OPINION

Photo: More soldiers committed suicide last year than were killed in combat. A new study suggests that multiple concussions may be contributing to suicide risk. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Ending Our Suicidal War Against Nature

Viewpoint by John Scales Avery*

COPENHAGEN (IDN) – "Our planet is broken," the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has warned. Humanity is waging what he describes as a "suicidal" war on the natural world. "Nature always strikes back, and is doing so with gathering force and fury," he told a BBC special event on the environment. Mr Guterres wants to put tackling climate change at the heart of the UN's global mission, wrote BBC Chief Environment Correspondent Justin Rowlatt on December 2.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 06 January 2021

Photo: The Place du Luxembourg/Luxemburgplein in the European Quarter of Brussels (Belgium). View of the European Parliament (western side), including converted station entrance in front, with statue of the industrialist John Cockerill in the foreground. CC BY 3.0

There Is A Silver Lining in The Cloud of Brexit

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Writing in 1751 Voltaire described Europe as “a kind of great republic, divided into several states, some monarchical, the others mixed but all corresponding with one another. They all have the same religious foundation, even if divided into several confessions. They all have the same principles of public law and politics unknown in other parts of the world.”

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 05 January 2021

Ocean Threatened by Loss of Coral Reefs

Viewpoint by Vijay Prashad *

NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts (IDN) – With a recent report titled “Projections of Future Coral Bleaching Conditions,” published by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in November, Leticia Carvalho—head of the Marine and Freshwater Branch of UNEP—said on December 21 that coral reefs are the “canary in the coalmine for climate’s impact on oceans.”

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 05 January 2021

Let Us Make 2021 a Year of Healing!

The following is the text of 2021 United Nations New Year's message delivered by Secretary-General António Guterres.

NEW YORK (IDN) – 2020 has been a year of trials, tragedies and tears.

COVID-19 upended our lives and plunged the world into suffering and grief.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 31 December 2020

The Guest, Corona, Didn’t Come to Play

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) – It’s true that Coronavirus is not among the top five most deadly diseases in Africa today. But it’s also correct that at this time, we know far less about the COVID-19 pandemic than we know about malaria, diarrhoeal diseases, Ischaemic heart diseases, meningitis, tuberculosis, or HIV/AIDS.

Yet, we’re fooling around with COVID-19 and making convenient excuses as if ignorance or malicious defiance is a remedy.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 31 December 2020

Photo: Collage of Indian Ambassador Brajendra Navnit with WTO Director Roberto Azevedo and front of the WTO.

Science Has Delivered the Vaccines, The WTO Should Make Them Accessible and Affordable

TRIPS waiver proposal from India, South Africa and other members

Viewpoint by Brajendra Navnit

The author is Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The views expressed are personal.

GENEVA (IDN) – A proposal by India, South Africa and eight other countries calls on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to exempt member countries from enforcing some patents, and other Intellectual Property (IP) rights under the organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, known as TRIPS, for a limited period of time.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 30 December 2020

Photo: From left to right, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger chat at the State Luncheon in honour of the Prime Minister at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on March 10, 2016. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

Encourage USA To Compromise with Russia, Iran, China and The Islamic World

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – We are waiting. Waiting for a quick decision on whether the US will renew its agreement with Russia to extend the New Start Treaty, that cuts the long-range nuclear weapons each possesses by 1550 (a 30% cut). It’s due to expire in just over a month on February 5. The Russians have said they want to renew it. President Donald Trump has done nothing about nuclear arms control- despite ridiculously being accused at home of being in President Vladimir Putin’s pocket. Indeed, he has made Russia more vulnerable to a nuclear attack than it was before he came into office.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 29 December 2020

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

Photo: Drivers of the colourful and traditional 'jeepneys' have been among the hardest-hit populations in the Philippines. Credit: Dan Olanday.

COVID-19 Worsens Human Rights Situation in Southeast Asia

Viewpoint by Champa Patel*

LONDON (IDN) – Southeast Asia already had a poor human rights record before the COVID-19 outbreak. Despite ASEAN’s rhetoric on democratic values and human rights, illiberal democracies have been on the rise, putting fundamental freedoms in the region under pressure. Most countries across the region continue to criminalise dissent using draconian often colonial-era laws, or new repressive legislation. COVID-19 has intensified these trends.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; COVID-19; 27 December 2020

ASEAN Holds the Reins in The South China Sea

Viewpoint by Sourabh Gupta

The author is a resident senior fellow at the Institute for China-America Studies (ICAS), Washington DC. This article first appeared on EASTASIAFORUM on 18 December 2020.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) – On 6 May 2009, Malaysia and Vietnam jointly notified a submission to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS). The submission implicitly declared that the Spratly islands were incapable of generating entitlements beyond their 12 nautical mile territorial sea limit.