Category: SYNDICATION

By Jayantha Dhanapala* | IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint

KANDY, Sri Lanka (IDN) – The United Nations rose to one of its finest moments when the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2118(2013) on the September 27 addressing the outrageous use of chemical weapons in Syria while setting guidelines for a political solution to the civil war in that country. Great powers can sometimes agree to use diplomacy wisely to save the world from conflict. However the assumption that the Syrian crisis has been solved through a U.S.-Russian agreement on Syria’s chemical weapons hides the ugly reality of a continuing civil war with daily death tolls adding to a total of about 100,000, a suffering populace and an exodus of refugees now numbering 1.9 million apart from the displaced.

By Ramesh Jaura* | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

BERLIN (IDN) – Reputed to be an ardent campaigner for a nuclear weapons free world, ICAN has yet again called upon the powers-that-be to ban all nukes threatening the very survival of planet Earth and entire humankind. The fervent appeal by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons coincided with the UN high-level meeting on nuclear disarmament in New York.

In a statement on September 26, ICAN, a global campaign coalition of more than 300 organizations in 80 countries, asks: “Where Is the ‘Global Red Line’ for Nuclear Weapons?”

By Nicole Rippin* | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

BONN (IDN) – On September 25, 2013 the UN General Assembly met in New York for a special event to discuss the new development policy agenda for the time after 2015. 2015 is the year by which the current agenda, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), are to have been achieved. Numerous documents were drafted by high-ranking committees prior to the event.

In a process lasting over one year more than one million people worldwide were asked about their wishes and ideas for a future development agenda. In view of this wealth of comprehensive documents with specific, visionary proposals it is remarkable how devoid of content and inexpressive the report that the UN General Assembly published as the result of their negotiations on September 25 was.

By J C Suresh | IDN-InDepth NewsReport

TORONTO (IDN) – In a radical departure from diplomatic protocol, in some ways remotely reminiscent of Fidel Castro speeches at the UN General Assembly, Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff lashed out at the U.S. for spying activities of the National Security Agency (NSA).

“The atmosphere was electrifying when (on September 24) the first speaker among political leaders, President Rousseff, described the internet spying as ‘a situation of grave violation of human rights and of civil liberties; of invasion and capture of confidential information concerning corporate activities, and especially of disrespect to national sovereignty’, noted one observer.

By J C Suresh | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

TORONTO (IDN) – The United Nations finds great favour with publics in Asia-Pacific and enjoys considerable backing in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America but has the lowest rating in the Middle East, according to a new survey, which also finds that the UN is generally liked in Europe and relishes robust support in Canada and the U.S.

The survey, conducted before Syria’s alleged chemical weapons attack and the proposed UN role in eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles, was carried out by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project (GAP) in 39 countries among 37,653 respondents from March 2 to May 1, 2013. Results for the survey are based on telephone and face-to-face interviews conducted under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International.

By Richard Johnson | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

GENEVA (IDN) – A new report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) faults both State and non-State actors for stopping journalists and other media professionals from documenting and disseminating information on human rights violations, environmental issues, corruption, organized crime, drug trafficking, public crises, emergencies or public demonstrations – and this with impunity.

Journalists are subject to abduction, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, expulsion, harassment, surveillance, search and seizure, torture and threats and acts of other forms of violence. Female journalists face additional risks, including being subjected to forms of sexual violence while covering public events or when in detention, says the report that the United Nations Human Rights Council debated on September 13, 2013.

By Jaya Ramachandran | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

GENEVA (IDN) – Though at pains not to transgress political correctness, a new UN report unveils the highhandedness characterising Israeli economic policies towards the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT), which are denting the authority of the Palestinian government.

Israel is not only depriving the OPT of about US$300 million every year but also buttressing Palestinian dependence on Israel, and gravely undermining its competitiveness by refusing to transfer to the Palestinian treasury revenues from taxes on direct and indirect imports and on smuggled goods into the OPT from or via Israel, says a new report by UNCTAD.

By Kalinga Seneviratne | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

SINGAPORE (IDN) – Giving a press conference at the end of seven-day visit to Sri Lanka, United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) head Navi Pillay, a South African, said that she was highly offended by comments in the Sri Lankan media accusing her of bias because of her Indian Tamil ethnicity.

“Some media, ministers, bloggers and various propagandists in Sri Lanka have, for several years now, on the basis of my Indian Tamil heritage, described me as a tool of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). They have claimed I was in their pay, the ‘Tamil Tigress in the UN’. This is not only wildly incorrect, it is deeply offensive,” said Pillay at the beginning of the press conference on August 31, 2013.

By R Nastranis | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

GENEVA (IDN) – The United Nations is faced with a mission impossible in Syria. Not only to avert any “punitive action” that holds the risk of triggering a regional conflict in the Middle East, but also alleviating human suffering manifested by streams of refugees seeking safe havens in neighboring countries and a spate of internally displaced persons.

Intensive discussions about the use of military force to punish President Bashar Hafez al-Assad for allegedly approving deployment of chemical weapons reveal the widespread prevalence of a culture of war – as opposed to a culture of peace.

By R. Nastranis | IDN-InDepth NewsReport

VIENNA (IDN) – Media coverage of migration issues is far from conducive to promoting better understanding between cultures, religions and peoples around the world, according to a study presented at the Fifth Global Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) in Vienna on February 28.

The study – a pilot project by the UNAOC and the European Journalism Centre (EJC) – was a highlight of the Global Forum, which was attended by over 2,000 people from around the world. Participants included youth leaders, representatives from the private sector and civil society, journalists, foundations, alongside governmental and multilateral representatives.