SUSTAINABILITY

Photo: View of the front line of demonstrators during the March on Washington in 1963 over clasped hands. Credit: Steve Schapiro/Corbis. Source: AARP

Civil and Political Rights are Also Indivisible Human Rights

Viewpoint by Kalinga Seneviratne

SINGAPORE (IDN) – When European gunboats went across the world, Christian missionaries who wanted to “civilize” the people – to whom the Bible was an unknown entity – accompanied the colonizers. Today, when U.S. or NATO missiles rain on countries, Western human rights organisations and their activists follow them, with their media in tow. They also have a similar mindset: to civilize the people with notions of “freedom” and democracy. However, the debacle of the ‘Arab Spring’ and the double standards practiced in the war on terror, have exposed the shortcomings of this gospel.

As we mark the 70th anniversary (December 10) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) adopted at the United Nations it is good time to review its relevance to today’s society. Should this document be the sole criteria of human rights in the 21st century?

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 10 December 2018

Parliamentarians for Nuclear Disarmament Emphasize Need to Combat Climate Change

By Aleksandra Gadzinski

KATOWICE (IDN) – Nuclear weapons and climate change are the two major existential threats to the survival of humanity, civilization and the planet Earth. With this in view, in January 2018 the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands of the legendary Doomsday Clock to 2 minutes to Midnight, due to the threats from nuclear weapons and climate change, said Alyn Ware, Global Coordinator of the Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (PNND) at an event on December 9.

The event was hosted by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) at the two-week-long COP24, the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Katowice, Poland that concludes on December 14.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 10 December 2018

Photo credit: Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Shigeo Hayashi - RA119-RA134

Nuclear Weapons and Climate Change Threaten Human Survival

John Avery interviews David Krieger

COPENHAGEN | SANTA BARBARA, CA (IDN) – One of the five “M’s” can trigger a nuclear war any time: malice, madness, mistake, miscalculation and manipulation. "Of these five, only malice is subject to possibly being prevented by nuclear deterrence and of this there is no certainty. But nuclear deterrence (threat of nuclear retaliation) will not be at all effective against madness, mistake, miscalculation or manipulation (hacking)," David Krieger tells John Scales Avery in an exceptional interview.

Krieger is the Founder and President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF) that has been committed to a world free of nuclear weapons since 1982. He has been working steadily and unwaveringly for peace and the total abolition of nuclear weapons. Avery is an eminent academician and scientist, and an impassioned peace activist.

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 09 December 2018

Photo (L-R): Benjamin Schachter, OHCHR; Jennifer Hanna, PCCB; Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba, UN Secretary General Special Envoy for the 2019 Climate Summit; Verona Collantes, UN Women; Michael Windfuhr, German Institute for Human Rights; Agnes Leina, Illaramatak Community Concerns; and Sébastien Duyck, Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL). Credit: IISD.

Experts Urge Respect for Human Rights in Climate Actions

By Aleksandra Gadzinski

KATOWICE (IDN) – Independent experts of the UN Human Rights Council, are calling on States to fully integrate human rights standards and principles in the rules for implementing the Paris Agreement on climate change (the Paris Rulebook) adopted by the international community.

In the run-up to the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, they recalled that "in a significant breakthrough" in 2015, Parties to the Paris Agreement recognized the need to integrate their human rights obligations and their efforts to address climate change, pledging to respect and protect human rights in all climate actions.

: Jaya Ramachandran; UN INSIDER; 09 December 2018

Gap Widens Between Ambition and Action To Combat Future Climate Risks

By Aleksandra Gadzinski

KATOWICE (IDN) – Climate consciousness across the globe is on the rise. But a new report has found a considerable gap between countries’ preparedness for climate change and the actual measures put in place to prepare communities for a future of increasing climate risks.

The fourth edition of the UN Environment's Adaptation Gap Report highlights in particular a growing divide between the estimated annual costs of adaptation and the actual global investments in resilience measures, establishing a distinct connection between adaptation to climate change and sustainable development that results in healthy communities and thriving economies.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 08 December 2018

Photos courtesy of Frank Darko and Education in Ghana. Source: YaleGlobal Online.

Ghanaian Inventor Eases Children's Access to Schools Across Rivers

By Devendra Kamarajan

ACCRA (IDN) – A young inventor, Frank Darko, has designed a water cycle to help Ghanaian children living in villages throughout the Volta region reach schools. Currently, they must swim or wade through at least one river every day to get to the nearest school. This is particularly dangerous during the rainy season, three months a year.

Frank Darko, a 27-year-old Ghanaian man, was moved to action in 2017, after seeing a documentary and news reports about the children’s plight, reports Raluca Besliu in YaleGlobal. He invented a water bicycle to help children and others living in river regions to cross bodies of water.

: Devendra Kamarajan; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 December 2018

Image: The Belt and Road Initiative includes one-third of world trade and GDP and over 60% of the world's population, says the World Bank.

Silk Road: A Debt 'Trap' or an Opportunity for the West Joining China to Assist Developing Countries?

By Dr. Palitha Kohona

The author is former Foreign Secretary and former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations.

COLOMBO (IDN) – "Any conflict between the U.S. and China, including a trade war, would do irreparable damage to both, not to mention the rest of the world. However, the two giants have a unique opportunity in history to get away from traditional power based competition to cooperate for the common good of humanity, especially the developing countries whose primary interest is in progressing economically. Such cooperation may not happen any time soon but a golden opportunity exists."

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; OPINION; 07 December 2018

IFAD President Gilbert Houngbo being interviewed by IDN-INPS Southern Africa correspondent Jeffrey Moyo in Harare, Zimbabwe, on December 3, 2018.

UN Specialised Agency IFAD Joins 79-nation ACP to Rescue African Agriculture

IDN interviews IFAD President Gilbert Houngbo

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (IDN) – Smallholder rural farmers in Zimbabwe are set to benefit from international funding intended to improve access to inputs, irrigation and the adoption of smart farming practices in the face of predicted El Nino-induced drought.

On the first visit to Zimbabwe of a president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) at the beginning of December, it was made known that the Rome-based specialised agency of the United Nations is making 51 million dollars available for development of the agricultural sector in remote areas of the country.

: Jeffrey Moyo; THE WORLD; Africa; 06 December 2018

Leaders Pledge to Boost Blue Economy, Protect Water Bodies

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (IDN) – The Kenyan capital was literally painted ‘blue’ for the first-ever global conference on the blue economy attended by over 18,000 participants from 180 countries.

Running from November 26 to 28, the Sustainable Blue Economy Conference ended with various countries signing commitments to ensure that humanity benefits from the blue economy – or the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs.

Participants discussed a host of topics around the issue of sustainable use of oceans, seas and inland water bodies, and a joint communiqué issued by leaders undertook to utilise their countries' water resources for the benefit of their people.

: Justus Wanzala; SUSTAINABILITY; Oceans, seas and marine resources; 05 December 2018

Photo: Deputy Executive Secretary Giovanie Biha of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). Credit: Encomium Magazine.

Africa Should Focus on Young People – Say Experts

By Ronald Joshua

KIGALI (IDN) – Africa’s “easy decade” of accelerated economic growth is coming to an end, and only accelerated job creation and integration will ensure sustainable growth and development across the continent, Prof. Paul Collier, one of the world’s most influential development economists has warned.

A Professor of Economics and Public Policy in the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, Collier was delivering a keynote address at the African Economic Conference 2018, hosted by the African Development Bank, the Economic Commission for Africa and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Kigali, Rwanda.