THE WORLD

Image: Flags of CARICOM countries. Credit: TELESUR

CARICOM’s Policy “Coordination”: Successes, Failures and Limitations

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) — The Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) Secretary-General Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti has called for unified positions by the 79-member grouping ahead of several international meetings, namely, the 77th United Nations General Assembly in September, the World Health Summit 2022 in Germany in October as well as the UN Climate Change Conference 2022 (UNFCCC COP 27) to be staged in Egypt in November and the Convention on biological diversity COP 15 in Montreal, Canada in December.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; UN INSIDER; 28 July 2022

Photo: No progress has been made since April 2021, when Chief Negotiators of the EU and OACPS concluded their deliberations and initialled an agreed text for the successor Agreement to the Cotonou Partnership Agreement that expired on February 29, 2020. Credit: OACPS Secretariat

OACPS-European Union Post-Cotonou Negotiations Process in a Stalemate

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) — The 79 member-country Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) is asking the European Commission to explain the long lapse that had occurred since April 2021, when chief negotiators of the EU and OACPS concluded their deliberations and initialled an agreed text for the successor Agreement to the Cotonou Partnership Agreement that expired on February 29, 2020.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; OACPS; 27 July 2022

Drawing by Imadh Azeez against the backdrop of Colombo

Sri Lanka Crisis: A Poetic Perspective

The following poem is by H.A. Azeez. It accompanies a drawing by Imadh Azeez. 'Aragalaya' is the Sinhalese for ‘struggle’, now synonymous with the movement that led to the fall of the government in Sri Lanka.

: Admin; THE WORLD; South Asia; 26 July 2022

Photo shows President Donald Trump arriving at the "Stop The Steal" Rally on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Source: wbur/Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

January 6 Attack on the Capitol: The Most Damning Hearing Yet

Viewpoint by Dr Alon Ben-Meir

The writer is a retired professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University. He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies for over 20 years.

NEW YORK (IDN) — Last Thursday’s (July 21) hearing by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol was nothing but shocking. If we were watching a movie based on a fictitious story portraying an American president who had done what Trump attempted to do it would have still been simply so far-fetched beyond what anyone could possibly fathom.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 26 July 2022

Photo: Charline (left), 11, fled her village because of recent armed clashes in North Kivu province, DR Congo. She has taken refuge with her family in a camp for displaced people called Kiwandja in Rutshuru territory. ©UNICEF/Jean-Claude Wenga

The Congo, its Minerals and its Tribalism

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — When the United Nations pulled its troops out of the Congo, a country the size of western Europe, in June 1964, Secretary General U Thant reported, "The UN cannot permanently protect the Congo from internal tensions and disturbances created by its own organic growth towards unity and nationhood".

: Jonathan Power; THE WORLD; Africa; 26 July 2022

Caring about Nuclear Sharing: A Setback for Nuclear Arms Control

Viewpoint by Herbert Wulf

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

BONN (IDN) — Russia’s repeated references to nuclear weapons since it started the war in Ukraine have put nuclear weapons back at centre stage of the strategic discussions. This has raised anxieties about a possible nuclear war in Europe and it is a setback for nuclear arms control.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 26 July 2022

Photo: Willie Kimani was representing a client who had been assaulted by a police officer. Source: BBC

Unsolved Cases of Police Brutality on The Rise in Kenya

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — For Kenyans who waited six years and one month for justice, a Nairobi court finally handed them a decision—finding three police officers guilty in the kidnapping and murder of a human rights lawyer, his client and their taxi driver—all of whom disappeared after being locked up at a police station.

The mutilated bodies of Willie Kimani, his client Josephat Mwendi and the driver Joseph Muiruri were found two weeks after their disappearance in June 2016. They had reportedly been taken to an open field at night, executed and dumped in a river.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 26 July 2022

Photo: A mother and her child pass by carcasses of goats and sheep in Luuq, Somalia on 21 March 2022. UN Photo/Fardosa Hussein

Deep Cuts in Funds for African Drought Victims as Money Flows to Europe

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — The war in Ukraine is draining millions of dollars away from crises in Africa as funds are being redirected to Europe.

Somalia, facing a food shortage largely driven by the war, could be the most vulnerable. Its aid funding is less than half of last year’s level, while Western donors have sent more than $1.7 billion to respond to the war in Europe.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 25 July 2022

Photo: Demonstrators at an International Women's Day rally in Abidjan on May 8, 2022. Ivorian women's rights groups have denounced a bill legalising polygamy for men. Source: France24

Ivorian Parliament to Review Polygamy in a Blow for Women’s Equality

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — A bill before parliament in the Ivory Coast would upend monogamy and restore polygamy—a marriage that includes one husband and at least two wives. Outraged women’s groups call it a return to inequality.

The move mirrors setbacks worldwide, including the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Roe vs Wade. The bill, proposed by Yacouba Sangare of the ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace, would acknowledge a widespread practice across the country and, therefore, he says, one that should be legally permitted.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 25 July 2022

Photo: Female lawmakers make up 34.57% of Zimbabwe’s Ninth Parliament. Credit: ZimFact

Why Do Zimbabwean Women Shun Politics?

By Farai Shawn Matiashe

MUTARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) — Cyberbullying and online sexual harassment are some dilemmas that young women trying to rise in Zimbabwe’s patriarchal and male-dominated political space face.

What started as a debate on the opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), led by young and charismatic politician Nelson Chamisa not having structures, ended up with CCC spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere fighting cyberbullying from the ruling party, Zanu PF sympathisers in courts.