By Caroline Mwaga NEW YORK (IDN) — “We are truly at a crossroads, with consequential choices before us. Paradigms are shifting. Old orthodoxies are being flipped,” António Guterres told ambassadors after being re-appointed on June 18 to a second term as UN Secretary-General. He was the sole candidate from the UN’s 193 Member States to […]
DON’T QUOTE ME: An Indian Ocean Island That Comes with an Expiry Date
By Thalif Deen* NEW YORK (IDN) — Just after a band of mercenaries tried to oust the government of the Maldives, I asked a Maldivian diplomat about the strength of his country’s standing army. “Standing army?”, the diplomat asked with mock surprise, “We don’t even have a sitting army.” With a population of about 250,000, […]
UN Invites Applications for a Journalism Fellowship Programme
By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK (IDN) — The United Nations is inviting applications for the 2021 Reham al-Farra Memorial Journalism Fellowship (RAF) programme which will be conducted online in September-October 2021, during the opening of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly.
Cyprus: Toward a Non-territorial Confederation?
Viewpoint by Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens GENEVA (IDN) — Three days (April 27-29, 2021) of “informal” talks on the future of Cyprus were held in Geneva under the leadership of UN Secretary-General António Guterres. There have been no formal negotiations on the issue since 2017. The UN-sponsored meeting with representatives of Greek […]
DON’T QUOTE ME: Did Coup Leaders Seek Legitimacy by Addressing the UN?
By Thalif Deen* NEW YORK (IDN) — The recent military coup in Myanmar and an attempted palace coup in Jordan harks back to the days when insurrections by armed forces came along a veritable assembly line—particularly in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia. And at least one political leader—a former Prime Minister of Thailand—was ousted […]
A Locked Down UN Plans to Gradually Return to Normal
By Razeena Raheem NEW YORK (IDN) — The United Nations, which has remained locked down since March last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, is planning to make a “phased return to the premises in New York.” Until now, nearly 3,000 UN staffers have been forced to work from home while virtually all meetings, including […]
COVAX Programme — US Decision to Lift Sanctions Against ICC — Four Peacekeepers Killed
By Radwan Jakeem NEW YORK (IDN | UN News) — The UN-backed COVAX scheme aims to get two billion vaccine doses into the arms of around a quarter of the population of poorer countries by the end of 2021. Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the United States decision to lift sanctions and visa restrictions against […]
Global Pandemic Hits the World’s Poorest the Hardest
By J Natranis NEW YORK (IDN) — The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a deeply troubling situation in the world’s poorest countries. It threatens to push the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) another ten years further into the future, warns the Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2021 by more than 60 United Nations Agencies […]
UN Security Council Faces Critical Issues Under Vietnamese Presidency
By Radwan Jakeem NEW YORK (IDN) — As Viet Nam takes the presidency of the UN Security Council in for the month of April, the 15-member Council’s report for March in Hindsight examines mercenarism and the mercenaries’ heavy involvement in illicit, destabilising activities in a number of countries on the Security Council’s agenda. Viet Nam […]
UN Condemns ‘Shameful, Cowardly’ Attacks on Peaceful Protesters in Myanmar
By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) — UN Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned in the strongest terms, the killing of dozens of civilians, including children and young people, by security forces in Myanmar on March 27. In a statement issued by Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq, the UN chief said, “the continuing military crackdown…is unacceptable and […]