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Int'l Organizations & UN News #7/2023

Asha Richards - Tuesday, February 28, 2023
 Events   IO/UNS Newsletter 

 International Organizations and UN News #7/2023 - February 28, 2023

Dear IO/UNS Community, 

As February comes to a close, the IO/UNS team hopes everyone had a memorable Black history month! We are aware that midterms are approaching and now can be a stressful time, but remember to take mental health breaks. Perhaps during you can keep up with the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) begining next week!

In this newsletter, you will find: 

  • News from the UN
  • What We're Listening To: One year since Russian invasion, concerns grow over global food affordability
  • Student Spotlight: Angel Ornelas
  • Events at SIPA and Beyond
  • Internship Opportunities
Daniel, Laura, Asha & Aurelian
IO/UNS Specialization Team

**Please note this message is clipped. You can open the message in a new browser to see full event and internship listings.
  • On February 23, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution A/ES-11/L.7 on the Principles of the Charter of the United Nations underlying a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine. The UNGA deplored the dire human rights and humanitarian consequences of the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and the UNGA reiterated its demand that the Russian Federation immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, and called for a cessation of hostilities. Among other, the resolution emphasized the need to ensure accountability for the most serious crimes under international law committed on the territory of Ukraine through appropriate, fair and independent investigations and prosecutions at the national or international level, and ensure justice for all victims and the prevention of future crimes. 141 Member States votes in favor of the resolution, while seven--namely Belarus, DRK, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua, Russia, Syria--voted against. 32 Member States, incl. China, India, Pakistan, South Africa, abstained and a further 13 countries were not present at the vote - a tactic often used by smaller countries to avoid having to take an official stance.

  • The UN Secretary-General told the Security Council on Friday that “we need peace” in Ukraine, calling for urgent action on multiple fronts. On the occasion, the 15-member organ held a ministerial-level meeting on the heels of the UN General Assembly’s new demand that Russia immediately leave Ukraine, adopted at the world body’s resumed eleventh emergency special session on Thursday. Read More here.

  • On Feb 27, the negotiations for a new UN High Seas or Ocean Treaty enter the final week, based on a new draft Treaty text, published this past Saturday.  As almost two-thirds of the world’s ocean lies outside national boundaries, this large part of the planet is unprotected from overfishing and exploitation. The envisioned treaty aims at creating such protections to safeguard the ocean’s biodiversity, among other by creating a legal framework for high sea marine protected areas (MPAs). Read more here.

  • Governments agreed on a way forward to update disease outbreak regulations ahead of meetings to draft new global guidelines for tackling pandemics, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday. A total of 307 amendments to the WHO International Health Regulations came in response to challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. As of Tuesday, WHO reported a total of 757,264,511 confirmed cases, including 6,850,594 deaths, since the start of the pandemic in 2020. Read more here.

  • The head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) concluded a visit on Saturday to devastated Syrian and Turkish communities and aid supply routes, calling on authorities to open more border crossings to help survivors of the earthquakes that hit both countries in early February. “While the world has quickly mobilized in support of people here, the impact of this quake will be felt for months and years to come,” said WFP Executive Director David Beasley. With some 18 million people affected across southern Türkiye and northwest Syria, tens of thousands of lives have been lost, and millions upon millions of people have lost their homes, livelihoods, and assets, he said. Read more here.

  • In rural areas of The Gambia, job opportunities are scarce, but villagers like Guidom Sabally are benefiting from practical training, gaining recognized qualifications, and setting up successful small businesses in their communities. Guidom Sabally’s high school education was cut short because his family could no longer afford school fees. For many years, he struggled to find work as an unskilled labourer. Now in his 40s, Mr. Sabally was able to take up the opportunity of free technical training, provided by a UN-led training programme, in 2018; having completed the course, he found work as an engineer. Read more here.

One year since Russian invasion, concerns grow over global food affordability

One year since Russia invaded Ukraine, UN food security experts are more concerned than ever about the global cost of living crisis that the war has fuelled. In 2023, they’ve warned that the conflict could leave many developing countries – and particularly in Africa - facing potentially dire shortages of the essential foodstuffs that they used to import from the Black Sea neighbours.  

In this interview, Beth Bechdol, Deputy Director General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), along with UN Geneva’s Michele Zaccheo, speaks on how the international community is coming together to tackle this affordability crunch.

Listen to the interview here.

IO/UNS Student Spotlight

This week, please meet Angel Ornelas (MIA/USP ‘24).

Angel's interest in multilateralism and global governance began as an undergraduate student. Through the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow (MMUF), Angel researched the experiences of the HIV-positive, queer Latinx community in Los Angeles. His research collaborated with the Los Angeles-based nonprofit BienEstar to support the organization’s programming and immigrant community. During his sophomore year of college, Angel spent eight months in Mexico City as an exchange student and conducted an oral history project on queer Mexican college students' challenges. His time in CDMX allowed him to become closer to his Mexican-American identity and sparked his interest in International Development. Angel’s passion for making education accessible led him to apply and receive USAID's Donald M. Payne International Development Fellowship, a direct pathway to USAID's Foreign Service after graduation. Angel hopes to dedicate his Foreign Service career to implementing sustainable education projects to end education system inequities. Angel loves reggaetón and is a big Bad Bunny fan. Follow him on twitter @angelornelasbol

We are proud of the views and experiences of our IO/UNS specializers. Don't be shy and please fill out our questionnaire here - we'd love to shine a light on you.
Events at SIPA & Beyond
Spotlighted events


Thu, Mar 2, 2023, 6 PM – 7:30 PM EST 
Palestine Refugees and the Role of UNRWA
IAB 404

RSVP | EVENT INFO


Fri, Mar 3, 2023, 12 PM – 1 PM EST 
What Does Credibility Mean Today: Experiences of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
IAB 409

RSVP | EVENT INFO


Tue, Mar 7, 2023, 1 PM – 2 PM EST 
Lunch Time Talk with Radha Kulkarni
IAB 402

RSVP | EVENT INFO


Mon, Mar 22, 2023, 4 PM – 7:30 PM EST 
International Organizations & United Nations Roundtable Conversations (Networking Event)
IAB 1501

RSVP | EVENT INFO
Begining March 8th, 2023 (Weekly), 7 PM to 9 PM EST
In-Person
The Worldview Institute Spring 2023

The Worldview Institute is an in-person discussion series, hosted by the United Nations Association of New York, where New York professionals in different fields can sit together and discuss global issues with experts in foreign policy and international affairs. The program consists of ten intimate sessions between participants and presenters. These exchange meetings intend to develop and enhance the scope of the work and activities of young business executives at U.S. based multinational corporations, as well as professionals of all ages within the NGO, UN, media, law, government, diplomatic and academic communities.  Click here for more information.

Register Here
Registration Deadline is March 3, 2023

Fri, March 3, 2023, 6 PM EST
Online
"Tell It Like A Woman" Movie Event"

The year 2023 has opened with a renewed attention to the condition of women worldwide. Against this background, the media industry can play a pivotal role to change the narrative about women and the way they are perceived in society, and to promote empowerment and gender equality.

Currently, as reported by UN Women, in the media industry, globally, only 31% of speaking roles are held by women, 21% of filmmakers are women, 23% of films feature women protagonists. In order to support the call for a gender-equal media and entertainment industry, the Permanent Mission of Italy to the UN and UN Women, together with a cross-regional group of Member States (list to be finalized), are promoting a special movie screening, to take place in the U.N. General Assembly Hall on March 3rd at 6 pm, during Women's History Month and right before the International Women Day and the opening of the 67th CSW.

Watch live on UN Live TV

Friday, March 3, 2023, 09:30 AM - 6:00 PM EST
United Nations Headquarters (Conference Room 3, 405 E 42nd St, New York, NY 10017, United States) and online
UNIDIR Invitation: The 2023 Cyber Stability Conference

The United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) is pleased to invite you to the 2023 Cyber Stability Conference (CS23), titled “Use of ICTs by States: rights and responsibilities under the UN Charter”. Nearly a decade ago, States agreed that international law is applicable and essential for a secure, stable, peaceful information and communications technology (ICT) environment. The remaining question is how international law applies to the use of ICTs by States. To facilitate focused future deliberations and therefore meaningfully contribute to the advancement of multilateral negotiations, CS23 will focus on the first source of international law that States agreed on as being applicable in cyberspace – the Charter of the United Nations (UN). Specifically, CS23 will investigate the rights and obligations of the UN Charter applicable to cyberspace, including legal principles and thresholds related to the topics such as the use of armed force; armed attack and self-defence; role and powers of the UN Security Council; and peaceful settlement of disputes.

You are kindly requested to specify if you will be attending in person or connecting remotely. Early registrations are encouraged. The link to access the online broadcast of the conference will be provided by email to the registered participants one day prior to the event. Please contact sectec-unidir@un.org if you have any questions.

Click here to register.
March 5-9, 2023
Online
5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5)

The world’s Least Developed Countries are in a race to deliver crucial global development goals by 2030.ÔÇ»This new decade needs to usher in a new global partnership to secure a better future for the world’s most vulnerable nations.ÔÇ»ÔÇ» 

With theÔÇ» IstanbulÔÇ» Programme ÔÇ»of Action for the Least Developed CountriesÔÇ» (IPoA) implementation period completed, a new conference is being held in two parts:

  1. The adoption of the new Doha Programme of Action in New York on March 17, 2022; and
  2. The main conference in Doha, Qatar on 5-9 March, 2023, which will identify actions and partnerships at the highest possible level, including Heads of State and Government, to deliver on this agenda. 74/232B. 

At the second part of LDC5, gathered leaders will:ÔÇ» 

  1.  Undertake a comprehensive appraisal of the implementation of the Istanbul PoA;  

  1. Mobilize additional international support measures and action in favour of LDCs; and  

  1. Agree on a renewed partnership between LDCs and their development partners to overcome structural challenges, eradicate poverty, achieve internationally agreed development goals and enable graduation from the LDC category. 

The Office of the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (OHRLLS) is the UN’s focal point for LDC5 Conference preparations. 

The High Representative for Least Developed Countries will be the Secretary-General of the Conference.

Watch Live on UN Live TV
Internship Opportunities

Most SIPA students are not only required to participate in a specialization-related internship, UN-related internships are often critical to further develop skills and knowledge, build a hireable CV, and create or expand a meaningful professional network. Feel free to consult this document for tips and tricks for Sourcing Internships.

UN Office for Partnerships - Program Management Intern
Application Deadline: (TODAY) 28 February, 2023

The United Nations Office for Partnerships (UNOP) is seeking client oriented interns with strong communication skills to support in program management. The UNOP serves as a gateway for catalyzing and building partnership initiatives between civil society actors and the United Nations in furtherance of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). UNOP oversees the UN Fund for International Partnerships (UNFIP), the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF), the SDG Advocates programme and the SDG Strategy Hub. The incumbent will predominantly support initiatives of UNDEF.

The internship in the UN Office for Partnerships/UN Democracy Fund is for six months, with a starting date in February 2023 onwards. This internship opportunity is designed to be full-time and in person.

Apply Here

UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean - Environmental Affairs Intern
Application Deadline:  (TODAY) 28 February 2023
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean is seeking an intern to support the Sustainable Development and Human Settlements Division at the Santiago de Chile Duty Station. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the five regional Commissions of the United Nations. It was founded in 1948 with the purpose of contributing to the region's economic and social development. Its mission includes the design, monitoring, and evaluation of public policies and the provision of advisory services, expertise, and training to Governments, as well as support for regional and international cooperation and coordination activities. Please visit our website at www.eclac.org for further information.

The internship will last 2 to 6 (2 min/6 max) months, depending on the needs of the Office. Candidates may be selected throughout the posting period, on an "as-needed" basis.

Apply Here

Executive Office of the Secretary-General - Interns
Application Deadline: 11 April 2023

The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) is seeking  motivated interns to support the work of the Executive Office of the Secretary-General. The interns can take up assignments with any team in the Office, including the Strategic Planning and Monitoring Unit; the Political, Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Human Rights Unit; the Rule of Law Unit; the Sustainable Development Unit; the Policy Advisor’s Office; or other units.

Interns report to full-time professional staff and focus on one of the three tracks set out under Responsibilities.

Apply Here

UN Department of Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance Office of Human Resources - HR Intern
Application Deadline: 31 May 2023

The Organizational Development Section within the Office of Human Resources (OHR), Department of Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance (DMSPC), of the United Nations in New York is seeking interns who are interested in joining a very dynamic and international office that is mandated to identify and respond to Organizational learning and development needs.

To address an ongoing need, they are seeking several interns specializing in a range of areas including Communications, Marketing, Visual Design, Data Visualization, Video Production, Instructional Design, Knowledge Management, Diversity and Inclusion, Human Resources, Finance and budgeting, and/or other fields such as Industrial/Organizational/Occupational Psychology.

The internships are UNPAID and full-time. Interns normally work five days per week (35 hours) under the supervision of a Staff Development Officer, and typically work as a team of interns who support various projects throughout the Section and Division.

Apply Here

Department of Economic and Social Affairs - Economic Affairs Interns
Application Deadline: 04 June 2023

The internship with the Inter-organizational and Inter-institutional Support Branch (IISB) of the Office of Intergovernmental Support and Coordination for Sustainable Development (OISC) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) is for two months, with an opportunity for extension, pending on the needs of the Department.

The internship is UNPAID and full time.

Interns work five days per week (35 hours) under the supervision of a staff member in IISB to which they are assigned.

Apply Here

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - Human Rights Intern
Application Deadline: 29 June 2023

The intern shall support OHCHR in fulfilling its mission: to work for the protection of all human rights for all people; to help empower people to realize their rights; and to assist those responsible for upholding such rights in ensuring that they are implemented.

This internship is an UNPAID and full-time engagement that provides a framework through which students from diverse academic backgrounds gain exposure to the work of the United Nations by way of their service within Secretariat entities. 

Based in New York, United States of America, under the overall leadership of the High Commissioner, the intern reports to the respective Chief of Section or Human Rights Officer in the area of assignment. This internship will be offered for an initial period of two (2) months, renewable for a combined period of six (6) months.

Apply Here

Follow the IO/UNS Specialization on
CampusGroups, Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp.

Feel free to reach out to us:
Daniel Naujoks, IO/UNS Director, daniel.naujoks@columbia.edu
You can book office hours here.

Laura Dankowski Mercado, IO/UNS Coordinator, ld3071@sipa.columbia.edu
Asha Jhanay Richards, Program Assistant, ajr2264@columbia.edu
Aurelian Dragos Mohan, Program Assistant, aurelian.d.mohan@columbia.edu