UN Insider

Photo: Religious leaders in an online meeting. Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

UN Chief Appeals to 'Common Humanity' Across All Faiths to Tackle COVID-19

NEW YORK (IDN) – Our shared vulnerability to the coronavirus pandemic reveals “our common humanity”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told religious leaders in an online meeting to discuss the role they can play in limiting the damage caused by COVID-19.

Speaking during the meeting on May 12, Guterres said “it lays bare our responsibility to promote solidarity as the foundation of our response – a solidarity based on the human rights and human dignity of all … and it highlights the crucial role of religious leaders in your communities and beyond.”

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 13 May 2020

Global Civil Society Demands Bolder Action from NPT States Parties

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – A diverse network of national and international peace and nuclear disarmament non-governmental organisations has in a joint statement urged government leaders, particularly from the nuclear-armed states and their allies, to act with greater urgency and cooperation to meet unfulfilled promises to reduce nuclear risks and advance progress on disarmament, and to realise their commitment to the “complete elimination of nuclear weapons”. The statement coincides with the 25th anniversary on May 11 of the indefinite extension of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

: Jamshed Baruah; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 11 May 2020

Photo: Opening of the Review and Extension Conference of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, United Nations Headquarters, New York, 17 April 1995. Seated on the podium from left to right: UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali; President of the Conference, Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala (Sri Lanka); Secretary-General of the Conference, Prvoslav Davinić. Credit: UN Photo by Evan Schneider # 68537.

25 Years After the Indefinite Extension of The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: A Field of Broken Promises and Shattered Visions

By Tariq Rauf*

VIENNA (IDN) – "I long ago took to heart the words of Omar Bradley, spoken virtually a half century ago, when he observed, having seen the aftermath of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, thus: 'We live in an age of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We live in a world that has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. We've unlocked the mysteries of the atom and forgotten the lessons of the Sermon on the Mount. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living'."

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 11 May 2020

Photo: A wide view of the Security Council meeting as Nickolay Mladenov (on screen), UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, briefs the Council on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question. (18 October 2018 - UN Photo/Rick Bajornas)

UN Concerned About the 'Growing Threat' of Annexation of Palestine

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – As the world's attention is turned to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, a special Committee of the UN General Assembly has alerted about "the threat of annexation" of the Palestinian territory by Israel. "Annexation is a threat to the two-state solution," the Committee accentuated.

Earlier, on April 23, UN Special Coordinator Nickolay Mladenov warned the Security Council of "the dangerous prospect of annexation by Israel of parts of the occupied West Bank is a growing threat".

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 09 May 2020

We Are Fighting Two Enemies at the Same Time: a Deadly Virus and a Deadlier Hunger

By Bea Cordia

NEW YORK (IDN) – COVID-19 has shattered the entire world. As a result of what some people have called the ‘Great Lockdown’, economic activity has plummeted, borders have been closed, and national health systems are on the edge of collapse.

Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, more than 250,000 people have died from the highly contagious disease, which spread across geographical, racial and ethnic borders. The worst, however, is yet to come.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 08 May 2020

Photo: ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, presents her Office’s 19th report on the Situation in Libya remotely. © ICC-CPI

ICC Prosecutor Reminds the Security Council of a Special Responsibility for Libya

By Fatou Bensouda

The following are extensive excerpts from the International Criminal Court Prosecutor Ms Fatou Bensouda's statement by video to the UN Security Council on May 5.

NEW YORK | THE HAGUE (IDN) – Despite some inevitable limitations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, my Office's Libya team is forging ahead with its judicial work and investigations, managing to remain active and productive in these exceptional times. The Libya situation remains a priority for my Office, and I seize the opportunity in this forum to announce that my team is working on applications for new warrants of arrest.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 06 May 2020

Photo: War crimes include the use of child soldiers; the killing or torture of persons such as civilians or prisoners of war; intentionally directing attacks against hospitals, historic monuments, or buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes. Credit: ICC

Limited Progress Achieved in Deterring War Crimes

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – With a bit more pushing and, after, unfortunately, a bit more killing the three remaining serious wars on the planet, in Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen, should come to an end. Then it will be time to take stock on what caused the killing, especially why so many innocents lost their lives and whether wars of this kind can be deterred in the future.

The world has already made a lot of progress over the last few decades: there are no interstate wars and the number of civil wars has steadily fallen, (albeit the graph has begun an upward turn in the last two years mainly because of mini-wars in West Africa).

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 05 May 2020

Fake News Is 'Infodemic' That Puts Lives at Risk

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – While Americans hotly debate the subject of "fake news," Africans and others around the world marked a day for reflection on press freedoms in theory and in practice. The theme for this year's event launched by the UN agency UNESCO was "Journalism without fear or favour".

The state of journalism in most parts of the world is precarious, according to many media specialists.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 05 May 2020

Photo (cropped): Portrait of Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler, 1820. Source: Wikipedia Com-mons.

Remembering Ludwig van Beethoven – A Genius with a Disability

By Heike Kuhn

The writer, Dr Heike Kuhn, is Head of the "Human Rights Gender Equality, Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities" of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in Bonn, the capital of divided Germany. The other part of the BMZ is in Berlin, the capital city of unified Germany since 3 October 1990.

BONN (IDN) – The year 2020 marks the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven, the famous composer and pianist‎, well known all over the world. He was a genius with a disability. Germany's UN City Bonn is very proud of its famous son, born here, next to the river Rhine.

: Europe Editor; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 04 May 2020

World Conference Calls for Abolition of Nuclear Weapons and Reversing Climate Change

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) -– In a dramatic warning from 13 Nobel Prize winners about the existential dangers of nuclear weapons and climate crisis, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists on January 23 set the hands of its iconic 'Doomsday Clock' to 100 seconds to midnight,

On April 25, during the Covid-19 crisis, over one thousand activists across the peace, climate, and social movements gathered online to take part in the first-ever virtual World Conference: Abolish Nuclear Weapons | Resist and Reverse Climate Change | For Social and Economic Justice.