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UN General Assembly adopts landmark road safety pledge despite US rejection

UNITED NATIONS: The UN General Assembly closed its first ever High-level Meeting on road safety on Tuesday by adopting a sweeping new declaration aimed at halving road deaths by 2030 – over the sole objection of the United States.

The declaration passed by a recorded vote of 162 in favour to one against, with no abstentions.

It commits governments to strengthen national road safety systems, upgrade vehicle and infrastructure standards, and adopt the ‘Safe System’ approach, which designs roads and vehicles to survive the mistakes drivers inevitably make.

The US delegate, Dan Negrea, accused the declaration of “mandate creep that has eroded the credibility of this institution,” objecting to provisions linking road safety with climate and environmental policy.

“Road safety is a practical matter of engineering, sober driving and personal responsibility,” he said. It “should not be used as a backdoor vehicle to enforce global climate pacts and top-down environmental restrictions on freedom of mobility.”

Other countries backed the declaration while marking their own reservations.

Argentina stressed its sovereign right to implement it according to national law, while separately reserving its position on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) role. Paraguay underlined that the follow-up process, like the declaration itself, is voluntary and non-binding.

Opening the meeting, General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock addressed the question she said many people ask: why does the UN spend its time on road safety when wars and crises dominate the agenda?

The answer, she said, is scale. Road crashes kill more than 1.2 million people a year and injure some 50 million more – more, she noted, than are killed in direct conflict, murdered, or die of malaria.

“Since I began speaking,” she told delegates, several more families had already received news that would change their lives forever.

She asked delegates to think of the everyday journeys that bring people to work, school or home – “whether you came by car, by bike or simply walked” to UN Headquarters, all had taken part in “the complex choreography of New York’s traffic system.”

The issue is personal for her too: her aunt was killed by a tram, a loss whose legacy, she said, “lingered”, sending “never-ending ripples of devastation” through the family.

New WHO data released alongside the declaration show the global road death rate fell 21 per cent between 2011 and 2025, even as more than a billion vehicles were added to the world’s roads.

Still, 1.16 million people died in crashes in 2025, and road injuries remain the leading killer of children and young people aged 5 to 29.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus opened his remarks by asking delegates who had been in a crash or had lost or known someone killed or injured in one, to stand. “I think almost all of us,” he said. “All road deaths are preventable and none are acceptable.”

The gains are wildly uneven. Deaths fell 36 per cent in Europe and 15 per cent in the Western Pacific, but just two per cent in South-East Asia; they were flat in the Americas and up 17 per cent in Africa.

Motorcyclists, whose numbers have more than tripled since 2011, now account for nearly a third of all road deaths – though WHO says a certified helmet cuts the risk of dying more than sixfold.

As the UN’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Jean Todt, put it: “Business as usual is a business of death.”

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Pakistani Students’ UK Visa Delays Raised by Azam Nazeer Tarar with British High Commissioner

Azam Nazeer Tarar with UK High Commissioner

ISLAMABAD: British High Commissioner Jane Marriott called on Federal Minister for Law & Justice Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar. The meeting discussed Pakistan-UK bilateral relations, matters of mutual interest and ways to further strengthen cooperation between the two countries.

During the meeting, the Federal Minister raised the issue of delays in UK visas for Pakistani students and conveyed the Government of Pakistan’s concern to the British High Commissioner.

Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar said that hundreds of Pakistani students were facing difficulties due to delays in visa processing, with a risk that the delays could result in the loss of their academic year. He stressed the need to remove obstacles faced by Pakistani students seeking education abroad and facilitate them in this regard.

The Federal Minister briefed the British High Commissioner that, on the directives of the Prime Minister, a committee under his chairmanship was working to improve the legal and institutional framework concerning Pakistani students studying abroad.

He further informed the High Commissioner that, on the Prime Minister’s directives, the committee had finalized its recommendations on the matter, and work was underway to further improve the legal and institutional framework for Pakistani students pursuing education abroad.

The Federal Minister said that the legal and institutional framework for Pakistani students seeking education abroad was being improved to develop an effective mechanism for addressing the issues faced by students.

British High Commissioner Jane Marriott assured the Federal Minister that the issue of delays in visas for Pakistani students would be addressed.

The meeting also discussed further strengthening educational linkages between Pakistan and the United Kingdom, as well as enhancing institutional cooperation and engagement between the two countries.

Minister of State for Law, Justice and Human Rights Barrister Aqeel Malik was also present during the meeting.

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Naqvi Sets September 30 Deadline for Completion of Islamabad Safe City Expansion

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, accompanied by Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry, visited the Islamabad Safe City Headquarters on Friday and chaired a special meeting to review progress on the Safe City Expansion Project, directing officials to complete the ambitious initiative by September 30.

During the briefing, officials informed the minister that overall work on the expansion project has reached 85 percent completion. Installation of the new surveillance network is also 85 percent complete, while 415 kilometres of optical fibre have been laid to support the upgraded system. Work on the data centre, cyber architecture, and cybersecurity infrastructure has also reached approximately 80 percent completion.

Expressing satisfaction over the pace of work, Naqvi stressed that the remaining tasks must be completed within the stipulated timeframe.

He said the government’s vision is to transform the Islamabad Safe City into a modern, smart, and world-class institution comparable to those in developed countries.

The interior minister said the technologically advanced Safe City system would significantly strengthen public safety through enhanced surveillance, effective monitoring, and rapid emergency response capabilities.

He noted that the project would play a vital role in improving law enforcement efficiency and ensuring better security for residents of the federal capital.

Naqvi also assigned officials the task of completing the state-of-the-art Fusion Centre within the next three months, describing it as a critical component of the upgraded Safe City network.

He further directed the relevant authorities to finalise the Safe City Bill at the earliest and present it before the National Assembly without delay to provide the legal framework necessary for the project’s long-term operation and expansion.

The meeting was attended by the Federal Secretary for Interior, the Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), senior Safe City officials, and other relevant officers, who briefed the minister on the progress and future roadmap of the expansion project.

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PM Shehbaz, high-level delegation perform Umrah; pray for country’s progress

MAKKAH AL-MUKARRAMAH: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, along with his high-level delegation, performed Umrah here on Friday.

He was accompanied by his delegation including Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, federal ministers Khawaja Muhammad Asif and Attaullah Tarar, and Special Assistant to PM Tariq Fatemi.

The door of Khana Kaaba was opened specially for the prime minister and his delegation.

Following the completion of the Umrah rituals, the prime minister, field marshal, and other members of the Pakistani delegation offered special prayers for the progress and prosperity of the country, the safety and unity of the Muslim Ummah, and for regional and global peace.

The prime minister arrived in Jeddah on Thursday evening for a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia at the invitation of Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Besides meeting with his Saudi counterpart, he will also pay a visit to the Roze-e-Rasool (PBUH) in Madinah.