By Pedro Labayen Herrera and Guillaume Long* PARIS | 19 April 2024 (IDN) — On February 9, less than 100 days into his transitional one-and-a-half-year term, Ecuadorian president Daniel Noboa announced an 11-question referendum to take place on April 21. Amid a historic security crisis that has made Ecuador one of the deadliest countries in […]
Landmark Indigenous Rights Declaration Has Yet to be Transformed into Reality
By J Nastranis NEW YORK | 18 April 2024 (IDN) — The designation “Indigenous Peoples” is in itself a challenge, said Bolivian Vice-President David Choquehuanca addressing the UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters, convened to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples. The outcome document of the historic meeting, in […]
Renounced by the Vatican Yet the Repressive Force of 15th Century Persists
By William D. Sunderlin, Ph.D., and Robert J. Miller, J.D.* FAYETTEVILLE, New York | PHOENIX, Arizona | 16 April 2024 (IDN) — It seems ridiculous that a repudiated Catholic doctrine dating back to the 15th century should have legal standing anywhere in the world today. Yet the Onondaga, an Indigenous nation located in Central New […]
Niger Dumps US Soldiers, Greets Russian Instructors
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 15 April 2024 (IDN) — When Niger suspended military cooperation with the US earlier this year, it was a major story for a country rarely in the media spotlight. The story has only grown bigger since then. This week, thousands of Nigerien protesters gathered in Niamey, […]
Space Warfare Is the Newest Fighting Domain
By Bharat Dogra* NEW DELHI | 14 April 2024 (IDN) — In December 2019, when the Space Force was formed in the USA, President Trump called this a big moment and added that there are “going to be a lot of things happening in space. Because space is the world’s newest war-fighting domain.” Mark Esper, […]
Sudan: UN Concerned About Fast Unfolding Humanitarian Crisis
By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK | 14 April 2024 (IDN) — One year after war erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on 15 April 2023, Sudan is facing one of the fastest unfolding crises globally, with unprecedented needs. About 25 million people—of whom over 14 million are children—need […]
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant: The “Sum of All Fears”
By Leonam dos Santos Guimarães* RIO DE JANEIRO | 12 April 2024 (IDN) — Drone attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, whether carried out by Ukraine or Russia, introduce a new and dangerous dimension to the conflict between the two largest former Soviet Socialist Republics, with possible far-reaching ramifications, not just for the region […]
How Finland Succeeded In Reducing Homelessness
By Sarah Britz from the Swedish street paper Faktum This article was issued by the International Network of Street Papers and is being republished with their permission. GOTHENBURG, Sweden | 11 April 2024 (IDN) — Nearly 20 years ago, Finland opened the door to Housing First—a system in which people experiencing homelessness are provided with […]
New Militarism: Biden Is Doing the Very Things He Criticized During His Campaign
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 9 April 2024 (IDN) — “Diplomacy is back”, President Joe Biden said shortly after becoming president. But then, in the middle of a delicate diplomatic dance with Iran, he went and bombed a small, politically inconsequential, Iranian surrogate in Syria in retaliation for the killing of one American soldier. […]
Agonizing over Europe’s Defence: Some Narratives are Getting Ahead of the Facts
By Herbert Wulf* This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission. BONN, Germany | 9 April 2024 (IDN) — Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in February two years ago was a shock to European security policy. It did not come entirely out of the blue, however, because Russia […]