United Nations News

The United States will in the coming days ask a U.N. Security Council committee to impose sanctions on seven ships suspected of violating U.N. sanctions on North Korea, a State Department official said on Monday.The seven vessels have illegally exported North Korean coal and iron ore to China, which traditionally earns Pyongyang between $200 million and $400 million a year, said the U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity."These nominations are not just bureaucratic exercises. They're about ensuring accountability for U.N.

The United Nations is celebrating 80 years this year, and this week’s general assembly is meeting under the theme: Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development, and human rights.The UN Charter was signed on June 26, 1945, and came into force October 24 that year.From its founding, the United Nations has been at the heart of global cooperation. Highlights include:• Universal Declaration of Human Rights – 1948• UN peacekeeping created – 1948• Eradication of smallpox…

Land access to a vital supply port in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince is being closed off after attacks by armed gangs, operator Caribbean Port Services (CPS) said on Thursday."CPS will shut its barriers to all types of land-based traffic from Sept. 26 to Sept. 29," it said in a statement, saying that the suspension should allow the army and national police to secure the area.A shipping official told Reuters this week that ships were being shot at, preventing them from docking and unloading containers…

The United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships (also known as the Beijing Convention) was signed by 15 nations and regions at a signing ceremony in Beijing on September 5, 2023.Signatories were: China, Burkino Faso, Comoros, El Salvador, Grenada, Honduras, Kiribati, Liberia, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Switzerland and Syria. It will come into force when it is ratified by three state parties. The Convention…

UN Secretary-General António Guterres sent a video message to MEPC 80 saying: “Humanity is in dangerous waters on climate, but the decisions you take over the coming days could help us chart a safer course."Science tells us it is still possible to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C. But, it requires an immense and immediate global effort. And shipping, which accounts for almost 3% of global emissions, will be vital.”The industry must move much faster to get on track and drive investment and innovation…

While piracy in the Gulf of Guinea has been declining since 2021, concerns have been raised about staffing, equipment and finance needed to continue anti-piracy efforts in the region.There are several challenges holding back the full operationalization of the Yaoundé Architecture, said Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs - Department of Peace Operations at the United Nations, while speaking to the United Nations Security Council meeting on June 22.

The UN’s 193 Member States have adopted a legally binding marine biodiversity agreement, the High Seas Treaty, following nearly two decades of fierce negotiations.Adopted by the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), the “high seas” treaty aims at taking stewardship of the ocean on behalf of present and future generations, in line with the Convention on the Law of the Sea.The new agreement contains 75 articles that aim at protecting…

As the Second Global Ocean Conference opens today in Lisbon, governments in Asia and the Pacific must seize the opportunity to enhance cooperation and solidarity to address a host of challenges that endanger what is a lifeline for millions of people in the region.If done right ocean action will also be climate action but this will require working in concert on a few fronts.First, we must invest in and support science and technology to produce key solutions. Strengthening science…