GLOBAL ISSUES – Page 151 – IDN-InDepthNews

Middle East & North Africa2017-03-302023-07-10

Yemen, a Hushed Up Imperialist War

By Pier Francesco Zarcone*

ROME (IDN) – The US government intends to increase military aid to Saudi Arabia in its war against Yemen, according to recent reports. For the vast majority of the general public the news may be surprising, given that the ongoing conflict in Yemen is almost “non-news” as a result of the almost complete silence of the mainstream media. More importantly, most people probably do not know the causes.

From monarchy to republic

A summary reconstruction of the troubled and bloody history of Yemen can start in 1962, when a military coup backed by Egypt deposed the last monarch, Zaydi Shiite Muhhammad al-Badr, and the Republic was proclaimed.

ARMAMENTS2017-03-282023-07-10

2020 NPT Review Conference Needs Innovative Strategies

By Jayantha Dhanapala

“ . . . and thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.” – Shakespeare: Twelfth Night

Note: The first Preparatory Committee for the 2020 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) will meet from May 2 to 12, 2017 in Vienna, Austria. Following the text of a Policy Brief Jayantha Dhanapala – a former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, and a former Ambassador of Sri Lanka – did for the Asia Pacific Leaders Network (APLN) middle of March 2017. It is being reproduced with the permission of the author who currently serves as the 11th President of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, These are his personal views.

Latin America & the Caribbean2017-03-282023-07-10

Jamaica’s ‘Tambourine Army’ on the Gender Violence Warpath

By Desmond Brown

KINGSTON, Jamaica (ACP-IDN) – In the wake of an alarming upsurge in domestic violence and abuse of women and girls, a new group has emerged here with the promise of a revolution for social change, combating gender-based violence in particular – the “Tambourine Army”.

On its Facebook page, the Tambourine Army describes itself as a radical social-justice movement committed to uprooting the scourge of sexual violence and safeguarding the rights of women and girls.

The group first came to public attention on Sunday, February 8, when 14 women staged a peaceful protest at the Nazareth Moravian Church in the central parish of Manchester, rallying support for a 15-year-old St Elizabeth school girl allegedly abused by the pastor of the congregation.

EU & Europe2017-03-232023-07-10

Nuclear Disarmament, Trump and the Nordic Countries

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) – When asked what Sweden thought the Trump Administration should do by way of contributing to nuclear disarmament, the Swedish ambassador in Iceland, Bosse Hedberg, replied: “At this point in time, I am not aware of any common Nordic position being prepared in response to the new U.S. administration’s view on this issue. As one can gather from the media, the new president seems rather inclined to invest more in U.S. nuclear capacities than in scrapping part of U.S. weapons.”

Sweden was the only Nordic country to attend the UNOG Conference on Disarmament held March 21-22 in Geneva, although Finland and Norway are also members.

EU & Europe2017-03-152023-07-10

The Erosion of International Law – Who Cares?

By Julia Rainer

VIENNA (IDN) – “In Syria we have an attack on hospitals every 17 hours, in fact we say the most dangerous place in the country to be in is a hospital. So I ask you, does anyone still believe there is something like international humanitarian law?”

With these sobering words, Zedoun Al-Zoubi, CEO of the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations (UOSSM International) which operates in Syria, addressed the audience during a panel discussion at the fourth Humanitarian Congress held on March 3 in the Austrian capital.

ARMAMENTS2017-03-142023-07-10

China Should Keep Squeezing North Korea

By Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Rocket launches galore in North Korea. Colours and flames in the sky. It’s all a bit like a peacock spreading his tail.

Murders abound. Is this a butcher’s shop – an uncle, a half-brother and a couple of high-placed generals and no doubt others?

Kim Jong-Un, the president, is no Hamlet and murder seems not to give him doubts. The day after he is photographed at some event, smiling the smile of a psychopath who ditched his conscience somewhere at the top of the Alps when he was out for a hike organised by the school in Switzerland he was sent to.

USA and Canada2017-03-132023-07-10

Trump Administration May Downgrade Human Rights Issues

By Rodney Reynolds

WASHINGTON DC (IDN) – There is widespread speculation in the U.S. capital that the Trump administration may play down human rights violations worldwide and even withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The speculation has been prompted by several factors, including a proposed 37 percent cut in the annual State Department budget, a low-profiled release of the annual U.S. human Rights Report on March 3 (with no briefings, breaking traditions, by the U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson) and his refusal to condemn the civilian killings ordered by the Philippine President Rodrigo Duarte, during Senate confirmation hearings.

Conventional Arms2017-03-132023-07-10

Central African Convention on Small Arms Enters into Force

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – A new Convention purported to fight against the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in small arms and light weapons in Central Africa entered into force on March 8, according to the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) / Department of Political Affairs (UNDPA).

Known as the Central African Convention for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, their Ammunition and all Parts and Components that can be used for their Manufacture, Repair and Assembly (Kinshasa Convention), it complements and reinforces the existing regional and global framework comprising, among others, the Arms Trade Treaty, the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), and its Firearms Protocol.

EU & Europe2017-03-112023-07-10

Calais Migrant Camp Closure Drives Refugees To Paris Streets

By Melissa Chemam*

Note: This article is being reproduced courtesy of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung’s online Journal ‘International Politics and Society’ published on March 7, 2017 with the headline Refugees Welcome?

PARIS (IDN-INPS) – Since the destruction of the informal settlement of refugees and transitional migrants in Calais – now known as the “Jungle”– in October 2016, the French government promised to find housing for all three to four-thousand people forced to leave the area. They have opened about 500 welcome centres to redistribute the fleeing population across the country, away from Calais, neighbouring Hauts-de-France and saturated Paris.

Latin America & the Caribbean2017-03-092023-07-10

Caribbean Gearing Up for Marine Resources Treaty

By Desmond Brown

BELMOPAN, Belize (IDN) – The countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have been fine-tuning their positions ahead of the next United Nations preparatory meeting to establish an international legally-binding agreement on sustainable use of marine resources.

The UN meeting is scheduled for March 27 to April 7 and senior environment experts from CARICOM held a two-day workshop here from February 20-22 to discuss the issue.

United Nations negotiations for the new treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological resources in the world’s oceans – nearly 64 percent of which lie beyond national jurisdictions – began in 2016.