Many of today’s global leaders recognize our common threats—COVID, climate, the unregulated development of new technologies. They agree that something needs to be done about them. Yet that common understanding is not matched by common action.
Millions of people around the world do not have access to quality education and are facing poverty, violence, and other forms of exploitation and abuse.
Today, on International Day of Education, let us take a moment to reflect on the value of learning, and consider, through the lenses of five stories of people from different regions, cultures, age groups, and abilities, how we could support the work of UN country teams established across 162 countries and territories around the world on making education accessible for all.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has joined the UN Sustainable Development Group – gathering all UN entities working to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030
Teams are intensifying their efforts across the globe to tackle COVID-19 and the latest variant: Omicron. They are also helping countries as they face multidimensional challenges like an increase in gender-based violence and political unrest.
“Apocalyptic” is the word that sprang to mind when I visited communities in the orange and red zones just nine days after the devastating eruption of La Soufrière.
“Persons with disabilities are capable and equal. It is time the world understands that,” says Antonio Palma, a UN Volunteer at the Resident Coordinator’s Office in Guatemala.
Disabled people in Haiti who have been driven from one temporary shelter to another as result of an earthquake, fire and mounting gang violence have been finally able to find a safe home, just ahead of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities marked annually on 3 December.
