Viewpoint by Tim Christophersen The growing enthusiasm for forests and trees is a good thing. But we need to be mindful of some pitfalls lurking along the way. With the right approach, we can make the conservation and restoration of ecosystems, including the planting of billions of new trees, a major step in building the […]
Educating Youth for Achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
By Jayathma Wickramanayake The writer is UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth. Following are extensive excerpts from her article in July 2019 issue of the UN Chronicle. The views expressed do not necessarily imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations. NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – At the end of May this year, I visited the Gaza Strip […]
In Hong Kong the Two Sides Must Meet Each Other Half Way
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – In 1995 in a little remembered event Li Ruthuan, a member of the Chinese Politiburo (containing the top seven in the government), made a speech likening the Chinese take-over of Hong Kong to the case of a lady who had agreed to sell a 100-year-old Yi-Xiang teapot […]
UN To Commemorate 20th Anniversary of the Culture of Peace Declaration
Interview with Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury* NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted, by consensus and without reservation, its pioneering and norm-setting resolution 53/243 on the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace in 1990. The forthcoming UNGA is convening on September 13 the High-Level Forum on the […]
The Slow Process That is Evolution
Viewpoint by Dr S.S. Sira* TORONTO (IDN) – Evolution is a slow process. It is surprisingly orderly. Everything that is observed obeys laws that have been enunciated by science. Only in the last 100 years much progress has been made. Physics of the structure and the properties of the atom have been worked out. The […]
Transforming Education for a New Generation of Leaders
Viewpoint by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka The writer is UN Women Executive Director. She issued this statement for International Youth Day, 2019. NEW YORK (IDN) – Sixteen-year old Gambian Jakomba Jabbie wants to be an aerospace engineer. A vocal advocate for girls’ education, she created a robotics team at school to show that girls can also participate […]
No Excuse to Further Defer Action on Climate Change and Land
Viewpoint by Ibrahim Thiaw Following is the text of the response of Ibrahim Thiaw, UN Under Secretary General and Executive Secretary to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), to Special Report on Climate Change and Land by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released in Geneva on August 8. BONN IDN) – We have […]
Europeans Should Refuse to Go MAD Again
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – If MAD was Mad then the decision of President Donald Trump to renounce the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) is MADDER. MAD is Mutually Assured Destruction, a concept which underlay the nuclear deterrence of the Cold War. Presidents Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan began the hard work […]
Hiroshima Unlearned: Time to Tell the Truth About US-Russia Relations and Finally Ban the Bomb
Viewpoint by Alice Slater Author and nuclear disarmament advocate, Alice Slater is a member of the Board of World Beyond War, UN NGO Representative of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, and a longtime member of CODEPINK. NEW YORK (IDN) – August 6 and 9 mark 74 years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, […]
CEND Is Creating the Conditions to ‘Never Disarm’ – 74 Years Since Hiroshima, Nagasaki
Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf The writer is a Vienna-based nuclear arms control specialist, who was Head of Verification and Security Policy Coordination, Office reporting to the Director General at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from 2002—2011/2012, in which capacity he was the Alternate Head of the IAEA NPT Delegation. The views expressed in this […]