As calls for accelerating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals grow louder at the halfway point towards the 2030 deadline, acknowledging the challenges of a small island developing state like Jamaica have become even more pressing.
For millions of people around the world, a life without digital connectivity is unthinkable. From receiving wages and welfare checks to making payments, getting medical help, verifying identity, and much more, with a click of a button, people of all ages engage every single day with digital infrastructure.
The UN team in Palestine, led by Resident Coordinator Lynn Hastings, called on the Israeli Government to rescind its announcement for UN agencies and Palestinians to ‘relocate to southern Gaza immediately’ without any guarantee for their safety or their return.
Wage losses, job insecurity, and a rising cost of living crisis have been a common thread in the past few years, across the world, directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, decent jobs that deliver a fair, secure income for all are critical to tackling inequality and poverty. Social protection systems help vulnerable people find such jobs and improve their ability to cope with crises through increased access to education, health, and other social security nets, helping absorb the impacts of shocks without major social or economic setbacks.
Our UN teams are on the ground in 162 countries and territories, coordinating joint programmes and tackling a range of priorities and initiatives — from climate action and food security to gender equality and safety of civilians.
The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Mr. Bakhodir Burkhanov of Uzbekistan as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), with the host Government’s approval.
Today, with one-third of all food produced globally ending up lost or wasted and more than three billion people unable to afford healthy diets, the question of how we produce, trade and consume food in a sustainable manner has come to the fore.
The world needs to focus on the transformative entry points that can have catalytic impact for achieving the Goals: food systems; energy access and affordability; digital connectivity; education; jobs and social protection; and climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. This action has already begun. At the country level, Resident Coordinators and UN country teams have been on the ground working with host Governments to boost SDG progress and engagement in the areas it matters the most.
Current projections show that by 2030, nearly 660 million people will continue to live without electricity and 1.9 billion without clean cooking fuels. The world needs a transformed global energy system, that prioritizes access and affordability. We can get there with the right energy access policies and regulations, focusing on the needs of vulnerable communities.
The participation of women in politics is a priority for the United Nations and should be so for society as a whole. For the first time in its history, Costa Rica, in an effort to acknowledge it, will be holding gender-balanced elections in 2024, thereby ensuring an unprecedented space for women's political participation in the country. However, this significant achievement faces a massive and growing challenge: hate speech, discrimination, and digital violence against women.
