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UN Daily News
Issue DH/7092

Wednesday, 10 February 2016

In the headlines:
UN health agency delivers medical aid inside

UN agriculture agency warns of threat to food

Low on funds, UN and partners race ahead of rains

Climate outlook particularly concerning in

Central African Republic: UN report urges steps to

As budget advisory panel turns 70, Ban lauds

Ban warns illicit drugs impede sustainable

INTERVIEW: UN information technology chief

Yemen's Taiz city after blocked entry

to tackle needs in South Sudan
end impunity for rights abuses

development, calls for every solution to be weighed

security from overuse of antibiotics

southern Africa due to El Nio - UN agency

'strong collaboration' on reaching UN's goals
believes all girls should aspire to be geeks

UN health agency delivers medical aid inside Yemen's Taiz city

after blocked entry
10 February - Following months of blocked access to the Yemeni city of Taiz, and in
response to mounting emergency health needs, the World Health Organization (WHO) said
today it has successfully delivered more than 20 tonnes of life-saving medicines and
medical supplies to meet the most urgent needs of those with limited access to humanitarian
aid.
The health supplies, which had been blocked from entering the city for eight weeks, were
delivered to Al-Thawra, Al-Jumhoori, Al-Rawdha and Al-Ta'aon hospitals as of 31
January, WHO said in a press release.

Girls fetching water in Mawyah district,

Taiz. This role often falls on the shoulders
of girls and young women, often at the
expense of their education. Credit: OCHA

Hospital staff in Taiz City are desperate for medicines and medical supplies so that they
can continue to offer the most basic medical care. The delivery of these WHO supplies is a huge step that we are hoping will
pave the way for the provision of more medical support to the city, said Dr. Ahmed Shadoul, WHO representative in
Yemen.
The supplies include trauma kits, interagency emergency health kits, diarrhoeal disease kits and 170 oxygen cylinders,
enough for about 35,000 beneficiaries. In addition, dialysis solutions were facilitated to Al-Thawra Hospital for 30,000
dialysis sessions for one year.
WHO said that three districts in Taiz Al Mudhaffar, Al Qahirah and Salah still remain inaccessible and people are in
urgent need of food, safe water and life-saving health services. Many hospitals have been forced to close their intensive care
units due to a lack of fuel, medicines and health staff, and patients with chronic medical issues such as diabetes, kidney
disease and cancer are struggling to access essential medicines and dialysis centres.
Shortages in food have led to a significant increase in prices, with many people now unable to afford basic food items,
resulting in increased risk of malnutrition, especially in children, WHO said. The main wells providing safe drinking-water
have shut down due to interruptions in power supplies and a lack of fuel for generators.

For information media not an official record

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10 February 2016

WHO added that earlier this week, an aid plane landed in Sana'a airport with an additional 40 tonnes of medicines and
medical supplies, which will be distributed where they are most needed across the country.
It is vital that WHO and partners are given unrestricted access to all people in need, so that they can be urgently provided
with life-saving health care, Dr. Shadoul stressed.
Since April 2015, ongoing violence and insecurity in Yemen continues to limit the delivery of aid to Taiz. In recent weeks,
the UN has made repeated calls to all sides to allow humanitarian access to Taiz and all other besieged areas throughout the
country where civilians have been deprived of the basic necessities of life.

Low on funds, UN and partners race ahead of rains to tackle

needs in South Sudan
10 February - With humanitarian needs rising in South Sudan, the top United Nations
relief official in the country has called for urgent funding to allow aid organizations to
rapidly increase humanitarian action during the current dry season.
Aid workers are in a race against time to respond in areas previously cut off by fighting
and rains, and to pre-position vital supplies ahead of the next rainy season, said Eugene
Owusu, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan, in a press release.
If we are unable to act now, the situation will be much worse, and the response will be
much more costly in the months ahead, he added.

In Pathai, a settlement in Jonglei State,

South Sudan, persons displaced by
conflict await registration for food
distribution. Photo: UNICEF/Jacob
Zocherman

Mr. Owusu said he has allocated $20.3 million to top priority projects from the South
Sudan Common Humanitarian Fund, which is a multi-donor pooled fund focused on the disbursement of donor resources to
humanitarian partners. However, partners urgently require $220 million for critical actions to be taken before the end of the
dry season in May, he stressed.
Appealing to donors to give generously, and to give now, to replenish the fund, Mr. Owusu said the additional funding
was necessary to combat widespread food insecurity, malnutrition, displacement and disease in the country.
This year, about two per cent of the $1.3 billion required to provide life-saving assistance and protection has been received.
I am deeply concerned that we are facing increasing needs with diminishing resources, he said. The world must not let
South Sudan become a forgotten crisis. Humanitarian partners are standing ready to respond, but they cannot do so without
funding.
Earlier this week, UN agencies warned that South Sudan faces unprecedented levels of food insecurity, with 2.8 million
people nearly 25 per cent of the population in urgent need of aid, at least 40,000 of them on the brink of catastrophe, at a
time when the war-torn country is traditionally most food secure.

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10 February 2016

Central African Republic: UN report urges steps to end impunity

for rights abuses
10 February - As the Central African Republic (CAR) prepares for the second round of
presidential elections this weekend, a new United Nations report detailing violations and
human rights abuses in the strife-torn nation's capital late last year has prompted the head of
the UN peacekeeping mission there to call for urgent measures in the fight against impunity
and to prevent future violations.

Two years after tens of thousands of

inhabitants fled to the capitals airport in
search of safety, Banguis Mpoko airport
is still home to 20,000 displaced people.
UNICEF/UN08031/Le Du

The report, which will be released later this month, details grave human rights abuses
committed following the eruption of violence in the capital city of Bangui, from 26
September to 20 October 2015. The period was marked by the targeting and killing of
civilians, and widespread looting and burning of houses and property, among other human
rights violations.

In a statement released this morning, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the UN Mission in the
CAR (MINUSCA), Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, called on CAR authorities, armed groups and the international community to
support the electoral process, to reject all forms of violence, and to respect the results of the polls.
Peaceful and legitimate elections will mark a major step towards reconciliation, justice and sustainable peace in CAR, he
added.
Expressing concern that the perpetrators of grave violations of human rights will enjoy impunity, he reiterated the UN's
commitment to improving the administration of justice in the country.

Report's Findings
In compiling the report, MINUSCA investigators documented multiple human rights violations, including at least 41
civilians killed and at least 17 injured; instances of rape and other forms of sexual violence; kidnapping and unlawful
detention; and the pillaging, looting and destruction of property. The report quotes extracts from the testimony of witnesses
and victims.
The Mission also observed and documented the widespread and systematic looting and destruction of property, including the
burning of many houses and theft of humanitarian resources, such as medical equipment, from intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations.
The mission notes that the actual number of casualties and violations is likely to be far higher than that detailed in the
report, because in the aftermath of the crisis, investigations were constrained by ongoing insecurity and restrictions on
movement, particularly in the predominantly Muslim areas of Bangui.
While the majority of violations and abuses were committed by the anti-Balaka and ex-Slka armed groups and their
affiliates, the report also details human rights violations committed by members of the CAR armed forces.
The weakness of State authorities in Bangui, and their widespread absence outside the capital, means there is a serious risk
that those responsible for human rights violations will enjoy impunity, the report concludes. The violence in Bangui also set
off a series of violent incidents throughout the CAR, including in Bambari, Kaga-Bandoro, Bouar, Carnot and Sibut.

Recommendations
The report's recommendations include ending impunity and prosecuting those responsible for past and present serious
human rights violations and abuses; the end of attacks on civilians by armed groups; and the reform of the CAR armed
forces.
In addition, the report calls for the implementation of robust and effective programmes of disarmament, demobilization and
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10 February 2016

reintegration and community violence reduction; protection and assistance to victims of sexual and gender-based violence;
and increased financial and technical support from the international community for the establishment and functioning of the
Special Criminal Court for CAR.
The first round of presidential elections was held on 30 December 2015, although no candidate received more than 50 per
cent of the vote. An interim government has been in place since 2014, with the second round of elections postponed several
times due to inter-communal violence.
This past December, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, said that her Office would
record any instance of violence in the CAR and that anyone committing atrocity crimes would be held accountable.
More than three years of civil war and sectarian violence have displaced thousands of people in the CAR amid continuing
clashes between the mainly Muslim Slka rebel coalition and anti-Balaka militia, which are mostly Christian. The UN
recently reported an upsurge in violence, in particular last September and October, committed by armed elements.
The mission plans to share the findings of its investigations with the ICC and the Special Criminal Court for CAR, which
will be established in the near future.

Ban warns illicit drugs impede sustainable development, calls

for every solution to be weighed
10 February - Illicit drugs promote violence, impede sustainable development, endanger
communities and undermine people's health, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Kimoon warned today, calling on the global community to weigh every option available to
confront the issue.

A poppy field in Afghanistan. Photo:

UNODC

This global challenge is interconnected with corruption, terrorism and illicit flows of
money, Mr. Ban told UN official and delegates at a meeting ahead of a UN General
Assembly special session (UNGASS) on the world drug problem in April.

Those who traffic in illegal drugs may also be involved in human trafficking, kidnapping,
firearms smuggling, murder and numerous other crimes. But the world drug problem is also a health problem, linked to
overdoses, the ravages of addiction and the spread of HIV and hepatitis, he added.
The UN chief insisted that implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were adopted last year by UN
Member States to wipe out poverty and fight inequality over the next 15 years, will require collective partnership and solid
commitment.
UNGASS 2016 provides an opportunity for the international community to enter into an informed and wide-ranging
discussion on drug policy in all its aspects, Mr. Ban explained. It can help in the development of objectives, based on
human rights and concern for the health and welfare of people, that will support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development.
He underlined that the Special Session can also reaffirm the central principle that no country can confront these issues alone.
Shared responsibility can ensure the delivery of balanced and comprehensive drug policies with a renewed focus on human
rights and public health, including prevention, treatment and care, he added.
But the UN chief said the world can also go further, looking at different options such as alternatives to prison or punishment
for appropriate minor offences; greater access to controlled medicines for the relief of pain and suffering; and promoting
alternative livelihoods for vulnerable farmers and their families.
In all our work, which is based on the international drug conventions, the human rights of people, especially the vulnerable
and their communities, must come first, Mr. Ban concluded, noting that the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is
uniquely placed to assist this process through its work on both the supply and demand sides of this issue.
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The UN General Assembly special session on the world drug problem is scheduled from 19 to 21 April at UN Headquarters
in New York. The Assembly previously convened a special session on the issue in 1998.

UN agriculture agency warns of threat to food security from

overuse of antibiotics
10 February - The overuse of antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents is impacting rural
livelihoods and food security, and requires globally coordinated efforts, the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today.
Speaking to European ministers of health and agriculture at a conference on antimicrobial
resistance in Amsterdam, FAO Deputy Director-General Helena Semedo emphasized that
antimicrobial agents foster increasing resistance among the very microbes that cause the
infections and disease they were designed to quell, thereby threatening to reverse a century
of progress in human and animal health.

Health workers in Bulgaria train during

an animal disease outbreak simulation
exercise. Photo: FAO/Yanne

Antimicrobial resistance is a global threat that in this inter-connected world cannot be

solved in Europe alone, Ms. Semedo said.
We have to help save live-saving drugs, she added.
Aside from the human health considerations, Ms. Semedo underscored that the emergence of microbes resistant to
antibiotics and other pharmaceutical agents puts animal health at risk and consequently has an impact on rural livelihoods
and food security.
While resistance develops as part of natural adaptation, it is exacerbated by inappropriate use of pharmaceuticals, and the
prevalence of resistance in the agricultural sector is generally higher in animal species reared under intensive production
systems.
Although FAO favours prudent regulations and measures to control the influx of medicines and reduce their use, Ms.
Semedo said that many rural smallholders and pastoralists often face difficult economic choices and that counterfeit drugs
are rampant.
How can we eliminate hunger or improve sustainability when we cannot cure sick animals? How can we reduce rural
poverty when the drugs given to ill farm workers and their families no longer have effect? she asked.
While hailing the Netherlands in particular for reducing the amount of drugs used in its livestock sector by almost 60 per
cent in recent years, Ms. Semedo noted that the real challenge is to translate such efforts to countries in need with poor
resources. The risk of antimicrobial resistance appears to be particularly high in countries where legislation, surveillance,
prevention and monitoring are weak or inadequate, she stressed.
Broad improvements in hygiene, disease prevention, veterinary oversight and accurate and affordable diagnostics, as well as
ensuring quality nutrition to improve the overall health of livestock and fish through safe feed and suitable breeds, are
critical in reducing the overuse of antibiotics, she said.
Considering that seven out of every 10 newly discovered human diseases are of animal origin, she also highlighted the
centrality of farming practices and food systems in the effort to contain antimicrobial resistance.

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10 February 2016

Climate outlook particularly concerning in southern Africa due

to El Nio - UN agency
10 February - El Nio conditions have caused the lowest recorded rainfall between
October and December across many regions of Southern Africa in at least 35 years, the
United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has reported in its latest report.
The agency found that short-term forecasts from January to March indicate the high
probability of continuing below-normal rainfall in the south, signaling that this could
become one of the worst droughts on record.
A maize farmer and her child in Lesotho.
Photo: FAO/Gianluigi Guercia

The current growing season, which spans from October 2015 to April 2016, is developing
under the peak of the El Nio, with the first phase of the growing season characterized by
severe and widespread rainfall deficits, the situation report highlights.
El Nios impact on rain-fed agriculture is severe. Poor rainfall, combined with excessive temperatures, create conditions
not conducive for crop growth, it adds.
Although El Nios impact on peoples livelihood reportedly varies according to preparedness and response capacities, raindependent small holder farmerscomprising at least 50 per cent of the population in Southern Africaare the hardest hit.
In Lesotho, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, WFP is highlighting that delayed planting of up to two months or more,
severely impacts maize yields. As the window for planting closes, even good rainfall offers limited scope for recovery, it
warned.
In conclusion, the UN food agency underscored that the climate outlook is particularly concerning as it is coming on top of a
poor harvest in 2014 and 2015.
Poor regional cereal harvests from the 2014-2015 season have tightened cereal supplies. On average, harvests were 21 per
cent lower than the 2013-2014 season and 3 per cent lower than the five-year average. In total, the cereal deficit for the
region is 7.9 million tonnes for the 2015/2016 marketing year, WFP noted.

As budget advisory panel turns 70, Ban lauds 'strong

collaboration' on reaching UN's goals
10 February - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today praised the UN's
advisory committee on budgetary matters for its help in carrying out the world body's
lifesaving work around the world, as the 16-member body marked the 70th anniversary of
its establishment.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (centre)

at the 2013 ribbon cutting ceremony to
inaugurate the new Advisory Committee
on Administrative and Budgetary
Questions (ACABQ) conference room,
pictured with ACABQ Chair Carlos Ruiz
Massieu (left) and Yukio Takasu, UnderSecretary-General for Management
(right). UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

I am very proud of all that we have accomplished together, Mr. Ban told a special event
marking the commemoration of the establishment of the Advisory Committee on
Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) at UN Headquarters in New York this
afternoon.
I thank all the Committee for helping me transform and modernize the United Nations, he
added.

Recounting the ACABQ's accomplishments since it was established in 1946, the UN chief
thanked the Committee's 16 members for their service and lauded the body's effective
and impressive use of funds in an Organization with numerous field offices and 16 peacekeeping operations.

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One ACABQ plus one Secretary-General equals stronger collaboration than ever before, Mr. Ban said. That is critical in
our world because we the Peoples of the United Nations are more than 7 billion and counting, he said.
As a comparison, Mr. Ban noted that in 1946, the Committee held 18 meetings and produced seven reports, whereas this
year, it held more than 251 meetings and published 116 reports.
The ACABQ is a UN General Assembly subsidiary body that examines budget proposals and serves as the Organization's
main external auditing body.

INTERVIEW: UN information technology chief believes all girls

should aspire to be geeks
10 February - Atefah Atti Riazi, the Chief Information Technology Officer of the United
Nations, carries the following items in her handbag at all times a screwdriver set, a Swiss
Army knife and an iPhone.
Of course, the iPhone, she laughs, adding that along with Skype for keeping in touch with
family while travelling, her favourite app is Scratch a programme made by the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to teach children how to code.
UN Chief Information Technology Officer
Riazi sits down for an interview
I tell my kids they cant play a game until they write a game. Thats the one rule we have, Atefeh
with the UN News Centre in New York.
she says in an interview with the UN News Centre.
(Video screen grab)

Ms. Riazi notes that her own personal experience as a parent, coupled with her role as head of the UN Office of Information
and Communications Technology (OICT), has given her a better understanding of the challenges the global community has
encountered over the past 15 years in trying to inspire and engage women and girls in science.
If theres one thing that we dont teach women and girls, its confidence.
In an effort to promote greater participation of women and girls in science, the UN last year declared 11 February as the
International Day of Women and Girls in Science. In doing so, it recognized that the full and equal access to and
participation in science, technology and innovation for women and girls of all ages is imperative for achieving gender
equality and the empowerment of women and girls.
Ms. Riazi has ten-year-old twin daughters, the latest generation in what she describes as a family of strong women,
although she is acutely aware of the sacrifices that many of them have made.
I was born in Iran, and many of the women in my family didnt have access to education. My grandmother was an orphan
who was married at nine she was never allowed to go to school. I remember helping her to read. I was probably in first or
second grade at the time.
My mother was only allowed to go to school up to the third grade and she always says her worst memory from her
childhood was when her brothers all managed to go to school and she was held back because she was a girl. She had to stay
home and learn to be a housewife.
Her mother never forgot this experience, she adds, and, along with the man who became her father, Ms. Riazis parents were
determined to change the status quo.
I came from a family that really believed that girls and boys could do whatever they wished to do, whatever they loved to
do. Although society still put pressure on girls as kids the girls wouldnt study math or engineering, the boys would, and it
was simply expected that the girls would become teachers and nurses. But from the beginning I just didnt like the voice that
constantly told me that you could not be what the boys could be.

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In 1979, as the Iranian revolution took place in her home country, Ms. Riazi enrolled in the electrical engineering
programme at Stony Brook University in New York. She was one of just three women in her class.
When I came to this country I decided that I was going be an engineer because my brother was always told that he would
be the engineer. I kept looking back at my mom and my grandmother at what they couldnt have, and I knew I had to
change the course. So I took engineering.
And in the beginning it was difficult for me. Because if theres one thing that we dont teach women and girls, its
confidence. And I went through that first year of engineering thinking oh my goodness, this is so difficult I just cant do it.
But giving up was not an option. I was a foreign student. My country was in turmoil. I couldnt fail.
Despite the difficulties, one day she experienced a lightning bolt moment.
I learned the beauty of mathematics once I looked at it from a social physics perspective thats when everything changed.
Going into technology, thats great. But doing it for the material gains? Thats the wrong path. It should be about a bigger
cause. In the technology sector, we have a lot of innovation but its not responsible innovation. Were moving from physics
to social physics design engineering that has a social impact.
And if youre going to do engineering, if youre going to do technology, what are you trying to get? Value for humanity,
thats the ultimate goal. I realised then, that for a long time, especially in the private sector, we had used technology to
improve consumers and to improve products. But how could we use technology to improve human life?
Its been this fundamental question, she says, that has guided her throughout her 30-year career in technology, with stints as
Chief Information Officer at New York Citys Metropolitan Transportation Authority (she was on the team that introduced
the Metro card) and The New York City Housing Association. Three years into her role at the UN, she balances a workload
that focuses on innovation but also, with the rise of the dark web and cyber-crime, protection.
What keeps me awake at night is what I call the revenge of technology, she says.
Everything we do supports the core work of UN staff around the world, helping them do their jobs better and more
efficiently.
The dark web consists of websites that you cannot find and you cannot access unless youve been invited to go to them. For
a price, you can buy a kid; you can buy a person for their organs; you can buy drugs or weapons. Technology is amoral
weve created a species that is a lot smarter than us, and very soon, especially with artificial intelligence, its going to
supersede our human mind.
The 20th century was an incredible century a man on the moon, antibiotics and the World Wide Web changed the
world But there are side effects 20 million humans have been trafficked and 80 per cent of that happens on the dark
web. Huge percentages are women. Nearly 30 per cent are children.
So how do we deal with this revenge of technology? How do we protect our children? If you look at the impact of cyberattacks and cyber wars of the future, where criminals could easily bring down an electrical grid in a country think of that
impact hospitals, water, food, transportation, human life. And we are completely unprepared for that.
So the UN, in our mission of peace and security and human rights and development and rule of law, we need to think about
what does all this mean in the cyber world? Will the peacekeepers of the future be the peacekeepers of today? Will
development, as we see it in the physical world, be the same or will it be complemented by the cyber world? We have to
have big philosophical discussions around those issues because in the cyber world, government, rule of law and civil society
doesnt have much meaning. How do we create a positive force within the cyber world, because the negative force has been
created already, within the dark web.
Her answer? What she calls the light web a space where technologists can come together with the goal of global good.

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We as the UN have the ability, capacity and capability to operate both in the physical and in the cyber world, she insists.
Things like bringing doctors, via the Internet, to villages that no one wants to go to or simple online education bringing
knowledge to parts of the world that never had access before.
In her role as Chief Information Technology Officer, she says, her daily job means finding ways to implement technologies
that support the critical work of the UN.
Everything we do supports the core work of UN staff around the world, helping them do their jobs better and more
efficiently. In that way, ICT is critical to the UN's substantive work. Technology plays a role in all of the Sustainable
Development Goals and we're looking forward to working with many UN entities to get them the tools they need to do their
work, whether it's predictive data analytics, new technologies in the field like digital cash or telemedicine, or just a better
way to quickly search for relevant UN documents, she says.
The UN is also the guardian of an unparalleled database of the world's socio-economic and political history. Opening this
data to the public and collaborating with partners will help us make better decisions that support the work of the United
Nations in international peace and security, human rights, international law, humanitarian aid and sustainable development.
And what does she say to those who might critique that technological innovation is impossible in a bureaucratic organization
like the UN?
I think theres always a chance for tech innovation and for thinking outside the box, Ms. Riazi says.
Its true within governmental entities that it takes longer because you have responsibilities to your citizens or to the
Member States. But for instance, the financial cuts which governments often face forces organizations to innovate through
technology. And thats exactly what were doing within the United Nations. Theres a lot of desire to modernize, to
automate processes, to become more effective, so that when we respond to crisis we respond together. We can go from crisis
reaction to crisis prevention which requires united innovation in terms of the way were structured, in terms of the way we
respond and the technologies that we use.
Yet as the need for innovation grows, Ms. Riazi is ever conscious that technology remains one of the most underrepresented
areas for women workers, particularly in management roles. It is something that saddens her, she says, as she points to three
smooth bangles on her arm:
These are my Grandmothers bracelets. I remember as a little girl, noticing that she never took them off. And I wondered,
why doesnt she take them off? And I realised that, for her generation, as a woman, that was all the wealth you had. You
had no security no financial security, no rights, at any moment you could be kicked out of the house. And if you were, you
needed to have the little bit that you had to your name with you.
I wear these to remember my Grandmother, but also to remind me that we owe it to women. To make sure that we reach a
point where women have the same rights, the same access to education and that they can dream and become who they want
to be.
She cites multiple reasons for why she believes women are so underrepresented in technology.
For starters, I dont think we teach mathematics as well to girls. They say that by age 11 if you dont teach a girl to love
math theyre going to start to turn away. And there are so many pressures on social media. If you look at TV and movies,
innovators, technologists and scientists are still viewed as geeks and that negative image for women is not supporting them
getting to that space. And when were not there, our voices are not heard.
It is time for girls, she says, to take ownership of the word geek and to wear the moniker with pride.
My girls came home one day from school and one of them had a new pair of glasses. She said, Mommy, someone called
me a geek. And I said, Wow, you are so lucky they called you a geek! That is fabulous, we must go celebrate. Because
geeks are the smartest people. Its all about positive reinforcement, because kids do say those things, because their parents
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do and because the media does. What is a geek? Its a person whos super smart and super brilliant. Thats what I tell my
girls.
As for her advice to aspiring tech innovators, she says: think out of the box, think in an innovative way. But she follows
that up with a challenge.
Lets look at the Sustainable Development Goals. In 15 years we dont want hunger and we dont want disease. We want
gender equality, universal access to education, smaller cities, an end to climate change, cleaner oceans. Look at all of those
can you focus on creating water out of thin air? Design plants that dont need as much water so you can help with drought?
Can you create algorithms that help improve disease detection? These are the questions I have for the young girl starting her
engineering career. I say, answer one of those things for me.
And what should parents say if their daughters announce they want to work in technology?
She grins widely and offers the following advice: Brilliant. Great choice.

The UN Daily News is prepared at UN Headquarters in New York by the News Services Section
of the News and Media Division, Department of Public Information (DPI)