WORLD NEWS FLASH
UNITED STATES
On Sept. 19, the President of the United States took the podium to address fellow leaders at the United Nations. His main speaking point centered on Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine.
“Russia alone bears the responsibility for this war…and has the power to end it immediately,” he emphasized, asking whether the independence of any nation is secure “if we allow Ukraine to be carved up.”
“We have to stand up to this aggression today and deter other would-be aggressors tomorrow,” he said, stressing that the US, together with its allies and partners around the world, will continue to stand with Ukraine as it defends its sovereignty and territorial integrity and their freedom.
“It’s not only an investment in Ukraine’s future but in every country.”
At the outset, he recalled a recent trip to Viet Nam, saying it would be “unthinkable” for a US President to stand in Hanoi announcing a mutual commitment, following a painful legacy of war.
“Our history need not dictate our future,” he said. “With a concerted leadership, adversaries can become partners, overwhelming challenges can be resolved, and deep wounds can heal. When we choose to stand together, we hold in our hands the power to bend the arc of history.
“We know our future is bound to yours… No nation can meet the challenges of the day alone…
“Twenty-first century results are badly needed to move us along,” he said. “That starts with the United Nations, right in this room.”
The UN must continue to preserve peace and prevent conflict and must also govern the benefits and challenges of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), he said.
Highlighting ongoing developments across regions, he pointed efforts to support a just and lasting peace, with two States for Israelis and Palestinians. Turning to US relations with China, he said Washington seeks “to responsibly manage” bilateral competition “so it does not tip into conflict”, he said, adding that “we are for de-risking, not decoupling” with Beijing.
The climate crisis needs critical attention, he said, pointing to tragic flooding in Libya alongside historic drought and deluge at a time when the world is still dependent on fossil fuel.
For its part, the US has treated this threat as an existential crisis since that start of his Administration, including new laws and initiatives.
“This year, the world’s on track to meet the climate finance pledge made under the Paris Agreement: $100 billion to raise collectively,” he said, “but we need more investment on public and private sector, especially in places that have contributed so little to global emissions.”
To accelerate global progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), “we all need to do more,” he said, pledging Washington’s commitment.
On security issues, he said the US destroyed the last of its chemical weapon stockpile in 2023. Meanwhile, Russia is “shredding” long-standing arms control agreements, he added.
Condemning the DPRK’s (North Korea) continued violations of Security Council resolutions, he encouraged diplomacy to resolve outstanding issues. In terms of Tehran’s destabilizing activities that threaten regional and international security, he said “Iran must never acquire a nuclear weapon.”
The Universal Declaration for Human Rights was adopted 75 years ago, but attention is still needed to tackle discrimination.
However, the power is “in our hands” to forge a safer, more sustainable world for all through partnerships and collective hope, he said.
“At this inflection point in history, we’re going to be judged by whether or not we live up to the promises we made to ourselves, to each other,” he said.
“Will we find within ourselves the courage to do what must be done, to defend the tenets of the UN?” he asked. “There’s only one answer to that question. We must, and we will. Let’s do this work together. Let’s bend the arc of history for the good of the world. It’s in our power to do it.”
MASS SHOOTING UPDATE
Information recent as of 9-19-2023 at 12 p.m.
2023 Mass Shooting Stats: (Source: Mass Shooting Tracker – https://www.massshootingtracker.site/data/?year=2023)
Total Mass Shootings: 576
Total Dead: 692
Total Wounded: 2305
Shootings Per Day: 2.20
Days Reached in Year 2023 as of Sept. 19: 262
AFRICA
LIBYA HIT HARD BY FLOODS
UN humanitarians are working flat out on the ground in Libya, providing desperately needed aid to thousands of survivors of the flood disaster that has left thousands dead and thousands more unaccounted for.
Disaster struck on Sept. 10 when torrential rains from Storm Daniel led two dams close to the now devastated port city of Derna to burst, pushing entire neighborhoods into the sea.
“The situation is quite terrible as you can imagine,” UN Children’s Fund UNICEF’s Libya Representative, Michele Servadei, told UN News.
“As UNICEF, we have sent medical kits and medical supplies for 10,000 people. This was the first couple of days. We sent 1,100 hygiene kits, we sent clothing kits, but that is still a drop in the ocean.”
He said psychosocial support was urgently needed besides lifesaving supplies, “not only for the displaced but also for the ones that are in shelters,” or who remain stranded having lived through “that terrible night.”
The UN World Food Program (WFP) has already provided food assistance to more than 5,000 families displaced by the catastrophic floods.
“These devastating floods have struck in a country where a profound political crisis has already left so many in a desperate situation,” WFP Executive Director, Cindy McCain said.
Libya is particularly vulnerable to the impact of natural disasters as it has no unified government. The country has been split since 2014 between an interim, internationally recognized Government operating from the capital, Tripoli, and another in the east, with many armed groups also operating on its territory.
UN aid coordination office OCHA issued an urgent appeal to donors for $71.4 million to respond to the needs of around 250,000 people impacted by the floods in Libya over the next three months, saying death tolls could rise without more help.
OCHA estimates that more than 880,000 people, in five provinces, live in areas directly affected by the storm and flash floods.
“All hands are on deck to get as much help and support to people as we can. The UN is deploying a robust team to support and resource the international response, in coordination with first responders and Libya’s authorities,” the head of OCHA, and UN relief chief Martin Griffiths said.
Meanwhile, it is a race against time for emergency teams searching through piles of debris for survivors.
“The scale of the flood disaster is shocking, with entire neighborhoods having been wiped off the map and whole families, taken by surprise, swept away in the deluge of water,” Mr. Griffiths said.
WORLD
ALARMING DETAILS ON CHILDREN’S EDUCATION
The number of children missing out on any schooling has increased by six million, bringing the total to 250 million, according to new figures released on Sept. 18 by the UN Education, Science, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The increase is partly due to the mass exclusion of women and girls from education in Afghanistan but can also be attributed to broader stagnation in education provision worldwide.
These findings undermine UN Sustainable Development Goal 4, which sets the goal of quality education for all by 2030.
If countries were on track with their national SDG 4 targets, six million more children would be in pre-school, 58 million more children and adolescents would be in school, and at least 1.7 million more primary school teachers would have been trained, according to the report.
“Education is in a state of emergency,” said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay. “While considerable efforts were made over the past decades to ensure quality education for all, UNESCO data demonstrates that the number of children out of school is now rising. “States must urgently remobilize if they do not want to sell out the future of millions of children.”
One year ago, 141 countries committed at the UN Transforming Education Summit to accelerate progress towards SDG 4.
Four out of five countries aimed to advance teacher training and professional development, seven out of 10 committed to increasing or improving their investment in education, and one in four committed to increase financial support and school meal provision.
For countries to achieve their SDG 4 targets, however, millions more children must be enrolled in early childhood education every year until 2030, and the progress in primary completion rates needs to almost triple.
“These commitments must now be reflected in acts. There is no more time to lose. To achieve SDG 4, a new child needs to be enrolled in school every 2 seconds between now and 2030,” said the Director-General.
“The future of millions of children is in your hands,” she emphasized to Member States.
The report highlights that, since 2015, the number of children completing primary education has increased by less than three percentage points to 87 percent. The number completing secondary education, meanwhile, has increased by less than five per cent to just 58 percent.
In the 31 low and lower-middle-income countries that measure learning progress at the end of primary school, Viet Nam is the only country where the majority of its children are achieving minimum proficiency in both reading and mathematics.
The Education 2030 Framework for Action calls on countries to set intermediate benchmarks for SDG 4 indicators. In an inclusive approach, countries were assisted in setting benchmarks to achieve by 2025 and 2030 for seven SDG 4 benchmarks on pre-primary education, school attendance, completion and learning, gender equity, learning proficiency, trained teachers, and public expenditure.
