UNITAR

A record 53.6 million tonnes (Mt) of e-waste was produced globally in 2019 — the weight of 350 cruise ships the size of the Queen Mary 2; $57 billion in gold and other components discarded — mostly dumped or burned.

On 11 June 2020, UNITAR participated in the launch of a new system for university ranking, the World’s Universities with Real Impact (WURI).

22 June 2020, Geneva, Switzerland – UNITAR’s Division for People launched the “Webinar Series Management Practices for Safer Roads” to raise awareness about practical interventions and best practices that contribute to improve road safety. Mr. Nikhil Seth, Executive Director of UNITAR, kicked off the series and highlighted the importance of remaining focused on issues like road safety during these unprecedented times. “Let’s continue to take bold steps to reduce road traffic crashes and let’s further collaborate so that when the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us, we stand ready to bring new learnings and best practices to the next decade of action for road safety”, stressed Mr. Seth.

Collegium Civitas has become the first Polish university to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), Division for Peace. The MoU outlines the scope of prospective collaboration that includes: training and degree programmes in various thematic fields such as sustainable development, international security and the rule of law.

16 June 2020, New York, USA – Following the success of the first module, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) New York office held the second module of the ‘Realizing the Future We Want – training series in preparation for the General Assembly’s 2020 quadrennial comprehensive policy review (QCPR) of operational activities for development of the United nations system’ on Tuesday, 16 June 2020 in collaboration with the UN Development of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations. The theme of the second module was ‘A tailored and targeted United Nations development system’s support to countries’ efforts to advance the 2030 Agenda.’ The virtual session lasted from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm EST, and it benefitted over 180 participants from the Member States.

17 June 2020, Geneva, Switzerland - As a first step to future cooperation, UNITAR and the International Ocean Institute (IOI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The two institutions formally agreed to seek mutually beneficial cooperation to fulfil their respective missions.

Strong demand for the online course on Trade and Food Security has prompted UNITAR and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to relaunch the course in French for Sub-Saharan African countries. It was initially offered for Sub-Saharan African countries in French in 2018 and in English in 2019.

15 June 2020, Geneva, Switzerland – UNITAR’s Division for Prosperity successfully completed a SIDA-funded pilot programme on “Frontier Technologies for Sustainable Development: Unlocking Women’s Entrepreneurship through Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Afghanistan and Iraq” which benefitted 32 women entrepreneurs from various sectors in the 2 countries.

10 June 2020, Geneva, Switzerland - The renewed and expanded partnership between UNITAR Division for Peace and the World Humanitarian Forum (WHF) aims to address the limitations imposed by the pandemic to ensure training and development can be delivered uninterrupted and more importantly, to ensure that no one is left behind. In May, the two partners launched WHF Learning – an online platform that intends to increase the awareness of available free distance learning opportunities for professionals in the international community and beyond. WHF Learning is a part of the broader WHF Digital Series that includes open interactive webinars, online courses and podcasts.

10 June 2020, Geneva, Switzerland - This March, UNITAR Division for Peace and the Justice and Corrections Service (JCS) of the Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions (OROLSI), United Nations Department of Peace Operations (UN DPO), partnered to developed two new operational documents designed to support collective COVID-19 response within the justice, security and corrections sector.