Beijing Declaration on Education
5-Jul-2017: Beijing Declaration on Education
Following is the text of BEIJING DECLARATION ON EDUCATION adopted in the 5th Meeting of BRICS Ministers of Education in Beijing, China, on July 5th, 2017.
We, the BRICS Ministers of Education and assigned representatives of the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation the Republic of India, the People’s Republic of China, and the Republic of South Africa.
Having met in Beijing, the People’s Republic of China on July 4th and 5th, 2017 to discuss education reforms, approaches to promoting equity in education and fostering quality education, strengthening BRICS collaboration in the field of education, and exchange of students and scholars and teaching faculty among BRICS Member States;
Recalling Brasilia Declaration on March 2nd, 2015, Moscow Declaration on November 18th, 2015 and New Delhi Declaration on September 30th, 2016;
Committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4)-Education 2030 which aims to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all” that was set within The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Recognizing the significance of collaboration in the field of education for enhancing the overall partnership among BRICS Member States and enhancing people to people exchanges to a higher level;
Realizing that the scale of education development in BRICS Member States is expanding rapidly, and that all Member States face common challenges in promoting educational equity, accessibility and in improving the quality of education;
Considering that higher education contributes to the development of high-level human resources and intellectual support for the economic and social development, studies of BRICS Member States will enhance the mutual understanding between each Member State, and
Recognizing that the mobility of faculty and students, and sharing of information among the Member States is of great importance for the implementation of the consensus arrived at the Meeting of BRICS Ministers of Education.
For ensuring coordinated and deeper cooperation among the Member States, hereby declare to;
- Reiterate support for the BRICS Network University (NU) to collaborate in the fields of education, research and innovation. Encourage universities to participate in the BRICS University League.
- Increase cultural cooperation through language education and multilingualism to promote mutual understanding of the history and culture of BRICS Member States.
- Undertake initiatives to promote professionalization of academics in higher education through the BRICS Network University as a focus of future education development.
- Encourage more teachers and educational administrators to learn from experience of other countries in improving teacher quality and performance, and promoting the development of education through international exchanges.
- Strengthen cooperation in the field of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), share ideas and experiences in the development of vocational educators, and develop projects that are of common interests to BRICS Member States.
- Recognize the importance of BRICS Think Tanks Council (BTTC), BRICS Network University as well as other BRICS initiatives, and encourage the streamlining of mechanisms for their closer cooperation to ensure the alignment of their work.
- Emphasize the importance of streamlining the cooperation among educational think tanks and education researchers, and welcome China’s invitation to host a conference to explore possible cooperation among the various entities in BRICS Member States.
- Encourage the organization of “youth winter/summer camps” to reinforce communication and cultural exchanges among the young generation from BRICS Member States.
- Encourage Member States to expand the number of scholarship opportunities to students across BRICS Member States.
- Share the experience and practices in achieving the SDG4-Education 2030 targets in order to foster a more favorable policy environment, adopt effective practices, and advocate for global educational policies that take into account the common concern and priorities of the BRICS Member States.
- Encourage the participation in the 3rd BRICS NU Annual Conference to be held in 2018, in Cape Town, South Africa and in the BRICS Global Business and Innovation Conference to be held in September 2017, in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the Republic of India, and the Republic of South Africa extend their appreciation to the Government of the People’s Republic of China for hosting the 5th Meeting of BRICS Ministers of Education.
UN Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT)
15-Jun-2017: General Assembly approves creation of new UN Counter-Terrorism Office
The General Assembly today approved the establishment of a new United Nations office to help Member States implement the Organization's global counter-terrorism strategy.
Adopting a consensus resolution, the 193-nation body also welcomed Secretary-General António Guterres' initiative to transfer relevant functions out of the UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA) and into the new United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism.
As a result, the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force Office (CTITF) and the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT), currently in DPA, will be transferred to the new office, together with their existing staff and all associated regular and extra-budgetary resources. The new Office would he headed up by an Under-Secretary-General.
The new Under-Secretary-General would Chair the Task Force and Executive Director of the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre.
The Office would have five main functions:
- Provide leadership on the General Assembly counter-terrorism mandates entrusted to the Secretary-General from across the United Nations system;
- Enhance coordination and coherence across the 38 Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force entities to ensure the balanced implementation of the four pillars of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy;
- Strengthen the delivery of United Nations counter-terrorism capacity-building assistance to Member States;
- Improve visibility, advocacy and resource mobilization for United Nations counter-terrorism efforts; and
- Ensure that due priority is given to counterterrorism across the United Nations system and that the important work on preventing violent extremism is firmly rooted in the Strategy.
The Secretary-General considers counter-terrorism and prevention of violent extremism to be one of the highest priorities of the United Nations to address a growing threat to international peace and security. He therefore hopes that this reform of the UN Counter-Terrorism architecture will contribute to the UN's broader efforts to promote conflict prevention, sustainable peace and development.
This resolution will enhance the United Nations' capability to assist Member States in implementing the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy across its four pillars by ensuring greater coordination and coherence across the UN system, and by improving visibility, advocacy and resource mobilization for United Nations' counter-terrorism efforts.
One-China Policy
13-Jun-2017: Panama dumps Taiwan, supports One-China policy
In a jolt to Taiwan and boost to Beijing’s diplomacy, Panama has severed ties with the country and recognised it as an “indispensable” part of China under the “One-China Policy”. With Panama switching sides, Taiwan’s decades-old attempt to act as a “sovereign country” would likely face fresh challenges. Over the years Beijing has tried to choke Taiwan diplomatically in a bid to force the self-ruled island to accept itself as a part of China.
The policy states in diplomatic acknowledgement that there is only one Chinese government. Under the policy, any country that wants diplomatic relations with mainland China must break official ties with Taipei that it considers a ‘breakaway province.’
Beijing doesn’t trust present Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and her ruling party, which advocates independence for Taiwan. After Tsai came to power last year, China had cut official communication channels with her government in a bid to pressure her to accept that Taiwan is part of China. A year ago, Taiwan had diplomatic ties with 23 countries. But in the last one year itself, as many as three countries have severed diplomatic ties with the country, which is claimed by China as its own — a part of the mainland. In 2007, Costa Rica was the first of Taiwan’s Central American partners to switch allegiance to China. It was southern African nation of Malawi in 2008. Gambia in West Africa followed suit in 2013. Last year, small African states Sao Tome and Principe switched ties from Taiwan to China.