UNO - Current Affairs for June, 2016

United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund on 28th June 2016 released the State of the World’s Children 2016 report.

• Data has shown unless pace of progress rises, future of disadvantaged and vulnerable children is at stake
• Close to 70 million children die before reaching age 5
• Children in sub-saharan Africa are 10 times more likely to do so than high income nations.
• Close to 750 million women have been married as children
• 9 of 10 children living in extreme poverty are in Sub-Saharan Africa
• The report also indicated that some positive indications arena place.
• Global under-give mortality rates have been more than halved since 1990

UNGA on 28th June 2016 elected Ethiopia, Sweden, Bolivia and Kazakhstan as non permanent members of the UNSC

• The two year terms at the UNSCO of the new members will commence from January 1, 2016 and run through December 31, 2018
• The 193 member of the UN Body conducted elections for 5 non-permanent seats
• Third round of voting is going to take place for the final seat with Italy competing against the Netherlands
• The newly elected countries will replace Spain, Malaysia, New Zealand, Angola and Venezeula
• In the election of 5 nations, the member of the General Assembly voted by secret ballot for the 5 seats divided by geographical grouping- three from Africa and Asia Pacific region, one from Eastern Europe and one from Latin America and Caribbean
• Bolivia and Ethiopia were chosen by their regional groups and had no competitors
• Kazakhstan won the seat reserved for Asia Pacific against Thailand
• Italy, The Netherlands and Sweden have competed for the two seats for Western Europe
• Under the UN Charter, the Security Council has the primary responsibility for international peace and security with all UN Member States
• Council’s 10 non permanent seats are allocated by a rotation pattern set by the UNGA since 1963 to ensure proportionate representation over time from different parts of the world

The United Nations Public Service Day was celebrated by the United Nations (UN) on 23 June 2016.

• The day was celebrated to mark the invaluable contributions of public servants and administrators to build a better world for all.
• The 2016 United Nations Public Service Day was celebrated at the United Nations Headquarters in New York with a High-level Knowledge Sharing Panel on Leaving No One Behind: Innovative Institutional Approaches and Public Service Delivery.
• This is the first time that the Day is celebrated after the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by all United Nations Member States.

The UN entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women on June 15, 2016 appointed Anne Hathaway as Global Goodwill Ambassador.

• The Academy award winning actor will adopt and implement policies worldwide- she had previously served as an advocate for Nike Foundation
• She also traveled to Africa to raise awareness on child marriage
• She has starred in several hit films like The Devil Wears Prada and Brokeback Mountain

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 13 June 2016 elected Peter Thomson, Permanent Representative of Fiji, as President of its upcoming 71st session.

• Thomson was elected in a rare secret ballot vote.
• He defeated Andreas Mavroyiannis of Cyprus by a secret-ballot vote of 94 to 90, with one abstention.
• The Fiji representative will replace current General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft.