THE WORLD

Photo: The session on climate emergency at Jaipur Literature Festival. (L to R Ms. Renata Dessallien, resident coordinator of UN in India; Ms. Namita Waikar, managing editor of online journal PARI; Ms. Shubhangi Swarup, writer and filmmaker; Ms. Dia Mirza, Actress and UN Advocate for Sustainable Development. Credit: UN India/Yangerla Jamir.

UN Avails of Famed Literature Festival to Achieve Global Goals

By Devinder Kumar

JAPIPUR (IDN) – As part of a Decade of Action for accelerating sustainable solutions to all the world’s biggest challenges — ranging from poverty and gender to climate change, inequality and closing the finance gap – the United Nations availed of a new tool end of January: the world’s largest literature festival in India’s eminent ‘pink city’ of Jaipur, the capital of the scenic, almost magical Indian state of Rajasthan. It is known as the Pink City due to the colour of the stone used for many of its glorious palaces and historic monuments.

: Devinder Kumar; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 04 February 2020

Photo: Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel, briefs the Security Council meeting on peace consolidation in West Africa and the Sahel. New York on 8 Jan 2020. Credit: UN

Russia Shares UN Concern About Rising Terrorism in Africa

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW, (IDN) – UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), Mohamed Ibn Chambas, told the UN Security Council’s first formal meeting in 2020 that the West African region has experienced "a devastating surge in terrorist attacks against civilian and military targets". These have "shaken public confidence" and the humanitarian consequences are alarming, he said.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 03 February 2020

Photo: Westminster am 31 January 2020. CC BY 2.0

Why Brexit Has Not and Will Not Trigger EU Disintegration

Viewpoint by Douglas Webber*

LONDON (IDN) – Brexit could radically change the UK. Both Scottish independence and Northern Ireland breaking away from Britain are conceivable and Boris Johnson’s government has a lot on his plate when it comes to negotiating the country’s future relationship with the EU, all the while delivering on the promised benefits of independence.

For the EU, Brexit marks more of a return to business as usual. The prospective fallout of Brexit will be rather less far-reaching or dramatic. At the time of the 2016 referendum, there were widespread fears that Brexit would unleash a contagion effect among other member states that could destroy the EU.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 03 February 2020

Photo: Last train of Wuhan metro before authorities lock down the city for the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak. CC BY 3.0

Why Shutting Down Chinese ‘Wet Markets’ Could Be a Terrible Mistake

Viewpoint by Christos Lynteris and Lyle Fearnley*

LONDON (IDN) – An epidemic of a new coronavirus, yet to receive a proper name by the WHO, has been developing in China and affecting other parts of the world over the past few weeks. So far, we know thousands have been infected, with nearly 200 deaths, with the virus having spread to numerous countries.

As anthropologists who have worked for a long time on diseases that spread from animals to humans (zoonotic diseases) in China, our research can provide insights into the unfolding crisis.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 02 February 2020

Photo: Weapons being burnt during the official launch of the Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DDRR) process in Muramvya, Burundi. Source: Africa Renewal.

African Union Campaigning to Achieve Peace and End Conflict

By Zipporah Musau, Africa Renewal

NEW YORK (IDN) – Realising a conflict-free Africa is the dream of every African. In this edition, we highlight the current hotspots; the root causes of conflicts; the various efforts in search of peaceful co-existence and development and the African Union’s quest for silencing the guns by 2020.

In 2013 African Union (AU) member state representatives gathered at its headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the Organisation of African Unity was established in 1963, to celebrate the body’s 50th anniversary.

: Africa Renewal; THE WORLD; Africa; 01 February 2020

Photo: Abidjan shaves a district to secure its airport. Courtesy of FR24News

Shantytowns Housing Thousands Demolished in Ivory Coast

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Bulldozers have begun demolishing homes built in the shantytowns of Abidjan, the commercial capital of the Ivory Coast, leaving thousands without shelter as authorities carry out plans to build a buffer zone around an international airport.

This comes as large numbers of Ivorians are leaving remote farms and villages for a better life.

The demolitions even destroyed the neighborhood mosque, charged Imam Issa Sankoudouma.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 01 February 2020

Collage courtesy of Sri Lanka’s Daily FT.

Sri Lanka Committed to Non-Proliferation and Disarmament

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA | COLOMBO (IDN) – In an exceptional move, Germany has granted funds to Sri Lanka’s Forum on Disarmament and Development (FDD) for the translation of the texts of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban-Treaty (CTBT) to the island state’s official languages Sinhala and Tamil. NPT and CTBT texts were until now available only in official languages of the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 31 January 2020

Photo: Body temperature being checked at the exit of a railway station in Fuyang, Anhui province, China, January 29, 2020. Credit: AN Ming/EPA

Why China’s Strategy to Contain the Coronavirus Might Work

Viewpoint by Fei Chen*

LIVERPOOL (IDN) – On January 23, the authorities of Wuhan City, China, sealed off the motorways and shut down all public transport to stop the corona virus outbreak from spreading. Shortly afterwards, at least ten other cities in China were under quarantine orders, most of them located in the areas surrounding Wuhan.

It sounds unbelievable to quarantine a city of 11 million people, but it may work because movement within and between cities in China relies heavily on public transport infrastructure. Major cities in China are well connected by airports, express railways, motorways and long-distance buses.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 31 January 2020

Image: Blast mine - American M14, Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Trump Administration's Landmine Policy a Dangerous Misstep

By J C Suresh

TORONTO | WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) —In yet another move to reverse former President Barack Obama’s strategies for a more humane world, the Trump administration is poised to rescind his predecessor's 2014 directive to no longer “produce or otherwise acquire any anti-personnel landmines,” known as APLs, according to several media reports. APLs are small explosive devices placed under, on, or near the ground. The new policy would reportedly lift current restrictions on deploying landmines outside the Korean Peninsula.

: J C Suresh; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 30 January 2020

Trump the Transgressor: The Psychological Appeal of Leaders Who Break the Rules

Viewpoint by Barry Richards*

LONDON (IDN) – Many of today’s politicians appear to appeal to the basic human need for safety, presenting their versions of strong leadership as the best hope for order and safety in a fearful world of growing instability and risk.

Much evidence confirms that this appeal is certainly an important factor in the political landscape.

But alongside this, other psychological dynamics are currently influential in a number of Western democracies – particularly in attracting people to support populist leaders and their agendas.