By Rene Wadlow The writer is President of the Association of World Citizens, and author of ‘Aime Cesaire: (1913 – 2008) A Black Orpheus’. GENEVA (IDN) – Aimé Césaire, whose birth anniversary we note on June 26, was a Martinique poet and political figure, a cultural bridge builder between the West Indies, Europe and Africa. […]
Tunisia Forces Bangladeshi Migrants to Return Home
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network New York (IDN) – A shipload of desperate Bangladeshi migrants was told to turn the boat around and go home by Tunisian officials or be deprived of food, water and medicines. The migrants, trapped on a merchant ship off Tunisia for three weeks, were sent back to their home […]
Ethiopian Old Guard Rejects Prime Minister’s Sweeping Reforms
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | ASMARA (IDN) – Since becoming prime minister of Ethiopia in April 2018, Abiy Ahmed has launched a wide-ranging programme of political and economic reforms, not all of which have met with favour by supporters of the federalism-based constitution and system of the land-locked country on the […]
President Xi of China Remains an Enigma
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Xi Jinping, president of China, remains an enigma. You watched him on television reviewing the dancing in Pyongyang in the company of Kim Jong-un and his face is near to expressionless when in repose. He doesn’t stand like an arrogant man and we recall that time when […]
BIOPAMA Launches the 1st Call for Proposals for Medium Grants
By Reinhard Jacobsen BRUSSELS (IDN) – The Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management (BIOPAMA) has launched on June 24 the first call for proposals for medium grants (up to € 400,000) in the frame of its “Action component”. The Programme assists the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to address their priorities for improved management and […]
UN Calls for Bridging Palestinian Refugee Agency’s Funding Shortfall
By Jaya Ramachandan NEW YORK (IDN) – UNRWA, officially the Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, faces a “serious funding shortfall”, the General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés has warned. The agency is $211 million short of the $1.2 billion needed to deliver its aid programmes. She was speaking […]
Families in a Changing World Call for Reality Check
Viewpoint by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka The writer is UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, of UN Women. NEW YORK (IDN) – What’s a family? Classically, we think of a mother, a father and the children. The father goes out to work, the mother takes care of the children, maybe she works part time, at home or close […]
China Bags Yet Another Trophy with Qu Dongyu as FAO Chief
By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | ROME (IDN) – With the election of Qu Dongyu as Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), China has made yet another stride in its unrelenting efforts to take over a signature role in strategic UN organisations and foster its massive ‘Belt and Road’ infrastructure […]
NPT Review Conference Will Benefit from CTBT’s Entry into Force
By Jamshed Baruah VIENNA (IDN) – Strongly pleading for a legally binding universal prohibition of nuclear tests, CTBTO Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo has said that an early entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in a state of limbo for 23 years will positively influence the outcome of the 2020 NPT Review Conference. […]
Science & Technology Can Contribute to Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation
Viewpoint by Izumi Nakamitsu The following are extensive excerpts from the statement by Izumi Nakamitsu, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) at the High-Level Panel “CTBT: Science and Technology in a Changing World” on 24 June at Hofburg Palace, Vienna, in the opening session of the Science and Technology Conference2019 (SnT2019) 24 June-28 June […]