SUSTAINABILITY

Photo: A protester holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration in support of the young Iranian woman, who died after being arrested in Tehran by the Islamic Republic's morality police, on September 20, 2022. three days in a coma. Credit: Ozan KOSE / AFP via Getty Images. Source: WBUR.

Iran Overwhelmed by “Women-Life-Liberty!” Cries

Viewpoint by René Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens

GENEVA (IDN) — The cry “Women-Life-Liberty!” is going up in many different parts of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is not possible to know in advance how strong the protests will be and what will be specific reforms demanded. However, the Government is worried. On October 3, Ayatollah Ali Khomeinei, the Supreme Guide, justified the repression in a talk to the Military Academy and said that the manifestations were the work of the USA and Israel.

: Rene Wadlow; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 08 October 2022

Photo: A Sri Lankan Muslim woman walks along a road in Colombo. Credit. Lakruwan Wanniarachchi / AFP. Source: The Hindu.

Sri Lanka: Muslim Women to Take Up 50% Quota Demand in Political Bodies

By Sugeeswara Senadhira

COLOMBO (IDN) — Though Muslim women have been considered a group that shunned politics for generations, in recent months, there has been a remarkable change in their awareness of political rights. Reflecting this new awareness, a group of Muslim women displayed their desire to take up the cause of Sri Lankan women for their rightful place in politics.

: South Asia Bureau; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 07 October 2022

Photo: Zimbabwean farmer Ruth Rugejo runs a hydroponics sytstem that uses recycled plastic bottles at her home in Gweru. Credit: Kudzai Mpangi.

Zimbabwe: Growing Lettuce in Empty Plastic Bottles

By Farai Shawn Matiashe

MUTARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) — Ruth Rugeje, 38, monitors plants of cabbages, a pale green leafy vegetable, grown in empty two-litre bottles in the backyard of her home in Mutapa, a high-density suburb in the central Zimbabwean city of Gweru.

This innovative farmer picked these plastic bottles from the illegal dumping sites in her neighbourhood and reused them in hydroponics.

There is a greenhouse to help control temperatures in her garden.

: Africa & ME Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 07 October 2022

Pacific Leaders Urge Re-Focus on Climate Emergency

Viewpoint by Volker Boege

Toda Peace Institute issued this article, and it is being republished with their permission.

BRISBANE, Australia (IDN) — At the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2022, the leaders of the small island—or ‘big ocean’—countries in the Pacific called for a re-focus on the global climate emergency. Using their moral authority, which is grounded in the fact that their countries are the ones most affected by this emergency while contributing hardly anything to its causes, Pacific leaders demanded more decisive climate action and put forward new proposals and initiatives.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 07 October 2022

Photo: Army Officers appear on Burkina Faso TV, declaring new coup, dismissing Junta leader Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.

Africa Would Do Well to Stop Playing with Fire

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) — There is a fire in Ouagadougou. And who’s to say where it’s catching next? For the second time in eight months, the military in Burkina Faso struck in a palace coup that removed military leader Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.

The coup leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, cited the same excuses Damiba gave for seizing power in January as reasons for his removal; namely, that the government has proved incompetent in containing the spread of Islamic insurgency, leading to increasing loss of lives among military and civilian populations.

: Africa & ME Editor; OPINION; 06 October 2022

Photo: Nuon Chea (left) and Khieu Samphan in the Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). (file) © ECCC/Sok Heng Nhet.

Lessons of the Cambodian-UN War Crimes Trials

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Finally, finally, the over-long, fifteen-year-long trials of the leaders of the murderous Khmer Rouge leadership of Cambodia are concluded. It has been water on stone, but the conclusion is the stone has cracked.

The New York Times reported on September 22: “The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia—a United Nations-backed tribunal charged with prosecuting the crimes of the Khmer Rouge regime—held its final hearing. It rejected an appeal by the ninety-one years old Khieu Samphan, the fanatical communist movement’s last surviving leader, upholding his conviction and life sentence for genocide.”

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 04 October 2022

Photo: Felicien Kabuga, 87, accused of aiding and abetting hit squads who slaughtered ethnic Tutsis. Credit: www.brut.media.

Genocide Suspect Rebuffs International Court Trying Hate Speech Crimes

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — A Rwandan businessman and alleged genocidaire failed to appear in court, where he is being tried on charges of masterminding and financing the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Felicien Kabuga, 87, is accused of aiding and abetting hit squads who slaughtered ethnic Tutsis and with using a radio station known as Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines to incite hatred, according to the charges filed before a UN tribunal at The Hague.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 03 October 2022

Photo: 51st regular session of the Human Rights Council (12 September – 7 October 2022). Credit: UN Human Rights Council.

Russia & China Face Draft Resolutions at the UN Rights Council

By A.L.A Azeez

GENEVA (IDN) — At the current session ≈ of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, in addition to Sri Lanka, both Russia and China are facing a draft resolution and a draft decision, respectively. This must be the first time in HRC (or its predecessor—the Commission on Human Rights) that both countries figure at a 'pronouncement' stage, at the same time, beyond the general raising of concerns, statements, thematic discussions etc.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 03 October 2022

Photo: A glimpse of the Women Leadership Forum. Credit: Katharina Schiffl.

Women Leadership Forum Discusses the Significance of Gender Equality

By Aurora Weiss

VIENNA (IDN) — The gender pay gap, inequality in access to education and the labour market: These issues remain pertinent in the 21st century. Achieving full gender equality, one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), could take close to 300 years if the current rate of progress continues, noted a report published by UN Women and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) in early September.

: Europe Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 03 October 2022

Photo: Sri Lanka's new Foreign Minister Mohamed-Ali-Sabry. Source: Asian Affairs.

Sri Lanka: Nation Struggles as Noose Tightens

This article was issued by Asian Affairs (London).

Viewpoint by Neville de Silva*

LONDON (IDN) — Time is running out. Even as this is written, Sri Lanka is desperately canvassing support from within the 47-member UN Human Rights Council (HRC) now meeting in Geneva, to stave off a tougher and hard-hitting resolution that castigates the island-nation for its democratic regression, rising militarisation and official corruption.