Monthly Archives: May 2013

UN human rights expert calls for a moratorium on lethal autonomous robots

Christof Heyns, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, briefs journalists on his annual report to the Human Rights Council on lethal autonomous robotics (LARs), and his reports on 2012 visits to Turkey and India. In the former report, the Special Rapporteur calls for a global pause in the development and deployment of LARs, “to ensure that not only life itself but also the value of life and human dignity is protected in the long run.”The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, today called for a global pause in the development and deployment of lethal autonomous robots (LARs), to allow “serious and meaningful international engagement on this issue before we proceed to a world where machines are given the power to kill humans.” Continue reading →

Latest reports on children with disability and state of school feeding around the world

A young Afghan girl attends one of the thousands of community based schools supported by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to make formal education accessible to children.Children with disabilities and their communities would both benefit if society focused on what they can achieve, rather than what they cannot, says UNICEF’s annual State of the World’s Children’s report. While WFP’s the first State of School Feeding Worldwide report, provides a global picture of developments in school feeding. Continue reading →

Secretary-General receives report from the High-level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (left), President of the Republic of Indonesia and Co-Chair of the Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, presents the Panel’s report to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.On 30 May 2013, the Secretary-General received a landmark report from the High-level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, a 27-member group of eminent persons established a year earlier to provide recommendations on advancing the development framework beyond the target date for the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. Continue reading →

International Day of UN Peacekeepers – Adapting to New Challenges

Guests receive a guided tour of the IDG pre-deployment training village, led by Superintendent Jamey Bellicanta, AFP - smallUNIC Canberra marked International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers with an event hosted in collaboration with the Australian Federal Police International Deployment Group (IDG). Held at the IDG Headquarters, the event featured presentations from Assistant Commissioner Mandy Newton, National Manager IGD, and Commander  Continue reading →

UN Declarationon on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples for indigenous adolescents

"United Nations Declarationon the Rights of Indigenous Peoples" - for indigenous adolescents

In this publication you will learn about an important international document called the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP or Declaration). The Declaration explains how the rights of indigenous peoples – including indigenous young people – are to be protected by governments around the world. It applies to indigenous peoples as individuals and as a group. Indigenous young people were actively involved in Continue reading →

Tonga to get its first broadband internet connection

Loluhama Mausia, Teacher, Tailulu CollegeHoko (‘connect’ in Tongan) is the current buzzword on the streets of Nukua’lofa. If there is any year the Kingdom of Tonga would be justifiably excited about internet, 2013 is it. As one of the most remote island nations on the planet, the impending arrival of high-speed, fiber-optic broadband internet – made possible through the World Bank-supported Continue reading →