UN Celebrates International Yoga Day

By Deepak Arora

UNITED NATIONS, June 21: The eighth International Day of Yoga was celebrated at the North Lawns of United Nations Headquarters in New York. A large number of UN delegates and staffers participated in the outdoor event.

Inaugurating the event, President of the UN General Assembly Abdulla Shahid said that as the COVID-19 pandemic has upended lives and livelihoods, triggering a deluge of anxiety and depression, “the practice of yoga serves as a holistic approach to the physical, mental and spiritual health and well-being of humanity.”

India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador T.S. Tirumurti, said that during the difficult times of the pandemic, millions embraced yoga as their companion, to stay healthy, overcome depression and mental anxiety and it is in recognition of this important role of yoga that the theme for this year's celebration is ‘Yoga for Humanity’.

“Yoga can also be an integral part of our build back better strategy,” he said.

Organized by the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations, this was a first in-person yoga day celebration after a hiatus of two years due to pandemic induced restrictions.

The President of General Assembly reminded that yoga is all about unity: connecting the mind, body and spirit.

"Improving global health is our long-term objective. Today’s celebration therefore is also an opportunity to promote more sustainable lifestyles and a healthier outlook on life.”

He highlighted the power of yoga as the power of unity for a healthier, happier and prosperous future for all.

The event titled “Yoga with the Masters” featured introduction to basic yoga practices and their demonstration by renowned Yoga experts, a yoga dance by the group Indian Raga, pranayama breathing by Isha Yoga, yoga asanas by Bhakti Center, and a meditation workshop by the Integral Yoga Institute.

Recognizing the universal appeal of yoga, the United Nations proclaimed June 21 as the annual International Day of Yoga in 2014, with the adoption of General Assembly resolution 69/131.

The resolution underscored that global health is a long-term development objective that requires closer international cooperation through the exchange of best practices aimed at building better individual lifestyles devoid of excesses of all kinds.

It recognized that yoga provides a holistic approach to health and well-being.

In this regard, the World Health Organization has also urged its member states to help their citizens reduce physical inactivity, which is among the top ten leading causes of death worldwide, and a key risk factor for non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes.

UN General Assembly adopts resolution on status of internally displaced persons and refugees from Abkhazia, Georgia and the Tskhinvali region / South Ossetia, Georgia

By Deepak Arora

UNITED NATIONS, June 8: The UN General Assembly, in its 76th session, has adopted a resolution initiated by Georgia and other countries across the world (a total of 61 countries) on the Status of Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees from Abkhazia, Georgia and the Tskhinvali Region / South Ossetia, Georgia. The resolution was supported by 95 Member States.

Georgia has been submitting this resolution to the UN General Assembly since 2008. The resolution condemns the forcible demographic changes in the occupied regions of Georgia, affirms the right of IDPs to return to their homes in a dignified and safe manner, regardless of ethnicity, and emphasizes the need to respect and protect their property rights.

In addition to the humanitarian context, the resolution has practical implications, as it instructs the UN Secretary-General to prepare an annual report on the situation of the IDPs living in Georgia and on the implementation of the resolution. This is particularly important in light of the dire human rights situation in the occupied territories of Georgia and the lack of international monitoring mechanisms, which is another obstacle to the safe and dignified return of IDPs and refugees.

The resolution also calls on the participants in the Geneva talks to step up efforts to improve the security and human rights situation in the occupied regions of Georgia, which in turn will facilitate the return of internally displaced persons and refugees to their homes.

Like in the past three years, UN member states were given the opportunity this year to co-sponsor the resolution and thus become even more actively involved in international efforts to address the dire humanitarian situation created by Russian aggression and occupation. As a result, 61 countries from different regions of the world joined the ranks of co-authors of the resolution, which is an increase compared to last year.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia thanks all the countries who supported the resolution and became a co-author of the initiative. With this decision, each country reaffirmed its support for the right of return of internally displaced persons and refugees and expressed its support for each IDP.

UN chief urges Stockholm summit to rescue us from our environmental ‘mess’

STOCKHOLM, June 2: UN Secretary-General António Guterres said has said that global wellbeing is at risk – and it’s in large part because we haven’t kept our promises on the environment.

Although there have been successes in protecting the planet since 1972, including rescuing the ozone layer, Guterres warned that “Earth’s natural systems cannot keep up with our demands”.

“Lead us out of this mess”, he urged delegates at the Swedish summit convened by the UN General Assembly, in a call for action against a “triple planetary crisis” that’s been caused by the climate emergency – “that is killing and displacing ever more people each year” – biodiversity loss – which threatens “more than three billion people” – and pollution and waste, “that is costing some nine million lives a year”.

All nations should do more to protect the basic human right to a clean, healthy environment for everyone, Guterres insisted, focusing in particular on “poor communities, women and girls, indigenous peoples and the generations to come”.

Part of the solution lies in dispensing with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a gauge of countries’ economic clout, the Secretary-General continued, describing it as an accounting system “that reward(s) pollution and waste”.

He added: “Let us not forget that when we destroy a forest, we are creating GDP. When we overfish, we are creating GDP. GDP is not a way to measure richness in the present situation in the world.”

After calling on all nations to commit further to implementing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and following the 2015 Paris Agreement to tackle these threats, the Secretary-General also insisted that greater efforts were needed to bring emissions to net zero by 2050.

“Hot air is killing us,” he said, repeating his call to all countries to abandon fossil fuel subsidies and invest in renewable energy, while developed nations should “at least double” their support to poorer countries so that they can adapt to a growing number of climate shocks.

Stressing that nations have already cooperated to protect the planet on many fronts, Guterres noted that the final touches are expected to be added to a new global biodiversity framework to reverse nature loss by 2030.

Work is also ongoing to establish a treaty to tackle plastics pollution, the UN chief continued, and the 2022 UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon, is expected to galvanize efforts to save our seas.

“If we do these things we can avert climate catastrophe, end a growing humanitarian and inequality crisis and promote inclusive and sustainable development,” he said, adding that “every government, business and individual has a role to play”.

Conference convenor, General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid, said there was a simple truth all need to acknowledge: "human progress cannot occur on an earth that is starved of its own resources, marred by pollution, and is under relentless assault from a climate crisis of its own making.

He said recent climate action initiatives such as a plastics pollution treaty push, "give me hope", but they needed to be integrated into a much broader effort.

"We need solutions that address the common bottlenecks affecting the entire environment agenda, which will in turn accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, and promote resilient and sustainable recovery from the pandemic."

Tech-tonic push for sustainability

In a related development at Stockholm on Thursday, a UN-backed coalition of 1,000 stakeholders from more than 100 countries, launched their bid to use digital tools to accelerate environmentally and socially sustainable development.

The Coalition for Digital Environmental Sustainability (CODES) offers ways to embed sustainability in all aspects of digitalization. This includes building globally inclusive processes to define standards and governance frameworks for digital sustainability, allocating resources and infrastructure, while also identifying opportunities to reduce potential harms or risks from digitalization, said the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

Addressing the conference, UNEP chief Inger Andersen, said that 50 years on from the original conference in the Swedish capital devoted to the environment, a plethora of agreements are now in place, “covering every environmental challenge”.

But, the practical results had fallen well short so far, she warned, citing the inequity, injustice, and “distress signals” that abound, from the triple planetary crisis.

“If Indira Gandhi or Olof Palme were here today, what excuses would we offer up for our inadequate action? None that they would accept. They would tell us that further inaction is inexcusable.

“We know, more than ever, the terrible consequences of marching blithely further down the carbon-intensive development path we have gouged from the earth”, she added. “But we also know what we should do. And we know how to do it.

The scientific solutions are clear, “for fair and just transformational changes in our economy, our finance systems, our lifestyles, our governance. And we know need science to swing the needle to action on our moral compass.

“Stockholm+50 is a chance for the world to commit, once and for all, to delivering these transformations”, she told delegates.