By Viliame Tawanakoro* WUHAN, China | 27 July 2024. (IDN | Wansolwara) — An innovative summer school program by China’s Wuhan University focusing on reporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) concluded on 26 July with its coordinator Professor Ji Li declaring “this will be the first of many more to come”. The Luojlia Global Summer School […]
Sudan Descends into Hell: Betrayed and Ignored by the International Community
By Daniel Haile* KILLEEN, Texas, USA | 26 July 2024 (IDN) — The global indifference to one of the deadliest civil and proxy wars is fueling the conflict in Sudan—and the shameful abandonment should ignite condemnation and anger within the international community. The departure of Omar Al-Bashir, the strongman of Nubia, has plunged Sudan into […]
Does The Value of The Olympics Still Justify the Cost?
By Tim Harcourt* SYDNEY | 26 July 2024 (IDN) — A country doesn’t host the Olympic Games to make a profit. So why do they bother? South Korea held the Seoul Olympics in 1988 to show off its economic miracle. Beijing used 2008 to show the world its enormous economic advancement. At Sochi in 2014, […]
Europe Should not Be Pushed by US Influence to Confront Russia
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 25 July 2024 (IDN) — Once the Warsaw Pact closed shop there was no good or honest reason for keeping NATO going. The threat that NATO was created to deter disappeared when the Soviet Union collapsed. The European Union’s influence on the new post-Cold War order has been by […]
Ten Principles for Perpetual Peace in the 21st Century
The United Nations-based structures are fragile and in need of an urgent upgrade; we should consider this one at the U.N. Summit of the Future in September. By Jeffrey D. Sachs* This article was published in Common Dreams and is being republished with the author’s permission. NEW YORK | 24 July 2024 (IDN) — Next […]
Norway – A Global Peace Aspirant, Environmental Champion, and a Wealthy Quiet Achiever
By Dr Palitha Kohona* OSLO, Norway | 24 July 2024 (IDN) — A few days in Norway’s summer swept capital Oslo, on the way to the Arctic via Tronso with an expedition ship presented a mixed bag of surprises. Contrary to expectations, Norway was not full of rich, blonde or red haired and blue eyed […]
Bringing Local Sustainable Development to Scale
By Yossef Ben-Meir* MARRAKECH, Morocco | 22 July 2024 (IDN) — For many organizations and agencies around the world, the matter of scaling local successes of development remains a seemingly insurmountable challenge and obligation. When participating in conferences, strategic planning, open forums, and studies on this critical necessity, so much of the consideration is focused […]
Equality Now Hails the Gambia for Protecting Rights of Women
By Kizito Makoye DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania | 19 July 2024 (IDN) — Absa Samba, a prominent Gambian activist, exhaled a sigh of relief when the Gambian lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected a controversial bill that would have lifted a ban on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), a barbaric practice that had inflicted indelible psychological scars on her […]
Call for Effective Follow-Up Tools for Proposed UN Pact for the Future
By J Nastranis NEW YORK | 19 July 2024 (IDN) — The Summit of the Future on 22-23 September at the UN headquarters in New York “presents both an important milestone and another step in the long journey toward greater justice, security, and sustainable development for all nations and peoples”, says an open letter to […]
Women and Girls in Haiti Deprived of Basic Safety and Health Services
By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK | PORT AU PRINCE | 18 July 2024 (IDN) — Ongoing political instability, escalating gang violence, and hurricane season are threatening the Caribbean Island, Haiti. Subsequently, as a recent UN Women report finds, nearly 300,000 internally displaced women and girls are living in makeshift camps lacking basic human necessities. They […]