By Mohan Srilal COLOMBO (IDN) — Sri Lanka’s latest sporting hero Dinesh Priyantha Herath is expected to touch down in Sri Lanka to a red-carpet airport welcome on Tuesday. The life story of the F46 Javelin Throw gold medalist at the Tokyo Paralympics is an inspirational one of how to overcome disabilities both economic and […]
A UN Under-Secretary-General with Links to a Royal Court?
By Razeena Raheem NEW YORK (IDN)— Dr. Sima Sami Bahous, 65, a former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, with links to the Royal court, is the front runner for the post of new Executive Director of UN Women. She is the lead candidate among several contenders for the job which […]
A New Online Youth Platform Promotes Nuclear Disarmament
By Jamshed Baruah GENEVA (IDN) — Worldwide youth are standing up for peace and nuclear disarmament and taking a wide range of innovative actions. The Youth Working Group of Abolition 2000 global network to eliminate nuclear weapons builds cooperation amongst these youth actions, brings youth voices into key UN and other disarmament processes. The group […]
Avoiding Transboundary Waters Conflicts: A Tale of Two Treaties
Viewpoint by Robert Sandford Robert Sandford is a Global Water Futures Fellow at the UN University’s Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), which is supported by the Government of Canada and hosted at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. The Institute marks its 25th anniversary in 2021. HAMILTON, Canada (IDN) — The outdated treaties, compacts, […]
As Lockdown Fetish Fades, Australia Argues Over “Living With Covid”
By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — Last year, Australia was among the first countries to successfully battle the Covid-19 pandemic with lockdowns and efficient contact tracing, but, with the rapid transmission of the Delta variant, especially in Sydney and Melbourne, the politicians’ fetish for lockdowns is now being questioned with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and […]
UN Experts Call for Protection of Journalists in Afghanistan
By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA (IDN) — “Journalists and media workers, in particular women, are facing heightened risks since the Taliban’s political takeover of Afghanistan,” a group of UN human rights experts has warned and called on all States to provide urgent protection to Afghan journalists and media workers who fear for their lives and are […]
The Population Exodus Threatens to Change Hong Kong Forever
By Vera Yuen The writer is Lecturer in the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Hong Kong. HONG KONG (IDN) — Hong Kong has experienced a series of unexpected political developments since 2019. The government proposed a new extradition law that would have allowed Hong Kong residents to be extradited to mainland […]
Fiji Keen to Ease US-China Rivalry in the Pacific
By Denghua Zhang, ANU and Shivan, University of Fiji While Denghua Zhang is a Research Fellow at the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University (ANU), Shivani is Lecturer in the School of Law at the University of Fiji. CANBERRA | SUVA (IDN) — As strategic mistrust between the United States […]
Geo-political Regionalism Challenges Multilateralism, Fobs Off the Global South with Empty Promises
Viewpoint by P.I. Gomes Dr P.I. Gomes is former Secretary-General of the Organisation of African, the Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), previously the ACP Group of States. PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (IDN) — The commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations in January 2020 was acknowledged world-wide and accompanied by the […]
Achieving SDG7 Will Put Us on A Pathway to Net-Zero
Viewpoint by Damilola Ogunbiyi The writer is CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and Co-Chair of UN-Energy. VIENNA (IDN | UNDESA) — The energy transition story is a story of energy access. I’ve often said this, and it’s worth repeating. The climate crisis and the energy access […]