Peace & Justice

Photo: UN Chief addressing the Security Council on 29 August 2018, Snapshot UN WebTV.

UN Chief Urges Greater Investment in Diplomacy for Peace

By António Guterres

Inclusive mediation requires paying greater attention to the gender dimensions of conflict, including conflict-related sexual violence and the gendered impact of decisions around post-war reconstruction, says UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Following are his remarks, as delivered to the Security Council, to the open debate on the maintenance of international peace and security: mediation and the peaceful resolution of conflicts, in New York on August 29. – The Editor

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – War is becoming increasingly complex — and so is mediating peace.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 03 September 2018

Photo: The closing ceremony marks the end of the quadrennial multisport event held from August 18 until September 2 in Jakarta and Palembang, South Sumatra. Credit: Asian Games 2018.

Out of Africa into Asian Games Arena – 'Shameful', Critics Say

By Kalinga Seneviratne

NEW DELHI (IDN) – It has been simmering since the Doha Asian Games of 2006, which is now perhaps coming to a boil, about whether Arab Gulf States flushed with petrodollars should be allowed to import athletes from Africa merely to win medals at Asian Games. There is a lot of resentment in India because it deprived India of a historic achievement of topping the gold medal table in athletics at the just concluded 18th Asian Games from August 18 to September 2 in Jakarta.

Tiny Arab Gulf States of Bahrain and Qatar stood out with African born athletes sweeping the medals. Bahrain in particular stood out, with all of their 25 medals at the Games having come in track and field, largely from athletes that only recently gained Bahrain nationality.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 02 September 2018

Photo: Kairat Umarov, Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the UN and President of the Security Council for the month of January, speaks to press following Security Council consultations on the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA) and other matters. 22 January 2018. United Nations, New York. UN Photo/Loey Felipe

Kazakhstan Persistently Pursuing Peace and Security Agenda

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – Four months before Kazakhstan's eventful two-year non-permanent membership of the Security Council comes to an end, the Central Asian Republic continues to make its presence felt in an organ of the United Nations, which has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.

2018 began with Kazakhstan, as the first Central Asian country ever, assuming presidency of the Council during the month of January with the aim to make a feasible contribution to the peaceful settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli confrontation, conflicts in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Central Asia, the de-escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula, and the resolution of crises in Africa and Asia.

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 31 August 2018

Photo: California State Capitol. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

California Leads the Way in Support of Nuclear Disarmament

By J C Suresh

TORONTO (IDN) – The State Senate of California, the most populous state in the United States, has adopted Assembly Joint Resolution 33 (AJR 33), which calls upon the federal government to embrace the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, make nuclear disarmament the centerpiece of national security policy, and spearhead a global effort to prevent nuclear war.

Santa Barbara's State Assembly member Monique Limón introduced the Resolution emphasizing that since the height of the Cold War, the United States and Russia have dismantled more than 50,000 nuclear warheads, but 15,000 of these weapons still exist and pose an intolerable risk to human survival.

: J C Suresh; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 30 August 2018

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres addresses the Security Council meeting on the situation in Myanmar, commemorating the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the Rohingya crisis in 2017. UN Photo/Evan Schneider.

Guterres Urges Security Council to Work with Myanmar, Says Rohingya Refugees Lack Life-Saving Assistance

By António Guterres

A report released on August 27 by UN investigators accused Myanmar's military of carrying out mass killings and gang rapes of the Rohingya with "genocidal intent" and called for prosecution of the country's commander-in-chief, senior General Ming Aung Hlaing, and five generals. On August 28, UN Secretary-General António Guterres spoke "with a heavy heart" to the Security Council meeting on Myanmar asking for those behind the Rohingya crisis to be held accountable. – The Editor

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – […] The massive refugee emergency that began one year ago in Rakhine State, Myanmar, has become one of the world’s worst humanitarian and human rights crises.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 29 August 2018

Photo: Families leave Maasai Mau Forest on July 8, 2018 as evictions of illegal settlers started. Photo | File | Nation Media Group

Settlers Face Eviction in Kenya as Gov't Plan to Save Trees

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | NAIROBI (IDN) – Some 40,000 settlers in the Maasai Mau forest in Kenya face imminent eviction by the Kenyan government which says it is protecting the forest in the name of conservation.

Deputy President William Ruto said those who encroached on the forest should be flushed out but in a humane manner. "We respect every Kenyan's rights. No force should be used as they are Kenyans and not animals," Ruto said.

Ruto’s calls for negotiations were dismissed by Environment Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko who declared that the evictions were non-negotiable and that there would be no compensation.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 28 August 2018

Photo: Rohingya refugees in Kutupalong settlement in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, hold a sign demanding their repatriation to their homeland in Myanmar. Credit: Caroline Gluck/UNHCR

The Rohingya are Subject to Genocide, International Community Must Act

Viewpoint by Razia Sultana

The author is a Rohingya lawyer, researcher and educator specializing in trauma, mass rape and trafficking of Rohingya girls and women. She has been working with Rohingya women and girls in the refugee camps in Bangladesh documenting the stories of women and girls who fled Myanmar, and has published two reports: in 2017 and in February 2018. She is coordinator of the Free Rohingya Coalition, Director of Arakan Rohingya National Organization’s (ARNO) women section, and the founder of Rohingya Women Welfare (ROWW). – The Editor

DHAKA (IDN) – One year ago, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people arrived in Bangladesh from Myanmar with only the clothes on their back and stories of terror, rape, and murder. The UK, the U.S. and others have described the events as ethnic cleansing but I describe them without hesitation as genocide.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 26 August 2018

Mozambique Imposing Hefty Fees on Local and Foreign Media

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Press freedom in Mozambique just got a lot less free. Under a new government decree, local and foreign journalists must now pony up thousands of dollars for the right to report in this Southern African country.

The little dribble of news about Mozambique in the foreign press could disappear altogether, ending press freedom at a crucial time. Human rights groups call it an attempt to discourage reporting from the country.

"We think this is completely exorbitant and out of any reasonable proportion," said Arnaud Froger, head of the Africa desk for the watchdog group Reporters Without Borders.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 21 August 2018

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres (front left) views an exhibit at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum on 9 August 2018. UN Photo/Daniel Powell

73 Years On, a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World Remains a Mirage

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN (IDN) – Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda recall a quote from Martin Luther King Jr – "We are always on the threshold of a new dawn" – and aver that the adoption of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in July 2017 is such a 'threshold'.

In a joint appeal 'To the Youth of the World', released to the media and wider public in Rome, and handed over to Pope Francis, they note that the Treaty "is an international legal instrument that establishes the absolute illegality" of nuclear weapons.

: Ramesh Jaura; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 20 August 2018

UN Determined to Protect Civilians, Humanitarian Aid Workers

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Fifteen years ago, a bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in Iraq's capital Baghdad killed 22 humanitarian aid workers, including the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. The Brazilian United Nations diplomat had been working for the world body's humanitarian and political programs for more than 34 years.

"The Canal Hotel bombing was," according to Secretary-General António Guterres, "a massive loss for the United Nations and the humanitarian community, and it marked a turning point for the need to increase the protection of humanitarian operations in Iraq and worldwide."