The UN urges the G20 to alleviate the excessive debt of developing countries
Finance ministers and central bank governors of the world’s 20 largest economies will meet this week in the Indian city of Bangalore. For this reason, the UN Development Program (UNDP) presented this Wednesday a publication in which it identifies 52 low- and middle-income developing countries that carry excessive debt and are home to 40% of the poorest population on the planet.
The UNDP stressed that the high level of indebtedness impedes the progress of these countries since they must allocate hundreds of billions of dollars of their income just to pay debt service.
According to the publication, a 30% cut in their public debt in 2021 would save them 148,000 million in public debt payments over eight years, money that could be used for development projects. “Developing economies could secure hundreds of billions of dollars in savings if the world committed to restructuring its existing debt and expanding access to affordable financing in the future,” he notes.
The UN Program stated that if a developing economy borrows at an interest rate of 12 or 14% and pays more than 20% of its income in debt service each year, it simply does not have the means to finance the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals or the commitments of the Paris Agreement, so he urged the G20 to take measures to protect those nations from debt overhang and ensure that they have broad access to fair financing.
They assassinate a radio journalist in Paraguay
Don’t kill journalists
On February 14, radio journalist Alexander Álvarez Ramírez, who worked as a producer and presenter of two programs on the Radio Urundey FM station, was assassinated in Paraguay.
The communicator was shot to death by a hit man on a motorcycle who shot him while he was waiting to pass in his car in front of a traffic light in the city of Pedro Juan Caballero, in the department of Amambay.
The UN agency for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) condemned the murder and urged the Paraguayan authorities to carry out an expeditious and independent investigation to bring those responsible to justice.
The general director of the UnescoAudrey Azoulay, stressed that it is essential to protect journalists, safeguard press freedom and prosecute acts of violence that threaten the ability of the media to carry out work that is indispensable to society.
Experts call to stop the destruction of cultural property in Ukraine
A historic building in the old town of Kharkiv has been damaged as a result of the war in Ukraine.
The deliberate destruction and damage of sites, institutions and objects of cultural, historical and religious importance in Ukraine must stop, three UN human rights experts demanded today, warning that Russian attacks on Ukrainian culture, history and language They may represent an attempt to erase your identity.
The experts pointed out that one year after the escalation of hostilities, numerous cultural assets have been partially or totally destroyed, including memorials and monuments, civil buildings, museums, theaters, statues, places of worship, cemeteries, libraries, archives, schools, universities and hospitals.
They warned that the destruction figure could exceed the 240 assets estimated by UNESCO in the middle of this month, adding that other assessments have identified more than a thousand incidents related to cultural infrastructures and heritage sites.
The special rapporteurs said that attacks on that heritage undermine human rights, including the right to education. They also considered that the destruction will have lasting effects and will undermine the prospects for peaceful coexistence and future post-war recovery efforts.
General Assembly resumes special session on Ukraine
View of the General Assembly. (File photo)
The general Assembly The United Nations will resume this afternoon the 11th emergency special session on Ukraine in which a draft resolution sponsored by more than 60 countries will be presented, which raises the need to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine as soon as possible in accordance with with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
The text reiterates its demand that the Russian Federation immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all its military forces from Ukrainian territory.
The draft “emphasizes 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 guarantee justice for all victims, as well as the prevention of future crimes”.
