Home - IDN-InDepthNews | Analysis That Matters

More Than 220,000 Germans Leave Catholic Church in 2020

By Catholic News Agency (CNA)*

ROME (IDN) — More than 220,000 people left Catholic Church in Germany in 2020, according to official figures. The statistics issued by the German bishops’ conference on July 14 showed that 221,390 people exited the Catholic Church last year.

The figure was almost 19% lower than that of 2019 when a record 272,771 people departed. But it was higher than the 2018 figure of 216,078, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.

: Europe Editor; HUMAN RIGHTS; Religion; 15 July 2021

Photo: Fiji's Health Secretary Dr James Fong. Credit: Fiji govt/Fiji Times/File

15-Year-Old Girl Among Latest Fiji Covid Deaths as Virus Cases Soar Over 11,000

By Josefa Babitu*

SUVA (IDN) — A 15-year-old girl has become Fiji’s youngest death due to the covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, taking the total of deaths due to the virus to 58.

Health Secretary Dr James Fong has confirmed this after an investigation by medical personnel classified the case as another covid-19 death.

The girl from Colo-I-Suva was declared dead on arrival by the attending medical officer at the Raiwaqa Health Centre last week.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 14 July 2021

Photo: For a half century, the French nuclear bomb tests and their consequences have cast a shadow over Tahiti. Image: Bruno Barrilo/Heinui Le Caill

France Denies Covering-Up Deadly Nuclear Tests in French Polynesia

By Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

SUVA (IDN) — The French government has denied any cover-up over radiation levels in the Pacific following its nuclear testing in the region, as state-backed discussions took place in Paris about the legacy of the explosions, reports France 24.

A two-day meeting called by French President Emmanuel Macron was held following fresh allegations that the testing from 1966 to 1996 caused hidden atmospheric and ground radiation.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 14 July 2021

Photo (From left to right): Ambassador Dominika Krois, Permanent Representative of Poland to UNIDO and President of the Industrial Development Board; Gerd Müller, Director General-elect of UNIDO; at the forty-ninth session of the Board on 12 July 2021. Credit: UNIDO

Germany's Gerd Müller Chosen as Next UNIDO Director General

By Reinhard Jacobsen

VIENNA (IDN) — The Industrial Development Board of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has recommended Gerd Müller of Germany to be the Organization’s next Director-General. He is currently Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany.

The Board’s recommendation will be forwarded for approval to the UNIDO General Conference—the Organization’s highest policymaking organ—at its nineteenth session, which will take place from November 29 to December 3, 2021.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; UN INSIDER; 13 July 2021

Photo: Thousands of supporters gather in Belgrade to mourn former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's death on March 18, 2006. Credit: Visual China Group (VCG).

Pressing Need for International Criminal Court 'With Teeth'

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — “Too little too late”. It’s as true of Bashar al-Assad as it was of Muammar Gadhafi, as it was of Saddam Hussein and Pol Pot. The problem always has been not lack of early warning but lack of early action.

We have known, literally for decades, that Syrian President Assad ran an intolerably repressive and amoral regime.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 13 July 2021

Photo: 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines packing up gear to withdraw from Al-Taqaddum Air Base in Iraq. Wikimedia Commons.

What About Iraq and Iran Now That U.S. Afghan War Is Over?

Viewpoint by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies*

NEW YORK (IDN) — At Bagram air-base, Afghan scrap merchants are already picking through the graveyard of U.S. military equipment that was until recently the headquarters of America’s 20-year occupation of their country. Afghan officials say the last U.S. forces slipped away from Bagram in the dead of night, without notice or coordination.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 13 July 2021

Photo: "We are learning how to manage our crops better,” say farmers Malvin Ortiz and Felipe Martínez, “and we are teaching our children how to do it, too.” Now, the future is looking more hopeful." Credit: Oxfam International

Latin America's Unique Biodiversity Can Help Boost Post-Covid Recovery

By Fermin Koop*

LONDON (IDN) — Protecting and restoring natural areas in Latin America, home to 50% of the planet’s biodiversity and over a quarter of its forests, could help the region achieve a ‘green’ post-pandemic recovery and meet biodiversity conservation targets, experts say. Doing so could even create thousands of jobs in key economic sectors such as agriculture.

: Europe Editor; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 13 July 2021

Combating COVID-19 and Ensuring No One is Left Behind

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Kanni Wignaraja, and Bambang Susantono

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is the Executive Secretary, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Kanni Wignaraja is the Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Bambang Susantono is the Vice-President of Asian Development Bank (ADB).

BANGKOK (IDN) — If the world wants to beat back the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure no one is left behind in the recovery, two issues thrown into sharp relief by the pandemic need attention: digitalization and regional cooperation.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 12 July 2021

Photo: Banner Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium

Belgium to Return Plundered Artworks to DR Congo

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Belgium is the latest European country to promise to return artworks plundered from its former Congolese colony, as it seeks to confront its brutal colonial past.

Belgium’s Africa Museum has said up to 2,000 works, including statues, musical instruments and weapons, were acquired illegally during the colonial rule of a swathe of central Africa, mostly the modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 12 July 2021

hoto: People of Action photo Hamish Burke/Crown Copyright (Creative Commons License)

US Exit from Afghanistan Promises Opportunities for China

Viewpoint by Emil Avdaliani*

TBILISI, Georgia (IDN) — China fears the repercussions associated with the looming US withdrawal from Afghanistan as a rise of extremism in the country could spread and threaten Beijing’s key positions in Xinjiang and Central Asia. However, America’s exit might yet bring some unforeseen benefits. A Chinese-led peacebuilding agenda would mean intensified cooperation with Iran, Pakistan, and Russia. Overall, this undergirds a new order of exclusion that could sideline the collective West in the traditional pivot area.