UNO - Current Affairs for March, 2016

The United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon has arrived on an official visit to Lebanon even as UN brokered peace talks in Geneva between the opposition and the Syrian government will adjourn till April. Ban Ki-moon is to meet top Lebanese officials and discuss regional issues. Ban is expected to address the topics of refugee support, unemployment of youth and private sector development. He will also visit the Syrian refugee settlement in central Lebanon and country’s second largest city Tripoli in the north.

UNESCO has added 20 new sites to the network of protected biosphere natural reserves including 2 in Canada and Portugal each. This brought the total number of biosphere reserves to 669 across 120 nations. In Cananda, Tsa Tue area in the NW region including last pristine arctic lake was added to the list. Britain’s Isle of Man and Mexico’s Isla Cozumel were also included. In Portugal, the complete island of Sao Jorge. the 4th largest in the Azores Archipelago was designated as a reserve . List of new UNESCO reserves includes Haiti, India, Iran and Peru. Spain is the country with the largest number of reserves on the list.

United Nations Population Fund The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on 15th March 2016 appointed Ashley Judd as its Goodwill Ambassador. She is a humanitarian, actor, writer and political activist.Her appointment is also aimed at generating awareness about the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Agenda that was adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015.

The United Nations Social Development Network (UNSDN) on 17th March 2016 released World Happiness Report (WHR) 2016 in Rome. The 4th edition of WHR was released ahead of the UN World Happiness Day, which will be observed on 20 March 2016. Denmark topped the list as the happiest place in the world, while Burundi was ranked at the bottom as the least happy nation, as per the report.

UNICEF and UNFPA have jointly launched the Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage. This multi country initiative is part of an international effort to prevent girls from marrying too young. It will also protect rights of millions of young girls by using the resources of communities and governments.

The 20 Child and Family Support Hub called Blue dots will serve as special support centre and protect the rights of children. Aim is to assist vulnerable families which are at risk and hub will be selected at major strategic sites for optimal benefit.