Peace & Justice

Photo: International Criminal Court (ICC) assembly hall. Credit: ICC.

President Biden Repeals Trump Sanctions on the Criminal Court

By Jessica Corbett*

Common Dreams first published this report on April 2, 2021.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) — Progressives in Congress and human rights organizations on April 2 welcomed the Biden administration's repeal of sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) imposed under former President Donald Trump in a bid to pressure the Hague-based tribunal to not investigate alleged U.S. and Israeli crimes. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced in a statement that President Joe Biden revoked Trump's Executive Order 13928, "ending the threat and imposition of economic sanctions and visa restrictions in connection with the court."

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 04 April 2021

UN Striving to Ensure Media and Information Literacy

By Ramu Damodaran

The writer is Chief, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) hosted in the Department of Global Communications. This OpEd was first published in the latest #WhyWeCare. It highlights efforts of the UN to combat the "infodemic" — misinformation or disinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic that is having a disastrous social and economic impact on societies around the globe. The efforts include a proposal for declaring October 24-31 as a Global Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Week. — The Editor.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 03 April 2021

Photo: Sri Lanka Sinharaja Forest Preserve. CC BY-SA 2.0

‘Human Rights’ and Ecological Crisis in Sri Lanka

Viewpoint by Dr Asoka Bandarage

The writer, a scholar and practitioner, has taught at Yale, Brandeis, Mount Holyoke (where she received tenure), Georgetown, American and other universities and colleges in the U.S. and abroad

COLOMBO (IDN) — The recent UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution A/HRC/46/L.1/Rev.1 of March 16 has brought extensive charges against Sri Lanka over alleged human rights violations but is arguably seriously flawed.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 03 April 2021

Photo: Russia-Africa Interparty Cooperation forum.

Strengthening Russia-Africa Inter-Party Cooperation

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) — Over the past few years, Russia's sphere of influence in Africa has been strengthening and broadening with much focus on helping to maintain peace and security and making an investment in exploiting natural resources in Africa. The first historic Russia-Africa summit held in October 2019 has further and concretely laid out a comprehensive roadmap with which to forge a future relationship with the continent.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 02 April 2021

Photo: Food systems in Africa have been adversely impacted by climate-induced shocks, conflicts and most recently, COVID-19. © FAO/Petterik Wiggers

Global Pandemic Hits the World's Poorest the Hardest

By J Natranis

NEW YORK (IDN) — The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a deeply troubling situation in the world’s poorest countries. It threatens to push the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) another ten years further into the future, warns the Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2021 by more than 60 United Nations Agencies and international organizations. Because of the pandemic, the global economy has experienced the worst recession in 90 years.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 01 April 2021

Photo: Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev discussing German unification with Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Chancellor Helmut Kohl in Russia, July 15, 1990. Credit: Bundesbildstelle / Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung.

Rolling Back on NATO's Expansion Should Be President Joe Biden's Immediate Task

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — History and events have not been kind to Russia. Napoleon’s invasion, revolution, two world wars, Hitler’s invasion, Stalin’s communism and, most recently, the expansion of NATO, have shattered the Russian people’s equilibrium and self-regard time and time again.

At the end of the Cold War and with agreement on the NATO-Russia Founding Act it seemed that big steps towards a new kind of future were being taken. First, Russia would have a seat at NATO's table. Later it would join NATO. Later still, the European Union. Some said this would happen over ten years, others twenty.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 30 March 2021

Photo source: International Centre for Investigative Reporting

Extremist Groups' Attacks on Civilians in Niger Condemned

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — “Multiple senseless attacks” on civilian populations by armed groups in the Tahoua and Tilabery regions of Niger were condemned by world leaders and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) which noted the recent killings of some 200 civilians including children in the violence.

In the last ten days alone, three attacks in Banibangou, Tahoua and Abala, near the West African nation of Mali, also destroyed productive infrastructure such as granaries, jeopardizing livelihoods in some of the most vulnerable regions of the country, the humanitarian group reported.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 29 March 2021

Photo: Tibet President Lobsang Sangay in Vienna, Austria, in 2012. CC BY-SA 3.0

The World Must Stand with Tibet

Viewpoint by Lobsang Sangay

The author is President of the Tibetan-government-in-exile, called as Central Tibetan Administration.

DARJEELING, India (IDN) — Tibet, famously called the roof of the world, a state in the Himalayas neighbored by India and China has for long been in a state of the tussle with Beijing. China lays the claim over the entire Tibet and calls it its own territory; however, Tibet has always strived for an independent existence. This is among the many conflicts currently brewing in South Asia, probably the worse as far as the power imbalance is concerned.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; South Asia; 29 March 2021

Photo: People across ethnic and religious divides hold vigil in Yangon, Myanmar. Unsplash/Zinko Hein. Source: UN.

UN Condemns 'Shameful, Cowardly' Attacks on Peaceful Protesters in Myanmar

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) — UN Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned in the strongest terms, the killing of dozens of civilians, including children and young people, by security forces in Myanmar on March 27.

In a statement issued by Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq, the UN chief said, “the continuing military crackdown…is unacceptable and demands a firm, unified and resolute international response”. 

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 28 March 2021

Image credit: UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)

UNHRC’s Sri Lanka Resolution Viewed as Intrusive Intervention

By Kalinga Seneviratne*

SYDNEY (IDN) — “The Core Group chaired by the UK tabled a shoddy motion based on a hostile UNHRC Report riddled with factual errors and unproven allegations going back to 2009; none of which qualifies as robust evidence,” said Lord Naseby. Conservative party member and the President of the All-Party Parliamentary UK-Sri Lanka Group in a statement issued on March 23 following a vote at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva that called for intrusive human rights intervention in Sri Lanka’s domestic affairs.