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Photo: A Palestine refugee woman receives food assistance at the UNRWA Khan Younis Distribution Centre in Gaza. UNRWA/Tamer Hamam.

EU Slates U.S. for Slashing Aid Funding to Palestinian Refugees, UN Urges Increased Assistance

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Nearly three months after the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in its 2017 Annual Report warned about the deteriorating state of health across the agency’s five areas of operation – Jordan, Lebanon, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Gaza, and Syria – the United States has announced its decision to stop funding the agency, worsening the situation further.

In the absence of a solution to the Palestine refugee problem, the UN General Assembly has repeatedly renewed UNRWA's mandate, most recently extending it until June 30, 2020.

: J Nastranis; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 01 September 2018

Photo: Kairat Umarov, Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the UN and President of the Security Council for the month of January, speaks to press following Security Council consultations on the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA) and other matters. 22 January 2018. United Nations, New York. UN Photo/Loey Felipe

Kazakhstan Persistently Pursuing Peace and Security Agenda

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – Four months before Kazakhstan's eventful two-year non-permanent membership of the Security Council comes to an end, the Central Asian Republic continues to make its presence felt in an organ of the United Nations, which has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.

2018 began with Kazakhstan, as the first Central Asian country ever, assuming presidency of the Council during the month of January with the aim to make a feasible contribution to the peaceful settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli confrontation, conflicts in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Central Asia, the de-escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula, and the resolution of crises in Africa and Asia.

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 31 August 2018

Photo: Participants of the 2018 CTBTO GEM – Youth International Conference in Astana. In the front is ATOM Project leader, Honorary Ambassador and artist Karipbek Kuyukov. Behind him: Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov (on the right) and CTBTO Executive Secretary Dr Lassina Zerbo (on the left). Credit: CTBTO. | Photos of Kazakh Foreign Minister Abdrakhmanov and Dr Zerbo in the text are by Katsuhiro Asagiri, IDN-INPS Multimedia Director.

Calls for Making Global Nuclear Test Ban Legally Binding

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | VIENNA | ASTANA (IDN) – The Kazakh Minister of Foreign Affairs Kairat Abdrakhmanov and CTBTO Executive Secretary Dr Lassina Zerbo have called on all States Signatories "to spare no effort to ensure that the nuclear test ban becomes legally binding by achieving the entry into force" of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in limbo for 22 years.

This clarion call is backed by Foreign Minister Heiko Maas of Germany, which has been elected as a non-permanent member of the Security Council for 2019-2020. In a statement issued to mark the International Day against Nuclear Tests (IDANT) on August 29, he declares: "The danger posed by nuclear weapons is particularly concrete when it comes to nuclear tests. Despite a de facto ban, these tests are unfortunately still taking place. Only one year ago, North Korea conducted its most recent nuclear test."

: Ramesh Jaura; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 30 August 2018

Photo: California State Capitol. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

California Leads the Way in Support of Nuclear Disarmament

By J C Suresh

TORONTO (IDN) – The State Senate of California, the most populous state in the United States, has adopted Assembly Joint Resolution 33 (AJR 33), which calls upon the federal government to embrace the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, make nuclear disarmament the centerpiece of national security policy, and spearhead a global effort to prevent nuclear war.

Santa Barbara's State Assembly member Monique Limón introduced the Resolution emphasizing that since the height of the Cold War, the United States and Russia have dismantled more than 50,000 nuclear warheads, but 15,000 of these weapons still exist and pose an intolerable risk to human survival.

: J C Suresh; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 30 August 2018

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres addresses the Security Council meeting on the situation in Myanmar, commemorating the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the Rohingya crisis in 2017. UN Photo/Evan Schneider.

Guterres Urges Security Council to Work with Myanmar, Says Rohingya Refugees Lack Life-Saving Assistance

By António Guterres

A report released on August 27 by UN investigators accused Myanmar's military of carrying out mass killings and gang rapes of the Rohingya with "genocidal intent" and called for prosecution of the country's commander-in-chief, senior General Ming Aung Hlaing, and five generals. On August 28, UN Secretary-General António Guterres spoke "with a heavy heart" to the Security Council meeting on Myanmar asking for those behind the Rohingya crisis to be held accountable. – The Editor

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – […] The massive refugee emergency that began one year ago in Rakhine State, Myanmar, has become one of the world’s worst humanitarian and human rights crises.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 29 August 2018

Photo: Kofi Annan views one of the displays at the exhibit on the Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues. To his right is Shashi Tharoor, Under-Secretary-General for the Department of Public Information. 24 May 2002. United Nations, New York. UN Photo/Mark Garten.

Kofi Annan: A Man of Rare Warmth, Wit and Wisdom

By Shashi Tharoor

Those who worked with him and those whose lives he touched knew the former United Nations Secretary-General possessed a rare ingredient not always found in successful men – he was a wonderful human being, writes Shashi Tharoor, former UN Under-Secretary-General under Kofi Annan, currently a Member of Parliament in India. This article first appeared on South China Morning Post on August 23, 2018 and is being republished with a view to disseminating more widely the impressions and views of one of Annan's close confidantes. Read the original here.

: UN Bureau; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; United Nations; 29 August 2018

Photo: A young boy runs with his tyre past buildings damaged by air strikes in Saada Old Town. Credit: Giles Clarke/OCHA

Memories of Iraq-Iran War Haunt U.S. Involvement in Yemen

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The evidence that has come out from the UN and NGOs makes clear, without any reservation or ambiguity, that on August 9, 2018 dozens of school children on a bus in Yemen were killed by a Saudi Arabian air-strike, and that American supplied weapons had been used, and probably British too. Criticism of Saudi Arabia and its partner in crime, the United Arab Emirates, has been increasing over the last year.

The U.S. is not a partner in the actual fighting but, started by President Barack Obama and continued on a larger scale by President Donald Trump, the U.S. doesn't only provide weapons but also it has provided intelligence, warplane refueling and guidance technology for missiles and bombs.

: Jonathan Power; THE WORLD; Middle East & North Africa; 28 August 2018

Photo: President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump pose for members of the media with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his wife Margaret Kenyatta as they arrive at the White House, August 27, 2018, in Washington. Credit: U.S. Department of State.

Kenya Signs Deal with U.S. to Finance Wind Power

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) - Kenya has signed agreements with a U.S. wind energy company, providing a major boost for wind power and food security.

President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya said the 'Big Four agenda' projects – boosting manufacturing industry, promoting food security, providing affordable housing and universal healthcare coverage – present major opportunities for local and foreign investors.

The U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and Kipeto Wind Energy Company signed documents to close a $232 million deal in financing the construction and operation of a 100-megawatt grid-connected wind power plant south of Nairobi.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 28 August 2018

Photo: Families leave Maasai Mau Forest on July 8, 2018 as evictions of illegal settlers started. Photo | File | Nation Media Group

Settlers Face Eviction in Kenya as Gov't Plan to Save Trees

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | NAIROBI (IDN) – Some 40,000 settlers in the Maasai Mau forest in Kenya face imminent eviction by the Kenyan government which says it is protecting the forest in the name of conservation.

Deputy President William Ruto said those who encroached on the forest should be flushed out but in a humane manner. "We respect every Kenyan's rights. No force should be used as they are Kenyans and not animals," Ruto said.

Ruto’s calls for negotiations were dismissed by Environment Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko who declared that the evictions were non-negotiable and that there would be no compensation.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 28 August 2018

Photo: A resident of Stofland township returns home, South Africa, 2011. Credit: 2011 Marcus Bleasdale/VII for Human Rights Watch.

Southern African Governments Pressed for Land Reform

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The day of reckoning is arriving in Southern Africa for the hundreds of thousands of blacks whose lands were taken forcibly by white settlers – a crime that goes unpunished despite promises for land reform year after year.

Pressure is growing on governments to take action and return ancestral lands to their original owners. But government leaders have been cautiously backing away from some of their early militant calls for justice.

"It's true whites stole the land, but they also have Namibian blood," said Namibian President Hage Geingob. "Whites are also Namibian," he said diplomatically at a Heroes Day commemoration in northern Namibia on August 26.