UN Insider

Photo: Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury at 2019 HLF-CoP observing the 20th anniversary of the culture of peace at UN on 13 September 2019. Credit: UN

The Culture of Peace: For a Safer, Saner and Sustainable World

By Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury

The author is a former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the UN, former Permanent Representative and Ambassador of Bangladesh to the United Nations, and founder of the Global Movement for The Culture of Peace (GMCoP). The following are extensive excerpts from his virtual special lecture at the International Studies Institute at University of La Verne, California on 19 November 2020. "The objective of the culture of peace," he said, "is the empowerment of people, as has been underscored time and again by the global leader for peace and Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda."

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 28 December 2020

US Africom Launches Operation Octave Quartz to Relocate Forces to Somalia

EEPA Report on Horn of Africa Situation on December 26

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Reported that US Africom has begun an operation called Operation Octave Quartz (OOQ), with a mission to relocate U.S. forces in Somalia to other East Africa operating locations “while maintaining pressure on violent extremists and supporting partner forces”. US Africom is the military command for US operations in African. OOQ started after the Trump administration announced the reduction in the number of US military deployed in Somali territory.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 26 December 2020

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres swears in Martha Helena Lopez as assistant secretary-general for human resources management, Aug. 23, 2017. New tensions have flared between the pension fund board, which she chairs, and UN staff representatives on the board. MANUEL ELIAS/UN PHOTO

Concern About the UN Pension Fund's Administration

By Loraine Rickard-Martin*, Passblue

NEW YORK (IDN) – At the $79.4 billion United Nations pension fund, continuing tensions came to a head this month when the UN participant representatives to the pension board — elected representatives of 85,000 active UN staff members — wrote on December 2 to the General Assembly body that oversees the fund about their concerns on a range of issues regarding the fund’s administration and governance.

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 25 December 2020

Image credit: Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA)

Sufficient Uranium Resources Exist to Support the Sustainable Use of Nuclear Energy

By Reinhard Jacobsen

VIENNA (IDN) – A new report by the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says that sufficient uranium resources exist to support the long-term, sustainable use of nuclear energy for low-carbon electricity generation as well as for other uses such as industrial heat applications and hydrogen production.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 24 December 2020

Photo: Founding fathers of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), 1963. Source: thisisafrica

Ethiopia Said to Be Jeopardising Organisation of African Unity's Principles

EEPA Report on Horn of Africa Situation on December 24

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Ethiopia took the lead in creating Africa's continental organisation, the African Union (AU). But Alex Dewaal, Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, believes that its actions are now jeopardising the body's founding principles. "Who Will Call Out Eritrea’s War Crimes in Tigray?" he asks in a blog

He points out that Eritrea has deployed most of its army in Tigray region of Ethiopia. This is no secret. At minimum, 12 divisions have been fighting inside Tigray.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 24 December 2020

Photo: Barroso Agro-sylvo-pastoral System. Credit: Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System.

Portugal: Mainstreaming Food Systems in The Presidency of The European Council

Viewpoint by Paulo Caruso Dias de Lima

The writer is a Liaison Officer at the FAO Brussels Office.

BRUSSELS (IDN) – As announced two weeks ago, the Portuguese Presidency of the European Council, in the first half of next year, is set to position its priorities to promote a fair, green and digital recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19. This is in keeping with regional and global trends towards transforming the ways in which we produce and consume food. (Also available in Portuguese)

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 23 December 2020

Photo: Desert Locusts in Isiolo County, Kenya. Source: FAO

Desert Locust Upsurge Continues to Threaten Food Security in the Horn of Africa

FAO Needs Funds To Safeguard Agricultural Production and Livelihoods

By FAO

ROME (IDN) – A new generation of Desert Locust swarms is threatening Agricultural and pastoral livelihoods and the food security of millions of people in the Horn of Africa and Yemen, despite intense efforts to control the pest throughout 2020, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

With international support and an unprecedented large-scale response campaign coordinated by FAO, more than 1.3 million hectares of locust infestations have been treated in ten countries since January 2020.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 23 December 2020

Photo: The Pentagon has sent several naval vessels and a marine expeditionary unit to the coast of Somalia to support an operation repositioning hundreds of U.S. troops to bases elsewhere in East Africa. Courtesy of US Navy

Withdrawal of US Troops from Somalia Underlines Critical Situation in the Region

EEPA Report on Horn of Africa Situation on December 23

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The situation in the Horn of Africa is getting increasingly critical in the Horn of Africa. A case in point is that the Expeditionary Sea Base USS Hershel "Woody" Williams is “conducting maritime operations off the coast of Somalia” to “reposition U.S. DOD personnel from Somalia to other locations in East Africa,” AFRICOM spokesperson Kelly Cahalan told VOA in an email. The operation is dubbed Operation Octave Quartz.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 23 December 2020

Iran Joins China, Russia, EU, France, Germany and UK in Reaffirming Commitment to 'Nuclear Deal'

By Robert Johnson

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Amid speculations about Iran's reaction to the assassination of the country's eminent nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh on a road outside of Tehran on November 27, participants in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) have reiterated their commitment to preserving the agreement and stressed their respective efforts in this regard.

The pledge emerged from a virtual ministerial meeting of the E3/EU+2 (China, France, Germany, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy) and the Islamic Republic of Iran on December 21, 2020. The EU High Representative Josep Borrell chaired the meeting.

: Jaya Ramachandran; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 23 December 2020

Photo: Photo: Six potential candidates for the 2021 presidential elections in Iran. The moderate Rouhani will be stepping down. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Time to Resurrect the Iran Nuclear Deal

The thirteenth Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Iran on June 18, 2021. The moderate Rouhani will be stepping down and there is the likelihood that a hard-line conservative will succeed him – someone who is less keen on negotiations.

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – John le Carré died December 12, 2020. He is widely regarded as one of the most talented of novelists. He has written marvellous, intricate, plots of spying and espionage. In his youth, he worked for MI6 (Perhaps, for all we know, alongside James Bond). He knew it all. He is what is called a “trusted source”.