Climate change, poverty, violence… As countless challenges hamper the stability and development of Mali and the Sahel region, a high-level event on Wednesday explored progress made in the implementation of the UN Support Plan for the Sahel (UNSS), and galvanized renewed commitment for the Malian peace process initiated in 2015.

A few weeks after the presidential vote in Mali, which saw the re-election of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, the full implementation of the 2015 Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation has been hampered by persistent delays and frequently renegotiated timelines.

“It is time for all parties to honour their obligations,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who visited Mali in May, and described seeing a “spirit of hope and possibility,” amid all the challenges.  

“The people of Mali must see the tangible dividends of peace,” he stated.

Conflict in northern Mali started in 2012, with a sharp intensification of hostilities across the country in 2018, leading to a worsening of the humanitarian situation. The UN Stabilization Mission in Mali, MINUSMA, has become the most dangerous place in the world to serve as a ‘blue helmet’.

According to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), about 5.2 million people – one in four Malians – are now estimated to be in dire need of assistance. After commending the efforts made by the Sahel States, the African Union Commission, and other partners to help achieve peace and development in the region through the UNSS, the UN chief appealed “to all international partners, including the International Financial Institutions and the business community, to step up.”

“Now is the time for collective action. By doing so, we can help build the sustainable, inclusive, secure future that the people of Mali and the Sahel deserve,” he concluded.

Watch our audio slideshow on Mali and the importance of the UN’s work there, below:

With a self-proclaimed “sense of urgency and excitement,” Moon Jae-in, President of the Republic of Korea, told the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday that “something miraculous has taken place on the Korean Peninsula,” namely, reunification efforts.

“For the first time in history,” he stated, “the leader of North Korea (officially known as the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea, or DPRK) crossed the Military Demarcation Line to visit Panmunjeom” – with the resolve “to usher in an era of peace and prosperity.”

Moreover, he continued, “a historic summit between the United States and North Korea was also held on the Sentosa Island in Singapore,” in which both sides “agreed to work towards achieving complete denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, ending hostile relations and establishing a permanent peace regime.”

According to the South Korean President, North Korea dismantled its nuclear test site in Punggye-ri under the observation of the international community and his country suspended large-scale joint military exercises with the US.

He Noted that that last week in Pyongyang, during his third meeting with DPRK’s Chairman, Kim Jong Un, they agreed to turn the Peninsula into “a land of peace,” echoing Chairman Kim’s “hope of completing denuclearization as soon as possible to focus on economic development.”

President Moon detailed that Chairman Kim committed to permanently dismantle the missile engine test site and launch platform in Dongchang-ri along with a “firm willingness” to take additional denuclearization measures, including the permanent dismantlement of nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, as the US States takes corresponding measures.

Over the past 65 years, the Korean Peninsula has remained under an armistice –making “an urgent task” an official end to the War.

“I look forward to seeing bold measures for denuclearization implemented among the related countries, leading to the declaration to end the War,” Mr. Moon asserted.

Prelude to peace

Turning to the 2017 Olympic Truce, Mr. Moon called it a “prelude to peace.”

“The participation of North Korea’s athletes and delegation in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics provided a decisive momentum to break the impasse in building peace,” he maintained.

Just over a month after the Pyeongchang Paralympic Winter Games had closed, both leaders met for the first time in North Korea’s Panmunjeom village, where the 1953 Armistice Agreement pausing the Korean War was signed.

On 20 April, North Korea officially ended its policy of nuclear development and on 9 September, the 70th anniversary of its foundation, committed to peace and prosperity instead of boasting about its nuclear capabilities.

“North Korea moved out of long-standing isolation…and stands before the international community once again,” he said, encouraging everyone to “assure Chairman Kim that he has made the right decision in committing to denuclearization.”

Mr. Moon recalled that when each Korea acceded to the UN in 1991, they respectively told the Assembly that though separate now, they would eventually become one.

Twenty-seven years later they have “crossed the barriers of division and are tearing down the walls,” he concluded, “realizing the pledge they made on that day.”

Full statement available here.

As world leaders met at the United Nations on Wednesday to discuss the first global agreement designed to better manage international migration, a leading voice on migrants’ rights urged them to “do the hard work” of turning words into action.

The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, set to be formally adopted in December in Marrakech, Morocco, comprises 23 objectives covering all aspects of migration, including enhancing availability of legal pathways, promoting ethical labour standards, combatting trafficking and facilitating dignified returns.

“We all know that for this Compact to have its intended effect, you – each UN Member State – must do the hard work to create the laws and conditions that are safe and equitable for everyone who enters your borders,” said Monica Ramirez, founder of the organization known as Justice for Migrant Women, during an event held on the margins of the General Assembly’s annual high-level session.

We must all work together to foster a climate that welcomes migrants and celebrates the ways that they make our world better – activist Monica Ramirez

Ms. Ramirez shared the stories of three women whose stories reflect some of the factors that drive migration globally – safety, opportunity and prosperity.

Dolores is a migrant woman who fled her country after years of suffering gender-based violence at the hands of her husband and who would later experience sexual harassment and abuses in the new country where she ended up living.

Marisol was given the opportunity to travel on a temporary work visa with the promise of good pay and good conditions. But she found herself a victim of human trafficking without the possibility of visa portability in the country where she was working.

Edith travelled as a migrant on a student visa, intent on pursuing the American dream. Fortunately, she became a successful entrepreneur with a very different migration experience than her counterparts because of her education and socio-economic strata.

“Migrants like Dolores, Marisol and Edith offer so much to the cultural and social fabric of the nations where they’ve migrated, not to mention their significant contributions to those economies,” stated Ms. Ramirez.

She added that without shared goals and norms, there will continue to be a disparity in the treatment of migrants. Individuals will be at risk for violence, human trafficking and exploitation, including the estimated 50 million migrant children who are vulnerable to abuse.

“Their stories drive home so clearly why the UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration is so important.”

There are an estimated 260 million migrants in the world today. Migrants work, pay taxes and spend 85 per cent of their income in the local economy. They send to their home country an average of 15 per cent of their income in the form of what are called “remittances.” Last year, these remittances to developing countries amounted to some $450 billion – 3 times the amount of official development assistance that is given.

The President of the General Assembly, María Fernanda Espinosa, said the Global Compact would save lives, protecting the most vulnerable and putting an end to the deaths of thousands of women, children and men.

“It would help put an end to trafficking; smuggling networks; the mistreatment of migrants and to the separation of migrant families,” she added. “The road to Marrakech is therefore the road of hope.” 

Migration, said Secretary-General António Guterres, is a historic and multi-faceted phenomenon involving humanitarian, human rights and demographic issues. It has deep economic, environmental and political implications, and generates many different, legitimate and strongly-held opinions.

“Unfortunately, it is also an issue that has often been misrepresented and exploited for political gain,” he noted. “Unregulated, unmanaged migration has created false and negative perceptions of migrants that feed into a narrative of xenophobia, intolerance and racism.”

“That makes agreement on the text of this first-ever Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration a particularly difficult, but at the same time, extremely important achievement.”

The consequences of capitalism, imperialism and neoliberalism are not only manifesting in fascism and conflicts around the globe, they are also diverting much needed resources which could have helped implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development or address climate change impacts, the Cuban President told world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly.

Addressing the Assembly’s annual general debate, President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez criticized the United States – “one of the major polluters of yesteryear and today” – for “refusing to accompany the international community in the implementation of the Paris Agreement.”

“It thus endangers the lives of future generations and the survival of all species, including humans,” he stated.

The Cuban leader also noted increasing closer historic and cultural bonds between the people of Cuba and the US, as well as the potential of business relations between the two countries, as being in the best interest of the entire region.

However, he noted that “the essential and defining element” of the relationship between the two continues to be the blockade, “which seeks to suffocate the Cuban economy [and] is a cruel policy, punishing Cuban families and the entire nation.”

The Cuban leader also reiterated his country’s “unrestricted support” to a just, comprehensive and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, on the basis of the two-state solution.

President Miguel also expressed support for a peaceful and negotiated solution to Syrian crisis, without foreign interference and with full respect to their sovereignty and territorial integrity; welcomed the process rapprochement on the Korean Peninsula; and “demand compliance” with the Iran nuclear deal.

The Cuban President informed world leaders of steps his country is taking to improve its socio-economic development model and that it has begun a constitutional reform process, through “a truly participatory and democratic exercise, through popular discussion of the draft which will eventually be approved in a referendum.”

Full statement available here

With more years of peace than the preceding years of war “Liberia has finally turned the corner”, the country’s President told world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly, pledging his efforts to consolidate the nation’s achievements and bring peace dividends to all Liberians.

In his address to the general debate at the Assembly’s 73rd session, President George Manneh Weah of Liberia expressed appreciation for the UN peacekeeping mission in his country, UNMIL, noting that it brought stability and helped rebuild Liberia’s institutions and communities.

“We are a peacekeeping success story, and we are grateful for the support given,” he said.

President Weah, who succeeded Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as the country’s leader in January this year, said that it was the first time in 73 years that Liberians enjoyed a peaceful transfer of power from one democratically-elected Government to another.

“The challenges of leadership are enormous, but in each and every one of these challenges, I see opportunities to make things better, and to bring permanent improvements to the lives of all Liberians,” he added.

The key policy to that end, explained the Liberian President, is the Pro-Poor Agenda for Development and Prosperity, the country’s national development plan for the next five years, with a focus on youth, infrastructure and agriculture.

“Our Pro-Poor Agenda is designed to give power to the people, promote economic diversification, protect sustainable peace and encourage good governance,” he explained, urging all stakeholders to support his Government’s efforts.

Concluding his address, President Weah reaffirmed the West African country’s support to the United Nations and work to reinforce peace and security in the ECOWAS region as well as in the wider African continent.

Full statement available here