Home - IDN-InDepthNews | Analysis That Matters

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres (centre) addresses the General Assembly on the repositioning of the UN Development System. To his left is Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed and at right is General Assembly President Miroslav Lajčák. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Sustainable Development Now at the Heart of the UN

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations General Assembly has approved a landmark consensus resolution, which Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed assures will allow the world body to transform a "cacophony" of efforts under way to make sustainable development a reality into a "symphony".

Secretary-General António Guterres has described the plan as "the most ambitious and comprehensive transformation of the UN development system in decades," paving the way for a new era of "national ownership" of development, supported by the whole UN system, in a tailored fashion, allowing countries to pursue sustainable economic and social development.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 04 June 2018

Photo: 43rd ACP-EU Council of Ministers Meeting on 31 May 2018 in Lomé. Credit: ACP Press

Why 79 ACP Countries and EU Must Enter Into New Partnership

By Robert Johnson

BRUSSELS | LOMÉ (ACP-IDN) – The Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA) between the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of 79 States and 28 European Union (EU) members expires on February 29, 2020. Formal negotiations for a successor Agreement should commence by August 2018.

With a view to underpinning preparations and execution of the negotiating process for a successor Agreement, the Council of Ministers of the ACP Group of States adopted on May 30, 2018 in Lomé, Togo, the core principles, a common approach and a policy framework document.

In pursuit of the implementation of the Council’s decisions, the Committee of Ambassadors initiated a number of activities, to guide preparations for the negotiations.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 03 June 2018

Photo: Joint Press Conference with Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, Ekaterina Zaharieva (second from left), and Jamaica's Minister of Foreign Affairs & Foreign Trade, Kamina Johnson Smith (third from left), flanked by ACP Secretary General Dr. P I Gomes (second from right). Credit: ACP Press.

107 ACP-EU Countries Walk The Talk On Global Governance

By Robert Johnson

BRUSSELS | LOMÉ (ACP | IDN) – African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union will walk the talk on global governance by organising joint activities during United Nations conferences this year, according to co-presidents of the Joint ACP-EU Council of Ministers.

The Council issued a joint declaration reaffirming its commitment to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and to the attainment of the long-term goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

The joint activities ACP and EU have agreed are: the UN high-level political forum (HLPF) on sustainable development in July, the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit in September, and the 24th Conference of Parties (COP24) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December.

: Robert Johnson; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 03 June 2018

Mamadou and Ramatoulaye Opt Out Of Migrating To Europe

Following is the text of an epilogue in Chapter 6, titled 'recommendations and conclusions' of Economic Development in Africa Report 2018: Migration for Structural Transformation, published on June 1, 2018 by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). – The Editor.

GENEVA (IDN | UNCTAD) – The news on the radio about Libya goes on. Mamadou listens again. The news report is about migrants who make it to Libya – only to get trapped into slavery.

His mind goes back to the sounds of the radio at his parents’ modest home one fateful day in early August 1999. Two Guinean boys, Yaguine Koïta and Fodé Tounkara, from Conakry had been found in the undercarriage of a plane in Brussels. They were dead. Lying next to them, in a plastic bag, were their birth certificates and a letter. Mamadou can still hear the voices of despair, commenting on the fate of those boys who had written of their hopes and of their anguish living in Africa in that letter.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 02 June 2018

Photo: India's top beach destination Goa commits to #BeatPlasticPollution. Credit: World Environment Day.

Grassroots India Beginning To Beat Plastic Pollution

By Sudha Ramachandran

BANGALORE (IDN) – A 32-year-old Rajeswari Singh launched on a six-week marathon mission on World Earth Day setting out to walk some 1,100 kilometres from Vadodara in western India to reach New Delhi on World Environment Day on June 5, spreading a simple message 'Stop using plastic', and accentuating it by forgoing all the way any kind of plastic packaged drinks or food.

In fact, she hasn’t used any kind of plastic over the past decade. Besides, her message echoes the theme of this year's World Environment Day – 'Beat plastic pollution' – with India, among the world’s top ten consumers of plastic, playing global host.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 01 June 2018

Photo: UNODA High Representative Izumi Nakamitsu delivering keynote speech on May 25, 2018 at the High Level Session of the Second Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) Science Diplomacy Symposium in Vienna. Credit: CTBTO

New Disarmament Agenda Recognizes CTBT's Intrinsic Role

Viewpoint by Izumi Nakamitsu

The author is High Representative of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA). Following are extensive excerpts from her keynote speech on May 25, 2018 at the High Level Session of the Second Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) Science Diplomacy Symposium from May 21-June 1, 2018 in Vienna. – The Editor.

VIENNA (IDN) – The CTBTO Preparatory Commission [headed by Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo] continues to play a critical role in promoting the long overdue entry into force of the CTBT.

Beyond entry into force, the Preparatory Commission also raises awareness on the acute dangers – to peace and security, to human health and to the environment – associated with nuclear testing.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; CTBTO; 31 May 2018

Photo: Group picture of participants of the CTBTO Youth Group Moscow Conference from 18-20 October 2017 in Moscow with the CTBTO Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo in the centre. The next conference is scheduled from 28-20 August 2018 in Kazakh capital city Astana. Credit: CTBTO

What Kazakhstan's Nuclear Legacy Means For CTBTO

Viewpoint by Marzhan Nurzhan

The CTBTO Youth Group (CYG) holds its second international conference in Kazakh capital city Astana from August 28-30, 2018. The author is a CYG member from Kazakhstan, a convener of Abolition 2000 Youth Network and a PNND Coordinator for CIS countries. This article first appeared in The Astana Times on May 29, 2018 with the title 'Kazakhstan's Nuclear Legacy and Importance of CTBTO'. It is being reproduced with the author's permission. – The Editor.

PRAGUE (IDN) – I am coming from Kazakhstan, the country which inherited around 1,500 nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union making it the 4th biggest nuclear arsenal in the world at the time.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 30 May 2018

World Peace Eludes, Nuclear Armageddon Looms

Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN) – Lately, we have seen a barrage of international conflicts that have severely undermined the United Nations efforts to maintain peace and security.

The British Prime Minister Theresa May – in total disregard for the noble British norm “innocent until proven guilty” – rushed to accuse Russia of trying to poison the Skripals, and provoked an unprecedented ouster of 151 Russian diplomats from UK, U.S. and EU that the Russians dutifully reciprocated.

May also rushed to blame the Syrian government for an unverified chemical weapons attack, and instigated U.S./UK and France to launch an illegal missile attack on Syria.

: Somar Wijayadasa; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 30 May 2018

Photo: Families of massacre victims, in Kumasi Ghana, April 2018. © 2018 Reed Brody/HRW

Gambia Ex-President Tied to 2005 Murders of Refugees

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | ACCRA (IDN) – Strong evidence has been gathered linking the former president of The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, to the murder of 44 West African migrants mostly from Ghana by operatives of the ex-president.

The sole survivor of the mass killing, also from Ghana, promised himself not to rest until Jammeh was brought to justice. ''It is my mission, on behalf of my friends, we want justice,'' Martin Kyere, now age 37, told the BBC.

Kyere was selling shoes in Ghana and the Ivory Coast when he decided to use his savings to travel to Senegal and then to Europe. His plan fell apart when the boat used by migrants ran out of fuel and beached in the Gambia. The group was arrested, detained for a week in Banjul and beaten.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 29 May 2018

Photo: Rwandan President Kagame with the President of Niger and Champion of the CFTA Process, Mahamadou Issoufou, and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat. Credit: The New Times Rwanda.

Me Too Movement Challenges African Halls Of Power

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | JOHANNESBURG (IDN) – A promised investigation into gender discrimination at the African Union appears to be idling on the back burner, according to the South African Mail & Guardian.

Some 37 women employees at the African Union Commission (AUC) have complained of “ill-treatment and humiliation”, investigators at the South African paper found.

The women, who work at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, appealed to Moussa Faki Mahamat, the new AUC chair, and Rwanda President Paul Kagame, the AU chair, in a signed letter obtained by the paper.