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30 January 2023
Secretary-General Concerned by Military’s Stated Intention to Hold Elections amid Violence
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30 January 2023
My promise is to foster Solutions through Solidarity, Sustainability and Science
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International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust
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Latest
The Sustainable Development Goals in India
India is critical in determining the success of the SDGs, globally. At the UN Sustainable Development Summit in 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi noted, “Sustainable development of one-sixth of humanity will be of great consequence to the world and our beautiful planet. It will be a world of fewer challenges and greater hope; and, more confident of its success”. NITI Aayog, the Government of India’s premier think tank, has been entrusted with the task of coordinating the SDGs, mapping schemes related to the SDGs and their targets, and identifying lead and supporting ministries for each target. In addition, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has been leading discussions for developing national indicators for the SDGs. State governments are key to India’s progress on the SDGs as they are best placed to ‘put people first’ and to ensuring that ‘no one is left behind’. The UN Country Team in India supports NITI Aayog, Union ministries and state governments in their efforts to address the interconnectedness of the goals, to ensure that no one is left behind and to advocate for adequate financing to achieve the SDGs.
Publication
17 August 2022
UN India Annual Report 2021
The UN in India 2021 Annual Report gives an overview of how the UN in India, partnering closely with the Government and our stakeholders in civil society, the private sector, and communities, redoubled our efforts to save lives, protect people and build back better through the second year of the pandemic.
This report covers the penultimate year of the UN - Government of India Sustainable Development Framework (UNSDF) 2018-2022, which continued to guide our support to India’s development priorities, even as we repurposed a significant part of our planned activities and budget towards the COVID-19 response.
We worked to respond to the health emergency, training frontline workers, delivering essential equipment and medical supplies, addressing misinformation, and supporting India’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign — the world’s largest. We also responded to the social and economic impact of the pandemic, working to ensure everyone, especially the most marginalised, had access to social safety nets and that households and businesses stayed afloat. We combatted malnutrition and food insecurity, and continued to respond to the unprecedented disruption faced by children and adolescents impacted by school closures. And we didn’t lose sight of the greatest existential threat of all, continuing to partner with the Government of India in responding to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and rising levels of pollution. Throughout the year, we remained focused on ensuring that the recovery was gender-sensitive and that gender equality was at the centre of all of our initiatives.
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Take Action
31 July 2022
Lifestyle for Environment
A global mass movement to promote climate-friendly behaviors among individuals and communities worldwide
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Story
31 July 2022
A global movement to foster kindness
The sun is still to rise over Kerala’s Manchadikkari Village, but N.S. Rajappan is wide awake. The 69-year-old villager, whose legs were paralysed after he contracted polio as a child, crawls down to the Meenachil River and slides onto a boat. Then, for 17 hours, he collects plastic waste from the waterways of Vembanad Lake.
He has done this almost daily for the last five years. “And he plans to continue to work every day, spreading kindness to the natural world around him, one plastic bottle at a time,” reads a chapter in a book called ‘Kindness Matters’.
For thousands of students in India and others across the world, Rajappan is a beacon of hope. Many, like him, are making efforts — small or big — for a better world. Rajappan’s story is one of 50 such accounts in the collection, published in November 2021.
The story reinforces the need for kindness, which is at the heart of a global movement led by the United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) MGIEP (Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development). The book is a part of the #KindnessMatters Campaign, which was launched in 2018 by UNESCO MGIEP and seeks to mobilise the world’s youth to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by all UN members. The SDGs include action to end poverty and hunger, for gender equality, quality education and clean water and sanitation.
The campaign started on October 2, 2018 – an important date and year on the calendar for principles of kindness. The apostle of peace, Mahatma Gandhi, was born on October 2, 1869, and 2018 marked the start of celebrations to mark his 150th birth anniversary. The year also commemorated the birth centenary of South African leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Nelson Mandela. The campaign focuses on youth and was launched with youth activities across India, South Africa and Pakistan. Indian youth groups marked the day with a mass blood donation drive in collaboration with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, food distribution and educational sessions for unprivileged children.
The campaign invited participants to submit their accounts of kindness — anything from helping an animal in need to donating a blanket — to a storyboard on the UNESCO MGIEP website. So far, 1.2 million kind acts have been recorded from youth across 150 countries.
To give the youth opportunities to acquire the social and emotional skills that promote coexistence, UNESCO MGIEP organised the first World Youth Conference on Kindness in New Delhi in August 2019. Centred on the theme ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: Gandhi for the Contemporary World’, it highlighted the role of compassion in achieving the SDGs. The Sanskrit words ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ mean the world is a family.
The conference provided young global thought leaders with an engaging platform to help them develop their social and emotional capacities and build momentum to celebrate World Kindness Day on November 13. Introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement (WKM), a coalition of international NGOs, November 13 focuses on the power of positivity every year. The second world conference was held in October 2020, with the focus on ‘Kindness for Peaceful and Sustainable Coexistence’.
On October 2, 2021, UNESCO MGIEP and Faze Media (Canada), a media group, hosted the third World Youth Conference on Kindness on the theme ‘Achieving with Kindness’. The free, three-hour virtual conference celebrated the collection of more than 1 million stories of how kindness for self, others, and nature helps achieve the SDGs. Thirty-five young people shared powerful stories on how their deeds of empathy, mindfulness and compassion had transformed themselves and their communities for sustainable and peaceful societies.
YOUTH POWER
The kindness movement has been drawing the youth in India, too. In April 2021, students from 107 schools across the country joined the global campaign. Since then, the schools have collected over 100,000 stories of kindness from students, teachers, parents, and alumni and submitted them to the UN.
Clearly, schools have been looking at lessons taught not just in classrooms. “Teaching Science and Mathematics is not the only job of an educationist,” says Jyoti Arora, Principal, Mount Abu Public School, Delhi. “We have to empower students to build a caring and sharing society. How do we do this? By fostering an environment of kindness, where everyone respects each other,” she explains.
From early 2020, the school has been organising a slew of activities to inculcate kindness among students. To begin with, it found that most students associated kindness with donations. Educational online sessions were conducted to broaden this definition. “Kindness can be anything — from watering a tree to feeding a stray animal,” Arora stresses.
No act of kindness is too small or too big. For Priya Tripathi, a student of Grade IX, it translated into helping a friend who had met with a road accident and had to be taken to a hospital. “The timely treatment helped her recover fast,” Tripathi says.
For Tanishka Johar, a Grade VI student at the same school, kindness is about regularly feeding street dogs in her neighbourhood and planting saplings. “These small acts of kindness give me a huge sense of achievement,” she says.
The school has set up the post of Kindness Leader in the Student Council. Just outside the school campus, it has erected a Wall of Kindness where anyone can place anything — from warm clothes and utensils to pencil boxes — for others to pick up. During daily attendance, students are asked to relate acts of kindness.
The school compiles a monthly list of such deeds by students. Those who score the highest on the kindness barometer win the title of Kindness Ambassadors. “This motivates others to add to their kitty of kindness stories,” Arora says.
The school has also proved that kindness is contagious. “It has had a ripple effect. We saw the movement turn into a tsunami,” Arora recalls. Seeing the benefits of the #KindnessMatters Campaign among her students, she gave a presentation to the Action Committee of Unaided Recognised Private Schools, an association of 1,500 schools across India, in April 2021. Of these, 107 signed up for the UNESCO MGIEP campaign.
THE LARGER PICTURE
The late South African Nobel Laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, had once said, “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” This is the crux of the kindness campaign, which highlights the need for people to be kind to themselves, to those around them and, effectively, to the world.
“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
By creating connections that strengthen the culture of kindness, the campaign provides young people with an empowering platform where they share stories of compassion, and reflect how these can be used to address global challenges such as climate change, migration, diversity and social inclusion. Many of the stories on the site, for instance, are about cleaning up one’s immediate environment.
Scores of Indian students have contributed to the storyboard. In the slums of Bhubaneswar, the capital of the eastern state of Odisha, doctors and interns from the Kalinga Institute of Dental Sciences organised awareness campaigns about hand hygiene and social distancing, said one message on the site. A youth posted a message from Kolkata, in the eastern state of West Bengal, about distributing rations to people in COVID-19 times. A school student from the western Indian state of Maharashtra wrote to say that she made cards especially to thank her teachers — describing them as Corona warriors.
Acts of kindness continue to pour in. But that’s not surprising, for neuro-scientific studies have found that human beings are inherently kind. And altruistic or kind behaviour engages brain networks associated with rewards. The campaign hopes to capitalise on this biological need to build positive change.
Kindness is a trait that is wired in the human brain, says Nandini Chatterjee Singh, Senior Programme Officer, UNESCO MGIEP. “Research shows that practising kindness releases oxytocin, a neurotransmitter that plays an integral role in forming social bonds and trust, and thus contributes to happiness. Being kind also increases serotonin, which helps regulate mood and stay positive. Kindness is highly beneficial as a practice,” she adds.
The campaign also underlines the role of other platforms focusing on kindness. Take Alina Alam, who was invited to speak at the 2021 World Youth Conference on Kindness. Alam runs a chain of cafes — called Mitti Café — that are wholly managed by people with physical and mental disabilities.
“When a business invests in kindness, the ROI [return on investment] is high,” she says.
Mitti Café started as a zero capital start-up in 2017. Almost 90 per cent of the café’s infrastructure came from donations — from spoons, cups and plates, to second-hand ovens.
As the project gained traction, Alam rolled out the Mitti Social Initiative Foundation, which trains adults with disabilities and helps them find employment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the foundation launched its Karuna Meal Campaign, which seeks to feed two million people in need. “The idea came from a person with cerebral palsy. He used to live on the road before becoming a part of the Mitti family,” Alam says.
Kindness is not just building bridges but also instilling confidence among people. “We expect Governments, NGOs, and corporations to make a difference. The truth is, we need to look inwards and bring incremental change in our lives,” says musician Ricky Kej, who launched the #KindnessAnthem at the #KindnessConcert as part of the 2019 World Youth Conference on Kindness. “We need to know that with each small act of kindness we create a huge positive impact,” Kej adds. The anthem was created by musicians from four continents.
Among the organisations that hope to take the campaign further is the WKM. “When UNESCO put out kindness as its goal, I jumped with joy. Here was a powerful, global organisation that says kindness matters to SDGs. It was in direct alignment with the work we were doing,” WKM President Nirmala Mehendale says.
As part of the #KindnessMatters Campaign, WKM conducted workshops at the 2021 conference and added 20,000 kindness stories to MGIEP’s storyboard.
After the pandemic, what the world needs is a ‘ kindemic’, Mehendale stresses.
After the pandemic, what the world needs is a ‘kindemic’.
Kindness advocate Debashis Mohanty will agree. The Odisha youth’s story, posted on the campaign storyboard, focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic. “In this pandemic we have started helping people in every possible way” — providing food to those who need it and distributing groceries, masks and sanitisers, he writes. “Good action (would) give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others.”
Acts of kindness embraced the pandemic-induced lockdown in particular, a period that witnessed untold misery. As the offline and online worlds came together, social media played a key role in helping people reach out to NGOs, lend individual help, or set up crowd-sourced social initiatives to provide food, PPE kits, and other necessities to those in need. Social media enabled people to stay connected and work together — both as individuals and as communities — to support people who needed assistance, in a time when physical liaising was almost impossible.
Large numbers of students reached out to people who’d been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and faced financial problems because of loss of jobs and other related issues. India’s national lockdown in 2020 left many daily wage workers without work and food. That was when Delhi’s Modern Public School, in collaboration with Roti (bread) Bank, an initiative by a group dedicated to feeding the poor, started Roti Banks on Wheels to feed families in underprivileged areas. The bus collected food packets from citizens who volunteered to contribute to the service and delivered them to those in need of it. Roti is an Indian staple.
UNESCO MGIEP Director Anantha K. Duraiappah points out that the need to contribute, help, support and belong is a fundamental predisposition in human beings, who are inherently kind. “Reflect. Empathize. Be kind,” Duraiappah writes in the foreword to the book Kindness Matters.
Reflect. Empathize. Be kind.
Building on last year’s success, the 2022 goal is to collect 5 millions acts of kindness and to organise the fourth World Youth Conference on Kindness.
A little step, indeed, can lead to a movement, and, thereby, a happier world. As Mahatma Gandhi said: “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.”
To share your kindness stories, log on to https://kindnessmatters.paperform.co.
To know more, log on to https://mgiep.unesco.org/kindness.
Credits:
Writer: UN/Varuna Verma/ Word Wide Media
Illustrations: Ishan Mudgal, Anasua, Tulika Trivedi
Pictures: Mount Abu Public School
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Story
03 August 2022
UN News Hindi
Visit the UN News Hindi site for news, stories, opinions, interviews, videos and audio stories from across the UN system in Hindi: https://news.un.org/hi/
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Story
12 November 2022
COP 27 - Sharm El-Sheikh
Delivering for people and the planet
From 6 to 18 November, Heads of State, ministers, and negotiators, along with climate activists, mayors, civil society representatives and CEOs are meeting in the Egyptian coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh for the largest annual gathering on climate action.
The 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – COP27 – builds on the outcomes of COP26 to deliver action on an array of issues critical to tackling the climate emergency – from urgently reducing greenhouse gas emissions, building resilience, and adapting to the inevitable impacts of climate change, to delivering on the commitments to finance climate action in developing countries.
Faced with a growing energy crisis, record greenhouse gas concentrations, and increasing extreme weather events, COP27 seeks renewed solidarity between countries, to deliver on the landmark Paris Agreement, for people and the planet.
Read more: https://unfccc.int/cop27
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Story
20 October 2022
A new lease of LIFE for climate action
Our world today is in turmoil, facing multiple, mutually reinforcing crises. Even as we mount a fragile recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, war fuels a devastating energy, food, and cost-of-living crisis. And for the first time since it began over 30 years ago, the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Report has warned that global human development measures have declined across most countries in the past two years.
This comes against the backdrop of the greatest existential threat of all — the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. Nine of the warmest years on record have come in the past decade alone. This year’s record-breaking heat waves, floods, droughts, and other extreme forms of weather have forced us to face these increasingly devastating impacts. Climate change is a disruption multiplier in a disrupted world, rolling back progress across the global Sustainable Development Goals.
The Paris Agreement and the COP26 summit in Glasgow represent urgent, collective steps countries are taking to limit emissions. Yet, the window for action is closing fast. Commitments we have now will not keep warming below the 1.5°C target that gives us the best chance of averting catastrophe.
With the narrative so focused on geo-politics, the scope for each of us to make a difference as individuals seems increasingly lost. While governments and industry carry the lion’s share of responsibility for responding to the crisis, we as consumers play a large role in driving unsustainable production methods.
LIFE, a fresh perspective
LIFE, or Lifestyle for Environment, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at COP26 in November 2021, brings a fresh and much-needed perspective. Rather than framing climate change as a ‘larger than life’ challenge, LIFE recognises that small individual actions can tip the balance in the planet’s favour. But we need guiding frameworks, information sharing and the scale of a global movement.
Mindful choices cultivated by LIFE animate this spirit — actions such as saving energy at home; cycling and using public transport instead of driving; eating more plant-based foods and wasting less; and leveraging our position as customers and employees to demand climate-friendly choices.
Many of the goals of LIFE can be achieved by deploying ‘nudges’, gentle persuasion techniques to encourage positive behaviour. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) employs proven nudging techniques such as discouraging food waste by offering smaller plates in cafeterias; encouraging recycling by making bin lids eye-catching; and encouraging cycling by creating cycle paths. According to the UNEP, more than two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to household consumption and lifestyles — the urgent cuts to global emissions we need can only be achieved through widespread adoption of greener consumption habits.
And while LIFE is a global vision, India is an excellent place to start. With over 1.3 billion people, if we achieve a true jan andolan here, the momentum generated will be enormous. As India leads, we see the world increasingly follow.
India’s track record
Today, in Gujarat, from the Statue of Unity, this vision of LIFE is taking flight as a global mission launched by Mr. Modi together with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who has come to India to show his support. The Prime Minister and Secretary-General are calling on all consumers across the world to become “Pro Planet People” by 2027, adopting simple lifestyle changes that can collectively lead to transformational change.
India has a proven track record translating the aspirations of national missions into whole-of-society efforts. The success of the Swachh Bharat Mission, which mobilised individuals and communities across socio-economic strata to become drivers of collective good health and sanitation is an example.
The LIFE mission also recognises that accountability is relative to contribution. Emissions across the poorest half of the world’s population combined still fall short of even 1% of the wealthiest. Those who consume the least, often the most vulnerable and marginalised members of society, will not be asked to consume less, but rather supported to participate in the green economy. Each ‘Pro Planet’ stakeholder is nudged according to differentiated approaches.
Onus on the developed world
The same applies across countries. LIFE resonates with the global climate justice India has rightfully called for — highlighting enhanced obligations those in developed countries bear, to support climate adaptation and mitigation for those most affected, yet least responsible. The average carbon footprint of a person in a high income country is more than 80 times higher than that of a person in a least developed country. It is common sense and only fair to call on the developed world to shoulder a proportionate share of this transition. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “the world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.”
And there has never been a better time for India’s leadership on climate action, at home and on the international stage. From the Panchamrit targets announced by Mr. Modi at COP26, to support for the International Solar Alliance, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and South-South cooperation platforms, from the world’s fifth largest economy with vibrant businesses making enormous investments in renewables and electric mobility, to a world class public digital tech stack, India brings scale, expertise and legitimacy; a well-positioned founding UN Member State bridging the G20 and G77.
With COP27 next month, and India set to assume the G20 Presidency weeks after, followed by the halfway mark to Agenda 2030 next year, we at Team UN India and our 26 entities are proud and committed partners in this mission to help give new lease of LIFE to climate action.
Shombi Sharp is UN Resident Coordinator in India. Shoko Noda is Resident Representative, UN Development Programme. Atul Bagai is Country Head, UN Environment Programme
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20 October 2022
Remarks of the United Nations Secretary-General
Professor Chaudhuri,
All protocol observed,
I am delighted to be here with all of you.
This institution is 54 years old, and as it was said, 54 years ago, I was a student at a university in Lisbon, and my school was called, I will say in Portuguese, but you will understand, Instituto Superior Técnico. And my dream at the time was to be a researcher in physics.
Now, we don’t control our destiny. We lived in a dictatorship that was at the same time an oppressive colonialist regime. We had fortunately a revolution, and that revolution led to the liberation of the former colonies and to democracy in Portugal.
And at that time as a student, I was as a volunteer working in the slums of Lisbon in different areas related to health and education, and I felt the compulsion to get involved directly into politics. And so, I never became a researcher in physics.
And I am envious of all those who will be able to contribute to the wellbeing of human kind, to the scientific work that is as necessary as the political work, to make sure that we can live in a better world.
And I am very pleased to start this visit to India because I have a double love affair with India. First, because of India’s culture, history, India’s people, its contribution to today’s world, and to the world civilization. And the second reason because my wife was born in Goa. So, with this double love affair, and I am delighted to be here with all of you.
Read more: https://india.un.org/en/204001-remarks-secretary-general-united-nations
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26 September 2022
Interview with Soumalya Mukherjee
How did you set up Tan90 Thermal Solutions?
It all started during my third year of PhD at IIT Madras. Rajnikant Rai [co-founder of the start-up] was my lab mate with a good hold on chemical synthesis. We found that farmers were suffering from a loss of produce owing to the lack of cost-effective cold storage solutions and decided to look at that. I work on nanoparticles and Rai on chemicals. We decided to go for phase change materials (PCM). At the market place we heard that it takes about 18 hours for PCMs to get frozen and be used for preservation. So, we worked on reducing the freezing time for PCMs so that our panels were economical and preserved horticulture products for a longer period.
What was the role of UNIDO?
We were a clean technology company and decided to participate in competitions to win cash prizes and take our idea forward. Then we came across the Facility for Low Carbon Technology Deployment (FLCTD) programme, implemented by UNIDO. In 2019, we won the Innovation Challenge held by FLCTD — an open award competition calling for innovative solutions.
One of the major problems that we had faced was taking the Tan90 boxes to the market. Customers were not willing to pay for a new product, though they were willing to try it out. FLCTD provided financial assistance of about ₹3 million to conduct free pilots for a year.
The FLCTD team did the project due diligence and also did hand-holding. The team from UNIDO helped us to understand the needs of the market segments that we were targeting.
Our journey was steady but challenging. And UNIDO helped us to progress.
What was the outcome of the initiative?
We got lots of feedback from the market that made Tan90 Thermal what it is today. Initially, we had a PCM for only a single temperature range. However, the market was in need of PCMs for a varied temperature range and we expanded our offerings. We also optimised and fine-tuned the box size and the PCM panels.
Now we have about 10-15 major retailers across the nation using our products for last-mile or mid-mile transportation.
What kind of a role does the private sector have to play in mitigating climate change?
The private sector has a huge role to play in mitigating the impact of climate change. The public-private-partnership (PPP) mode can help in a big way.
While the public sector or the government concentrates on project implementation, innovation comes from the private sector, such as solar-powered cold storages.
In Tamil Nadu, we have partnered with the state government and have given our products to Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs). Similarly, we are working with 10 FPOs in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. We are also working with the Shri A.M.M. Murugappa Chettiar Research Centre.
How did you meet your funding needs?
We participated in various business idea competitions and won prizes. We also got grants from the government and others based on our business idea.
An investment of ₹20 million was raised from grants, prize money and private equity. Tata Trust-backed Social Alpha and the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad also funded us.
We are also raising about half a million dollars for research and development of new products for Indian and South East Asian markets. We are looking at moving into the pharma segment. We will also set up plants in Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai to cater to those markets as transporting the PCMs is uneconomical.
You had to tone down your box prices…
Pricing is an interesting topic. It is a tug-of-war between the value offered by the product and what the customer is willing to pay. Our competition is ice or dry ice. We have to compete against the low value product. Initially our price point was higher, but it was later aligned with the competition.
How does Tan90 Thermal contribute to sustainable development?
We are working towards achieving four of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals — zero hunger, affordable clean energy, responsible consumption and production, and climate action.
Climate change is real. Temperature levels are increasing. This will increase the demand for cooling solutions which in turn will hike the demand for energy. We are now working on a solution for the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) segment.
Our new PCMs will be integrated with certain devices to give the desired results — for instance reduction in room temperatures. This will be useful for data centres and other applications. In the case of solar cells, proper thermal management is important and the current water-based solutions are costly. We have a PCM for this segment and are testing it out.
We see Tan90 Thermal not just as a cooling company but a thermal management company. Cold storage is a small part of our overall plans. We are reducing India’s carbon footprint.
Credits:
Writer: UN/Nitya Varadarajan/Word Wide Media
Photographs: Kannan Srinivasan (Tiruvallur) and Word Wide Media (Chennai)
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26 September 2022
‘Entrepreneurs and start-ups … are playing an important role by developing solutions’
What was your initial reaction to Tan90?
We came to know about Tan90 in 2019 when it submitted its application in response to the FLCTD innovation challenge… We were quite impressed with the rigour that has been put to develop a solution that could greatly benefit the food supply chain in India in reducing spoilage and loss of perishable food during transit and storage.
Entrepreneurs and start-ups like Tan90 are playing an important role by developing solutions that – (a) reduce the dependence on fossil-fuel powered technologies (DG sets) for temperature control; (b) help to maintain quality of perishable produce, when it reaches the end-consumer and (c) help to reduce spoilage of food and perishable products that are often under reported, but lead to economic losses and contribute to the emission of greenhouse gas. Such solutions are important baby steps that need to be scaled up in order to reduce emission in the food-supply chain.
What was the critical input given by your team to Tan90 Thermal Solutions?
FLCTD provided financial support to Tan90 to test and validate its thermal solution with different types of perishable products.
We encouraged Tan90 to identify potential clients, customers (end users) and test its solution for different products that needed cooling, over a period ranging anywhere from six to 12 months. Besides proving the technical aspects of the solution, it will provide insights to Tan90 on the efficacy of its product. The trials will further help Tan90 configure solutions and develop different business models for different clients and for different products - for instance delivery of flowers, organic drinks from farm to market, inter-city supply of seafood and poultry, delivery of vaccines and the like.
It establishes credibility of the solution and gives confidence to the start-up that it can scale up. FLCTD will provide further support in the form of financial mentoring and prepare them to raise funds, thus providing hand-holding for their growth journey.
What in your view was lacking in Tan90 Thermal Solutions and how did FLCTD assist in filling that gap?
Tan90’s solutions need to be tested and validated with different types of perishable products, at a large volume and over a period of time to establish a clear cost-benefit. This is the gap FLCTD’s financial support helps start-ups like Tan90 to fill.
Credits
Writer: UN/Nitya Varadarajan/Word Wide Media
Photographs: Kannan Srinivasan (Tiruvallur) and Word Wide Media (Chennai)
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Press Release
31 January 2023
My promise is to foster Solutions through Solidarity, Sustainability and Science
Thank you, Ambassador Singh. It is an honour to be with you today at the Indian Council of World Affairs.
My best wishes as you celebrate Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, commemorating 75 years of India’s independence and achievements.
In the world of international affairs, there is no place like a think tank or research body. They are seats of learning, analysis, and discussion – aspects all crucial to our work.
Importantly, the work they do, the work you do, brings together the curious, the young, the informed and the inspired to debate and shape our common future.
And, above all, you are independent.
In the 14th century, the King of Hungary and Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund once got frustrated by some priests correcting his Latin, the official language of Europe at that time.
But then one of his bishops bluntly told him in front of the court: “Majesty, even Emperors cannot prescribe what opinion scholars should have.”
Yes, you are the scholars, or, should I say, the pundits of international affairs, bringing knowledge, experience, and a new perspective into this volatile and emotional trade of ours.
So, I look forward to your reflections, questions, ideas and suggestions. Because, dear friends, I have always maintained that governments do not hold a monopoly on good ideas.
In fact, the urgency of today’s crises demand that we look beyond business as usual.
That we transcend the confines of convention.
That we think, and act, outside the box.
To put it simply, we need a paradigm shift.
When I assumed the Presidency of the United Nations General Assembly last year, I made a promise.
A promise to all 193 Member States of the United Nations and, through them, a promise to you. And to all of our 8 billion constituents and shareholders on this fragile planet.
My promise and the motto of my Presidency is to foster “Solutions through Solidarity, Sustainability and Science”.
Solidarity amongst nations and peoples to foster peace and build prosperity.
Sustainability to ensure our solutions stand the test of time and benefit succeeding generations.
Science to address the dearth of common understanding that plagues our discussions.
I am under no illusions as to the scale of the challenges facing that promise.
But in the UN General Assembly, the parliament of the world, where ambition meets action, I am hopeful that we can, we will, and we must prevail. Inaction is simply not an option.
I have challenged Member States of the United Nations to take a two-pronged approach to our work.
To narrow their focus to achieve real results for those who mandate them and those who rely on them.
To focus on quality of outcome, over quantity of output.
That dual approach is focused on crisis management and transformation.
The context in which we are operating demands such an approach. It is a context of complex and interconnected crises. A new era of history. It started with the pandemic that bought the prototype of the Anthropocene era crisis, sweeping through our systems and bringing down health services, supply chains, economies, budgets, labor markets, channels of cooperation, budgets, undermining societal and political stabilities in many parts of the world.
As a part of this complex crisis we witness eruptions of new wars or flair-up older conflicts.
We are approaching the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine.
A war that has cost countless lives and caused untold suffering and displacement.
A war that has touched the four corners of our planet.
A war that has unleashed an energy and food crisis across the globe.
A war that even brought back the unconscionable: the threat of nuclear war.
I know many young Indians were studying in Ukraine when the war broke out, and I salute your country’s commitment to their safety and security. Your delivery of humanitarian aid has also eased the suffering of thousands of civilians.
But beyond the physical impacts of this war, its consequences on the international rules-based system, on our multilateral order, on trust amongst Member States and on public trust in the United Nations have been profound.
I have been firm in my calls to uphold the UN Charter, vocal in my support for dialogue and diplomacy and clear in expressing the commitment of the General Assembly to defend the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.
As a recent member of the Security Council, I commend India for your calls for peace, in Ukraine and across the world.
This represents just one challenge facing the United Nations and our world.
Sadly, it is one of many.
As it stands, we are off track on every goal of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Let me repeat: every single goal.
This Agenda, to which all governments have agreed, is nothing short of transformational.
It is a blueprint for humanity. If achieved, we will not only survive, but thrive.
2023 marks the midway point in the implementation of this Agenda. We will hold an SDG Summit at the UN in September.
By then, we need honest accounts of where we are and where we are going. We need to assess our successes as well as our failures. We need to find our gaps and work to close them.
Because in September, we will have to turbocharge the delivery of the SDGs.
I have called on Member States to remember what is at stake, to identify their responsibilities, and to agree on timeframes for reinvigorated and urgent implementation.
India was one of the first countries to adopt this Agenda. I commend your flagship programmes to accomplish its goals at local, sub-national and national levels.
Even in the remotest villages, the partnership between India and the United Nations to accelerate implementation of the SDGs is making a difference.
This is the SDG slogan of “leave no one behind” brought to life.
What is more: this model can be adapted and applied elsewhere.
India’s leadership in the field of digital public infrastructure, from building innovative governance systems to citizen-oriented services, is transformation in action.
In short, the international community has a lot to learn from your unique experience.
I urge you to engage actively in these discussions to get humanity back on track. We need your help.
Unfortunately, there have been many setbacks on our shared journey to sustainable development.
The COVID-19 pandemic cast a dark shadow over our world for over two years.
Today, we are slowly emerging from that shadow. We emerge humbled, and we emerge steadfast in our conviction that global challenges are too great for any nation to tackle alone.
That is true for all nations: subcontinents and small islands alike.
But let us be honest and admit that while no country has been spared from the pandemic, its impacts have not been equal.
Far from it.
There are some, often the most vulnerable, often in the Global South, who continue to suffer the ravages of this global scourge – and its many consequences.
A major and lasting impact is the debt crisis, looming on the horizon for some, threatening and already towering over others.
It is often said that adversity breeds humanity.
And of course, there have been examples of tremendous ingenuity and solidarity.
I commend India for your generosity in exporting vaccines to over 150 countries and in championing sustainable recovery through your chairmanship of the G20.
This is the kind of inspired leadership that our world needs.
As we step into 2023, we can no longer ignore the pressing need for reforming our global financial institutions.
We can equally no longer ignore the need to revise our definition of growth and well-being.
I have called on Member States to advance discussions on a methodology for measuring sustainability transformation in a way that integrates human well-being, natural capital, and all the other aspects of our investments.
This is the “Beyond GDP” initiative. It is premised on the core fact that we cannot transform what we cannot measure.
Let me be provocative and challenge you all, here at the ICWA, to debate and come up with innovative approaches to support this goal.
Please, tap into the wealth of knowledge and the wide network that you have created.
As we look ahead, it seems that we are standing on the edge of a precipice.
Teetering at the point of no return.
The question we must answer is simple: do we back up, change course, and find a safe way across, or do we continue as we have done, close our eyes and step off blindly?
The answer, I hope, is just as simple.
The challenges facing our world are great. They are cascading, interlocking, exacerbating, and reinforcing. But they are not insurmountable.
I remain an optimist at heart.
I remind myself regularly that we have already weathered many storms together.
And that, to quote the old Indian proverb, “we cannot change the direction of the wind, but we can adjust the sails”.
As I look to 2023, there are reasons to hope and opportunities for transformation.
In March, for the first time since 1977, we will hold the UN Water Conference. I hope this will bring a new “Paris moment”, this time for water action.
We need to raise the level of ambition to achieve the promise of SDG6. To do that we must:
Integrate water and climate policies.
Move beyond reactive water management.
Establish a global water information system to support regional and local predictability and resilience.
These are gamechangers in the world of water.
In our world, where water is scarce and unpredictable at the same time, these actions would put us on the path to sustainably come out of the water crisis.
So, friends, I ask you to think of the future of the Yamuna, the Brahmaputra, the Indus the Godavari and the Krishna.
Think of the future of the Indian Ocean.
Of Vembanad or Chilika Lakes.
If they are to have a future, we must turn our rhetoric to reality.
And we must base our actions in science.
The Namami Gange programme for abatement of pollution and rejuvenation of the Ganges is an excellent example. Let us replicate it and build upon it.
Underpinning all of our work, and an issue which I know is close to India’s heart, is the need for the reform of our multilateral system.
Let us face facts: it is no longer 1945.
Our institutions cannot hope to overcome the challenges of today, when they act in the framework of yesterday.
The need for reform of the UN Security Council was directly raised by more than one third of world leaders during the opening of the General Assembly last September.
That is a clear political signal.
There is a process in place at the UN to achieve this. But its outcomes leave much to be desired.
I have consistently called on Member States to grasp the opportunity and move from a position of “no” and “later” to a position of “yes” and “now”.
I thank India for its continued and active engagement in this process.
I also acknowledge the efforts of Ambassador Kamboj, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, for bringing it to the Security Council itself, and for inviting me to brief the Council on the issue of reformed multilateralism in December.
India has always been a staunch supporter of the United Nations.
Home to one-sixth of humanity, India’s leadership on global challenges and her strong voice in multilateral affairs have been exemplary.
The journeys of the UN and independent India have been intertwined since our respective founding in the 1940s.
For seven decades we have travelled hand in hand. Through thick and thin.
Through the UN’s expansion, through India’s population growth, and through its decades of amazing development.
You gave the world the first woman President of the General Assembly.
We have been able to count on India in a multitude of issues from fighting polio to promoting equality, from championing democracy to the empowerment of women.
Yet, you are not only active in shaping our discussions, but you have put forward your most precious resource, your people, in support of the UN’s cause.
India is one of the largest contributors of troops to peacekeeping. Thousands of your communities have bid farewell to blue helmets and counted the days to their return.
Finally, on a personal note:
For more than four decades of my work as a diplomat, I have been inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s devotion to peace, the eradication of poverty and harmony with nature.
Friends, allow me to finish in his words, and let me use them as my humble call to you, and to all those listening and watching:
Do what you can to transform our world, and build a peaceful, sustainable future, which upholds equality and human rights for all.
As Mahatma said: “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
Thank you.
[END]
All statements are available online at
https://www.un.org/pga/77/documents/statements/
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Press Release
31 January 2023
Secretary-General Concerned by Military’s Stated Intention to Hold Elections amid Violence
1 February marks two years since the Myanmar military overturned and arbitrarily detained members of the democratically elected civilian Government, including President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The Secretary-General continues to stand in solidarity with the people of Myanmar and to support their democratic aspirations for an inclusive, peaceful and just society and the protection of all communities, including the Rohingya. He strongly condemns all forms of violence as the multidimensional crisis continues to deteriorate and fuel serious regional implications.
The Secretary-General welcomes the 21 December 2022 adoption of Security Council resolution 2669 (2022) as an important step and underlines the urgency for strengthened international unity. As called for by the Security Council, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy will coordinate closely with the new Special Envoy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Chair to engage intensively with all relevant parties in Myanmar to achieve an end to the violence and to support a return to democracy.
The Secretary-General is concerned by the military’s stated intention to hold elections amid intensifying aerial bombardment and burning of civilian houses, along with ongoing arrests, intimidation and harassment of political leaders, civil society actors and journalists. Without conditions that permit the people of Myanmar to freely exercise their political rights, the proposed polls risk exacerbating instability.
The United Nations is committed to staying in Myanmar and addressing the multiple vulnerabilities arising from the military’s actions since February 2021. This requires full and unhindered access to all affected communities as well as prioritizing the safety and security of the United Nations agencies and its partners. The Secretary-General renews his call for neighbouring countries and other Member States to urge the military leadership to respect the will and needs of the people of Myanmar and adhere to democratic norms.
[END]
1 of 5
Press Release
31 January 2023
International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust
Today, we honor the memory of the victims of the Holocaust.
We remember the six million Jewish children, women, and men, as well as the Roma and Sinti, the people with disabilities, and countless others who perished.
We reflect on the millions of individual lives cut short; the millions of futures stolen away.
As we mourn the loss of so many and so much, we also recognize that the Holocaust was not inevitable. No genocide ever is.
It was the culmination of millennia of antisemitic hate.
The Nazis could only move with calculated cruelty from the discrimination of Europe’s Jews to their annihilation because, so few stood up, and so many stood by.
It was the deafening silence – both at home and abroad – that emboldened them.
The alarm bells were ringing from the very beginning.
Hate speech and disinformation.
Contempt for human rights and the rule of law.
The glorification of violence and tales of racial supremacy.
Disdain for democracy and diversity.
In remembering the Holocaust, we recognize threats to freedom, dignity, and humanity – including in our own time.
Today – in the face of growing economic discontent and political instability, escalating white supremacist terrorism, and surging hate and religious bigotry – we must be more outspoken than ever.
We must never forget – nor allow others to ever forget, distort or deny the Holocaust.
Today and every day, let us resolve to never again remain silent in the face of evil – and to always defend the dignity and rights of all.
Thank you.
[END]
1 of 5
Press Release
31 January 2023
Sustainable Peace Cannot Be Built Where Rights of Women Are Ignored
I would like to start by expressing my gratitude to Japan for hosting this debate.
Peace is the core mission of the United Nations. It is our raison d’être. This mission is now under grave threat.
People’s sense of safety and security is at a low in almost every country, with six in seven worldwide plagued by feelings of insecurity. The world is facing the highest number of violent conflicts since the Second World War.
Two billion people, one quarter of humanity, live in places affected by conflict. This is causing grave human suffering, both directly in conflict zones and indirectly by adding to poverty and food insecurity and reducing access to education and health care. It is imposing severe constraints on people’s ability to fulfil their potential and contribute to society.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict-affected countries were lagging on the Sustainable Development Goals. Projections indicated that by 2030, more than 80 per cent of the world’s extreme poor would live in fragile and conflict-affected countries. In other words, conflict and poverty are deeply intertwined. The pandemic has only aggravated this dire situation.
The war in Ukraine is devastating the lives of millions of Ukrainians. It has also compounded a food, energy and finance crisis worldwide, especially amongst the world’s most vulnerable people and countries.
Recalling the words of the Secretary-General, the world is at a “key inflection point in history”. Rethinking our efforts towards achieving sustainable peace is an absolute necessity. There is only one route to durable peace. To the peace that withstands the crises of our times. It is the route of sustainable development.
Inclusive, sustainable development that leaves no one behind is essential in its own rights. It is also humanity’s ultimate prevention tool. It is the only reliable tool that can break through cycles of instability to address the underlying drivers of fragility and humanitarian need.
Investments in development, investments in people, investments in human security, investments in our shared prosperity, are also investments in peace. And yet, our investments in recent years have fallen far short.
As we approach the midway point of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we see that our current progress is far off-track.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many millions more people -- over 200 million more -- have fallen into poverty. An additional 820 million people -- families, mothers, fathers, children -- are going hungry. More women and girls are having their rights trampled on -- erased from public life and constrained in private life. The global financial system is failing developing countries, and economies are failing to serve the vast majority of their citizens -- except for a small elite.
These challenges are not just development issues. They pose a threat to our peaceful coexistence.
Development deficits drive grievance. They corrode institutions. They allow hostility and intolerance to flourish. When we fail to meet the development needs of our time, we fail to secure peace for our future.
The triple planetary crisis of biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution does not merely threaten our environment. It also threatens to unleash destructive forces that drive wedges in our societies, erode social cohesion and ignite instability.
As you embark on this discussion of peacebuilding and sustaining peace, I urge you to consider the fundamental role of sustainable development in securing peace for current and future generations.
May I impress upon the Council four observations for building and sustaining peace that is built on a bedrock of inclusive, sustainable development.
First, our efforts at achieving peace must be based on a shared understanding of peace and its pathways.
The follow-up discussions on the Common Agenda Report of the Secretary-General happening in 2023 under the preparations for the Sustainable Development Goals Summit and the Summit of the Future open key opportunities to further a shared understanding of the pathways to peace.
The New Agenda for Peace will provide a unique opportunity to articulate a shared vision for how Member States can come together to address these challenges -- and to honour the commitment they made in the UN75 Declaration: “We will promote peace and prevent conflicts”.
Prevention and peacebuilding therefore will be at the core of the New Agenda for Peace -- through a comprehensive understanding of prevention, linking peace, sustainable development, climate action, and food security.
The New Agenda for Peace will aim to identify additional ways to support national prevention and peacebuilding priorities and to channel the international community’s support to nationally--owned violence reduction initiatives.
Initiatives that are human-centred with a comprehensive, prevention focus.
Initiatives that are grounded in the core notion of human security and aim to build more resilient societies that can address existing and new forms of risks.
Allow me to stress that all Member States are exposed to risks. And no country lives in a vacuum. All Governments must be prepared to take measures that address grievances and prevent violence.
Inclusion will also be at the centre of the New Agenda for Peace. We know that inclusive processes are more likely to be effective and to bring about sustainable peace.
Inclusion involves the meaningful participation of all constituencies and communities, particularly those traditionally underrepresented, in peace and security processes, but also in the social, economic and political life of a country.
This adds up to recognizing and ensuring, in the broadest possible way, that human rights are pivotal in the New Agenda for Peace.
My second point is that investing in inclusion is not only right; it is wise.
Inclusion leads to more public support and greater legitimacy. It strengthens societal resilience and addresses structural inequalities, which are major risk factors of violent conflict.
Among other things, inclusion means addressing fundamental gender inequalities.
I have just returned from Afghanistan where I conveyed these messages to the de facto authorities.
A society based on exclusion and repression can never flourish. A society where the rights of women and girls are trampled on is no society at all.
Women’s full participation in politics and the economy makes a society more likely to succeed. Sustainable peace cannot be built where the rights of women are ignored.
On the global stage, we have made some progress on inclusion. But this progress is still far too slow.
Women remain largely shut out of local, national, regional and international decision-making.
In his latest report on women, peace and security, the Secretary-General warned that the world is currently experiencing a reversal of generational gains in women’s rights.
The percentage of women represented in political fora and peace processes has decreased in recent years. Military expenditures are growing, while funding for women human rights’ organizations is falling.
We need transformational change to break this cycle, halt the erosion of women’s rights and ensure gender equality in order to build and sustain peace.
Young people also play a key role in promoting peace, security and stability worldwide, as recognized by the Security Council resolution 2250 (2015). To this end, all those involved in peace should support the establishment of dedicated regional and national frameworks for youth engagement in peacebuilding.
Youth, peace and security should be more widely reflected in the mandates of special political missions and peacekeeping operations. We also hope that the Council will consider hosting an annual open debate dedicated to youth, peace and security, as a platform for engagement with youth-led civil society and young peacebuilders.
Conflict prevention and conflict resolution efforts must be shaped through inclusive processes, involving the leadership of women and youth, and reflecting their priorities.
It is essential that all peacebuilders, including women and young people, are protected against reprisals and attacks resulting from their work.
My third point concerns the importance of the Peacebuilding Architecture, and in particular the need to explore how the Security Council can further leverage the role and advice of the Peacebuilding Commission.
The Peacebuilding Commission forges crucial partnerships and collective responses to peace and security threats, representing a valuable complement to the work of the Council.
Increasingly, it provides advice on important thematic and cross-cutting agendas. And it highlights country-specific and regional peacebuilding needs, in countries and regions including the Central African Republic, Colombia, the Great Lakes region, and West Africa and the Sahel.
I urge the Council to capitalize on the Commission’s comparative advantages, to integrate crucial prevention and peacebuilding lenses more squarely into your work.
My fourth and final point is that the success of our collective efforts to advance sustainable peace worldwide will depend on adequate investment in peacebuilding.
I am heartened by the unanimous adoption of the resolution on financing for peacebuilding by the General Assembly in September 2022. The resolution emphasizes the need for greater political, operational and financial investment in prevention and peacebuilding efforts in order to sustain peace.
The resolution also underscores the need to invest in local initiatives and in stakeholders active at the local level. This is essential for building societal resilience.
I commend the commitment of Member States to achieving sustained, adequate, and predictable financing for peacebuilding, including through the consideration of assessed contributions for the Peacebuilding Fund.
The Secretary-General’s Fund remains the United Nation leading instrument to invest in peacebuilding and prevention, in partnership with the wider United Nations system and together with national authorities. We cannot allow crises -- of which there are many -- to divert funding away from these core efforts.
I look forward to today’s debate.
[END]
1 of 5
Press Release
31 January 2023
UN Deputy Secretary-General’s Press Conference
Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed: Thank you very much, everyone, for joining us this morning.
And yes, we just got back -- myself, Executive Director for UN Women and our ASG (Assistant Secretary-General) from DPPA (Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs) and DPO (Department of Peace Operations) -- yesterday evening.
It was a trip that took us about two weeks. It took this long because at the very beginning, when the Taliban announced the bans on education and women in the workplace, our consultations were clear: that we need to have a united front in engaging with trying to get a reversal of these bans; the most important thing, women’s rights and girls’ rights in Afghanistan.
So, we did embark on a number of visits in person that were consultative, to the region and slightly beyond: Türkiye and Indonesia were included, to some of the Gulf States, including Saudi Arabia.
And then on our way out of Afghanistan, we did visit Kazakhstan but also the UK and the EU. And I think this is important because this is the whole of society, government approach. The international community needs to have that unified response.
We had three things in mind -- first was solidarity and the importance of women’s rights and what had been taken away off the agenda in Afghanistan, with a view to education, secondary and tertiary. And in the workplace and more specifically in the humanitarian space, where this was about women’s lives, this was about people’s lives and therefore double jeopardy -- not just women’s rights but the impact of it will be the loss of lives.
The second was to get the engagement, to engage with all parts of our community, but particularly those partners of ours who had different reactions to how we should deal with this and to engage with the people who are the beneficiaries of the support we give and the women’s voices that were really loud before we got there and really said to us, “Look, this is not about you taking your voice. But you need to listen to us, you need to take our voices and you need to amplify them with the Taliban.” And so, engagement writ large.
The third, of course, was to see if there was any opening, any momentum that we could have on the political track. All in all, the visits to Afghanistan themselves, they covered our stay and interactions in Kabul. We then went to Kandahar and met there with the authorities and then to Herat, where we met with those who had been impacted quite severely by these bans.
The meetings in Kabul had started as women had asked me, “Meet with us first and not last, so you really do hear what we want to say going in.” They were very clear -- they were women from NGOs, they were women who worked with the international community. They were our staff, the Afghan women in our system, the Mission there. And we also spoke with younger women who were also part of the work we were doing with UN Women.
We spoke again to the international community just before coming in, because some of them are based in Doha; others from the region, together with the EU, based in Kabul. So we met with them in the evening. We had the opportunity to meet with the former President, [Hamid] Karzai, and the Prime Minister, Abdullah Abdullah. We then met with three, four ministers, from the foreign minister to the agricultural minister to the refugees and repatriation and also the deputy prime minister.
We moved on to Kandahar. We met with the Shura, the Ulema that gives the edicts, the laws that pass through. And we met with the governor’s office, the deputy governor and his cabinet.
In Herat, we visited a market situation where in fact women were not allowed to come. Some were there because their mahrams came with them, but mostly we heard from the women that now could no longer have the education or the skills acquisition that they have got to keep them working.
In the case of the engagement with the Taliban, their messages were off one script -- all the things they say they have done and that have not got recognition for. We reminded them that even in the case where they talked about the rights, edicts that they had promulgated for protecting women, they were giving rights with the one hand and taking away with the other, and that was not acceptable.
In the case where we spoke to them and they started to talk to us about the humanitarian principles, we reminded them that in humanitarian principles, non-discrimination was a key part of that, and humanitarian and that they were wiping out our women from the workplace.
Very specific, the kind of impacts they were having in the medical and in the education field.
We have had some -- and I would say credit to all those with the push and pull in the international community - have had some exemptions on the medical and on the education part of this. We need to keep, to push the very limits. At the same time, it is a tough call when you are saving lives- saving lives and maintaining the principles and women’s and children’s rights are really a difficult tension and a very fine line to navigate, as we do this, but we tried the best that we could.
We also spoke to, we asked them, as you all know, in the past, the Taliban has said, as they take away rights that in due course, they will come back to this. We said to them, is that in due course ten years, twenty years, fifty years? And we asked them: let’s have a timeline. Let’s be very specific about this. What they would say was soon.
For them, what they want to do is create an environment that protects women. Their definition of protection would be, I would say, ours of oppression. What is it that they want to put into those checks and balances to protect women’s lives - there would be structures as to how people would be educated and go to work, the hijab, the curriculum, these for us are all red flags that we need to look at and to see that we are not completely losing all rights for women and children.
We pushed on a number of other issues as to how these exemptions could be extended all the way. We have not seen the history of the Taliban reversing any edict. What we have seen as exemptions that, hopefully, if we keep pushing them, they will water down the edicts to the point where we will get women and girls back into the workplace.
Martin Griffiths is there currently, building on the work that has been done since last year by the humanitarian community and our partners, and I hope this trip has contributed to reinforcing our demands that these bans are reversed, reinforcing the demands of women’s rights and girl’s rights to be respected. Continuing an engagement beyond this trip because this is not a one-fix wonder, and then creating that space for, can the international community come more to the front and more unified, and the role of the Islamic countries and the neighbourhood taking much more of a stand, as we saw in the OIC statement and the statement of Türkiye. And every time I went to one of these Muslim countries, they did reinforce the fact that Islam did not ban women from education or from the workplace. So, trying to build that momentum to make sure that they take a step forward. They are the neighbours, they are engaging, and that the international community support that in our trying to grab back what we lost in the last few months.
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:
Question: DSG welcome back to UNHQ and on behalf of the UN Correspondents Association thank you for speaking with us. I think that the nub of the situation what you wrote in the 2021, op-ed you co-wrote, that educating girls is not heresy. It is consistent with the faith's first command. The Quran's first word revealed to the Prophet Muhammad was... the first word was “read”. It then identified "Al insan", the gender-neutral Arabic term for human, as the recipient of God's teachings. Reading is the tool and knowledge is the objective for all Muslims regardless of sex. I wonder if you made that argument to your interlocutors in Afghanistan and how did they respond?
Deputy Secretary-General: Absolutely, I did. I mean, I used everything that I know that I have in my toolbox to try to defend and to recover women's rights and one of those was to tell them that I, like them, was a Sunni Muslim. They are the Hanafi school of thought, I am the Maliki school of thought, and both are right. However, when it comes to preventing women's education and their rights, we don't see eye to eye on that and the ultimate judge will be God. And a lot of what they've done is harming people. Now I think in one conservative setting, I probably pushed a little far because the reactions I got were to remind me that it was even... they were doing me a favour, it was haram for me to be there talking to them. You'll know that many of these conservative people would not even look at you straight, so it's easy, you know, two can play that game. I don't look at you either. But it's very important that they had the opportunity to speak, and I did, and I gave as much as I think they gave, and we did push.
It was clear they want recognition. It's clear that they appreciate and want the humanitarian and so part of that was listening to me, having to listen to me, not necessarily because they wanted to. They were the forward-leaning, if you can call them forward-leaning, but let's make no mistake. This is a Taliban that are loyal to the Amir and the Emirate. So if we can push and pull with some of those that would go back to Kandahar and get us exemptions, let's do that. But let's not make any mistake that this is not, you know, these are not people with the halo above their heads.
Question: Thank you, Steph. Thank you, DSG. Betul Yuruk with Turkish news agency, Anadolu. You went to Türkiye before your travel to Afghanistan and I wonder what kind of help you were seeking from the Turks and how did it help you or did it help you in any way in terms of your engagement with the Taliban regime? Thank you.
Deputy Secretary-General: Yeah, many of the consultations, I'd say all of them before I left and then when they were in person and these countries, did. They gave me greater insights into the engagement with these countries and Afghanistan. In the case of Türkiye, they have many of the opposition who reside in Türkiye. They have many of the refugees that have come across the border, particularly women, many journalists. And those conversations were important to me on how far to push and the things that had happened in the past that I needed to call them out on what was different now. And one of those in particular was when they talked about well, you know, in due course, we will address this.
Very important voices from the women. Women were very clear to us that, you know, we needed to hear them and take the messages back on their rights and to amplify it. Some thought that we should engage, keep engaging; others thought, no, that you know, we should just stop and when they behaved, but what came across from everyone that we met was that you can no longer conditionally threaten the Taliban. And so, I think that that was the kind of negotiation. We were trying to find the pressure points of what interests they had and how to push that with what we have; and I think that we did, I think we did fairly well in transmitting the voices of women. We had former parliamentarians and ministers who spoke to us before we went back. You have to remember that what happened before the Taliban came back was a huge amount of hope and an expression of that hope with many women who got an education, who were in decision-making roles, who were leaders in Afghanistan and now that's dashed. And when that happens, this, the anxiety and the level of fear amongst women and their future is huge as palpable.
Question: Hello. Thank you very much, madame Deputy Secretary-General. You sound quite pessimistic that this idea of the Taliban looking at this issue again “soon,” in quotes, could be a very long time and the one thing you did mention was pushing for a role of Islamic countries taking up this issue in a more united, concerted way. Can you elaborate on what you'd like to see happen and what you think might happen?
Deputy Secretary-General: Well, you know, Edie, in a number of situations before I got there, we had a couple of delegations that went from Islamic countries. It was notable to me that the more moderate ones got a listening to, but perhaps, you know, the statements that came out afterwards, so we heard you, but we have our way. The more ideological of the delegations that went in got full recognition and this was a good meeting. So I think that, you know, we have to, within Islam, talk much more to the moderates about what this means - not just for Afghanistan but the narrative of other Muslim countries where we are having huge pushback, whether it is Iran or it is Yemen. We have to be clear that this is about women in the Muslim world. So I hope that the next two delegations that will go from the neighbouring countries and OIC will be sending a delegation. The first delegation they sent did have a woman on it from Indonesia, and I'm asking for more women to be on that because these are clerics who understand where women's rights are, as well as the men.
So hopefully that will go. I hope to see that in the very near future. Each one of these countries engages in one way or another and in those discussions, they need also to condition the space there for the rights of women in Islam.
There is an idea, there's a proposal on the table now that the UN together with the OIC would co-convene with a number of countries an international conference within March on women in the Muslim world, and this would bring in the issues of Afghanistan, but also the region. Remember that the region, I often, you know, say this and when Malala [Yousafzai] was shot, she was shot in Pakistan. So there is a region problem. There is a region that needs to also come to the front with pushing for the rights of women in Islam. We've seen some progress in Saudi Arabia, for instance. I did push on that one when I was looking for a response from the Taliban. I said, well you know, you're the same school of thought with the Saudis and so we'd like to discuss more about that and why there is such a difference, they were very quickly… "We're not on the same page." So it's very important that the Muslim countries come together and establish it. It is difficult. We do not have a Pope in Islam. We have a Quran, and we have different schools of thought, but we do have rights in Islam. I reminded them that you know, if it is women in business, it is the first wife of the Prophet. sallallahu alaihi wasallam. who was a businesswoman that funded Islam. Khadija funded Islam. If it was coming for more knowledge and advice and guidance, it was the younger wife, Aisha, who gives that. So Fatima at education, so you know, you know, Sherwin you talked about "Iqra," the first word in the Quran, and it is... it's a religion of light. It's a living religion and I think that a lot of what we have to deal with is how we travel the Taliban from the 13th century to the 21st and that's a journey, so it is not just, you know, overnight.
Question: Just a quick follow up. Is there discussion of location or dates for this Muslim meeting on women in March?
Deputy Secretary-General: Yes, there is. I think it will happen before the middle of March. Its hosting is… they're still being decided, but it will be in the region. This was originally thought could we do it at the sidelines of CSW (Committee on the Status of Women) here in New York, or could we do this in the UK? We actually think we have to take the fight to the region, and we need to have this discussion there and we need to be bold about it and courageous about it because women's rights matter.
Question: In Las Vegas? [Laughter]
Deputy Secretary-General: Not Vegas, not this time.
Question: Thank you very much for briefing us DSG on a landmark trip. It's Pamela Falk from CBS News. So welcome back. My question is about how is the UN actually functioning today, and women in the different agencies in Afghanistan? As far as I understand, and we've seen there's been an exemption to the NGO ban that allowed for health workers. Is there also an NGO exemption... I mean, an exemption for women working with the UN, is that correct? I don't know if that's true. So how did you go through WFP and WHO and all the other agencies operating in Afghanistan? Thank you.
Deputy Secretary-General: Thank you very much. Look, we have a fantastic team in the mission and the UN country teams who right from the very beginning stood and delivered, took great risks to their lives and they're doing this with partners and the international committee and INGOs and many of the donors that are funding this and kudos to them.
There were two edicts, one, that took the NGOs out of the humanitarian space and education. In both cases, we had to get exemptions for that on the medical and for the teachers. There was the notion that a third edict may come out that would take out international women from the international organizations, the embassies. I mean this was talked about. I have to tell you we went with, in our back pocket, three responses to that. It hasn't happened so far, touch wood and the tree of knowledge. I don't say that it won't, but clearly the pressure that we're putting on has stopped that roll back as quickly and as I said, Martin is there, we will continue to put that pressure on and engage. But right now, there never was a ban on international women and the international organizations and we hope it doesn't come.
Question: Thank you, DSG, for this briefing Benno Schwinghammer with the German press agency. Do you think that it would be helpful for your goals to have a representative of the Taliban here in New York, meaning, would you think it would be helpful for them to send their own ambassador?
Deputy Secretary-General: I'm not sure whether it would be helpful or not. I do know we have to be very careful with our principles and recognition, and that's a very thin line and a slippery slope if we don't get it right. So I think what we have to give to Member States is this is the reality and you need to take a decision on how that push and pull will happen to get the Taliban back into the international community respecting the principles. They argued that the representative here was not theirs and that they wanted to see one here. So we have taken that message back and I think that this is a very difficult decision to take because recognition is on the line.
Question: Did you talk about this with the Taliban directly, as well?
Deputy Secretary-General: Yes, yes. Their ask was that we do not recognize the person that is here because he does not represent them and that they wanted that recognition and their representative here.
Question: Thanks, DSG. Michelle Nichols from Reuters. Just wanted to ask you a bit further particularly about your conversation with Shura in Kandahar, given they're the ones who are making these decisions. Just to follow on from what you were saying about recognition, did they indicate at all whether these edicts were in response to the UN not giving them credentials again, pushing it down the line? Like, did they indicate or anything else? Was it in response to anything? And when it comes to getting these exemptions, you know, everyone's sort of been focused a lot on the aid workers. But what about the women and girls who can no longer go to school or university? Is there any chance of getting, you know, watering down those edicts so they can return to school?
Deputy Secretary-General: Yes. Well, first of all, the Shura themselves are not the ones that will discuss what has already gone by. They will just continue to reinforce what they believe and one of the things they took up and lectured me on was our humanitarian principles. And my response to them was to remind them that humanitarian principles included non-discrimination, and what they were doing was discriminating against every woman and girl and that for us cost lives, it hurt their communities and therefore should be reconsidered. They were they were very, you know, direct in holding the line with all the other issues, where we've done all these things and you haven't responded, and I think that's important that we hold them to that. When they told me they had a law that they promulgated against gender-based violence, I now think that that's an opportunity for me to go back and say okay, can you give me an exemption for the NGOs that work with that? Because if that happens, then many of the stipends, many of the support that goes to the women we saw in Herat and we didn't just talk about those at work in the humanitarian.
We talked about those that impacted and sitting around the table, with one woman after the other telling about the impact in her life was painful. We didn't know if… between Sima and I, we didn't know who was going to respond, because we were choking up. These are very real to the woman who tells us, I have no income now, and my medication for depression is a pill every other day because I can't take it every day because I need to save so that I can feed my children; to the one who has a father that has mental health issues and now she has to take responsibility, doesn't know how; to the one that is dealing with children with disabilities, the one who cannot feed her kids the next day. That's one room full of pain that's palpable and a reality that we are really risking lives. This is minus 30 degrees when we went to Herat but in the next room, we have very strong, powerful, organized voices of Afghan women, which is hope. But in that case, they were much harder lined against what we had to do with the Taliban and I asked them I said, you know, we will support you for the movement within Afghanistan, build those coalitions so your voice is stronger. But if we stop, what do I say to your sisters next door who can't see tomorrow? We have to do both. And I think that's the struggle, is how to do both and have and make a difference with what the Taliban are doing. I think we have to keep pressure on that timeline. It is one that we've opened. They were not talking about it, because they did so in 1996. But this time, in some of the rooms I went to, they started with it to say that, you know, soon we would know what they would put in place. I think we have to find ways to engage them to make sure they put in place isn’t bad as taking away the rights to begin with.
Question: Thank you, Stephane. Evelyn Leopold, good to see you again in this room after many years of listening to you. To follow up on what you said, does the Taliban listen to any other nation that can help the UN pressure them? Or is it just hit and miss? And secondly, to put it crudely, can they be bought? Is there any bank or system that they could be told they would get funds if they treated women differently?
Deputy Secretary-General: They have these two mantras. One is called self-sufficiency and the other one's called alternatives and I think that that's really difficult to deal with, because within the region, which is why we must engage with the region, there is engagement. Even while we were there, there were announcements to some countries of some of the investments that they were dealing with. So I think they will go to where they can get an engagement and resources will come. This is a well-functioning mindset that zero tolerance for corruption. Absolute take the max tax so they can take out of anyone to make sure the coffers are full, and they do have trade. I mean, they trade. So I think that we're up against, you know, looking for the leverage we have to bring them to the international community, where the respect for women and girls’ rights, human rights are right up front. And that's why I think the pressure for us to continue engaging not to leave a vacuum that will be filled by something else that will take us back decades. This is really important. It's why I visited the UK and, you know, deep appreciation for what they're doing the international NGOs and the EU in Brussels, what they have done in supporting, for instance, monitoring frameworks, which have enabled us when we've seen money being taken astray by the Taliban to get it back. And I think these are important. We cannot leave and abandon the women of Afghanistan. It's not when it gets hard that we drop off. It's when it gets hard that they see more of us and the way they're in solidarity with them.
Question: Yeah, thank you. My name is Ibtisam Azem, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed Newspaper. I have first one follow-up on Edith's question and your remarks beginning regarding the Muslim majority countries. Could you elaborate on whether you see some countries, the specific countries, countries with more power, that they need to take specific steps that they are not taking. Did you talk about this with these different representatives that you saw? And then you talked about the timeline that the Taliban is talking about without really, no one knows what is exactly that. But my question is, what is your timeline? I mean, what do you want to see? And is there a specific time where you say after that, we cannot... That's just going too far for us to believe that a change really will happen? Thank you.
Deputy Secretary-General: Ibtisam, we hoped that we would stop the slide - that the third edict didn't come for me was a really big bonus. I'm not saying it won't come. But I am saying that it didn't come when we thought it would come. We thought it would come at the beginning of January. We thought they would embarrass us, it would come just before we went in, while we were there, just when we went out. Still hasn't done. So that's a big plus. I think it's very difficult for us to sit here up in New York and determine whether it is for us to say a life can be lost or not, that they will fight to lose their lives. I mean, I heard women who were saying, please stand by us. Please be with us, and please try to help us. They didn't say put my life on the line. And this is a very difficult decision, and there are different Afghan voices even amongst the women's community. But all stand against the Taliban and for women and girls’ rights. How we go about it, we have to stay together so that we can push and pull. We can find the threads that we tighten and the ones that are slightly looser because we think we must save lives. But tighten them because there are other aspects that we don't have to deal with them. And this is very difficult.
We say, yes, the region must be involved. You know, before I went in, there was almost silence on the part of the neighbours and those countries as to what was happening with Afghanistan after the Taliban came back. But in the weeks before when these two bans went out, we did hear from the OIC stronger language, we did hear from Saudi Arabia, we did hear from Türkiye. Now we need more from them. We need them to put resources in there that will support the humanitarian endeavour that we have, where maybe it's difficult for some of our partners today to explain to their taxpayers why we're doing this. This is really hard. This is not easy to do. So there may be some real hardliners that say no, we're just not going to deal with this anymore. We have so many problems in the world and there are choices to make, because I have competing demands. And if these people are going take women out of the workspace, we're not going to do it. Then if that happens, we still have to save lives. The UN will continue to stand and deliver, and we get criticized for that. But maybe there are others who will take up the slack because I can't do it. I've got a mandate that doesn't allow me to do it.
So it's not black and white. It's not cut and dry. There's lots of grey areas and weaving that we have to do, but always keeping our women right at the centre of this. Right upfront and centre. If we keep that focus, I can tell you we will go much, much further ahead. If we start to get involved in the why we can't do it, then we won't do it. Now we must do it because these women matter. And they are a reflection of what is happening to women's rights around the world. And if we drop it on Afghanistan, we will drop it on many more rights of women.
Question: Thank you for the briefing. Dawn Clancy with PassBlue. My question kind of parallels Edie's as well. On Monday, there was a US State Department briefing where the spokesperson, Ned Price, was asked, what are you doing to hold the Taliban accountable? He didn't answer that part of the question; instead, he said US is the leading humanitarian provider to the people of Afghanistan, providing about 1.1 billion of humanitarian assistance since August of 2021. My first question is: After your visit, do you find that it's proportionate, the effort that's being put towards humanitarian aid or giving humanitarian aid versus the political work that needs to be done? Like you said, we don't leave when it gets rough. Do you find that those… the effort to both is proportionate at this point?
And then my second question is: Listening to you speak and you're talking about the women in Herat and then you were speaking about the woman who… a woman who doesn't have her depression medication. She has to split it up or dealing with a father who has mental illness and not knowing what to do. So I'm wondering if you... You know, if you were sitting there now, and you were talking to these women and you said, yeah, but the United States is providing 1.1 billion in humanitarian assistance, what would their response be to that? What do you think?
Deputy Secretary-General: Well, I mean, she's speaking to an instance where that 1.1 billion in humanitarian assistance has been taken away, because there can't be women-to-women services. So not a conversation that makes any sense, right? The sense is that because the Taliban have put in bans, they've taken away 30% of the workforce that in a culture says women-to-women. So those women-to-women services were taken away. The cases we made when they said, well, we can go home, we can go online; you cannot deliver babies online. And this is important for them to know that there are implications, impacts to what they have done. And one of them was these women I spoke to, who because of the services had been cut, that was the implication. And many of them said to us please don't let us be caught in the crossfire. The crossfire between the discussions we have to have with the Taliban and the implications in our countries, and of course, the humanitarian services have to be delivered to save lives.
Question: If I could just follow up to that because another thing that Mr. Price said was that he was asked whether or not that humanitarian aid was being funnelled through the Taliban and he insisted that it wasn't, that it's going right to the people. Then he was talking about the recent decree and how regarding women, Taliban… or Afghan women working for NGOs and how… I think he said something like 83% of NGOs on the ground have either suspended their operations or have cut back because of this decree. But then he went on to say that the money doesn't go through the Taliban, it goes through NGOs. So my thought was well, if 83% of the NGOs have either cut back or have completely left the country, then where is that money going if it's supposed to be going through the NGOs?
Deputy Secretary-General: I don't know all the percentages and what context he was speaking in, but we do know that about 30% of the workforce is women. There are men in the workforce as well. I think it's a good leverage to say to the Taliban that look, you wouldn't want angry men without a job because if it's not acceptable for us, it's a red line, we will not replace women with men. And so, I think that in this case, what we needed to do was try to repurpose some of the funds we had to get cash into the hands of women. And within the UN system, that's possible, within our INGOs that's possible and we're looking at that. But, yes, a loss of women's service to service, I'm not sure that it's as high as 80% writ large, it might be in specific cases, but it's a high percentage. I mean thousands of women… in one instance I know three or four our NGOs came together, told me out of the 59,000 employees they had 15,000 who were women. And you know, this… it just, you know, that's it. Women get blanked out; they disappear. And that's our concern. And it does, it is more… 10% of what we are giving support to, they are female-headed households. So what happens to them?
So these are implications that we're working much more on to be definitive about. We were asked by many Afghan women that, you know, they believe there are some resources that are not reaching the women but should be. But it really wasn't from necessarily the international community. There were number of bilateral donors, and we don't have oversight over that. We have oversight over what is coming through the UN and what is coming through our international partners in the humanitarian sector. When it disappears, as I said before there is a really good monitoring mechanism, and we can tell you in two or three places where it was reported and we were able to go back to the authorities both in Kabul and in the province and that was rectified.
Question: Deputy Secretary-General, it's Margaret Besheer, Voice of America. You said you were transmitting the voices of the Afghan women to the Taliban. My question is did the Taliban even hear them? I mean did they care? And what did they give to you as an explanation for why they need to have these edicts? I mean, what is it about the women that they feel threatened by?
Deputy Secretary-General: Hear us? Yes, they did. I mean, as I said some of the times we pushed some of these messages pretty hard, the reaction wasn't pleasant. Care? It depends - whose definition of care? These are people who think that they are protecting women. So if you're asking them whether they care or not, and they will tell you, yes, we do. We are protecting our women and what are we protecting in from? They were protecting them from Western values. And what we want is to make sure that they are gaining education. They never denied education for women as a right, nor in the workplace. What they said was the type of education and the type of work. And in many cases, you know, for them, this was about the structures of separation, of hijab, of curriculum; and so, you know, I think that's what we're pushing is to say, well, okay. If you think women should have an education, let's see what this means and how you're going to bring them back. I mean, my definition is that, no, I don't think they care. If they did, we wouldn't have the ban in the first place. You ask them they will tell you, yes, we care because we want to protect our women from values and rights that are not ours. And we disagree with that; we disagree strongly that Islam preaches the rights and values that they are dictating.
Question: Thank you. Can you hear me? Thank you, madame Deputy Secretary-General. Thank you very much for this briefing. I have two quick questions. Did you lay it on the line with the Taliban? Did you say if they don't reverse these decrees then they won't get the international recognition that they are seeking? And my second question is did they mention China to you? And if so, did they see China as an ally or a friendly country?
Deputy Secretary-General: The second question is much easier. [Laughter] No, they didn't mention China, and if the treatment of China in Afghanistan by others is anything to go by, I wonder if they are welcome. But they are clearly there. China is withdrawing, but where their security concerns are not covered. Even when we were Herat, there were security concerns and mostly not because necessarily of us, but where we were going was in the same domain as the Chinese. So I think that's a question for them.
Yes, they recognize. We laid it on the line, recognition, because they talked about it all the time. These are the things that they have done, they don't have corruption, they stopped poppy production, they have had an amnesty, and all of this we said was not sufficient in terms of its implementation; they could say it but implementation for Member States to be able to take a decision on recognition.
So, you know, I went into Afghanistan thinking perhaps the most conservative of them didn't care about recognition; they do. Recognition is one leverage that we have and we should hold on to it.
Question: Thank you, Steph. Ms. Mohammed, you spoke about traveling. It's a matter of traveling the Taliban from the 13th century to the 21st century and it's quite a journey. And if I may ask you, I think this is not the first time that you undertake a similar journey. Maybe there are many differences, but you are known for playing a big role in your country with Boko Haram, another extremist group that also uses religion for violent ends. And you helped reintegrate some of its members into the Nigerian society. And I wonder if there are any parallels in your mind between these two situations, if there are any lessons that could be taken, in dealing with the Taliban. Thank you.
Deputy Secretary-General: Sadly, if I drew one lesson from both is that the first victim is women and girls in both cases. To an extent both are using Islam; one is trying to reengineer it, the Taliban. Boko Haram were using it as an excuse, didn't really understand it anyway. And I don't know in the case of the Taliban, but I understood right at the very beginning of their genesis, they were fighting corruption. In the case of Boko Haram, it was the injustices that were done to a number of them that were murdered by the authorities and there was no response and they then metamorphosed into these monsters. And the first victims are women and girls. It's a soft underbelly of society. And so, I think that, you know, for us with Boko Haram the first thing was for our authorities, our president to say what they are doing is un-Islamic. And even that, I know he went under a lot of pressure not to say it.
Because maybe he would be threatened or maybe this would cause more problems. But he said it and once he said it then the direction then turned in the country to try to defend Islam. And Boko Haram got less sympathy because there was some to begin with. And that was difficult for us. So they lost many of their followers in the course of events. But government had to put back in place what it was that communities were struggling to see and were sympathetic to Boko Haram for, which is a lack of governance in the local governments, a lack of respect for women and education for everyone, health for everyone. It's only by doing that that we actually took away the fodder for Boko Haram in terms of young men.
And in reintegration, finding that, in fact, the ideology wasn't there, it just was in many cases, there was no alternatives. And so it was easy to recruit them. So I hope that… I think this is a slightly different situation with the Taliban, very sophisticated and have been around a long time and have resources. But I think it's really important right now to maximize whatever leverage we have to bring them back to those principles of being part of an international family but yes, no one objects to a Muslim country and Sharia, but all of this cannot be re-engineered to extremism. And taking views that harm women and girls - this is absolutely unacceptable. And we should hold the line on that.
Question: Thank you, Steph. Thank you, madame Deputy Secretary-General for the briefing. To say that you had a challenging time in Afghanistan would be an understatement. Your opening presentation makes one very pessimistic… But madame Secretary-General, would you identify one area, you could expect some progress in terms of rights of women in Afghanistan? Thank you.
Deputy Secretary-General: You know, I'm not being pessimistic about it. I'm just saying this is a hard job. This is going to be tough to get them back into the space we need them and women and girls’ rights protected and upheld. And that's what I want us to do. But I think without a reality check, you go in there not with the right tools and with the notion that this is not going to be a quick fix. So if there's anything that I would say we got from the Taliban, I think it's very important that they are putting a law in there against gender-based violence. That for me is a big plus and I want to leverage it because gender-based violence was increasing, is increasing in Afghanistan. And for anyone that has to be in a position where you are incarcerated in your houses, we were in COVID, but this is now because they're taken out of the workplace and are suffering gender-based violence, and there's a law against this. And I want to hold the Taliban to account for implementing that law.
The same thing with inheritance. This is also something that, you know, everything was taken away. All your rights taken away in inheritance for women. If this is put back according to Islam, what's mine is mine and what's his is mine. And so we get double. And if we can implement that, I think that's a good thing. That a woman is not being traded off for blood money, it's huge. I mean, we were just... What were we? Nothing. If that was the case. So yes, I saw two or three things; I came back, and I would say… I'd only believe them if I see them implemented. And if we are still there, then how can we hold them to account? How can we make sure that the work we do to implement this is our exemptions that are given to us to be fully enabled in Afghanistan and the provinces.?
I think it's very important for us to work more in the provinces, particularly the provinces that are forward leaning, six to seven that are really Taliban, but there are 34 provinces. So over 20 provinces that we could be moving forward. There are education, primary education is allowed, but only about 23% has education. We could do more to capture the next generation. I mean, I want to look for the light in this darkness, and it's pretty dark. But there are some lights you know, specks of light that we can grab and we can try to light out the darkness.
Question: Stefano Vaccara, La Voce di New York. Thank you for this briefing, madame. I'm here. And the Security Council when the Taliban got… won back to power they actually approved a resolution that if I remember well, one of the things was that the people that wanted to leave, that Taliban had to allow them to leave the country. So my question to you here is when and what has to still happen in Afghanistan, when you will advise and tell the women of Afghanistan that they could, at least when they can, to leave, to leave the country? And in this trip, did anyone of those women that you described they were in a very-very horrible situation. Did any of them ask you to help them to leave the country?
Deputy Secretary-General: We didn't have anyone ask us to leave the country. Some of the women we met who are outside, like in Türkiye, wanted to go back. But they wanted a conducive environment to which to go back. The women in Herat that we spoke to that were desperate, many of them were talking about going back because they had already escaped Kandahar in 1996 and they'd gone to Iran, some had gone to Pakistan; and they had come back, not to Kandahar, but to Herat, because they said that was freer and more conducive for them to live. But now they're thinking about going back where they came. They're not asking us to help them leave, because these are your everyday women on the ground, these are not women in the cities. And they will go back across those refugees. We already saw this in some of our NGOs who told us the number going back across the border, to Pakistan. Pakistan, of course, much more concerned now because of the threat of terrorism. And this makes it more difficult for refugees who are not just seen as refugees; they are seen as the potential of terrorism. So it's very difficult. But yes, I think the anxiety of no hope that there isn't a tomorrow is driving many to say we're going to go back across the borders. Not asking us to help them, but they're just telling us.
Thank you very much everyone.
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