UN Insider

Photo: India's longest range nuclear capable missile Agni-5 was successfully test fired from the Kalam Island off Odisha coast on January 18 by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Source: NDTV

Successful Test Firing of India's Agni-5 Evokes No Fury

By Kalinga Seneviratne

BANGKOK (IDN) – The successful launch of the nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Agni-5 on January 18 has hardly been noticed in Asia. The western media however have given it coverage focusing on India's ability now to strike major Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai.

This partly adulatory coverage is in sharp contrast to hysteria in the western media in particular when North Korea tested a similar missile on November 28, 2017. While North Korea’s tests are projected as threats to global denuclearization efforts, India's are not.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 21 January 2018

Photo: Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan and President of the Security Council for the month of January, addresses the Security Council meeting on Non-proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, with a focus on confidence-building measures. 18 January 2018. United Nations, New York. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe.

Kazakh President Offers Astana as Venue for Disarmament Negotiations with North Korea

By Santo D. Banerjee

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – In the run up to the fiftieth anniversary of the UN inviting nuclear haves and have-nots to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) on July 1, 1968, Kazakhstan has proposed a set of six measures aimed at the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and offered a platform for disarmament negotiations with North Korea.

The initiative has been launched on January 18 at the high level briefing of the Security Council which focused on the theme of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: confidence-building measures convened by Kazakhstan in its capacity as the Council President for the month of January. And this at a point in time when, as UN Secretary-General António Guterres says, "global anxieties about nuclear weapons are the highest since the Cold War."

: Santo D. Banerjee; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 19 January 2018

UN Concerned as Ex-Rebels Threaten Peace Efforts in Colombia

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Nearly six weeks after the Security Council on November 30, 2017 marked the one year anniversary of the signing and entry-into-force of the peace agreement between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC-EP), peace efforts remain challenged by the task of reintegrating 14,000 former rebel combatants.

The Secretary-General's Special Representative, Jean Arnault, told the Security Council on January 10 that the UN will 'closely follow' reports of a just-broken ceasefire between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Colombian Government. He was presenting the first quarterly report on the activities of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia, which he heads.

: J Nastranis; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 14 January 2018

Photo: Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin, India's Permanent Representative to the UN. Source: International House, New York

India Faults UN Security Council's Legitimacy and Credibility

By Santo D. Banerjee

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – A non‑representative United Nations Security Council, designed long ago to maintain a balance of power between rival States, is unable to handle challenges which have changed beyond recognition over the decades, Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin, India's Permanent Representative to the UN has warned.

"An instrument that is no longer considered legitimate and has lost its credibility cannot be our hope for salvation," adding that "speech acts" would have little impact, he said in the Security Council's Open Debate on "complex contemporary challenges to International Peace and Security".

: Santo D. Banerjee; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 14 January 2018

Photo: Lynda Carter, star of the TV show “Wonder Woman” from 1975 to 1979, at the launch of a campaign for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Credirt: AMANDA VOISARD/UN PHOTO

Sexual Harassment at the UN Is Alive and Persistent

By Laura E. Kirkpatrick, Passblue

BUFFALO (IDN) - As its people of the year, Time magazine recently named the Silence Breakers -- people who have spoken against sexual harassment and launched the hashtag #MeToo into an international phenomenon with more than seven million hits on social media.

Just before the announcement, more than 230 women who work in national security for the United States, from former ambassadors to military personnel, signed a public letter protesting sexual harassment, under the hashtag #MeTooNatSec.

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 13 January 2018

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres (centre) delivers his report entitled “Making Migration Work for All” to the UN General Assembly on 11 January 2017. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten

UN Chief Pleads For 'Making Migration Work for All'

By António Guterres

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the launch of the report 'Making Migration Work for All', in New York on 11 January. – The Editor

UNITED NATIONS (IDN-INPS) – I am very pleased to be with all of you to present the report “Making Migration Work for All”. This serves as my principal input to the zero draft of the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration. The adoption of this compact stands as one of our most important collective priorities for 2018.

As we look forward to the zero draft, I would like to commend your efforts to date under the wise stewardship of Mexico and Switzerland, aided by the President of the General Assembly and my Special Representative, Louise Arbour. Allow me to express a very deep gratitude to Louise Arbour and her team — your extraordinary contribution was absolutely vital for me to be able to present a report that, I hope, you will find both bold and constructive.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 11 January 2018

Chinese peacekeepers marking International Women’s Day in Gao, a base in the UN mission in Mali. China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has presented a policy paper on UN reform that suggests a leap forward on the world stage as the US, by contrast, recedes. MARCO DORMINO/MINUSMA

China Strives for UN Reform by Filling the Growing Vacuum Left by the US

By Kacie Candela, PassBlue

NEW YORK (IDN) - China has presented its position on United Nations reform, and it aligns with Secretary-General António Guterres's own agenda. It pushes for practicalities, such as a transparent process, a stronger peace and security pillar, streamlined internal management and more geographic diversity in hiring practices in peacekeeping and the UN Secretariat.

"The world is undergoing major developments, transformation and adjustment, but peace and security remain the call of our day," the position paper begins, alluding to the upset of the Western-dominated global order. "The trends of global multi-polarity, economic globalization, IT application and cultural diversity are surging forward; and countries are becoming increasingly interconnected and interdependent."

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 09 January 2018

Photo: A view down the Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt (October 2004). Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Let’s Put Order in Tourism and Tourism in Order

Viewpoint by Roberto Savio

The writer is publisher of Other News, an eminent proponent of "information that markets eliminate" and founder of IPS-Inter Press Service News Agency. This article is being reproduced courtesy of Other News with the writer's permission. He can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and his articles and comments can be read on Facebook @robertosavioutopia

ROME (IDN) – We are living a paradox in which two parallel worlds coexist: the (real) world of places of poverty and violence that we (occasionally) read about in newspapers or see on TV and the other world featuring the same places which exists only for tourists, the world of beautiful beaches, wonderful nature and fantastic hotels.

Behind this paradox lies a fundamental question: how many tourists travelling the world this year will consider the social, cultural and environmental impact of their activity? Probably very few, and this is a serious issue with tourism having become a mass phenomenon driven (as usual) by money.

: Roberto Savio; OPINION; 09 January 2018

Photo: (Late) Peter Sutherland, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for International Migration and Development, briefs journalists. 27 May 2015. United Nations, New York. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten

Tribute to Sir Peter Sutherland (April 25, 1946 – January 7, 2018)

By Dr. Purnaka L. de Silva

The author is Director, Institute for Strategic Studies and Democracy (ISSD) Malta.

VALETTA (IDN) - Humanitarians across the world are mourning the passing of one of the greatest champions for the rights and freedoms of migrants and refugees, Sir Peter Sutherland, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for International Migration (January 2006 – March 2017).

Migrants and refugees, the poorest of the poor whom he championed shall sorely miss him, especially in these dystopian times with the hysterical rise of anti-immigrant nationalism and xenophobia. Colleagues shall surely miss his judgment, clarity of vision of what is right and what is wrong, and being unafraid to say so – i.e. to speak truth to power.

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 09 January 2018

Photo: Independent Expert on Human Rights Michel Forst. Credit: Jean-Marc Ferré

UN Experts Censure Saudi Arabia for Human Rights Violations

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – Despite being elected as member of the Human Rights Council at the end of 2016, Saudi Arabia has “continued its practice of silencing, arbitrarily arresting, detaining and persecuting human rights defenders and critics,” according to a group of top United Nations human rights experts.

“We are also seeking the Government’s clarification about how these measures are compatible with Saudi Arabia’s obligations under international human rights law, as well as with the voluntary pledges and commitments it made when seeking to join the Human Rights Council,” the group of experts said.