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By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – In view of the increasingly critical situation for ordinary Venezuelans, the United Nations remains committed to providing humanitarian support, based on “need, and need alone”, according to a senior aid official.
But the oil-rich country is not only suffering from food and medical shortages. The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) noted that dozens of opposition politicians continue to face ongoing harassment in the South American country.
By Rodrigo Pérez
MONTEVIDEO (IDN) – The United Nations is willing to bring Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido together for "serious negotiations" at their request, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said during a press conference at the 32nd African Union summit on February 10 at Addis Ababa. Ethiopia.
Earlier, the spokesman for Guterres, Stéphane Dujarric, said that the UN Chief "supports the efforts of the international community that will help find a political solution" to the situation in Venezuela.
By J C Suresh
TORONTO (IDN) – With the Venezuelan crisis worsening on its doorsteps, the 15-nation Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has been at pains to prevent the situation in the Bolivarian Republic taking a sharp turn for the worst.
It has censured the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) Luis Leonardo Almagro on his “unilateral” stance in accepting Juan Guaido as interim president of Venezuela, according to a report by the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
By Radwan Jakeem
NEW YORK | ASTANA (IDN) – "Today, there are about 300 million young people aged 18 to 30 years in the world who do not have a permanent job or are unemployed," said Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev officially launching in Astana, the capital city, '2019 the Year of the Youth' that focuses on housing, employment and adequate education for young people.
Similar to the 'Youth 2030: The United Nations Youth Strategy', initiated by UN Secretary-General António Guterres at a high-level event of the 73rd session of the General Assembly in September 2018, the Year of the Youth aims at meeting young people’s needs, and recognises their positive contributions as agents of change.
By Erol Avdovic
This article is the first in a series of WebPublicaPress Online Magazine's analyses being published by IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.
UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Where there is no leadership and vision, the people perish – it's an old saying in different languages around the world.
“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant,” said Max DePree, an American writer and businessman of the 20th century.
At the United Nations, the leadership credo has always been: do not antagonize the Permanent Five (P-5) Members of the 15-nation UN Security Council – USA, China, Russia, United Kingdom, and France. And, as Secretary-General strive your utmost to become the superman of political correctness.
Viewpoint by António Guterres
The following is the text of UN Secretary-General's remarks to a high-level debate of the Security Council on 'Mercenary activities as a source of insecurity and destabilization in Africa' with the Central African sub-region as a focus, under the presidency of Equatorial Guinea for the month of February. Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo chaired the meeting on February 4. – The Editor.
NEW YORK (IDN) – The use of mercenaries dates back through the ages. From antiquity to the medieval era to the present day, those who fight for financial reward or other material compensation have been a near constant on the battlefield. The shadowy nature of the practice makes data hard to come by. Reports suggest a surge in the use of mercenaries and other foreign fighters. While the numerical picture may be murky, the impacts of mercenaries today are all too clear.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – In an interview for the book No Easy Victories: African Liberation and American Activists Over a Half Century, Dumisani Kumalo recalled the struggle to cut off the U.S. funds that were sustaining the apartheid government of South Africa.
“I spoke to more than 1,000 campuses all over the country in all 50 states,” Kumalo recalled. A particular triumph came in 1986, when the U.S. Congress, overriding a veto by President Ronald Reagan, passed the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act.
Viewpoint by Rick Wayman
The writer is Deputy Director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. (Twitter @rickwayman)
SANTA BARBARA, CA (IDN) – There is no shortage of critics who have pointed out President Donald Trump’s monumental strategic mistake in unilaterally withdrawing the United States from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. It is indeed a blunder of the highest degree that not only makes the Trump administration look incompetent and foolish, but also puts the United States’ European allies and all of us at greater risk of nuclear catastrophe.
By Reinhard Jacobsen
VIENNA (IDN) – While the State of Palestine has in a historic move taken over the presidency of the Group of 77 (G-77) and China at the United Nations in New York, Egypt has assumed the chairmanship of the Vienna Chapter of the largest Inter-Governmental Organization of developing countries in the UN, comprising 134 countries representing some 80 percent of the world population.
Egypt has been a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause since the 1950s. Even today Cairo maintains strong relations with the Palestinian Authority and it favours peace between both Israel and Palestine.
By UN DESA Voice
NEW YORK (IDN) – Languages play a crucial role in our daily lives. They also make up our unique cultural identities. Yet, of the about 6,700 languages spoken in the world today, 40 percent are at risk of disappearing. Most of them are indigenous languages. And when a language dies, it can mean the end of a community’s values and traditions.
This is where the 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages comes in. UN DESA Voice spoke with Mirian Masaquiza in UN DESA’s Division for Inclusive Social Development (DISD), about the year and its mission to protect and preserve the world’s indigenous languages.
