InDepthNews – Page 753 – IDN-InDepthNews

SYNDICATION, UNITED NATIONS2016-02-112023-07-12

‘Ratify Treaty to Ban Nuclear Testing Before Fatigue Creeps in’

IDN-InDepthNews Interview with CTBTO Chief Dr Lassina Zerbo

BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) – Twenty years after it was opened for signature, the CTBT has come to stay as a de facto global treaty banning all nuclear testing – “if we take North Korea outside of the scope” – but Dr Zerbo Lassina wants to see it de jure because he is concerned that the longer it takes for its entry into force, the greater is the risk of a “fatigue” creeping in that could lead to people saying: “Why are we investing in something if we don’t know when the treaty will come into force?”

UN INSIDER2016-02-112023-07-10

Rescuing Multilateral Disarmament

KANDY, Sri Lanka (IDN) – The International Peace Institute, since its inception as the International Peace Academy in 1970, has focused on strengthening the multilateral process in the conduct of international affairs with the United Nations as its focal point. It is appropriate that in the 70^th anniversary year of our indispensable global institution, the UN, an Independent Commission on Multilateralism should be established by the IPI to address 16 topics of relevance to the global agenda.

It is a necessary corollary to the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals that the international community has agreed to pursue. I welcome especially the Commission’s choice of “Weapons of Mass Destruction, Nonproliferation and Disarmament” as one of them.

Seventy years ago on January 24, 1946, the United Nations General Assembly meeting in London adopted its very first resolution and, significantly, by consensus. This historic resolution established a commission of the UN Security Council to ensure:

The “control of atomic energy to ensure its use only for peaceful purposes,” and

“The elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction.”

SYNDICATION, UNITED NATIONS2016-02-102023-07-12

Rescuing Multilateral Disarmament

By Jayantha Dhanapala* | IDN-InDepthNews Essay

Democracy2016-02-102023-07-10

Court Rules in Favour of Dutch Human Rights Advocate

By Reinhardt Jacobsen

AMSTERDAM (IDN) – A Court in Amsterdam struck down Meseret Bahlbi lawsuit against Mirjam van Reisen, Dutch professor and human rights advocate. The judge found that she was not guilty of libel and slander and that the youth party of the Eritrean regime can be seen as a means of collecting intelligence abroad. The decision comes as a huge relief not only for the Dutch professor, but also for the Eritrean diaspora across Europe.

USA and Canada2016-02-102023-07-10

Remaking the Future of America

NEW YORK (IDN) – In the richest and strongest country on earth – the Land of Opportunity – only a few wealthy persons can aspire to be the President of the United States of America, the most powerful and envious job in today’s menacing world.

The Presidential candidates – with lofty words and unrealistic promises – are clamouring to get into the White House. Among the catchy slogans are: “Repeal Obamacare”, “Tear up the Iranian Nuclear Deal”, “Carpet bomb ISIS” and “Punch the Russians in the nose”. Americans love this brash talk but ignore reality.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-02-102023-07-10

Court Rules in Favour of Dutch Human Rights Advocate

By Reinhardt Jacobsen | IDN-InDepthNews Report

When the case was heard on January 27, 2016 in Amsterdam the focus was more about the nature of the regime in Eritrea, and the role played by its supporters in Europe. The court room was packed to overflowing, mostly by Eritreans from the diaspora in Europe. The majority came to support Mirjam van Reisen. She was being sued for libel and slander by Bahlbi, an Eritrean residing in the Netherlands, who according to the judgment “is linked to the regime of Eritrea and actively supports the ideas of this regime”. Bahlbi himself, however, “stated in the summons that this [Eritrea] is a dictatorship and that torture takes place”.

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-02-102023-07-10

Remaking the Future of America

By Somar Wijayadasa* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

Individual Journalists, SYNDICATION2016-02-092023-07-12

Hillary Clinton’s Hard Line Foreign Policy

LONDON – We in the world outside the U.S. don’t have a vote in the U.S. presidential election in November. But that doesn’t stop most of us having a strong opinion on who should win. Very few non-Americans would vote Republican – and probably not 51% of Americans. After all President Barack Obama won two elections and has not given the Democrats a bad name.

Africa2016-02-092023-07-10

Food Shortages Mount in Ethiopia’s Upbeat Economy

NEW YORK | ADDIS ABABA – Surely, Ethiopia would rather be known for something other than the cyclical hunger-producing droughts spurred in part by regular episodes of El Nino.

Ethiopia is the world’s fastest growing economy. Ethiopia has been doing very well over the last about 15 years. Millions of people have been lifted out of poverty as the economy has been growing faster than anywhere else in the world.

Some in the international community may not even remember 1984, when a drought compounded by political unrest developed into a famine that killed more than a million people.

Africa2016-02-092023-07-10

Zika Sighting – Uganda’s New Tourist Industry

NEW YORK | KAMPALA – The unspoiled Zika forest, located on the edge of Lake Victoria, home to birds, leopards, rabbits, pythons and other wildlife, is suddenly abuzz with curious western journalists and others eager to visit the birthplace of the mosquito which has been linked to an alarming condition among new-borns in Brazil.

“People have been calling me and saying, ‘What are you going to do with that mosquito? What are you still doing there?’” recounted a bewildered Gerald Mukisa, the caretaker and tour guide at the forest. “I tell them that I have lived here for seven years and nothing has ever happened to me.”