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Articles

Foreword

Maher Nasser

In response to changes in the publishing industry, the UN Chronicle, like many journals and periodicals, will now become a fully digital magazine following the publication of this issue. A fully redesigned UN Chronicle website will be launched by mid-2019. Like its earliest predecessors, it will offer original content that is varied, concise and updated regularly, and continue to highlight the SDGs and the work being done to achieve them.

Responsible Innovation for a New Era in Science and Technology

Izumi Nakamitsu

Today we are at the dawn of an age of unprecedented technological change. In areas from robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) to the material and life sciences, the coming decades promise innovations that can help us promote peace, protect our planet and address the root causes of suffering in our world.

Keeping Pace with an Accelerated World: Bringing Rapid Technological Change to the United Nations Agenda

Juan José Gómez Camacho

Humanity is at a crossroads: we face both the opportunities and challenges of a range of powerful and emerging technologies that will drive radical shifts in the way we live.

Innovating for Children and Young People

Saamatou Bangou, a malnourished 7-month-old, is being fed with ready-to-use therapeutic food in Sector 7 Health Center, a division of Fada N'gourma, the capital of eastern Burkina Faso. March 12, 2012.
Henrietta H. Fore

Innovation and the rise of digital technology have forever changed how we work, interact with one another, and create and share information. Innovative technologies are also changing how we, at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), are supporting children and young people around the world.

New Technologies and the Global Goals

A solar data analyst at work in Kenya. ©Wikimedia Commons/DWALSH3
Nanjira Sambuli

Policy is just as important as innovation because the right policy environments will ensure the success of efforts to achieve the Global Goals, including those related to technology.

Blockchain and Sustainable Growth

Cathy Mulligan

We are at a unique moment in history: our society is in transition from an industrial economy to one defined by a new set of technologies, ranging from digitalization to nanotechnology. Among the latest waves of digitalization is blockchain—a technology that many say promises to redefine trust, transparency and inclusion across the world.

The Secretary-General’s Strategy on New Technologies

Fabrizio Hochschild

The goal of the Secretary-General’s Strategy on New Technologies, the first-ever internal United Nations system strategy on the topic, is to define how the United Nations system will support the use of new technologies to accelerate the achievement of its mandates, in particular the 2030 Agenda.

Towards an Ethics of Artificial Intelligence

Robot ©MAXPIXEL
Audrey Azoulay

AI could open up tremendous opportunities for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Its applications enable innovative solutions, improved risk assessment, better planning and faster knowledge sharing.

Space Technology and the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda

Successful deployment of 1KUNS-PF (Kenyan Satellite, selected as the first round of KiboCUBE) from the ISS Kibo Module, May 2018. ©JAXA
Simonetta Di Pippo

Since the very beginning of space activities in the late 1950s, the United Nations, through the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), has served as the venue for debating ventures in outer space, national endeavours, international space law and challenges to the way we conduct space activities.

Frontier Technologies: A Window of Opportunity for Leapfrogging!

Camila Gonzalez studying at home on a computer she received through Uruguay's "One Laptop per Child" Programme. ©PABLO LA ROSA. 25 June 2009.
Liu Zhenmin

Imagine a world with no hunger, where every child attends school and no one dies from a communicable disease. This is not a utopian dream, but rather our collective vision for a society where no one is left behind. It serves as our guiding spirit—our raison d'être—as we work together towards the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

A Decade of Leveraging Big Data for Sustainable Development

Pulse Lab Kampala is working on a project to gauge via radio the quality of health-service delivery in Uganda, March 2017. ©UN Global Pulse
Robert Kirkpatrick and Felicia Vacarelu

Advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) are driving global changes in our society—from the way we communicate with each other to the forces that shape our economy and behaviour. The rapidly evolving capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) offer new opportunities to unlock the value of big data for more evidence-based decision-making that can accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Standards Build Trust: How the International Telecommunication Union Supports Inclusive Sustainable Development

Chaesub Lee

Standards bodies such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) are a primary means of enabling the collaboration and cooperation required to establish international standards.

How Can Multilateralism Survive the Era of Artificial Intelligence?

Two women look up at security cameras in Toronto, Canada. ©UNSPLASH/Matthew Henry
Eleonore Pauwels

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is converging with an extraordinary array of other technologies, from biotech and genomics, to neurotechnology, robotics, cybertechnology and manufacturing systems. Increasingly, these technologies are decentralized, beyond State control, and available to a wide range of actors around the world.

The Race to Innovate for Development Should Not Leave Foundational Data Systems Behind

Residents of Kasungu, in central Malawi, gather during a demonstration of unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) technology. The Government of Malawi and UNICEF are testing the use of drones for humanitarian purposes. 28 June 2017. © UNICEF/UN070228/Chisiza
Claire Melamed

Data is everywhere, constantly being created by humans and machines across the globe. But as half of the world seems to be drowning in data, too many people and places are still invisible in the numbers that drive decisions.

Government Policy for the Internet Must Be Rights-Based and User-Centred

©Maxpixel
Wafa Ben-Hassine

The digital future is already here. As nearly every aspect of our lives becomes digitized, we must ensure that laws and policies are based on fundamental rights.

The Role of the United Nations in Addressing Emerging Technologies in the Area of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems

A military robot. ©FUTUREATLAS.COM
Amandeep Singh Gill

It is only natural that advances in the intelligent autonomy of digital systems attract the attention of Governments, scientists and civil society concerned about the possible deployment and use of lethal autonomous weapons. What is needed is a forum to discuss these concerns and construct common understandings regarding possible solutions.

Closing the Technology Gap in Least Developed Countries

A farmer village outside of Dodoma, Tanzania. ©Flickr/C. Schubert (CCAFS)
Fekitamoeloa ‘Utoikamanu

Tremendous technological leaps are being made, but the economic and social benefits remain geographically concentrated, primarily in developed countries. Too often the least developed countries (LDCs) remain far behind if not excluded entirely. Many have little choice beyond the use of obsolete technologies, such as those used in the garment or agricultural sectors.

Two Revolutions: Digital and Demographic

GATSBII (Georgia Tech Service Bot with Interactive Intelligence) hands a research participant a medication bottle. Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 2011. ©KEITH BUJAK/ GEORGIA TECH NEWS CENTER
Rosa Kornfeld-Matte and Khaled Hassine

The progressive digitalization of the world has an unprecedented impact on every sphere of our lives. Over the past 20 years, technology has permeated every aspect of modern society, and the use of digital technology, in particular, is becoming an integral part of our everyday lives. Many services and resources are now accessible only through digital means. Robots and artificial intelligence (AI) will also radically transform our lives, including the concept of care of older persons.

Features

Towards a Planet-wide Culture of Non-Violence

"Non-Violence" A gift from the Government of Luxembourg presented to the United Nations in 1988.

This essay is an attempt to propose a long-term approach to respond to this challenging dilemma: how to minimize—if not eliminate entirely—the use of physical and mental violence among humans.

En este número se analiza el progreso realizado en materia de promoción y protección de los derechos humanos en las diferentes partes del mundo. Los artículos que se presentan a continuación han sido redactados con motivo del 50º aniversario del Pacto Internacional de Derechos Civiles y Políticos y del Pacto Internacional de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales, aprobados ambos en 1966, y examinan, entre otros elementos, la responsabilidad de las Naciones Unidas de proteger a las poblaciones vulnerables frente al genocidio y la evolución del papel realizado por el Consejo de Derechos Humanos.

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