By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, 22 March 2023 (IDN) — A much-quoted line in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s lyrical ballad, ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’, reads: “’water, water everywhere—nor any drop to drink’. The poem goes back to the year 1798—and more than five centuries later, the cry for water, described as a basic human […]
Kazakhstan Observes Three Decades of Cooperation With UN
By Saniya Sakenova ASTANA, 14 March 2023 (IDN | The Astana Times) — Over the past 30 years, Kazakhstan has built up a productive cooperation with the United Nations, being a coherent advocate and active promoter of its ideals and goals, First Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Umarov said at a March 10 event marking the […]
Yemen, Facing World’s Worst Humanitarian Disaster, Misses Aid Target
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, 27 February 2023 (IDN) — The United Nations once described the deaths and destruction in the eight-year-old civil war in Yemen as “the world’s worst humanitarian disaster”. The killings of mostly civilians have been estimated at over 100,000, with accusations of war crimes against a coalition led by Saudi Arabia […]
Present-day UN Apparently Incapable of Ending the Ukraine War
By J Nastranis NEW YORK, 25 Feb 2023 (IDN) — As the Ukraine War triggered by the Russian invasion enters the second year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s call on United Nations Security Council to act for peace, or ‘dissolve’ itself has acquired new relevance. In an impassioned address to the Security Council on 5 April […]
As Russian Invasion Enters its Second Year, the UN Remains Paralysed
By Arul Louis The writer is a New York-based non-resident senior fellow of the Society for Policy Studies, a New Delhi-based think tank. He can be contacted @arulouis. UNITED NATIONS, 20 Feb 2023 (IDN) — Paralysed by its own Charter and structure, the world organisation that is charged with preventing wars confronts an existential challenge […]
Is the Non-Aligned Movement Struggling to be Re-Born?
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, 18 Feb 2023 (IDN) — In the 1960s and 70s, the 116-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), founded in Belgrade in 1961, was one of the largest and most powerful political coalitions (now numbering 120) led initially by countries such as Yugoslavia, India, Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia, Zambia, Algeria, Cuba and Sri Lanka. […]
UN Chief Urges World’s Rich to Finance SDGs with $500 Billion
By J Nastranis NEW YORK, 17 Feb 2023 (IDN) — In view of the failure of the global financial system to effectively cushion the impacts of current global crises on the Global South—the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the ongoing climate emergency—the UN has called for an increase of about $500 billion each […]
COVID-19, Climate Change, Impunity & Conflicts Aggravating Human Trafficking
By Aurora Weiss VIENNA (IDN) — The COVID-19 pandemic has increased human trafficking using social networks and the Internet as a platform, Lead Author of the UNODC Global Reports on Trafficking in Persons, Fabricio Sarrica, told IDN. He was highlighting some salient aspects of the 2022 UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, the seventh […]
When a New Cold War Threatens World Peace & Security
By Thalif Deen* This article contains excerpts from a recently-released book* on the United Nations titled “No Comment–and Don’t Quote Me on that” available on Amazon: https://www.rodericgrigson.com/no-comment-by-thalif-deen/ UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — During the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and particularly in the 1960s, the United Nations was […]
UNESCO Protects Odesa Amid Threats of Destruction from War
By Jaya Ramachandran PARIS (IDN) — Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, has denounced the decision of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to designate the historic centre of Odesa a World Heritage in Danger site. Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, criticised the designation, saying the only threat […]