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DPI/NGO: 'Let us work together to foster education for global citizenship,' Ban tells Ãå±±½ûµØconference

30 May 2016 – The sixty-sixth United NationsÌýÌýkicked off today in Gyeongju, Republic of Korea, withÌýÌýBan Ki-moonÌýhighlighting the vital role that NGOs, academia and youth play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals ().

We need governments, the private sector and civil society, Mr. BanÌýÌýthe more than 2,000 people gathered for the opening session. Without the participation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society groups, no initiative, however visionary, can be fully achieved, he added.

Wild for Life: World Environment Day 2016 Focuses on Illegal Wildlife Trade & Protecting Endangered Species

This is a Giant Sable, a large, rare sub-species of sable antelope that is found in Angola's forested highlands and nowhere else in the world.ÌýThe animal is threatened by poaching and habitat loss and appears on a list of endangered species who face extinction due to illegal wildlife trafficking.ÌýNow the whole world is trying to cooperate in order to save this species and many others.

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WHS: Ãå±±½ûµØhumanitarian summit to 'shape a different future,' Ban tells thousands at opening ceremony

23 May 2016 – At the opening of theÌýÌý(WHS) in Istanbul today, United NationsÌýÌýBan Ki-moon joined the President of Turkey, relief activists and international celebrities to urge the global community to shape a different future for the world.

The Ãå±±½ûµØin Your World: Awareness and Action on the SDGs

Three members of United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) began working together this spring to help support the success of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by collaborating across cultures to broaden perspectives on how to achieve the Global Goals.Ìý Under the direction of ÌýGlobal Education Motivators (GEM), students from Effat University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, PA, United States, worked in support of the UNAI directive to provide a mechanism for such institutions to commit themselves to the fundamental precepts driving the United Nations mandate, in particular the realization of the universally accepted Sustainable Development Goals.

Call for Applications for the 2016 UNAOC Fellowship Program

The 2016 United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) Fellowship Program is now open for applications from emerging leaders and young professionals from Europe, North America (EUNA), the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Since 2010, the annual UNAOC Fellowship Program has been offering participants the opportunity to foster intercultural dialogue and interfaith understanding by providing first hand exposure to diversity and the chance to experience cultural immersion while interacting with a wide range of actors and partners from EUNA and MENA.

World Press Freedom Day 2016: Ensuring Freedom of Information and Safety for Journalists!

Each year on 3 May World Press Freedom Day offers an opportunity to remember journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty while reaffirming the international community's commitment to the principle of press freedom.Ìý Last week United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) in cooperation with the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) convened a conference in observance of World Press Freedom Day 2016 entitled Access to Information and Fundamental Freedoms: This Is Your Right! at Ãå±±½ûµØHeadquarters in New York. ÌýThe focus of the conference was on advancing the 2030 Agenda through freedom of information and safety for journalists.

Refugees and Migrants: A Crisis of Solidarity

This September, the United Nations General Assembly will bring together world leaders to address one of the leading challenges of our time: responding to large movements of refugees and migrants.

War, human rights violations, underdevelopment, climate change and natural disasters are leading more people to leave their homes than at any time since we have had reliable data.Ìý More than 60 million people -- half of them children -- have fled violence or persecution and are now refugees and internally displaced persons.Ìý An additional 225 million are migrants who have left their countries in search of better opportunities or simply for survival.

But this is not a crisis of numbers; it is a crisis of solidarity.Ìý Almost 90 per cent of the world's refugees are hosted in developing countries.Ìý Eight countries host more than half the world's refugees.Ìý Just ten countries provide 75 per cent of the UN's budget to ease and resolve their plight.

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NYU Shanghai hosts Conference on Sustainability Challenges and Solutions

Focusing on environmental issues from a global perspective, the NYU Shanghai Sustainable Development Conference took place on Saturday, 16 April 2016 with an aim to share information about current environmental issues and practical, evidence-based solutions.

NYU Shanghai students recognize that 2016 is a pivotal year for sustainable development, as world leaders are uniting in an effort to establish different kinds of social and economic structures to manage climate change. Green Shanghai, NYU Shanghai's organization for environmental issues and sustainability, carefully crafted a noteworthy lineup of experts and influencers who armed the participants with new strategies, insights and guidelines for how they can be part of the change.

Applications now open for International Bioethics Summer School in NYC!

'Today is an historic day,' says Ban, as 175 countries sign Paris climate accord

22 April 2016 – As 175 world leaders signed theÌýÌýat United Nations Headquarters today,ÌýÌýBan Ki-moon said the next critical step is to ensure that the landmark accord for global action on climate change enters into force as soon as possible.

Today is an historic day, Mr. BanÌýÌýreporters at a press conference following the opening ceremony of the signing event. This is by far the largest number of countries ever to sign an international agreement on a single day.

'We are in a race against time,' says Ban, as leaders sign landmark Paris climate accord

22 April 2016 – With their signatures of the landmark Paris climate accord, governments made a covenant with the future,ÌýÌýBan Ki-moon said at the end of a United Nations ceremony that saw the largest single-day turn-out for such an event, and which puts the world on a path towards low-carbon growth and a more sustainable future.

Yet, while today's signing is a vote of confidence in a new approach to climate change, it is imperative that the strong political momentum continues to grow, the Ãå±±½ûµØchief stressed, in concluding remarks to the day-longÌýÌýfor theÌý.

The Race is On to Choose the Next Ãå±±½ûµØSecretary-General!

This year marks the last year in office for United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, which means that the race is on to selected a new SG to lead the organization for the next five years. ÌýThe post of Secretary-General has been described as the most impossible job in the world, while the official Ãå±±½ûµØ says the job is Equal parts diplomat and advocate, civil servant and CEO. Ìý

In the past the selection of the Secretary-General has been done via a process shrouded in mystery and not accessible to the average citizen.Ìý But this year the process is moving into the 21^st century with candidates participating in town halls and taking questions submitted via social media from people all over the world.Ìý Ìý

Government of India Donates $200,000 to help UNAI Engage, Inform and Empower Academic & Research Communities

The Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations has donated $200,000 to United Nations Academic Impact to support UNAI's outreach, engagement and advocacy initiatives with education and research communities around the world.

This is the fourth year the Government of India has contributed financially to the work of UNAI, activities that Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin, Permanent Representative of India to the UN, says are integral to achieving Agenda 2030. UNAI's focus on weaving academic work throughout the world to contribute to overall development can play a critical role in realizing the Sustainable Development Goals, and we hope this contribution will help UNAI in its mission.ÌýÌýÌýÌý

The UNAI trust fund helps the initiative offer a broad platform to over 1,000 member institutions in more than 120 countries to share resources, ideas and innovations for the purposes and principles of the United Nations agenda.

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Youth for Peace International Law Competition Open for Submissions!

UNAI member institution, , one of the oldest universities of Republic of Belarus, is pleased to announce the call for applications for its international law competition Youth for Peace, the culmination of which will be a conference from 26 to 29 September 2016 in Minsk, Belarus.

Youth for Peace is an annual student competition on international law in Eastern Europe which attracts student teams from all around the world. In previous ten years, students from more than 38 countries have attended the competition.

This unique competition will provide an opportunity for students to enrich and extend their knowledge in international humanitarian law, international public law and human rights law through participation in the simulated armed conflict.

What is Past is Prologue: Lessons Learned from Combating Pan-Epidemics

By Daniel R. Lucey

A appointed 2 AprilÌý2015 by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonÌýstated in its 25 JanuaryÌý2016 report titledÌý that, The Ebola outbreak in West Africa was a preventable tragedy. If the outbreak had been detected faster, and concerted international action had been mounted more rapidly, the spread of the disease could have been contained, and thousands of lives could have been saved.