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| Apply the protocol to eliminate trade in Tobacco Products! |
Eliminating the illicit trade in tobacco would generate an annual tax windfall of US$ 31 billion for governments, improve public health, help cut crime and curb an important revenue source for the tobacco industry. Those are the key themes of World No Tobacco Day on 31 May when WHO will urge Member States to sign the "Protocol to Eliminate the Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products".
“The Protocol offers the world a unique legal instrument to counter and eventually eliminate a sophisticated criminal activity,” says Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General. “Fully implemented, it will replenish government revenues and allow more spending on health.”
So far, 8 countries have ratified the Protocol, short of the target of 40 needed for it to become international law. Once that happens, the Protocol’s provisions on securing the supply chain, enhanced international cooperation and other safeguards will come into force.
The Protocol is an international treaty in its own right negotiated by parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), which has been ratified by 180 Parties. Article 15 commits signatories to eliminate all forms of illicit trade in tobacco products.
The Protocol requires a wide range of measures relating to the tobacco supply chain, including the licensing of imports, exports and manufacture of tobacco products; the establishment of tracking and tracing systems and the imposition of penal sanctions on those responsible for illicit trade. It would also criminalise illicit production and cross border smuggling.
“The Protocol faces overt and covert resistance from the tobacco industry,” says Dr Vera da Costa e Silva, Head of the WHO FCTC Secretariat. “Manufacturers know that once implemented, it will become much harder to hook young people and the poor into tobacco addiction.”
The illicit tobacco trade offers products at lower prices, primarily by avoiding government taxes through smuggling, illegal manufacturing and counterfeiting. Cheaper tobacco encourages younger tobacco users (who generally have lower incomes) and cuts government revenues, reducing the resources available for socioeconomic development, especially in low-income countries that depend heavily on consumption taxes. This money might otherwise be spent on the provision of public services, including health care.
While publicly stating its support for action against the illicit trade, the tobacco industry’s behind-the-scenes behaviour has been very different. Internal industry documents released as a result of court cases demonstrate that the tobacco industry has actively fostered the illicit trade globally. It also works to block implementation of tobacco control measures, like tax increases and pictorial health warnings, by arguing they will fuel the illicit trade.
“Public health is engaged in a pitched battle against a ruthless industry,” says Dr Douglas Bettcher, Director of the WHO’s Department for the Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases. “On this World No Tobacco Day, WHO and its partners are showing the ends that the tobacco industry goes to in the search for profits, including on the black market, and by ensnaring new targets, including young children, to expand its deadly trade.”
Policy makers should recognize that the illicit tobacco trade exacerbates the global health epidemic and has serious security implications. Ratification of the Protocol to Eliminate the Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products is a necessary step to combat these twin evils.
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| Together for Peace |
This year’s International Day of UN Peacekeepers falls during the 70th anniversary of the United Nations, offering a chance to honour the invaluable contribution of the Blue Helmets to the proud history of the Organization. United Nations peacekeeping has given life to the UN Charter’s aim “to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security”. Through years of struggle and sacrifice, the iconic Blue Helmet has earned its place as a symbol of hope to millions of people living in war-ravaged lands.
UN peacekeeping fosters burden sharing that spreads risks and opportunities across countries large and small, and from both the developed and developing worlds. I applaud the more than 107,000 uniformed peacekeepers from 122 troop- and police- contributing countries now serving in 16 missions.
In its 70 years the United Nations has established 71 peacekeeping operations. More than 1 million people have served as peacekeepers, helping countries gain independence, supporting historic elections, protecting civilians, disarming hundreds of thousands of ex-combatants, establishing the rule of law, promoting human rights and creating the conditions for refugees and displaced persons to return home. We should all be proud of these accomplishments.
Today UN peacekeeping is adapting to new global realities, including asymmetric threats in some of the world’s most challenging environments. We have modernized our operations, introduced new technologies, broadened our base of contributors and strengthened our partnerships with regional organizations.
At the same time, demands far outpace resources. We need better funding, training and equipment. . Our troops and police must carry out ever more complex mandates while being held to the highest standards of conduct. We need developed countries to resume their historically influential role as contributors of troops. And we need stronger political support from the Member States that are responsible for authorizing, financing and contributing troops and police to the missions.
To explore how best to meet these challenges, I appointed a High-Level Independent Panel to assess the state of UN peace operations today – both peacekeeping and special political missions -- and the emerging needs of the future. This will be the first major review since 2000, and I look forward to a bold and comprehensive set of recommendations.
Today, we honour the memory of those who gave their lives to the cause of peace, and pay tribute to all men and women who carry on their legacy by serving in the field. More than 3,300 peacekeepers have lost their lives while serving under the UN flag, including 126 last year. The risks continue to grow as peacekeepers are targeted by improvised explosive devises or complex terrorist attacks.
As we commemorate seven decades of the United Nations, let us all do our part to ensure effectiveness of this flagship enterprise of the Organization.
Ban Ki-moon
Fellow Africans on the Continent and in the Diaspora
Our Friends and Partners across the world
On this, the fifty-second occasion of us marking the birth of our beloved continental body, I have the singular honour to wish all of you a happy and fulfilling Africa Day.This year’s celebration comes at the time when the African Union is celebrating 13 years since its transformation from the Organization of African Unity. We have indeed transformed the organisation from one pursuing the struggle to liberate the continent and safeguard the independence of African States to one that facilitates work for a united, prosperous and peaceful Africa.
This year’s theme which is: “Women’s Empowerment and Development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063” is a recognition of centuries of African women and women from the Diaspora to the struggles against slavery, racial and gender discrimination, and for the emancipation of our continent and African men and women everywhere.
Women and girls continue to play critical roles – paid and unpaid – in their families, communities, countries and regions, that directly impact on economies and societies.
Despite the constraints that they continue to face, we have made strides, as a result of different waves of struggles by the women’s movements. Since the historic Beijing Conference twenty years ago, and the recognition of women’s rights as human rights, we have seen progress on women’s representation, in the advancement of reproductive rights, on equal pay for equal work, on access to education and basic services.
At the same time, it is estimated that if real change happens at the same, it will take us 80 years before reaching full gender parity. This is simply not good enough. It will mean that our efforts to reverse the curse of underdevelopment and conflicts must wait another 80 years to come to fruition. It also means that Africa will also continue to use less than half of its talents, skills and potentials.
To address these constraints, we crisscrossed the continent and solicited the inputs of all sectors, spheres and levels of society. Our only question was … What Africa do YOU want to see by 2063. Agenda 2063 is the resulting mandate from the people of Africa here and in the diaspora. Agenda 2063 is an intergenerational mission, an inclusive African strategy to use Africa’s resources for the benefit of all Africans.
Our Africa Day celebration is therefore facilitating and celebrating African narratives of the past, present and future that will enthuse and energize the African population and use their constructive energy to accelerate a forward looking agenda of Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance in the 21st century.
We mark this Africa Day with much optimism. Africa has answered the clarion call to shape its own agenda… for the people by the people.
Fellow Africans,
We also mark this Africa Day with several blemishes.
These have included the conflicts that continue to bedevil our beloved continent as is the case, at the moment, in Burundi, Central African Republic, Somalia, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as other Member States.
The recent Xenophobic attacks in the coastal city of Durban and in the economic hub of Johannesburg, is also one such blemish.We take this opportunity to reiterate our condemnation of the unacceptable acts of violence that affected our brothers and sisters.
No matter what the circumstances, such actions cannot be justified. No matter the frustrations, the loss of even a single life cannot be condoned. We also wish to applaud the swift action taken by the South African Government and its citizenry in response to these acts of violence, which also resulted in the loss of life and livelihood.
It has been said that one of the major causes for such incidents as witnessed in South Africa and elsewhere are the challenges presented by poverty and inequality. These are often characterised by the poor fighting the poor over limited and sometimes scarce resources. These incidents also underscore the urgent need for all of us to give urgent attention to issues related to migration and human trafficking. We must address the very circumstances that lead our nationals to leave our shores for better opportunities in other parts of the continent and the world. To this effect, I take this opportunity to also extend our heartfelt condolences to the families of the 800 African brothers and sisters who recently lost their lives on the North Coast of our continent.
That incident is also a painful reminder that we must urgently deal with the growth and integration of our continent.
Never and never again must such acts and incidents be witnessed on our continent. In realising Africa’s development, human development is also not negotiable. The pockets of instability and conflict, which have sometimes resulted in loss of life and livelihood, bear testament to that fact. We cannot afford to continue on a trajectory that excludes and is inequitable.
In order to facilitate for inclusive and sustainable growth we must translate Agenda 2063 into our national plans so that we can facilitate for priority areas such as integration, youth and women’s empowerment, job creation, energy, and infrastructure development. In translating Agenda 2063 we will need accelerated action towards an equitable growth path, which prioritises the people and connectivity. We must realise key urgent projects that connect us including road, rail, aviation, marine transport, telecommunications, as well as industrialisation and manufacturing.
Our pursuit for accelerating our equitable economic growth path will also place greater pressure on our traditional and mainstream energy sectors, consequently we will begin to seriously implement key projects in the renewable energy sector, which include hydro and wind energy. In accelerating connectivity we will pay greater attention to the promotion of the Continental Free Trade Area.
It is in seeking to accelerate implementation of these (and other) priorities and programmes that we will convene the Africa Economic Platform, in the latter part of this year. The Platform will pursue continental synergy and will bring together Africa’s captains of industry, academics, governments and activists. Only through working together can we facilitate for Africa’s unity, shared prosperity and lasting peace.
Africa…. One people.
One Destiny Long live Africa and her Diaspora!
Long live African solidarity and unity!
I thank you and happy Africa Day!!
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| Make Peace Happen! |
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| Biodiversity for Sustainable Development. |
The variety of life on Earth is essential for the welfare of current and future generations. The conservation, restoration and sustainable use of biological diversity can help solve a range of societal challenges.
Protecting ecosystems and ensuring access to ecosystem services by poor and vulnerable groups are essential to eradicating extreme poverty and hunger. Reducing deforestation and land degradation and enhancing carbon stocks in forests, drylands, rangelands and croplands generate significant social and economic benefits and are cost-effective ways to mitigate climate change.
Any sustainable development framework must provide the enabling conditions for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, for more equitable sharing of benefits, and for reducing the drivers of biodiversity loss. The sustainable development goals and the broader post-2015 development agenda, which are under negotiation now, provide an opportunity to mainstream biodiversity and promote transformational change in how economies and societies use and regard biodiversity.
The globally adopted Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its Aichi Targets provide a useful model that Member States can use in considering how to implement the post-2015 sustainable development agenda. Meeting the Aichi Targets and addressing biodiversity loss more generally would contribute significantly to the post-2015 development agenda.
On this International Day for Biological Diversity, let us recommit to global action to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss, for people and for our planet.
Seventy years ago, UNESCO’s founders voiced a simple conviction: just as ignorance of each other’s ways and lives exacerbated mistrust and misunderstanding between peoples, the search for peace calls for mutual knowledge of cultures and peoples to be strengthened, so as to promote a better understanding of each other.
Cultural diversity is our shared heritage and the greatest opportunity before humanity. It holds the promise of renewal and dynamism, and an engine of innovation and development. It is also an invitation to dialogue, discovery and cooperation. In a diverse world, the destruction of cultures is a crime, and uniformity is a dead-end: our aim must be to enhance, in one movement, the diversity that enriches us and the human rights that bring us together.
This indivisible link between cultural diversity and human rights was recalled with the adoption in 2001, just after the destruction of the Buddha statues of Bamiyan in Afghanistan, of the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity. This text provides us with a compass for living together in a globalized world, confirming that respect for cultural diversity and respect for human rights are inseparable.
Today again, cultural diversity is under attack by violent extremists who lay waste to the heritage and persecute minorities. These crimes confirm still further our conviction that the enemies of human dignity will always seek to destroy cultural diversity, because it is the symbol of free thought and the infinite creativity of the human being. It is this link that we must defend. We must respond to all those who seek to proscribe difference and the plurality of ideas, opinions and beliefs by protecting freedom through the wealth of our cultures and creative expressions.
This is what the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development means. It is an opportunity to unleash the creative potential of our different languages and traditions – and to ensure that these differences enrich and strengthen us, instead of dividing us. The words of UNESCO’s Constitution, drafted 70 years ago, have not aged a day: dialogue can vanquish all misunderstanding andopen up an infinite horizon of possibilities for peace and development.
Remarks by H.E. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser the United Nations High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations at the Ministerial Meeting on Culture and Sustainable Development in the post-2015 Development Agenda - United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC)
Efforts to save the cultural heritage of Iraq (Germany, Iraq, UNESCO) - Press Conference (28 May 2015)
Speakers: Minister of State, Ms. Maria Böhmer (Germany); H.E. Mr. Mohamed Ali Alhakim, Permanent Representative of Iraq to the UN; and the Director General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Ms. Irina Bokova.
