UN faces new opportunities to promote world peace, development in 2016
Xinhua, United Nations :
As the clock ticked into the new year, the United Nations faces new opportunities to promote peace and development in the world-to bring an early end to the Syria conflict, to kick off the implementation of a blueprint for global sustainable development, and to select a new UN chief.
Seemingly unrelated, the three major efforts can jointly make the United Nations more relevant and powerful as today’s globe is confronting armed conflicts, environmental degradation, inequality, poverty, terrorism and other challenges, experts say.
As a famous saying goes, tomorrow is just another day. In a sense, it is also true to the world body: in the new year it has to move forward on the basis of what has been achieved by its 193 members in the past year, which marked the 70th birthday of the United Nations and the 70th anniversary of the victory of the World’s Anti-Fascist War.
Every day the United Nations maintains peace in troubled places, feeds the hungry, shelters refugees, vaccinates children against polio and other deadly diseases and promotes international cooperation for development.
The Syrian civil war, now in its fifth year, has made the Middle East country the world’s single-largest source of refugees and displaced people, according to UN figures.
The Syrian crisis led to a massive movement of refugees, part of at least 59.5 million people who have fled their homes-more refugees and displaced persons than at any time since the end of the Second World War.
To defuse this long-standing crisis in Syria, the UN Security Council on Dec. 18 unanimously adopted a resolution to endorse an international roadmap for a Syrian-led political transition in the country, where more than 250,000 people reportedly have been killed since March 2011.
The latest UN document envisions the formation of a unity government and urged the launch of the Syria peace talks in early January, stressing that “the Syrian people will decide the future of Syria.”
The new resolution gives the world body an enhanced role in shepherding the opposing sides in Syria to talks for a political transition, with a timetable for a ceasefire, a new constitution and elections, all under UN auspices.
As part of the efforts to carry out the resolution, Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for Syria, set Jan. 25 as “the target date” to begin talks in Geneva between the parties aimed at ending the Syria conflict.
The resolution is not easy to come by, and it is not easy to bring the warring parties in Syria to the negotiating table only about a month after the 15-nation UN Security Council approved the resolution. The current challenge is how to define negotiation partners and terrorist groups in so many Syrian appositions.
Geneva has been the venue for two previous rounds of the UN-mediated Syria peace talks between representatives of the Syrian government and opposition, but the talks have failed to yield any significant results.
This year will also witness the selection of a new secretary-general for the world body to replace the incumbent chief Ban Ki-moon, whose term will end at the end of 2016.
Although the possible candidates are not expected to fully emerge until July, the selection process kicked off here in mid-December, with a new try for change — the first step toward removing secrecy around the selection process.
The 193 member states of the United Nations will for the first time be included “totally” in the selection of the next UN secretary-general, the president of the General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft, said on Dec. 15, pledging to make the process as transparent and inclusive as possible.
Speaking to reporters at UN Headquarters in New York, Lykketoft highlighted a joint letter with the President of the Security Council that was sent out to all UN Member States earlier in the day and which, he said, officially “starts” the process of soliciting candidates leading to the selection and appointment of the next UN chief.
Countries or groups of countries can submit candidates for the post and Lykketoft said a country’s candidate doesn’t have to be one of its citizens.
According to the UN Charter, the secretary-general is appointed by the General Assembly following the recommendation of the Security Council. The next secretary-general will assume the post in January 2017 and will serve a five-year term, which can be renewed by member states for an additional five years.
As the clock ticked into the new year, the United Nations faces new opportunities to promote peace and development in the world-to bring an early end to the Syria conflict, to kick off the implementation of a blueprint for global sustainable development, and to select a new UN chief.
Seemingly unrelated, the three major efforts can jointly make the United Nations more relevant and powerful as today’s globe is confronting armed conflicts, environmental degradation, inequality, poverty, terrorism and other challenges, experts say.
As a famous saying goes, tomorrow is just another day. In a sense, it is also true to the world body: in the new year it has to move forward on the basis of what has been achieved by its 193 members in the past year, which marked the 70th birthday of the United Nations and the 70th anniversary of the victory of the World’s Anti-Fascist War.
Every day the United Nations maintains peace in troubled places, feeds the hungry, shelters refugees, vaccinates children against polio and other deadly diseases and promotes international cooperation for development.
The Syrian civil war, now in its fifth year, has made the Middle East country the world’s single-largest source of refugees and displaced people, according to UN figures.
The Syrian crisis led to a massive movement of refugees, part of at least 59.5 million people who have fled their homes-more refugees and displaced persons than at any time since the end of the Second World War.
To defuse this long-standing crisis in Syria, the UN Security Council on Dec. 18 unanimously adopted a resolution to endorse an international roadmap for a Syrian-led political transition in the country, where more than 250,000 people reportedly have been killed since March 2011.
The latest UN document envisions the formation of a unity government and urged the launch of the Syria peace talks in early January, stressing that “the Syrian people will decide the future of Syria.”
The new resolution gives the world body an enhanced role in shepherding the opposing sides in Syria to talks for a political transition, with a timetable for a ceasefire, a new constitution and elections, all under UN auspices.
As part of the efforts to carry out the resolution, Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for Syria, set Jan. 25 as “the target date” to begin talks in Geneva between the parties aimed at ending the Syria conflict.
The resolution is not easy to come by, and it is not easy to bring the warring parties in Syria to the negotiating table only about a month after the 15-nation UN Security Council approved the resolution. The current challenge is how to define negotiation partners and terrorist groups in so many Syrian appositions.
Geneva has been the venue for two previous rounds of the UN-mediated Syria peace talks between representatives of the Syrian government and opposition, but the talks have failed to yield any significant results.
This year will also witness the selection of a new secretary-general for the world body to replace the incumbent chief Ban Ki-moon, whose term will end at the end of 2016.
Although the possible candidates are not expected to fully emerge until July, the selection process kicked off here in mid-December, with a new try for change — the first step toward removing secrecy around the selection process.
The 193 member states of the United Nations will for the first time be included “totally” in the selection of the next UN secretary-general, the president of the General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft, said on Dec. 15, pledging to make the process as transparent and inclusive as possible.
Speaking to reporters at UN Headquarters in New York, Lykketoft highlighted a joint letter with the President of the Security Council that was sent out to all UN Member States earlier in the day and which, he said, officially “starts” the process of soliciting candidates leading to the selection and appointment of the next UN chief.
Countries or groups of countries can submit candidates for the post and Lykketoft said a country’s candidate doesn’t have to be one of its citizens.
According to the UN Charter, the secretary-general is appointed by the General Assembly following the recommendation of the Security Council. The next secretary-general will assume the post in January 2017 and will serve a five-year term, which can be renewed by member states for an additional five years.