UN Insider

Photo: Experts at work in the OPCW Laboratory, located in Rijswijk, The Netherlands. The Laboratory will move to the OPCW Centre for Chemistry and Technology in The Hague when it opens in 2023. 31 October 2016. OPCW

All Stakeholders Have a Role to Play in Ridding the World of Chemical Weapons

Viewpoint by Fernando Arias

This article was published in the UN Chronicle and is being republished with their permission.

THE HAGUE (IDN) — On 29 April this year, we marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction (the Chemical Weapons Convention), and the establishment of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) as the Convention’s implementing body.

: Opinion Editor; UN INSIDER; 01 August 2022

Photo: UN Human Rights Council. Credit: UN Web TV

Nuclear Weapons Policies of Japan and South Korea Challenged

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) — The Basel Peace Office, in cooperation with other civil society organisations, has challenged the nuclear weapons policies of Japan and South Korea in the UN Human Rights Council, maintaining that these violate the Right to Life, a right enshrined in Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

: Jaya Ramachandran; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 31 July 2022

Image: Flags of CARICOM countries. Credit: TELESUR

CARICOM’s Policy “Coordination”: Successes, Failures and Limitations

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) — The Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) Secretary-General Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti has called for unified positions by the 79-member grouping ahead of several international meetings, namely, the 77th United Nations General Assembly in September, the World Health Summit 2022 in Germany in October as well as the UN Climate Change Conference 2022 (UNFCCC COP 27) to be staged in Egypt in November and the Convention on biological diversity COP 15 in Montreal, Canada in December.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; UN INSIDER; 28 July 2022

Photo: No progress has been made since April 2021, when Chief Negotiators of the EU and OACPS concluded their deliberations and initialled an agreed text for the successor Agreement to the Cotonou Partnership Agreement that expired on February 29, 2020. Credit: OACPS Secretariat

OACPS-European Union Post-Cotonou Negotiations Process in a Stalemate

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) — The 79 member-country Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) is asking the European Commission to explain the long lapse that had occurred since April 2021, when chief negotiators of the EU and OACPS concluded their deliberations and initialled an agreed text for the successor Agreement to the Cotonou Partnership Agreement that expired on February 29, 2020.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; OACPS; 27 July 2022

Photo: Charline (left), 11, fled her village because of recent armed clashes in North Kivu province, DR Congo. She has taken refuge with her family in a camp for displaced people called Kiwandja in Rutshuru territory. ©UNICEF/Jean-Claude Wenga

The Congo, its Minerals and its Tribalism

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — When the United Nations pulled its troops out of the Congo, a country the size of western Europe, in June 1964, Secretary General U Thant reported, "The UN cannot permanently protect the Congo from internal tensions and disturbances created by its own organic growth towards unity and nationhood".

: Jonathan Power; THE WORLD; Africa; 26 July 2022

Caring about Nuclear Sharing: A Setback for Nuclear Arms Control

Viewpoint by Herbert Wulf

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

BONN (IDN) — Russia’s repeated references to nuclear weapons since it started the war in Ukraine have put nuclear weapons back at centre stage of the strategic discussions. This has raised anxieties about a possible nuclear war in Europe and it is a setback for nuclear arms control.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 26 July 2022

Photo: A mother and her child pass by carcasses of goats and sheep in Luuq, Somalia on 21 March 2022. UN Photo/Fardosa Hussein

Deep Cuts in Funds for African Drought Victims as Money Flows to Europe

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — The war in Ukraine is draining millions of dollars away from crises in Africa as funds are being redirected to Europe.

Somalia, facing a food shortage largely driven by the war, could be the most vulnerable. Its aid funding is less than half of last year’s level, while Western donors have sent more than $1.7 billion to respond to the war in Europe.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 25 July 2022

Image: A port terminal in Barcelona, Spain. © Arthur C.C. Hsieh/ Shutterstock. Source: UNCTAD

Global Trade Hits Record $7.7 Trillion in First Quarter of 2022

This article was issued by UNCTAD and is being republished courtesy of them.

GENEVA (IDN) — The value of global trade rose to a record $7.7 trillion in Q1 2022, an increase of about $1 trillion relative to Q1 2021, according to UNCTAD’s Global Trade Update published on 7 July.

The growth, which represents a rise of about $250 million relative to Q4 2021, is fuelled by rising commodity prices, as trade volumes have increased to a much lower extent.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Global Partnerships; 19 July 2022

The World is in Deep Trouble—& the Sustainable Development Goals in Jeopardy

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The warnings came from the highest echelons of the United Nations, from UN Secretary-General António Guterres and President of the 193-member General Assembly Abdulla Shahid.

The message was clear: the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) desperately need help for their very survival, eight years ahead of their 2030 deadline for full implementation.

: Thalif Deen; SUSTAINABILITY; Quality Education; 18 July 2022

New UN Report Calls on African Countries to Rethink Export Diversification

By Jaya Ramachandran with UNCTAD Report

GENEVA (IDN) — African countries must diversify their exports to survive economic shocks from global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, says the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

In its Economic Development in Africa Report 2022, published on July 14, UNCTAD says African countries can diversify their economies through boosting exports of high-value services, expanding private businesses’ access to financial services, tapping into new financial technologies and implementing effective policies.