Harnessing the collective strengths of the UN system to reach every woman, child, and adolescent
Joint Press Statement
18 March 2016
As part of the global effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), countries around the world reported major gains in the health and wellbeing of women and children between 1990 and 2015. The global rate of maternal mortality fell by 47 per cent and child mortality declined by 49 per cent. However, any celebration of progress is tempered by the reality that millions of women, children,

Newborns, and adolescents continue to die every year; mostly from preventable causes. As the world transitions from the MDGs to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we must uphold our commitment to keep reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (RMNCAH) at the heart of the global agenda. Fulfilling this promise is both a practical imperative and a moral obligation.

The UN Secretary-General’s Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s, and Adolescents’ Health sets out a plan to give every woman, child, and adolescent the opportunity to not only survive, but to thrive and transform his or her community. Implementing the Global Strategy and achieving the SDG targets requires an unprecedented level of alignment and coordination amongst each and every one of us working in the field of RMNCAH.

On behalf of the six organizations responsible for promoting and implementing the global health agenda across the UN system, UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women, WHO, and the World Bank Group, we, the undersigned, stand united in our commitment to operationalize the Global Strategy.

Building on our tradition of working together to support countries in achieving the MDGs, we, as members of the H6 (previously known as the H4+), will provide coordinated technical support to country-led efforts to implement the Global Strategy and achieve the ambitious targets of the health-related SDGs. At the same time, we will continue to advocate for evidence-based RMNCAH programmes and policies at the global, regional, and national levels.

As the current H6 chair (2016-2018), UNAIDS will lead the partnership in fulfilling its mandate to leverage the strengths and capacities of each of the six member organizations in order to support high-burden countries in their efforts to improve the survival, health, and well-being of every woman, newborn, child, and adolescent.

As representatives of the H6, we renew our commitment to implement this mandate in support of the Global Strategy. We call on RMNCAH activists and advocates worldwide to join us in fulfilling this shared pledge to women, children, and adolescents everywhere.

Michel Sidibé, Executive Director, UNAIDS
Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, UNFPA
Anthony Lake, Executive Director, UNICEF
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director, UN Women
Margaret Chan, Director General, WHO
Tim Evans, Senior Director, Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice, The World Bank Group

Pdf of Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s, and Adolescents’ Health: http://www.who.int/life-course/partners/global-strategy/globalstrategyreport2016-2030-lowres.pdf?ua=1

THE COMING PENSIONS CRISIS – Recommendations for Keeping the Global Pensions System Afloat  Citi GPS: Global Perspectives & Solutions
March 2016 :: 127 pages Pdf
Overview [p.3]
…Improvements in healthcare are increasing life expectancies meaning retirement money needs to last much longer. At the same time demographic shifts — an increase in the retirement age population accompanied by a decrease in the working age population — are starting to put a strain on pay-as-you-go government pension schemes such as social security.

How much of a problem is it? According to our estimates, the total value of unfunded or underfunded government pension liabilities for twenty OECD countries is a staggering $78 trillion, or almost double the $44 trillion published national debt number. Corporations have also not consistently met their pension obligation and most US and UK corporate pension plans remain underfunded with an aggregate fund status in the US of just 82%.

In the report that follows, the authors look at the scope of the pension problem both on the public and the private side. But instead of being all doom and gloom, they offer a set of recommendations to policymakers, corporate and public pension plan sponsors and managers, and product providers to deal with the crisis. These include:
(1) publishing the amount of underfunded government pension obligations so that everyone can see them,
(2) raising the retirement age,
(3) creating a new system that utilizes Collective Defined Contribution plans which share both the risks and benefits of the plan between plan sponsors and individuals,
(4) creating powerful ‘soft compulsion’ incentives to ensure that private pension savings
increase,
(5) encouraging pension plan sponsors to make their full pension contributions when they are due, and
(6) encouraging corporates with frozen plans to get out of the insurance business.

Finally, the silver lining of the pensions crisis is for product providers such as insurers and asset managers. Private pension assets are forecast to grow $5-$11 trillion over the next 10-30 years and strong growth is forecast in insurance pension buy-outs, private pension schemes, and asset and guaranteed retirement income solutions.

World Bank, USAID Strengthen Violence Prevention Partnership
WASHINGTON, March 17, 2016 – The gravity of violence and its impact on development in Latin America and the Caribbean was underscored in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) announced by the World Bank and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The MOU, which deepens an ongoing partnership between the World Bank and USAID in the region, elevates violence prevention as a global development challenge, and seeks to help cities and governments develop peaceful, just, and inclusive communities.

“The new agreement gives us the opportunity for even more strategic engagement in this area,” said Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez, Senior Director for the Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice at the World Bank. “It underscores our two organizations’ ongoing commitment to treat violence as a preventable public health issue with close links to development.”

Violence has tremendous economic costs globally – up to 10 percent of GDP in some countries – and negative long-term consequences on human, social, economic, and sustainable development. Nearly a half million people lose their lives to intrapersonal violence each year, and youth violence is the fourth leading cause of death for young people worldwide.

“None of our development efforts will take root in societies that are plagued by insecurity,” said Beth Hogan, Acting Assistant Administrator for USAID’s Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean. “We look to partnerships like this one with the World Bank to help us address complex and longstanding challenges. Together, we can help improve conditions and enable peaceful and prosperous growth in the region.”

In Latin America and the Caribbean, citizen security is arguably the greatest challenge to the region’s broader development. The region is home to eight of the 10 most violent countries in the world, and 41 of the 50 most dangerous cities. And while only 9 percent of the world’s population live in the region, it comprises 33 percent of the world’s murders.

Social protection for domestic workers: Key policy trends and statistics
ILO – Social Protection Policy Paper. Paper 16
10 March 2016 :: 79 pages
Pdf: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—ed_protect/—soc_sec/documents/publication/wcms_458933.pdf

Overview
This working paper: (i) provides an overview of the global situation of social security provisions for domestic workers in 163 countries; (ii) analyses trends, policies and gaps in terms of legal and effective social security coverage for domestic workers; (iii) describes and analyses the configuration of social security schemes for domestic workers, such as their institutional organization, financing and administration; (iv) informs on challenges to extending coverage; and (v) provides a compilation and description of international practices of social security schemes for the domestic work sector, including comparative information.

This report aims to provide systematized information on the international situation of social protection in the domestic work sector. To this end, it presents recent information on the
characteristics of social security schemes that provide coverage to domestic workers. The report compiles and disseminates information on legal practices, institutional organization, financing and registration, collection and payment of contributions. This information and the corresponding analysis can provide useful inputs for policy making.

Key messages
:: Due to the atypical characteristics of domestic work, workers are considered a “difficult-to-cover” group by social security; it is estimated that globally 90 per cent of domestic workers are legally excluded from social security systems. These characteristics include the fact that work is performed in a private household which makes it difficult to control and inspect; workers frequently have more than one employer; there is a high job turnover rate; in-kind payment is common; receipt of wage income is highly irregular and labour relations are not usually established through an employment contract. These difficulties are also associated with other factors such as the lack of legal recognition of domestic work as an occupation, the existence of discriminatory social and legal practices, as well as other socio-cultural elements which engender a low social value for domestic work.

:: Information compiled by the ILO highlights an important coverage deficit. It is estimated that of the 67 million domestic workers worldwide, 60 million are excluded from coverage of social security.

:: Of the 163 countries included in this study, at least 70 (43 per cent) have laws mandating legal coverage for domestic workers of one or more of the nine branches of social security established in the ILO’s Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention (No. 102).

:: The largest gaps in social security coverage for the domestic work sector are concentrated in developing countries, where few nations provide legal coverage for this sector. Moreover, developing regions have the largest share of domestic workers worldwide, Asia and Latin America regroup 68 per cent of domestic workers worldwide.

:: Social security coverage deficits for domestic workers also exist in industrialized countries. For example, in Italy approximately 60 per cent of domestic workers are not registered with or contributing to social security systems. In Spain and France, 30 per cent of domestic workers are excluded from social security coverage.

:: The information presented in this report demonstrates that coverage of domestic workers by social security schemes is feasible, including in lower middle and low income countries, such as evidence shows for Mali, Senegal and Viet Nam.

:: There is no single social protection model for the sector. Most countries have opted to provide social protection to domestic workers through general social security schemes, guaranteeing legally the same conditions of coverage as those established for other employees, or with minor variations.

:: Eight countries report having voluntary social security coverage for domestic workers. The low rate of effective coverage existing in those countries indicates that voluntary coverage is a practice that hinders efforts to extend social security to domestic workers, for a variety of reasons. However, effective coverage continues to be low in other countries with mandatory systems, which points to the existence of other barriers and national practices that likewise impede effective coverage.

:: Women comprise the majority of domestic workers, accounting for 80 per cent of all workers in the sector globally; which means that approximately 55 million women participate in this activity. Given that it is predominantly a female workforce subject to conditions of discrimination and social and economic vulnerability, policies to extend social protection to domestic workers are a key component of efforts to fight poverty and promote gender equality.

:: Migrant domestic workers, estimated at approximately 11.5 million persons worldwide, face even greater discrimination than that experienced by domestic workers in general. Approximately 14 per cent of countries whose social security systems provide some type of coverage for domestic workers do not extend the same rights to migrant domestic workers.

:: The main barriers for extending social security coverage to the domestic work sector are associated with the following: legal exclusion; voluntary rather than mandatory coverage; lack of provisions or strategies to cover workers who have more than one employer (multi-employer) or who work part-time; narrow legal definition of domestic work; restrictions on legally protected contingencies; lack of contributory incentives, including the absence of contributory conditions adapted to the low contributory capacity of the sector; complexity or inadequacy of administrative procedures for registration and contribution collection; difficulty in ensuring inspection, lack of information on rights and responsibilities; and low level of organization of domestic workers, among others.

:: Mandatory coverage is identified as a crucial element and a necessary, but insufficient, condition for achieving adequate rates of effective coverage of domestic workers. Mandatory enrolment should be complemented by strategies associated amongst others with institutional organization, financing, registration and promotion of coverage, collection and recovery of contributions, and coverage of migrant domestic workers.

:: Countries with high levels of social protection coverage for the domestic work sector have implemented a combination of strategies that include: the application of mandatory rather than voluntary coverage; differentiated contributory schemes in relation to those applied to other employees; government subsidies; fiscal incentives; registration plans for workers who have more than one employer (multi-employer) or who work part-time; education and awareness-raising programmes targeting domestic workers and their employers; intensive use of information technologies; and implementation of service voucher mechanisms and presumptive schemes.

:: It is important to bear in mind that policies and strategies to extend social security coverage in the domestic work sector form part of a broader set of interventions guided by formalization policies in general. These policies are part of the labour protection system, which includes the domestic work sector. At the same time, this system has a variety of components that go beyond the specific configuration and strategies of social security systems or their institutions.

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Press Release
Discrimination at work
ILO: 90 per cent of domestic workers excluded from social protection
New ILO study highlights huge decent work deficits for domestic workers throughout the world.
News | 14 March 2016
GENEVA (ILO News) – 60 million of the world’s 67 million domestic workers still do not have access to any kind of social security coverage, says a new ILO study.

“The vast majority of domestic workers are women, accounting for 80 per cent of all workers in the sector globally,” explained Isabel Ortiz, Director of the ILO Social Protection Department. “Most of their work is undervalued and unprotected, when domestic workers become old or injured, they are fired, without a pension or adequate income support. This can and must be redressed.”

Domestic work is considered as a sector that is difficult to cover, partly because work is performed in private households and frequently for more than one employer. The occupation is also characterized by high job turnover, frequent in-kind payments, irregular wages and a lack of formal work contracts.

“Given that it is predominantly a female workforce highly subject to discrimination as well as social and economic vulnerability, policies to extend social protection to domestic workers are key elements in the fight against poverty and the promotion of gender equality,” said Philippe Marcadent, Chief of the ILO’s Inclusive Labour Markets, Labour Relations and Working Conditions Branch…

Preventing disease through healthy environments: a global assessment of the burden of disease from environmental risks
WHO – A Prüss-Ustün, J Wolf, C Corvalán, R Bos and M Neira
March 2016 :: 176 pages
ISBN 978 92 4 156519 6
Executive Summary (excerpt)
In 2012, this present study estimates, 12.6 million deaths globally, representing 23% (95% CI: 13–34%) of all deaths, were attributable to the environment. When accounting for both death and disability, the fraction of the global burden of disease due to the environment is 22% (95% CI: 13–32%). In children under five years, up to 26% (95% CI: 16–38%) of all deaths could be prevented, if environmental risks were removed. Of the 12.6 million deaths attributable to the environment, 8.1 million (15%) were estimated using comparative risk assessment (CRA) methods, and the remaining 4.5 million using a combination of methods including expert opinion.

This study provides an approximate estimate of how much disease can be prevented by
reducing the environmental risks to health. It includes a meta-synthesis of key evidence
relating diseases and injuries to the environment. It brings together quantitative estimates of
the disease burden attributable to the environment using a combination of approaches that
includes CRA, epidemiological data, transmission pathways and expert opinion. The synthesis
of evidence linking 133 diseases and injuries, or their groupings, to the environment has been
reviewed to provide an overall picture of the disease burden that could be prevented through
healthier environments.

Environmental risks to health are defined, in this study, as “all the physical, chemical and
biological factors external to a person, and all related behaviours, but excluding those natural
environments that cannot reasonably be modified.” To increase the policy relevance of this
study, its focus is on that part of the environment which can reasonably be modified…

Download: Preventing disease through healthy environments: a global assessment of the burden of disease from environmental risks pdf, 2.41Mb

Editor’s Note:
We include the link to the extraordinary press conference given by Anthony Banbury on allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peace keeping forces just before he left UN service. We note that this archive video has cut several minutes of the extraordinary closing minutes exchange with press from the live broadcast. We also include the text of an equally extraordinary New York Times opinion piece by Mr. Banbury this week [it has generated over 350 online comments so far]. He is now chief philanthropy officer for Vulcan Inc., a private company.

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29 Jan 2016
Anthony Banbury (DFS) on allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse cases in the Central African Republic – Press Conference (29 January 2016) (English)
[Video:: 45:58]
Anthony Banbury, the Assistant Secretary-General for Field Support, on allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse cases in the Central African Republic.

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New York Times Sunday Review
MARCH 18, 2016
Opinion
I Love the U.N., but It Is Failing
By ANTHONY BANBURY
Anthony Banbury was a United Nations assistant secretary general for field support until this month.

I HAVE worked for the United Nations for most of the last three decades. I was a human rights officer in Haiti in the 1990s and served in the former Yugoslavia during the Srebrenica genocide. I helped lead the response to the Indian Ocean tsunami and the Haitian earthquake, planned the mission to eliminate Syrian chemical weapons, and most recently led the Ebola mission in West Africa. I care deeply for the principles the United Nations is designed to uphold.

And that’s why I have decided to leave.

The world faces a range of terrifying crises, from the threat of climate change to terrorist breeding grounds in places like Syria, Iraq and Somalia. The United Nations is uniquely placed to meet these challenges, and it is doing invaluable work, like protecting civilians and delivering humanitarian aid in South Sudan and elsewhere. But in terms of its overall mission, thanks to colossal mismanagement, the United Nations is failing.

Six years ago, I became an assistant secretary general, posted to the headquarters in New York. I was no stranger to red tape, but I was unprepared for the blur of Orwellian admonitions and Carrollian logic that govern the place. If you locked a team of evil geniuses in a laboratory, they could not design a bureaucracy so maddeningly complex, requiring so much effort but in the end incapable of delivering the intended result. The system is a black hole into which disappear countless tax dollars and human aspirations, never to be seen again.

The first major problem is a sclerotic personnel system. The United Nations needs to be able to attract and quickly deploy the world’s best talent. And yet, it takes on average 213 days to recruit someone. In January, to the horror of many, the Department of Management imposed a new recruitment system that is likely to increase the delay to over a year.

During the Ebola epidemic, I was desperate to get qualified people on the ground, and yet I was told that a staff member working in South Sudan could not travel to our headquarters in Accra, Ghana, until she received a new medical clearance. We were fighting a disease that killed many thousands and risked spinning out of control and yet we spent weeks waiting for a healthy colleague to get her forms processed.

Too often, the only way to speed things up is to break the rules. That’s what I did in Accra when I hired an anthropologist as an independent contractor. She turned out to be worth her weight in gold. Unsafe burial practices were responsible for about half of new Ebola cases in some areas. We had to understand these traditions before we could persuade people to change them. As far as I know, no United Nations mission had ever had an anthropologist on staff before; shortly after I left the mission, she was let go.

The heads of billion-dollar peace operations, with enormous responsibilities for ending wars, are not able to hire their immediate staff, or to reassign non-performers away from critical roles. It is a sign of how perversely twisted the bureaucracy is that personnel decisions are considered more dangerous than the responsibility to lead a mission on which the fate of a country depends.

One result of this dysfunction is minimal accountability. There is today a chief of staff in a large peacekeeping mission who is manifestly incompetent. Many have tried to get rid of him, but short of a serious crime, it is virtually impossible to fire someone in the United Nations. In the past six years, I am not aware of a single international field staff member’s being fired, or even sanctioned, for poor performance.

The second serious problem is that too many decisions are driven by political expediency instead of by the values of the United Nations or the facts on the ground.

Peacekeeping forces often lumber along for years without clear goals or exit plans, crowding out governments, diverting attention from deeper socioeconomic problems and costing billions of dollars. My first peacekeeping mission was in Cambodia in 1992. We left after less than two years. Now it’s a rare exception when a mission lasts fewer than 10.

Look at Haiti: There has been no armed conflict for more than a decade, and yet a United Nations force of more than 4,500 remains. Meanwhile, we are failing at what should be our most important task: assisting in the creation of stable, democratic institutions. Elections have been postponed amid allegations of fraud, and the interim prime minister has said that “the country is facing serious social and economic difficulties.” The military deployment makes no contribution at all to solving these problems.

Our most grievous blunder is in Mali. In early 2013, the United Nations decided to send 10,000 soldiers and police officers to Mali in response to a terrorist takeover of parts of the north. Inexplicably, we sent a force that was unprepared for counterterrorism and explicitly told not to engage in it. More than 80 percent of the force’s resources are spent on logistics and self-protection. Already 56 people in the United Nations contingent have been killed, and more are certain to die. The United Nations in Mali is day by day marching deeper into its first quagmire.

BUT the thing that has upset me most is what the United Nations has done in the Central African Republic. When we took over peacekeeping responsibilities from the African Union there in 2014, we had the choice of which troops to accept. Without appropriate debate, and for cynical political reasons, a decision was made to include soldiers from the Democratic Republic of Congo and from the Republic of Congo, despite reports of serious human rights violations by these soldiers. Since then, troops from these countries have engaged in a persistent pattern of rape and abuse of the people — often young girls — the United Nations was sent there to protect.

Last year, peacekeepers from the Republic of Congo arrested a group of civilians, with no legal basis whatsoever, and beat them so badly that one died in custody and the other shortly after in a hospital. In response there was hardly a murmur, and certainly no outrage, from the responsible officials in New York.

As the abuse cases piled up, impassioned pleas were made to send the troops home. These were ignored, and more cases of child rape came to light. Last month, we finally kicked out the Democratic Republic of Congo soldiers, but the ones from the Republic of Congo remain

In 1988, my first job with the United Nations was as a human rights officer in Cambodian refugee camps along the Thai-Cambodian border, investigating rapes and murders of the poor and helpless. Never could I have imagined that I would one day have to deal with members of my own organization committing the same crimes or, worse, senior officials tolerating them for reasons of cynical expediency.

I am hardly the first to warn that the United Nations bureaucracy is getting in the way of its peacekeeping efforts. But too often, these criticisms come from people who think the United Nations is doomed to fail. I come at it from a different angle: I believe that for the world’s sake we must make the United Nations succeed.

In the run-up to the election of a new secretary general this year, it is essential that governments, and especially the permanent members of the Security Council, think carefully about what they want out of the United Nations. The organization is a Remington typewriter in a smartphone world. If it is going to advance the causes of peace, human rights, development and the climate, it needs a leader genuinely committed to reform.

The bureaucracy needs to work for the missions; not the other way around. The starting point should be the overhaul of our personnel system. We need an outside panel to examine the system and recommend changes. Second, all administrative expenses should be capped at a fixed percentage of operations costs. Third, decisions on budget allocations should be removed from the Department of Management and placed in the hands of an independent controller reporting to the secretary general. Finally, we need rigorous performance audits of all parts of headquarters operations.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is a man of great integrity, and the United Nations is filled with smart, brave and selfless people. Unfortunately, far too many others lack the moral aptitude and professional abilities to serve. We need a United Nations led by people for whom “doing the right thing” is normal and expected.

The Buckingham Palace Declaration
UNITED FOR WILDLIFE TRANSPORT TASKFORCE
15 March 2016 :: 2 pages pdf

PREAMBLE
We, signatories to the United for Wildlife Transport Taskforce Buckingham Palace Declaration and the members of the United for Wildlife International Taskforce on the transportation of illegal wildlife products1, recognising the devastating impact of illegal wildlife trade, agree to the Commitments set out below, as they apply to our industry or organisation.

We, as signatories to the Declaration, will not knowingly facilitate or tolerate the carriage of wildlife products, where trade in those products is contrary to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wildlife Fauna and Flora (CITES)2, and as such is illegal under international and national laws.

We agree to implement the Commitments relating to our own industry sector or organisational mandate, as part of our intention to tackle this issue and bring an end to illegal wildlife trade3.
We agree to evaluate the impact of the Commitments regularly, to assess what has worked and identify and address any challenges.

We ask the entire transport industry to follow our lead and help bring an end to the illegal trade in wildlife by signing this Declaration and supporting implementation of the Commitments.

COMMITMENTS
EXPRESSION AND DEMONSTRATION OF AGREEMENT TO TACKLE THE ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE
1. Adopt or encourage the adoption of a zero tolerance policy regarding illegal wildlife trade.
2. Increase passenger, customer, client, and staff awareness about the nature, scale, and consequences of illegal wildlife trade.
3. Promote the Declaration and its Commitments across the entire transport sector and encourage all in the sector to sign up to the Declaration.

INFORMATION SHARING AND DETECTION
4. Develop mechanisms to enable the transport sector to receive timely information about the transport of suspected illegal wildlife and their products, including methods of transportation, key routes, ports and other locations.
5. Enhance data systems, including due diligence and risk assessment, to allow the transport sector and/or enforcement agencies to screen data and/or cargo, to identify potential shipments of suspected illegal wildlife and their products.
6. Identify and promote systems for staff and the public to report suspicions in relation to the transportation of illegal wildlife and their products.
7. Improve the training of staff within the transport sector to enable them to detect, identify and report suspected illegal wildlife trade, and acknowledge staff who champion this cause.

PRACTICAL MEASURES TO STOP THE TRANSPORTATION OF ILLEGAL WILDLIFE PRODUCTS
8. Develop a secure, harmonised system for passing information about suspected illegal wildlife trade from the transport sector to relevant customs and law enforcement authorities, where permitted by law.
9. Notify relevant law enforcement authorities of cargoes suspected of containing illegal wildlife and their products and, where able, refuse to accept or ship such cargoes.
10. Establish a cross-disciplinary team working with local customs and law enforcement authorities to develop a system of best practice for combatting illegal wildlife trade in key ports.

NEW MECHANISMS TACKLING ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE
11. Support the development of mechanisms by the World Customs Organization and national customs authorities
[Some 30 organizations, agencies and corporations from across the transport sector have signed the Declaration; no summary list of signatories was discovered in web searches]

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UNDP Press Release
Global transport leaders sign historic declaration at Buckingham Palace in fight to shut down Illegal wildlife trafficking routes
Mar 15, 2016
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is proud to be a signatory to an historic declaration at Buckingham Palace committing leaders of the transportation industry globally to taking major steps to fight illicit wildlife trafficking, a move hailed by HRH The Duke of Cambridge as “a game changer in the race against extinction.”

The Buckingham Palace Declaration commits signatories to 11 commitments that will raise standards across the transportation industry to prevent traffickers of wildlife products from exploiting weaknesses as they seek to covertly move their products from killing fields to marketplaces. The commitments focus on information sharing, staff training, technological improvements, and resource sharing across companies and organisations worldwide.
The commitments will also see the world’s leading transportation firms assisting those in poorer nations who are in need of expertise and new systems.

Magdy Martínez-Solimán, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director of Bureau for Policy and Programme Support stated, “The declaration is a landmark achievement for UNDP because the recent escalation in the illegal wildlife trade not only threatens biodiversity but has the potential to undo hard-won development gains. Illegal wildlife trade undermines national and regional security, democratic governance, prospects for sustainable development and threatens livelihoods.”

United Nations – Secretary General, Security Council, General Assembly [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.un.org/en/unpress/
Selected Press Releases/Meetings Coverage

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18 March 2016
SC/12293-DC/3615
Security Council Press Statement on Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Launches
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Ismael Abraão Gaspar Martins

18 March 2016
GA/11766
Secretary-General Leads Commemoration of International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Alarmed at the sharp and disgraceful rise of xenophobia, anti-Muslim bigotry as well as attacks and violence targeting refugees, the Secretary-General, the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the President of the General Assembly were among many speakers calling today for unity to ensure dignity, justice and development for all, as the Assembly held a special meeting to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

17 March 2016
SG/SM/17604-OBV/1587
Progress towards Sustainable Development Can Help Spread Joy, Secure Peace, Secretary-General Says in Message for International Happiness Day

17 March 2016
SG/SM/17602-OBV/1585
Secretary-General Urges Greater Resolve to Fight Racism, Celebrate African Culture Worldwide, in Message for International Observance
Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, observed on 25 March:

15 March 2016
SG/SM/17596-HRC/22
Secretary-General, at Event Marking Tenth Anniversary of Human Right Council, Reiterates Call for Syria’s Referral to International Criminal Court

UN OHCHR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/media.aspx?IsMediaPage=true
Selected Press Releases

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All dated 18 March 2016
Zeid condemns repeated killing of civilians in Yemen airstrikes

“High time for Turkey to come to terms with past enforced disappearances” – UN expert group

“Action needed to stop Honduras turning into a lawless killing zone for human rights defenders”

Press briefing note on Bahrain

UN expert calls on Bahrain to release woman rights defender and stop persecuting defenders

“Very little progress in tackling racism and xenophobia around the world” International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination – Monday 21 March 2016

Qatar: UN experts welcome release of poet al-Ajami, but call for deep review of law and judicial system

Deep-rooted human rights challenges must be tackled in Myanmar’s new political era – UN expert

SRSG/CAAC Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict [to 19 March 2016]
https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/virtual-library/press-release-archive/

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15 Mar 2016
MORE THAN 100 HUMANITARIAN AGENCIES CALL FOR IMMEDIATE AND SUSTAINED ACCESS IN SYRIA

15 Mar 2016
A Glimmer of hope for the children of Syria

UN OCHA [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.unocha.org/media-resources/press-releases

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19 Mar 2016
South Sudan: A Mission for Humanity, Day 3: Juba and Malakal in South Sudan: the never-ending challenge of protecting civilians
United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, is travelling on a mission around the world to highlight his Agenda for Humanity. After heading to Ethiopia for the first leg of the mission and the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the second part, he visited South Sudan, a country that has been torn by violence …

17 Mar 2016
World: Remarks at Commission on the Status of Women Achieving Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Humanitarian Action through the World Humanitarian Summit

17 Mar 2016
Ukraine: UN calls on all parties to ensure access to safe water in Donetsk [EN/UK]
17 March 2016 – The United Nations is concerned about the continuing impact of the armed conflict in Donbas on civilians. Currently, availability of clean water for over 300,000 people living in the Donetsk area is at risk because staff of the Voda Donbassa water treatment plant were evacuated on 13 March due to increased insecurity in the area. The plant normally provides half of the demand…

16 Mar 2016
Iraq: Humanitarian partners race to reach people fleeing Heet and areas west of Ramadi
Baghdad, 16 March 2016: Humanitarian partners are rushing to provide emergency assistance to an estimated 35,000 people who have been newly displaced in hard-to-reach areas west of Ramadi.

14 Mar 2016
Mali: The Sahel: Information Sheet (March 2016)
CONVERGING CHALLENGES, COMPOUNDING RISKS A REGION UNDER HIGH PRESSURE In the Sahel, extreme poverty, fastgrowing populations, climate change, recurrent food and nutrition crises, armed conflicts and insecurity are building up to a perfect storm threatening the lives of communities already living on the brink of crisis.

UNICEF [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_89711.html
Selected Press Releases

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The Duchess of Cornwall sees how UNICEF protects children from online sexual abuse in Montenegro
PODGORICA, Montenegro, 18 March, 2016 – Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall today visited Montenegro to see how UNICEF is using a new digital application to help children stay safe on the internet and protect themselves from online sexual exploitation.

UNICEF urges EU leaders and Turkey to find common ground for refugee and migrant children
GENEVA, 18 March 2016 – With the lives of more than 20,000 children in Greece and in the Balkans on hold, UNICEF urges leaders of the European Union and Turkey to find common ground for refugee and migrant children when reaching an agreement that could have serious consequences for them.

More than 100 humanitarian agencies call for immediate and sustained access in Syria
GENEVA/NEW YORK, 15 March 2016 – Today, 102 humanitarian agencies urged sustained and unconditional humanitarian access to all Syrians.

Former Australian PM Kevin Rudd, Ethiopian government, UNICEF lead talks on global access to water, sanitation and hygiene
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, 15 March 2016 – Government ministers and representatives of development agencies, civil society, private sector and NGOs are gathered in Addis to agree on a way to meet targets on universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene as called for in the new Sustainable Development Goals.

Malawi tests first unmanned aerial vehicle flights for HIV early infant diagnosis
LILONGWE, Malawi 14 March 2016 – The Government of Malawi and UNICEF have started testing the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs or drones) to explore cost effective ways of reducing waiting times for HIV testing of infants. The test, which is using simulated samples, will have the potential to cut waiting times dramatically, and if successful, will be integrated into the health system alongside others mechanisms such as road transport and SMS.

1 in 3 Syrian children has grown up knowing only crisis as conflict reaches 5 year point – UNICEF
AMMAN/NEW YORK, 14 March 2016 – An estimated 3.7 million Syrian children – 1 in 3 of all Syrian children – have been born since the conflict began five years ago, their lives shaped by violence, fear and displacement, according to a UNICEF report. This figure includes more than 306,000 children born as refugees since 2011.

UNHCR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/search?page=&comid=4a0950336&cid=49aea93a7d&scid=49aea93a40

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Press Releases
18 March 2016
UNHCR on EU-Turkey deal: Asylum safeguards must prevail in implementation

15 March 2016
Syria conflict at 5 years: the biggest refugee and displacement crisis of our time demands a huge surge in solidarity

IOM / International Organization for Migration [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.iom.int/press-room/press-releases

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03/18/16
IOM Launches Survey: Human Trafficking and Exploitation Prevalence on Eastern Mediterranean Migrant Routes
03/18/16
Switzerland – Nearly 1 in 10 respondents answered positively to an indicator of human trafficking and other exploitative practices.

IOM, Sciences Po Paris Launch First Atlas of Environmental Migration
03/18/16
France – IOM and the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po Paris) have launched the French edition of the Atlas of Environmental Migration.

Mediterranean Migrant Arrivals in 2016 Near 155,000; Deaths Reach 467
03/18/16
Greece – With winter ending and warmer conditions prevailing, the Central Mediterranean migrant route between North Africa and Sicily has become busier.

Japan Backing for IOM Humanitarian Operations Totals USD 46.8 Million
03/18/16
Japan – The Japanese Government has allocated a total of 46.8 million funding to support IOM’s operations in assisting vulnerable migrants, displaced persons, refugees, returnees and affected communities in the midst of conflicts and crises continuing in various parts of the world.

IOM Welcomes Step to Enhance Coordination at Turkey’s Shared European Borders
03/18/16
Turkey – IOM Turkey welcomes the 10th March ratification of an agreement enhancing cooperation at Turkey’s land borders with Bulgaria and Greece to combat irregular activities at borders (including irregular migration and other types of cross border crime) and facilitate the legitimate movement of persons and goods across the borders.

IOM Strengthens Capacities to Fight Trafficking in Persons in the Caribbean
03/18/16
Jamaica – IOM has brought together key stakeholders from five Caribbean territories at a two-day workshop in Belize in an effort to strengthen coordination to counter trafficking in persons in the Caribbean.

IOM Evacuates 250 Most Vulnerable Ethiopian Migrants from Yemen
03/15/16
Yemen – IOM in Yemen resumed humanitarian evacuations of stranded Ethiopian migrants on 15 March.

IOM Surveys Iraqi Migrants to Europe
03/15/16
Iraq – A new study by IOM, “Migration Flows from Iraq to Europe,” explores the experiences of recent Iraqi migrants.

Mediterranean Migrant Arrivals in 2016: 152,697; Deaths: 456
03/15/16
Greece – IOM estimates that 152,697 refugees and migrants have crossed into Europe since the beginning of the year, the vast majority of them (143,205) having crossed through the Greek islands, while the remaining (9,492) have reached Europe through Italy.

Infectious Disease Holding Units Installed at Four Border Posts in Ghana
03/15/16
Ghana – IOM Ghana in partnership with the Government of Ghana installed four infectious disease holding units at Sampa and Elubo Points of Entry (border with Cote d’Ivoire), as well as the Hamile and Paga Points of Entry (border with Burkina Faso), to enhance the screening and surveillance capacities for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) and other communicable diseases at these key border posts.

‘Milestone in Migrant Health’ Reached in Philippines
03/15/16
Philippines – The Philippines Department of Health and IOM have renewed a commitment first made in 2013 to work together in addressing the health and well-being, vulnerabilities and challenges faced by Filipino migrants.

UN Women [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.unwomen.org/news/stories

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Date: 18 March 2016
Gender equality must be at the core of humanitarian action says international community
At CSW60, government representatives, civil society groups and high-level UN officials highlighted the centrality of gender equality in humanitarian action and urged world leaders to make concrete commitments at the World Humanitarian Summit in May.

Building peace in the Arab region, women’s groups spotlight progress and challenges
Date: 18 March 2016
On 15 March at the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the UN in New York, a side event to the 60th Commission on the Status of Women featured a rich discussion by Arab women activists about women’s contribution to the peacebuilding processes across the region.

UN Women calls for effective protection of refugee women and girls in context of European Council Summit
Date: 17 March 2016
In the context of the European Council meeting held today and tomorrow, UN Women calls for the specific needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls to be addressed in the response to the refugee and migration crisis.

Building resilience for South Sudanese women through humanitarian assistance
Date: 17 March 2016
Following a successful pilot in 2014, UN Women in South Sudan has scaled up the provision of humanitarian assistance to reach 6,000 vulnerable women and girls and 1500 men and boys in displaced settlements in Nimule, Eastern Equatorial State, Mingkaman in Lakes State and Juba in Central Equatoria State.

Executive Director briefs the Security Council on Liberia
Date: 17 March 2016
Statement to the Security Council meeting on Liberia by UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, 17 March 2016, New York.

Morocco hosts one of the largest gatherings of Arab women parliamentarians for a gender-balanced policy agenda
Date: 17 March 2016
Women parliamentarians from the Arab States region unite to make a difference for sustainable development. While the Arab States region is at a crucial point of transition in history, gender equality and inclusion must be on the top of the region’s priorities.

Press release: UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment holds inaugural meeting
Date: 15 March 2016
The inaugural meeting of the first-ever High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment kicked off today during the 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. Operating under the aegis of the UN Secretary-General, it intends to put women’s economic empowerment at the top of the international agenda, including by defining actions to speed up progress under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. A global consultation will take place during the continuation of the meeting on 16 March.

Ten Member States take stock of their progress towards CSW57 Agreed Conclusions
Date: 15 March 2016
At CSW60, for the first time, 10 Member States submitted voluntary reviews of their progress towards the historic Agreed Conclusions from the fifty-seventh session of the CSW (2013), which focused on ending violence against women.

WHO & Regionals [to 19 March 2016]

Disease Outbreak News (DONs)
:: Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Saudi Arabia 16 March 2016
:: Chikungunya – Argentina 14 March 2016
:: Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Saudi Arabia 14 March 2016

WHO: Syria 5 years on – delivering health against all odds
15 March 2016 – After five years of a brutal and senseless conflict over 250 000 Syrians have been killed and over half the population forced from their homes out of fear and want.
In the past few weeks however, we are seeing signs of momentum, fragile glimmers of hope. As humanitarians we welcome progress where it means real change..
:: View the photo story
:: Watch the video
:: Read the news release

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:: WHO Regional Offices
WHO African Region AFRO
:: Official visit of Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa to China
Brazzaville, 18 March 2016 – The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti will begin a 4 day official visit to China from 22 to 25 March 2016 at the invitation of the Chinese government. The visit is aimed at further exploring areas of mutual interest in health with a view to having a more structured collaboration between WHO and the Chinese government.
:: Guinea: Two (2) confirmed Ebola cases in Koropara village in Nzérékoré – 18 March 2016
:: WHO statement on the end of the Ebola flare-up in Sierra Leone – 17 March 2016

WHO Region of the Americas PAHO
:: Regional Parliamentary Front against Tuberculosis in the Americas launched in Brazil (03/16/2016)

WHO South-East Asia Region SEARO
:: Media Statement – Create Healthy Environments to Save Lives
15 March 2016

WHO European Region EURO
:: Zika virus vectors and risk of spread in the WHO European Region 18-03-2016
:: TB elimination at stake unless Europe cares urgently for vulnerable, poor and marginalized populations and migrants 17-03-2016
:: Antibiotic awareness drives digital conversation in European countries 16-03-2016
:: Informing policy for young people’s health 15-03-2016
:: New WHO study reveals that while smoking by school-aged children has declined significantly, young people’s health and well-being is being undermined by gender and social inequalities 15-03-2016

WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region EMRO
:: New shipment of health supplies arrives in Taiz City
18 March 2016
:: Sudan: monitoring for polio across sub-Saharan sands
14 March 2016
:: Mobile medical clinics connect patients to health care in camps in Iraq
13 March 2016

WHO Western Pacific Region
:: Zika Outbreak Response in Tonga: Providing Special Care for Pregnant Women
TONGA, 16 March 2016 – On 1 February 2016, the Ministry of Health declared a Zika outbreak in the Kingdom of Tonga. Coincidentally, it was on the same day that the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the recent cluster of microcephaly cases and other neurological disorders reported in Brazil, following a similar cluster in French Polynesia in 2014, constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) as per the International Heath Regulations (IHR, 2005). Pregnant women living in or travelling to areas of Zika virus transmission are given special care in Tonga as the Zika virus may cause microcephaly in babies.

UNDP United Nations Development Programme [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/presscenter.html

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Mar 10, 2016
Helen Clark: Keynote speech on Women’s Economic Empowerment for Sustainable Development in Rural Areas
Mar 18, 2016 New York, USA

Helen Clark: Speech on Access to Climate Finance: Ensuring Ownership and Facilitating Access for Exposed Countries
Mar 17, 2016 Westin Grand Hotel – New York, USA

Global transport leaders sign historic declaration at Buckingham Palace in fight to shut down Illegal wildlife trafficking routes
Mar 15, 2016
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is proud to be a signatory to an historic declaration at Buckingham Palace committing leaders of the transportation industry globally to taking major steps to fight illicit wildlife trafficking, a move hailed by HRH The Duke of Cambridge as “a game changer in the race against extinction.”

Magdy Martínez-Solimán: UN70: Rethinking the humanitarian-development nexus: How can the UN achieve a better integration of long-term aid and humanitarian assistance?
Mar 15, 2016 Oslo, Norway

Helen Clark: Speech on Power of Parity: Why and How to Increase the Number of Women in Political Leadership
Mar 14, 2016 UN Commission on the Status of Women Side Event, UN Headquarters – New York, USA

Morocco is fighting climate change with Liquid Gold
Mar 14, 2016
While Argan forests still cover around 820,000 hectares in the mountains of Morocco, one-third of the original tree coverage has already been lost due to pressures from charcoal production and unsustainable agricultural practices in the immediate environment of the trees. The Moroccan government sees high demand for Argan oil on international markets as an opportunity to tie climate change targets to its sustainable development goals through the conservation and expansion of the Argan forest.

UN Statistical Commission :: UN Statistics Division [to 19 March 2016]
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/default.htm
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/commission.htm
http://unstats.un.org/sdgs/

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Third meeting of the IAEG-SDGs
30 MAR – 1 APR 2016 Mexico City
The third meeting of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs), will be held from 30 March to 1 April 2016 in Mexico City, Mexico. The meeting will be hosted jointly by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico.
Meeting objectives
:: Establishment of a tier system for indicators
:: Establishment of procedures for the methodological review of indicators, including approval mechanisms of needed revisions
:: Development of global reporting mechanisms, including identifying entities responsible for compiling data for global reporting on individual indicators and discussing data flow from the national to the global level
:: Discussion of the work plan and next steps

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.unep.org/newscentre/?doctypeID=1

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The Secretary-General Message For The International Day Of Happiness
18/03/2016

Climate for Change in Sudan
UNEP’s projects help to halt the vicious cycle of climate change, resource scarcity and conflict
17/03/2016

Without Land Security Long-Term Peace in Afghanistan Will Remain Elusive, Research Says
One of the main stumbling blocks to reversing Afghanistan’s slide into environmental tragedy stems from the failure to look at the links between land and people.
16/03/2016

Floating gardens help lift Bangladeshis out of poverty and stave off worst impacts of climate change
UNEP-UNDP partnership builds resilience to climate change in one of the world’s most vulnerable countries
15/03/2016

Legacy of waste from Great East Japan earthquake underscores need for urgent action on marine litter
14/03/2016

UNISDR UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction [to 19 March 2016]
http://www.unisdr.org/archive

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18 Mar 2016
World salutes Sendai Framework
The international community today celebrated the first anniversary of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the world’s most comprehensive blueprint for curbing the impact of natural and man-made hazards, with 20 million people taking to social media to mark the occasion

14 Mar 2016
East Africa passes landmark disaster risk bill
East African countries have reached a landmark in their efforts to curb the impact of natural and man-made hazards, by enacting regional legislation on the management and reduction of disaster risk.