Author: InDepthNews

By Jutta Wolf

BERLIN (IDN) – Strategies to support and protect civil society to engage in the implementation and monitoring of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development were the centerpiece of discussions at a conference in Berlin.

Jeffery Huffines, UN Representative of CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen Participation, questioned the extent of civil society engagement in preparation of the first set of voluntary national reviews to be presented at the High-level Political Forum (HPLF) on Sustainable Development July 11-20. He stressed the 2030 Agenda’s participation rights should be used to open up spaces for civil society at the regional and national levels. 

HPLF is UN’s central platform for the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, adopted at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on September 26, 2015.

Analysis by Rodney Reynolds

NEW YORK (IDN) – The UK-based charity Oxfam has warned that El Nino has triggered one of the worst droughts in the history of Latin America and the Caribbean causing devastation to food crops and threatening food shortages.

“Families across Latin America are running out of food and options, as farmers report another failed harvest due to intense and unpredictable weather patterns compounded by El Niño,” said Oxfam in a report released May 5. 

Currently, at least 3.5 million people in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador do not have enough to eat and, at least 7 million people are affected by El Nino across Latin America and the Caribbean.

The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen O’Brien said on April 26 that with millions of people across the world affected by droughts, floods and other extreme weather events triggered by El Niño, the international community must act now to address urgent humanitarian needs and support building communities’ resilience to future shocks.

Analysis by Ravi Kanth Devarakonda

GENEVA (IDN) – As the global community grapples with the increasing threat of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists, the nuclear weapon states – the United States, Russia, China, France, and Britain, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea – have turned a deaf ear to the ongoing multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations in Geneva for preparing recommendations to ensure a world without the dreadful nuclear warheads.

In order to intensify efforts to achieve a treaty banning nuclear weapons, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) brought together in Geneva some 130 campaigners, including faith organizations. The meeting was held ahead of the second session of the United Nations Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) for nuclear disarmament from May 2-13. The first session was held in Geneva from February 22-26.

The OEWG is mandated to draw-up legal measures and norms for prohibiting nuclear weapons in the world. It was established by the UN General Assembly in December 2015 for negotiating new global rules for nuclear disarmament, including the abolition of nuclear weapons and “measures to reduce and eliminate the risk of accidental, mistaken, unauthorized or intentional nuclear weapon detonations”.

Analysis by Rita Joshi

BERLIN | HELSINKI (IDN) – Press freedom and the right to information are essential for a free, independent and pluralistic media and crucial to the advancement of human rights and sustainable development, says the Finlandia Declaration adopted on World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2016 during a three-day event in the Finnish capital Helsinki.

The event organized by the United Nations Educational; Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was attended by more than 1000 media practitioners and stake holders, including representatives of governments. They endorsed the Declaration that recalls the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations, agreed by world leaders in September 2015 in New York. The Agenda envisages 17 Goals and 169 targets.

Goal 16 of the Agenda seeks to promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies, which includes key points relevant to press freedom, access to information, safety of journalists and the rule of law. It seeks to “ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements”.