Asia-Pacific

Photo: Fumiyasu Akegawa addressing an audience during one of his visits to Thailand and Vietnam. Credit: DEVNET Japan

Promoting Sustainable Development in Southeast Asia

Viewpoint by Fumiyasu Akegawa

Fumiyasu Akegawa is founder and president of DEVNET Japan.

TOKYO (IDN) – Since DEVNET Japan participated in August 2015 in Expo 2015 hosted by the Italian city of Milan, the organization set up in March 2013 to promote Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) particularly in Southeast Asia has made considerable strides.

It was one of the notable non-official participants of the universal exhibition. Then known as DEVNET Tokyo Foundation, we availed of Milan Expo 2015 to throw light on our agenda focused on promoting seven themes: poverty alleviation; food security; humanitarian support; environmental protection; advanced technology and energy saving; support of women entrepreneurs and improvement of women's status; and the establishment of sustainable developing society.

: Global Cooperation Council; OPINION; 27 December 2017

Photo: The Security Council unanimously adopts resolution 2397 (2017), condemning in the strongest terms the ballistic missile launch conducted by the DPRK on 28 November 2017 in violation and flagrant disregard of the Security Council's resolutions on non-proliferation. UN Photo/Manuel Elias

UN Chief Expects New Sanctions To Help Make 2018 'A Pivotal Year' for the Korean Peninsula

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres desires to make 2018 "a pivotal year" for the achievement of sustainable peace on the Korean Peninsula.

In a statement attributable to his spokesperson, following the adoption of a new Security Council resolution (UNSCR 2397), he said: "The only way forward for a comprehensive peaceful and political solution requires de-escalation and open communication channels, now."

The resolution was approved on December 22 in response to the latest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), widely known as North Korea, on November 28.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 26 December 2017

Traumatised Rohingya Women Bear the Brunt of Persecution

By Naimul Haq

COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh (IDN) – Shefali Aktar, mother of three, fled her home in Thaphanbin, a tiny village overlooking the Arakan Mountains in Rakhine state in Myanmar.

The 22-year-old pregnant woman escaped near death when her neighbour helped her and her children to hide in the nearby forest the night after the entire population of about 600 families in her village was wiped out.

“I went back to my village the next evening to find my husband. Instead, I found dead bodies,” says Shefali, breaking down in tears as she continues to narrate the horror.

: Naimul Haq; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 21 December 2017

Photo: UN General Assembly and the Security Council re-elected Justice Dalveer Bhandari to the World Court on November 20, 2017.

Re-election of India's Nominee to the World Court 'Historic'

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – India has scored a "historic" victory over Britain, one of the five permanent members (P5) of the Security Council, with the re-election of Justice Dalveer Bhandari to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), principal judicial organ of the United Nations. The win is historic because it’s the first time since 1946 that no judge from a P5 member is a part of the ICJ, which has its seat in The Hague, the Netherlands.

After Britain pulled out its candidate Christopher Greenwood before the 12th round of voting on November 20, Justice Bhandari won the last of five seats for which elections were held. He received 183 votes in the 193-member General Assembly and secured all the 15 votes in the Security Council after separate and simultaneous elections were held at the UN headquarters in New York.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 11 December 2017

Photo: Monks and nuns taking a Buddhist Volunteer Spirit for Communication training course at the BDP’s Training Center, Wat Nakhoun Noi, Nasaythong District, Vientiane Credit: Toung Eh Synuanchanh.

Village Buddhist Monks in Laos Initiate Environmentally-Aware Development

By Toung Eh Synuanchanh

This article is the 19th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

BEUNGSANTHUENG, Laos (IDN) – A quiet revolution is taking shape in rural Laos, where environmentally-conscious village Buddhist monks are teaching people morality and meditation to spearhead a movement mobilising the people to economically develop their communities for living in harmony with nature rather than destroying it in the name of development.

At the Ban Beungsanthueng community, in Nongbok District in Khammouane Province of Laos, about 400 km south of the capital Vientiane, monks educate the villagers in Sila (Buddhist morality) and the way to live a good life (Right Livelihood), while protecting the environment. In this nominally communist country, the monks explain the linkage between humans and nature to villagers, and its importance to their livelihoods and well-being.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 07 December 2017

Photo: People in Pyongyang watch Kim Jong-un on North Korean TV, 2015. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

No More Bluster, A Way Out of North Korean Nuclear Crisis

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - When, soon after the election, President Barack Obama invited Donald Trump to the White House we didn't learn much about their conversation. But we were briefed on one thing: Obama had told Trump that North Korea would be the most pressing and difficult issue on his agenda.

How right that was. But the Americans have missed the boat. It's as simple as that. What’s done is done. While Washington has dithered and dithered through three successive presidencies, missing opportunity after opportunity, North Korea has gone from zero nuclear weapons to an arsenal of at least 20. Its test of an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile, in the early hours of November 29, is said to be capable of striking the U.S. It doesn't have a nuclear tip yet but that will come sometime in the next two or three years.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 05 December 2017

Photo: WANG Shouwen, China’s Vice-Minister of Commerce. Credit: The Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

China and UNIDO Have Engaged in Substantial Cooperation

By WANG Shouwen

WANG Shouwen is China’s Vice-Minister of Commerce. Following are extensive excerpts from his address at the 17th session of the UNIDO General Conference 'Partnering for Impact: Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals' in Vienna on November 27, 2017 – after Li Yong was re-appointed for a second term (2017-2021) as the Director General of the Organization. – The Editor

VIENNA (IDN) – China appreciates the significant achievements UNIDO has made during the past 4 years under the guidance of DG Li Yong. ISID [Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development] was incorporated into 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. PCP [the Programme for Country Partnership] received full recognition of member countries. UNIDO becomes the leading agency in UN System of implementing the Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa. With its active participation in mechanisms such as G20 and the BRICS, UNIDO has remarkably increased its influence and visibility.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 29 November 2017

From Arizona to Bangkok, Determined to Help Thailand

By Jutta Wolf

BERLIN | BANGKOK (IDN) - There is something exceptional about Dr. Thanawan Bhookphan who was born in Min Buri, one of the 50 districts of Bangkok, the capital city of Bangkok, and spent over 30 years in the United States.

He received Mechanical Engineering Degree from the University of Arizona, and Master’s Degree and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the Faculty of Industrial Engineering – and gained expertise in several fields of engineering and international business management.

As a university student, he worked with many big and reputed companies as an apprentice. After graduation, he joined Motorola USA and worked in the engineering section, which supports the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), contributing his share to the success of Apollo 14 and 15 lunar missions.

: Jutta Wolf; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 29 November 2017

Photo: Sri Lanka's Foreign Secretary Prasad Kariyawasam. Credit: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sri Lanka.

In Sri Lanka, Development Begins with Reconciliation

By Prasad Kariyawasam

Prasad Kariyawasam is Sri Lanka's Foreign Secretary. Following are extensive excerpts from his address to the UN's Peacebuilding Commission at the UN Headquarters in New York on November 20, 2017. – The Editor

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Sri Lanka is known, perhaps mostly, as the place where Ceylon Tea originates from, or as the land which was torn by conflict for several years, or the country where the famous science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke lived.

But, we are also so much more, and our history also has a bearing on current peacebuilding in our country.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 28 November 2017

Sri Lanka’s 'Vision 2025' Development Programme Gets Going

By Indrajit Coomaraswamy

Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy is Governor of the Sri Lanka Central Bank. The following, a rather comprehensive view of the state of the Sri Lankan economy, is based on a statement made at the United Nations on 20 November 2017. – The Editor

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Sri Lanka has experienced a 27-year separatist conflict in the North and East of the country and two youth insurrections in the South (1971 and 1988-90). Tens of thousands of our people, most of them young, lost their lives. While there was complex causality behind these episodes, arguably the most significant explanatory factor was the mismatch between the expectations of and the opportunities for our young people.