UNCCD Special Feature BONN | 17 June 2024 (IDN) — In the haunting expanse that was once the flourishing Aral Sea, the aftermath of an environmental catastrophe unfolds with swift and devastating consequences. Once the fourth largest freshwater lake in the world shared by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea has lost about 90% of […]
UN Keen to Tackle Global Refugee Crisis and Statelessness
By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | 16 June 2024 (IDN) — While the European focus is on the Russo-Ukrainian war, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is concerned about those crossing terrain such as deserts and seas without adequate resources to escape war, poverty, or climate catastrophe—often at risk of losing their lives or […]
WHO Concerned About Escalating Health Crisis In West Bank
By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA | 15 June (IDN) — UN’s global health agency WHO has expressed concern about the escalating health crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory, including the West Bank, where attacks on health infrastructure and increased restrictions on movement are obstructing access to health care. “A spike in violence in the West Bank, […]
Climate Finance Tops Bonn UN Climate Talks
By Josh Gabbatiss and Molly Lempriere The following are excerpts from the Weekly climate newsletter of CarbonBrief, DeBriefed. BONN | 14 June 2024 (IDN) — Climate diplomats have finished another two weeks of intense negotiations in the German city of Bonn, discussing global efforts to cut emissions and protect people from climate hazards. Developed and […]
The Highest Number of UN Staffers Killed in Conflicts in 79 Years
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 8 June 2024 (IDN) —The growing military conflicts worldwide—and specifically the eight-month-old war in Gaza—are continuing to claim the lives of both UN staffers and UN peacekeepers. At the June 6 memorial service for fallen staff members, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said: “We remember and honour the 188 United […]
The Specter of Nuclear Conflict Continues to Haunt
By Daryl G. Kimball The writer is the Executive Director of the Arms Control Association (ACA). The following article appears as the Focus of the June 2024 issue of Arms Control Today. WASHINGTON, D.C. | 6 Jun 2024 (IDN) — Since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale, illegal, and brutal assault on Ukraine in […]
First Korea-Africa Summit Paves Way for A New Era of Cooperation
By Taro Ichikawa TOKYO | SEOUL | 6 June 2024 (IDN) — Three decades after Japan organised the First International Conference on African Development (TICAD)—in collaboration with the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the African Union Commission (AUC), and the World Bank—its immediate neighbour and former colony (South) Korea convened its first […]
Jayantha Dhanapala: An Outstanding Practitioner of Multilateralism at its Best—Part 2
By HMGS Palihakkara* Read Part 1: https://indepthnews.colo.ba.be/jayantha-dhanapala-an-outstanding-practitioner-of-multilateralism-at-its-best-part-1/ COLOMBO | 5 June 2024 (IDN) — On the challenge of Artificial Intelligence (AI), there is an animated ongoing discourse about the vistas of material advances AI promises as well as the dangers it can morph into. The human penchant to weaponise almost every technology they invent is […]
Jayantha Dhanapala: An Outstanding Practitioner of Multilateralism at its Best—Part 1
By HMGS Palihakkara* COLOMBO | 4 June 2024 (IDN) — May 27 marked the first year since we lost that voice of reason and warmth—our dear friend and respected senior colleague, Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala. The person as well as the persona of JD, as we used to call him fondly, meant many things to most […]
Promotion of Technology Will Not Help the Poor to Access Water
By Kalinga Seneviratne BANGKOK | 4 June 2024 (IDN) — The recently concluded 10th World Water Forum (WWF) in the Indonesian tourism island of Bali focused on adoption of technology—that will include desalination plants and solar power—as the savior to provide safe drinking water to millions of the poor communities across the world. But activists […]