As a platform for the year ahead, the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly set the stage for strengthening multi-lateral co-operation, adopting a global compact on migration, protecting the Middle East peace process and extending rights for those in work, the body's president, Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces told The National.
In an exclusive interview from New York, the Ecuadorian diplomat said the opening week of high-level speakers underlined a broad global consensus that acting together was the only means of tackling the gravest problems facing the world.
“I was very pleased by the unanimity about the need to strengthen multilateralism and the usefulness of this house to address global issues,” she said. “Of course it’s very crowded and very intense during this time but there is a very strong message the UN is unique. This is going to be a very busy year.”
One landmark on the horizon is the signing of the Global Compact on Migration, slated for Marrakesh in December. The key role for the General Assembly is to ensure that there is rapid implementation of the principles of the contract in its first year. The need is urgent with 260 million migrants worldwide as well as 25 million refugees displaced by conflict.
The 2020 review of progress for the Sustainable Development Goals looms for the UN members. Ms Espinosa reports that the SDG process was in large part the focus for 450 side events during the high-level week, which wrapped up on 30 September.
“More and more countries are coming voluntarily forward with their national report,” she said, noting that the General Assembly mandates would help deliver reforms that allowed countries to gain the technical assistance they needed to deliver on the goals. “To guide the Sustainable Development Goals we see most states developing frameworks at the national level. This is very powerful.”
An expert and writer on Amazonian river cultures, Ms Espinosa has served as Ecuador’s foreign minister as well as its permanent representative to the UN. That perspective informs her drive to bolster access to the workplace and equality of treatment for women and also the disabled.
“I have one priority for each day of the week,” she said. “The right to decent work is very important.”
The centenary of the International Labour Organisation in 2019 creates an opportunity to stress the need for “equal pay for an equal job” for women and the case for access to “decent jobs especially for persons with disabilities”.
At a time when international politics is scarred by division and rancour, it is inevitable that the debate over the reform of UN institutions has been revived. This includes the two tier structure of the Security Council, which has been paralysed on important issues, such as Syria.
The president of UNGA observes that the General Assembly has the right to act when the Security Council is deadlocked. She points to the intervention in the last session after the US announced it was shifting its embassy to Jerusalem in defiance of long-standing resolutions.
_________
Read more:
WATCH: What did the UN General Assembly deliver this year?
UN postcard: Ensuring their voice is not lost in the General Debate
UN postcard: Old power versus new power at the UN
_________
"On the one hand it is a big challenge to ensure there is proper coordination with all the main organs of the UN to avoid overlap and advance the multilateral agenda," she told The National. "Peace in the Middle East has been part of the UN agenda for a long time now. Regarding Palestine, after the decision of certain member states to change the place where they have their embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, we saw that the General Assembly can indeed act."
After the failure of the Paris Accord on climate, there is a sense that countries must regroup quickly and Ms Espinosa would like the General Assembly to act as the engine for that. “After all there is no other way to tackle climate change but through multilateralism.”
The same could be said for tackling the endemic health problems that are often overshadowed by high-profile eradication campaigns. An event on non-communicable diseases presented an opportunity for action in the year to come. “Cancer doesn’t stop at borders,” said Ms Espinosa.
The threat of religious extremism underpins an emphasis on the youth when addressing peace and security, according to Ms Espinosa. Only by a strategy of addressing opportunities and the elimination of barriers to political participation will the drift towards violent extremism be eliminated.
Support for the efforts of the special envoy of the secretary general for youth, who used the UNGA to launch a 2030 strategy, is designed to ensure a sustainable peace can be achieved through preventative approaches.
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
More on Turkey's Syria offence
match info
Chelsea 2
Willian (13'), Ross Barkley (64')
Liverpool 0
A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Zayed%20Centre%20for%20Research
%3Cp%3EThe%20Zayed%20Centre%20for%20Research%20is%20a%20partnership%20between%20Great%20Ormond%20Street%20Hospital%2C%20University%20College%20London%20and%20Great%20Ormond%20Street%20Hospital%20Children%E2%80%99s%20Charity%20and%20was%20made%20possible%20thanks%20to%20a%20generous%20%C2%A360%20million%20gift%20in%202014%20from%20Sheikha%20Fatima%20bint%20Mubarak%2C%20Chairwoman%20of%20the%20General%20Women's%20Union%2C%20President%20of%20the%20Supreme%20Council%20for%20Motherhood%20and%20Childhood%2C%20and%20Supreme%20Chairwoman%20of%20the%20Family%20Development%20Foundation.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
ACL Elite (West) - fixtures
Monday, Sept 30
Al Sadd v Esteghlal (8pm)
Persepolis v Pakhtakor (8pm)
Al Wasl v Al Ahli (8pm)
Al Nassr v Al Rayyan (10pm)
Tuesday, Oct 1
Al Hilal v Al Shorta (10pm)
Al Gharafa v Al Ain (10pm)
Gertrude Bell's life in focus
A feature film
At one point, two feature films were in the works, but only German director Werner Herzog’s project starring Nicole Kidman would be made. While there were high hopes he would do a worthy job of directing the biopic, when Queen of the Desert arrived in 2015 it was a disappointment. Critics panned the film, in which Herzog largely glossed over Bell’s political work in favour of her ill-fated romances.
A documentary
A project that did do justice to Bell arrived the next year: Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell. Drawing on more than 1,000 pieces of archival footage, 1,700 documents and 1,600 letters, the filmmakers painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative that managed to convey both the depth of Bell’s experience and her tortured love life.
Books, letters and archives
Two biographies have been written about Bell, and both are worth reading: Georgina Howell’s 2006 book Queen of the Desert and Janet Wallach’s 1996 effort Desert Queen. Bell published several books documenting her travels and there are also several volumes of her letters, although they are hard to find in print. Original documents are housed at the Gertrude Bell Archive at the University of Newcastle, which has an online catalogue.
Januzaj's club record
Manchester United 50 appearances, 5 goals
Borussia Dortmund (loan) 6 appearances, 0 goals
Sunderland (loan) 25 appearances, 0 goals
Bookshops: A Reader's History by Jorge Carrión (translated from the Spanish by Peter Bush),
Biblioasis
Abandon
Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay
Translated by Arunava Sinha
Tilted Axis Press
One in four Americans don't plan to retire
Nearly a quarter of Americans say they never plan to retire, according to a poll that suggests a disconnection between individuals' retirement plans and the realities of ageing in the workforce.
Experts say illness, injury, layoffs and caregiving responsibilities often force older workers to leave their jobs sooner than they'd like.
According to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research, 23 per cent of workers, including nearly two in 10 of those over 50, don't expect to stop working. Roughly another quarter of Americans say they will continue working beyond their 65th birthday.
According to government data, about one in five people 65 and older was working or actively looking for a job in June. The study surveyed 1,423 adults in February this year.
For many, money has a lot to do with the decision to keep working.
"The average retirement age that we see in the data has gone up a little bit, but it hasn't gone up that much," says Anqi Chen, assistant director of savings research at the Centre for Retirement Research at Boston College. "So people have to live in retirement much longer, and they may not have enough assets to support themselves in retirement."
When asked how financially comfortable they feel about retirement, 14 per cent of Americans under the age of 50 and 29 per cent over 50 say they feel extremely or very prepared, according to the poll. About another four in 10 older adults say they do feel somewhat prepared, while just about one-third feel unprepared.
"One of the things about thinking about never retiring is that you didn't save a whole lot of money," says Ronni Bennett, 78, who was pushed out of her job as a New York City-based website editor at 63.
She searched for work in the immediate aftermath of her layoff, a process she describes as akin to "banging my head against a wall." Finding Manhattan too expensive without a steady stream of income, she eventually moved to Portland, Maine. A few years later, she moved again, to Lake Oswego, Oregon. "Sometimes I fantasise that if I win the lottery, I'd go back to New York," says Ms Bennett.
