy. Use your power to give us the framework we need, and we’ll use our passion to steer the world on course.

Thank you.

Attacks targeting teachers and students worldwide on the rise, says UNESCO report

The number of politically and ideologically motivated attacks on teachers, students and school buildings is rising, says the report Education Under Attack 2010, launched by UNESCO.

These attacks are perpetrated by non-state armed groups and state actors alike.

Education under Attack 2010 is the second report on the subject; the first was published in 2007.

This report is launched together with a second UNESCO publication entitled Protecting Education from Attack: A State-of-the-Art Review, in which several experts take critical stock of knowledge on prevention and response, with respect to both international law and interventions on the ground.

The two texts comprise both an assessment of the current situation and a call to action, in the face of violence that appears to be rising dramatically, following a more general pattern of increased attacks on civilians and aid workers in recent years.

Three years ago, when UNESCO commissioned the first Education under Attack study, the problem was little known. Education under Attack 2010 notes growing awareness within United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and public opinion of the recurring nature of these attacks, which are not exceptional or isolated incidents. Above all, the report demonstrates that the destruction of schools and the murder of students and teachers are not limited to acts by the Taliban in Afghanistan or Pakistan in opposition to the education of girls and women.

The 2010 report reveals that the problem is much more extensive. Education was attacked in at least 32 countries between January 2007 and July 2009. Often, an attack on the educational system represents an attack on the State. Conversely, certain States or paramilitary organizations may target academics in order to neutralize real or imagined opponents.

The report also covers the issue of child soldiers – the number of which is currently estimated at 250,000 worldwide. Abductions are frequently carried out for the purpose of forced recruitment or sexual violence against girls. The report expresses particular concern about the systematic nature of crimes committed and sinister tactics used in several countries against teachers, pupils and unionized education workers.

Irina Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO, has underlined that UNESCO is concerned by these attacks for three reasons: they “constitute a threat to the right to life, and a threat to the right to education, which is itself the key to other freedoms and basic rights; lastly, these attacks jeopardize the achievement of the Education for All goals.” The Education for All (EFA) campaign is a global commitment to provide quality universal education by 2015.

The report also examines the reasons why attacks on education often attract little attention and it points to the role that the International Criminal Court (ICC) could play in strengthening accountability and ending impunity for such attacks.

In his recommendations, author Brendan O’Malley advocates the creation of a global observatory on the subject. The United Nations currently lacks reliable data for an accurate assessment of the problem. More in-depth research is needed, he says, to enable better analysis and understanding of the causes, means and impacts of attacks on education.