This is the news in brief from the United Nations.
Global tourism slump is an emergency for many nations: Guterres
Global tourism continues to suffer enormously due to the COVID-19 pandemic and represents nothing less than an economic emergency for developing nations, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday.
In a message to mark World Tourism Day, the UN chief said that in the first five months of this year, international tourist arrivals decreased “by a staggering 95 per cent” in some parts of the world.
Forecasts suggest a loss of over $4 trillion (dollars) to the global economy by the end of 2021, Mr. Guterres continued.
With the additional threat of climate change to many small island States which rely on visitors, the UN chief insisted that it was “time to rethink, transform, and safely restart tourism”.
He said that with the right safeguards in place, the tourism sector can provide decent jobs, helping to build resilient, sustainable, gender-equal, inclusive economies and societies that work for everyone.
This means targeted action and investment to shift towards green tourism – with high emitting sectors, including air and sea transport and hospitality, moving towards carbon neutrality.
Yemen: Endless suffering of children after years of conflict and aid crisis
The Yemen conflict killed or maimed 2,600 children as hostilities intensified in 2019 and 2020; that’s according to a new report of the UN Secretary-General on Children and Armed conflict in the country.
Published on Monday, the report detailed how these youngsters were victims of the indiscriminate use of mortar and artillery shelling, ground fighting, anti-personnel landmines and other explosive remnants of war.
In total, more than 3,500 children suffered one or more grave violations; chief among these was the denial of humanitarian access, killing and maiming, and the recruitment and use of children.
Issuing the findings, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, said that “the atrocities and immense suffering” would likely leave a generation of Yemeni children “scarred for life”.
The recruitment and use of 861 children was also verified, and two in three, saw active combat, according to the report.
Iran not allowing full monitoring access, says UN nuclear watchdog
Iran has failed to honour fully the terms of a deal to allow UN inspectors access to monitoring equipment in the country, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Sunday.
Iran's decision not to allow the IAEA to visit a centrifuge component manufacturing workshop is “contrary to the agreed terms” of an agreement made on 12 September, said Rafael Grossi, head of the UN agency.
Following the agreement earlier this month, Western powers chose not to issue a resolution criticizing Iran for blocking the IAEA, as memory cards which are used for surveillance of centrifuges could be replaced.
Observers cautioned that any resolution risked jeopardizing the resumption of talks between Iran and the United States on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Iran’s centrifuge manufacturing complex at Karaj near Teheran, was the victim of apparent sabotage in June, in which one of four IAEA cameras was destroyed. Iran has not returned that camera's data, IAEA said in a statement.
Katy Dartford, UN News.
