Keeping Pace with an Accelerated World: Bringing Rapid Technological Change to the United Nations Agenda
Humanity is at a crossroads: we face both the opportunities and challenges of a range of powerful and emerging technologies that will drive radical shifts in the way we live.
Frontier Technologies: A Window of Opportunity for Leapfrogging!
Imagine a world with no hunger, where every child attends school and no one dies from a communicable disease. This is not a utopian dream, but rather our collective vision for a society where no one is left behind. It serves as our guiding spirit鈥攐ur raison d'锚tre鈥攁s we work together towards the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The Race to Innovate for Development Should Not Leave Foundational Data Systems Behind
Data is everywhere, constantly being created by humans and machines across the globe. But as half of the world seems to be drowning in data, too many people and places are still invisible in the numbers that drive decisions.
Responsible Innovation for a New Era in Science and Technology
Today we are at the dawn of an age of unprecedented technological change. In areas from robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) to the material and life sciences, the coming decades promise innovations that can help us promote peace, protect our planet and address the root causes of suffering in our world.
Two Revolutions: Digital and Demographic
The progressive digitalization of the world has an unprecedented impact on every sphere of our lives. Over the past 20 years, technology has permeated every aspect of modern society, and the use of digital technology, in particular, is becoming an integral part of our everyday lives. Many services and resources are now accessible only through digital means. Robots and artificial intelligence (AI) will also radically transform our lives, including the concept of care of older persons.
Government Policy for the Internet Must Be Rights-Based and User-Centred
The digital future is already here. As nearly every aspect of our lives becomes digitized, we must ensure that laws and policies are based on fundamental rights.
The Role of the United Nations in Addressing Emerging Technologies in the Area of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
It is only natural that advances in the intelligent autonomy of digital systems attract the attention of Governments, scientists and civil society concerned about the possible deployment and use of lethal autonomous weapons. What is needed is a forum to discuss these concerns and construct common understandings regarding possible solutions.
Standards Build Trust: How the International Telecommunication Union Supports Inclusive Sustainable Development
Standards connect us with reliable modes of communication, codes of practice and frameworks for cooperation.
The Secretary-General鈥檚 Strategy on New Technologies
What we understand far less is what all these changes will mean for us socially, politically and psychologically: what they will mean for the relationship between citizen and State, for the conduct of conflict, for our economies, for our psyche and for our human rights.
Towards a Planet-wide Culture of Non-Violence
This essay is an attempt to propose a long-term approach to respond to this challenging dilemma: how to minimize鈥攊f not eliminate entirely鈥攖he use of physical and mental violence among humans.
Economic Losses and Displacement Should Drive Disaster Risk Reduction Efforts
Governance is an area of great focus this year for the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). Agreement on 38 indicators for measuring progress on reducing disaster losses and achieving the Sendai Framework's seven targets has led to a global surge in efforts to record disaster losses and analysis of disaster trends following the launch in March 2018 of the Sendai Framework Monitor. United Nations Member States are signing up quickly to use the Monitor and to report on their disaster losses, such as overall mortality, numbers affected, economic losses and damage to critical infrastructure.
Ensuring That Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Are Not Left Behind in the Sustainable Development Agenda
Today, the SDGs provide a comprehensive blueprint for addressing violence against women and enhancing peace and shared prosperity. The international community has set its sights on the year 2030 as the expiry date for gender-based inequality and violence in all its forms.
Foreword
Given the changing world of media and global communications, we are reflecting on how best to serve the purposes for which this flagship publication was created more than 70 years ago.
Upholding Our Values: Putting Victims at the Centre
I advocate within the United Nations system and among Member States, civil society and a broad range of other stakeholders to support an integrated response to victim assistance, so that it is rapidly and sensitively delivered; victims are respected, heard and listened to; their cases are taken seriously; and perpetrators are appropriately sanctioned.
The #TimeIsNow for Solidarity and Sisterhood
In the nineteenth century, people around the world fought and defeated slavery. In the twentieth century, the struggle against racism and colonialism awoke the world's conscience again. The great challenge of the twenty-first century is embodied in the struggle against sexism, gender-based violence and all forms of oppression of women.