In its new Monitor on the World of Work report, ILO shows that while in high-income countries, only 8.2 per cent of people willing to work are jobless, that number rises to over 21 per cent in low-income countries – or one in every five people.

Low-income countries in debt distress are worst affected, with more than one in four people who want to work unable to secure employment.

Widening jobs gap

ILO’s Assistant Director-General for Jobs and Social Protection, Mia Seppo, said that global unemployment was expected to fall below pre-pandemic levels, with a projected rate of 5.3 per cent in 2023, equivalent to 191 million people.

However, low-income countries, especially those in Africa and the Arab region, were unlikely to see such declines in unemployment this year.

The 2023 global jobs gap, which refers to those who want to work but do not have a job, is projected to rise to 453 million people, she said, with women 1.5 times more affected than men.

Africa hit hardest

The UN agency further indicated that Africa’s labour market had been hit the hardest during the pandemic, which explained the slow pace of recovery on the continent.

Unlike wealthy nations, debt distress across the continent and a very limited fiscal and policy space, meant that few countries in Africa could put in place the kind of comprehensive stimulus packages they needed to spur economic recovery, ILO explained.

Inadequate social protection

Ms. Seppo stressed that without improvement in people’s employment prospects, there would be no sound economic and social recovery. Equally important is investment in welfare safety nets for those who lose their jobs, the ILO senior official insisted, which is often inadequate in low-income countries.

According to the agency’s research, boosting social protection and expanding old age pensions would increase gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in low and middle-income countries by almost 15 per cent over a decade.

Social investment benefit

The annual cost of such measures would be around 1.6 per cent of GDP – a “large but not insurmountable” investment. Ms. Seppo suggested that the amount could be financed by a mix of social contributions, taxes and international support.

“There is an economic gain to investing in social protection”, she said.

Ms. Seppo also insisted that the need to create fiscal space for social investment in low-income countries should be considered “with urgency as part of the ongoing global discussion on the reform of the international financial architecture.”

Prepare for the future of work

While the unemployed divide projected by the report was worrisome, it was “not inevitable”, Ms. Seppo said, and the right concerted action on jobs and social protection funding could support a recovery and reconstruction which leaves no one behind.

In calling for improved capacity to develop “coherent, data-informed labour market policies” that protect the most vulnerable, the ILO senior official insisted that these should have an emphasis on upskilling and reskilling the labour force to prepare it for a “greener, more digital world of work”.

Delivering his latest update, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi reported that the situation at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) – the largest in Europe – remains extremely fragile and dangerous.

Military operations continue in the region “and may well increase very considerably in the near future,” he warned.

Rolling the dice

The Zaporizhzhya plant has come under fire during the war. It has lost off-site power seven times and had to rely on emergency diesel generators – “the last line of defence against a nuclear accident,” he said.

“We are fortunate that a nuclear accident has not yet happened,” Mr. Grossi told ambassadors.

“As I said at the IAEA Board of Governors last March – we are rolling a dice and if this continues then one day, our luck will run out. So, we must all do everything in our power to minimize the chance that it does.”

A specific request

Mr. Grossi recalled that the Ukraine crisis marks the first time in history that a war is being fought amid the facilities of a major nuclear power programme.  He said several of the country’s five nuclear plants and other facilities have come under direct shelling, and all nuclear plants have lost off-site power at some point.

The IAEA has maintained a presence at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant since September. The site was occupied by Russian forces in the early days of the conflict, with a “significantly reduced” Ukrainian staff carrying out operations.

Throughout the conflict, the IAEA chief has repeatedly promoted seven indispensable pillars for nuclear safety and security, which include maintaining the physical integrity of facilities and ensuring secure off-site power supply.

“The time has come to be more specific as to what is required. We must prevent a dangerous release of radioactive material,” he said.

Five concrete principles

Following extensive consultations, including with the sides, Mr. Grossi developed five concrete principles essential for averting “a catastrophic incident” at the Zaporizhzhya plant.

“There should be no attack of any kind from or against the plant, in particular targeting the reactors, spent fuel storage, other critical infrastructure, or personnel,” he said, outlining the first point.

The nuclear plant also should not be used as storage or a base for heavy weapons, such as multiple rocket launchers, or military personnel that could be used for an attack emanating from it.

Off-site power to the plant should not be put at risk, and all efforts should be made to ensure it always remains available and secure, he said. 

Furthermore, all structures, systems and components essential to the safe and secure operation of the plant should be protected from attacks or sabotage. Finally, no action should be taken that undermines the principles.

“Let me say something very clearly: These principles are to no one’s detriment and to everyone’s benefit. Avoiding a nuclear accident is possible. Abiding by the IAEA’s five principles is the way to start,” said Mr. Grossi.

Principles are aligned: Russia 

Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said his country has made every effort to prevent threats to the safety of the Zaporizhzhya plant, which he attributed to Ukraine and its “Western backers”. 

“The shellings carried out by Ukraine of the power plant are absolutely unacceptable, and Mr. Grossi’s proposals to ensure the security of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant are in line with the measures that we’ve already been implementing for a long time, in accordance with decisions taken at the national level,” he said. 

He added that no attacks were ever carried out from the territory of the plant.  Additionally, heavy weapons or munitions were never placed there, nor are there any military personnel present who could be used to carry out an attack. 

“In the current conditions, Russia intends to take all possible measures to strengthen the safety and security of the power plant in accordance with our national legislation and our obligations under relevant international legal instruments to which our country is a party,” he said. 

Withdraw from the plant: Ukraine 

Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya also addressed the Council. 

He said Russia continues to use the nuclear plant for military purposes and has deployed roughly 500 military personnel and 50 units of heavy weaponry there, as well as equipment, munitions and explosives.  

“We reiterate that by illegally occupying ZNPP and making it an element of its military strategy, Russia has violated all key international principles of nuclear safety and security and the vast majority of its obligations under international treaties,” he said. 

Mr.  Kyslytsya recommended that the IAEA principles should also include withdrawal of Russian troops and personnel illegally present at the plant, guarantees of uninterrupted power supply to the facility, and a humanitarian corridor to ensure the safe and orderly rotation of staff. 

“Racism and xenophobia continue to spoil our communities, like scars that spoil the fabric of society. The hatred and violence they engender persist, demanding our collective efforts to eradicate racial violence in all its forms,” he told the second session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. 

Transforming injustice 

Mr. Kőrösi said overcoming this requires recognizing our shared humanity, as the “unacknowledged legacies” of slavery and segregation persist today through

oppressive and racially violent prison systems, inequalities in access to healthcare, and exclusion from the workforce. 

“We must do away with these inhumane and shameful inheritances, and we must do it now,” he said, speaking in the General Assembly Hall.  “I firmly believe that by reflecting on these painful legacies, we can truly transform the injustices of the past into the freedoms of the future.” 

Act with urgency 

The Permanent Forum was established in 2021 by the General Assembly, following years of deliberations, and in line with the International Decade for People of African Descent, which runs through 2024. 

The body will contribute to advancing a UN declaration on the promotion and full respect of the rights of people of African descent, the theme of the current session. 

Its establishment crystalized international commitment to accelerate along the path towards full equality and justice for people of African descent everywhere, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a video message to the gathering. 

He called for recognizing and repairing longstanding wrongs stemming from centuries of slavery and colonialism. 

“We must act with greater urgency to rid our societies of the scourge of racism, and ensure the full political, economic and social inclusion of people of African descent as equal citizens, without discrimination,” he said. 

A problem everywhere 

The fact that racism knows no borders was made clear by Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who highlighted the constant abuse heaped on Brazilian footballer Vinícius Júnior, who plays for Spanish club Real Madrid. 

“The lesson we can draw from these unforgivable episodes is that Vini Jr, a 22-year-old, is capable of standing up to hostile crowds, there is no doubt that we can and must do more to interrupt this dehumanizing circuit of violence,” he said in a video message. 

Brazil’s Minister of Racial Equality, Anielle Franco, took to the podium to reinforce President Lula’s call for renewing the International Decade for People of African Descent, with a focus on memory, reparations and justice  

“Peace, democracy, international security, the fight against inequalities and the guarantee of human rights will only coexist when centuries of systemic racism – which is characterized by dehumanization, subjugation, trauma, the erasure of our culture and psychological violence – are repaired,” she said, drawing applause from the room. 

Tribute to activists 

More than a thousand people are taking part in the Forum, which concludes on Friday. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, paid tribute to the large number of activists and civil society representatives in their ranks. 

“Many of you have been vital to the continuing efforts of global anti-racism movements, including protests in 2020 that, among other things, helped to expedite the establishment of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent,” he said in a video message. 

Mr. Türk noted that for far too long, racial discrimination has been treated as a social issue, instead of a severe human rights violation.  

“It is urgent that we both hold individuals accountable for acts of racism and racial discrimination, and also consider more profoundly the role of structures and systems of discrimination and oppression that replicate and nurture racial hierarchies,” he said.

The latest integrated food security phase classification (IPC) analysis, reported on Sunday that of the total number of affected people, 1.8 million are in an emergency-level phase of need.

This means that households face large food consumption gaps resulting in high acute malnutrition and excess mortality, or are forced to adopt negative coping mechanisms to cover food needs, such as selling off assets or eating seeds instead of planting them, increasing their vulnerability, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), one of the report’s global partners.

With 75 per cent of Haiti’s population living in rural areas, urgent measures are needed to save lives and quickly restore the agricultural livelihoods of vulnerable farmers, FAO warned.

Support market gardening

For example, investing $125 in a market-gardening seed package can generate 20 times its value in the production of vegetables, enabling families to have access to food and generate income through the sale of part of the product obtained, according to the agency.

Under the 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan, FAO is appealing for $61.7 million to assist 700,000 people to improve their access to food. Activities will focus on the provision of such agricultural inputs as seeds and fertilizer to increase staple food and vegetable production during the 2023 spring and winter seasons as well as to protect livestock assets, through the provision of poultry and goats alongside vaccines and veterinary treatment.

Hunger ‘hotspots’

Acute food insecurity is set to increase in magnitude and severity in 18 hunger “hotspots” around the world, according to a new FAO and World Food Programme (WFP) report published on Monday.

The report found that many hotspots are facing growing hunger and highlights the worrying multiplier effect that simultaneous and overlapping shocks are having on acute food insecurity. Conflict, climate extremes, and economic shocks continue to drive more and more communities into crisis.

The report warned that Burkina Faso and Mali, Sudan, and Haiti have been elevated to the highest concern levels.

“All hotspots at the highest level have communities facing or projected to face starvation, or are at risk of sliding towards catastrophic conditions, given they have already emergency levels of food insecurity and are facing severe aggravating factors,” WFP said.

“These hotspots require the most urgent attention,” the report warns.

Learn more about what the UN is doing to help the people of Haiti here.

WMO warned on Tuesday that glaciers and ice sheet melt in Greenland and Antarctica accounts for some 50 per cent of sea level rise, which is accelerating, with disastrous impacts on small island developing states (SIDS) and densely populated coastal areas.

Glacier melt

The average thickness of the world’s glaciers has plummeted by almost 30 metres since 1970.

“The cryosphere issue is a hot topic not just for the Arctic and Antarctic, but it is a global issue,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.

The irreversible changes in the global cryosphere will affect well over a billion people who rely on water from snow and glacier melt, WMO said.

‘Sleeping giant’ of carbon emissions

The agency also called melting Arctic permafrost a “sleeping giant” of greenhouse gases, as it stores twice as much carbon as there is in the atmosphere today.

WMO said it has made this burning issue one of its top priorities and called for better predictions and intensified research, data exchange and investment.

Sea level rise, ice and glaciers are among the climate indicators monitored by WMO and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The WMO State of the Global Climate 2022 report highlighted the shocking extent of change.
 
So-called “reference glaciers” which WMO is monitoring in the long-term, experienced an average thickness change of over −1.3 metres between October 2021 and October 2022. This loss is much larger than the average of the last decade, the agency said.

Alpine record

The European Alps smashed records for glacier melt, exacerbated by a winter of little snow: in Switzerland, six per cent of the glacier ice volume was lost between 2021 and 2022 – and one third between 2001 and 2022.
 
The Greenland Ice Sheet ended with a negative total mass balance for the 26^th year in a row.
 
Sea ice in Antarctica dropped to 1.92 million km² on February 25, last year – the lowest level on record and almost one million km² below the long-term mean – measured from 1991 to 2020.
 
Arctic sea ice in September at the end of the summer melt tied for the 11^th lowest monthly minimum ice extent in the satellite record.
 
The rate of global mean sea level rise has doubled between the first decade of the satellite record, said WMO.