VIENNA (IDN) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will open a ministerial-level conference on September 29 to promote the entry into force the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), the Treaty that bans all nuclear explosive testing. Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan and Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov of Kazakhstan will chair the so-called Article XIV conference, named […]
UN Urges Global Partnership on Road to Sustainability
By J R Nastranis | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis
NEW YORK (IDN) – A new United Nations report has identified persistent gaps in official development assistance (ODA) and insufficient access to markets, affordable medicines and new technologies as impediments to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and highlighted the need for a rejuvenation of the global partnership to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Groups Urge Coordinated Communications Initiatives on Climate Change
By Rodrigo Pérez | IDN-InDepthNews Report
QUITO (IDN) – A group of major international organisations has issued a call for strong and coordinated communications initiatives to support action on climate change.
The UN-backed Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Programme (REEEP) and Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) together with the Overseas Development Institute, Climate and Development Knowledge Network and dozens more are backing the launch of the ‘Climate Knowledge Brokers’ Manifesto’, which lists the key principles for communicating climate change effectively and so precipitating a step change in society’s response to the climate crisis.
Sri Lanka: Voters’ Expectations Yet to be Fulfilled
By Kalinga Seneviratne* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis
SINGAPORE (IDN) – The U.S., UK and the international media have hailed the August 18 election results in Sri Lanka as a victory for democracy, but the looser may well turn out to be the voters of Sri Lanka. The political comedy that has taken place in the island republic in the aftermath of the election, exposes yet again the deficiencies of the democracy gospel that is unable to stamp out embedded corruption in the system.
Uruguay Pulls Out of ‘Secret’ Talks on Trade in Services
By Roberto Bissio* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis
MONTEVIDEO (IDN | SUNS) – Just a week before the deadline for submitting national offers on liberalisation of services sectors under the on-going “secret” talks for a Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez decided on September 7 to abandon the plurilateral negotiations.
Vietnam: From Ho Chi Minh to ‘Selfies’
By Shastri Ramachandran | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis
NEW DELHI (IDN) – Transitions are easy to recognise, difficult to define and describe. Vietnam’s transition is no different: easily experienced by the visitor but hard to express adequately in words.
New Vietnam is most visible at the historical sites of Old Vietnam, such as the Ho Chi Minh complex in Hanoi and the Cu Chi Tunnel complex, 70 kms northwest of Ho Chi Minh City.
‘Generation of Change’ Pleads for Walking the Nuclear Abolition Talk
By Ronald Joshua | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis
HIROSHIMA (IDN) – A new ‘Generation of Change’ is making its presence felt, pledging to walk the talk over the last 70 years in a clarion call for freeing the world of 16,000 to 17,000 nuclear weapons that continue “to threaten every single person with the prospect of a cruel and inhumane death”.
Growing Calls for Nuclear Disarmament Summit in Hiroshima
By Ramesh Jaura
HIROSHIMA (IDN) – Calls are growing for organising a nuclear disarmament summit next year in Hiroshima, one of the only two cities, along with Nagasaki, which have until now suffered the devastating atomic bombings 70 years ago. But indications are that there is only a remote possibility that such a gathering would indeed take place.
Addressing the Disarmament Deficit
By Daryl G. Kimball* | IDN-InDepthNews Viewpoint
HIROSHIMA (IDN) – In the seven decades since the U.S. atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear weapons have become less and less relevant to the security of possessor states and their allies and the potential harm of their further use has become even more harmful to international security and human survival.
Learning from Hiroshima and Nagasaki Atomic Bombings
By Katsuhiro Asagiri* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis
TOKYO (IDN) – In a message to the Peace Memorial Ceremony, to mark the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon echoed the ardent wish of the survivors of nuclear assault, when he called for “urgent action to eliminate nuclear weapons once and for all”.