By UNDP NEW YORK (IDN) — In A Special Online event featuring voices from the Sahel, from top-level officials to artists and activists in the region, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) presented on December 9 its new programmatic Offer for the Sahel region: A Regeneration. Covering ten countries—Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, Mauritania, Mali, […]
India’s Marriage of Convenience with Myanmar
By Niranjan Marjani The writer is an independent researcher and columnist based in Vadodara (formerly Baroda), India. VADODARA, India (IDN) — The November 13 attack on an Assam Rifles convoy by two Manipur insurgent groups—the People’s Liberation Army and Manipur Naga People’s Front—in Churachandpur district of Manipur has the potential to further destabilise Northeast India. […]
UN Members Should Stand Strong on Human Rights Funding
Viewpoint by Louis Charbonneau The writer is United Nations Director of Human Rights Watch. UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — United Nations member countries currently haggling over the organization’s 2022 budget should stand firm against Russia and China-led efforts to slash funding for UN human rights work. Every December, diplomats on the UN General Assembly’s fiscal body, […]
Blatant Abuse of Consensus by Russia
By Ray Acheson The writer is Director of Reaching Critical Will and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). NEW YORK (IDN) — During the final day of the Sixth Review Conference of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) in Geneva on December 13-17, the constant refrain from the Russian delegation, “our position has […]
An Important TPNW Signal from Germany—But Nothing More
Viewpoint by Herbert Wulf This article was issued by Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission. BONN (IDN) — The new German coalition government will not rock the foundations of German foreign and security policy. It wants to remain a reliable partner in the EU and NATO. But it sends an important […]
US, Russia Stall Attempts to Ban Killer Robots
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — As the US withdrew the last of its troops from Afghanistan on August 31 following a deadly 20-year-old war, one of the messages coming out of Washington was clear: the US will curtail “boots on the ground” in all future conflicts—even though there are still more than 40,000 […]
The Pentagon’s 20-Year Killing Spree Has Always Treated Civilians as Expendable
Viewpoint by Norman Solomon The writer is the national director of RootsAction.org and the author of many books including War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death. He was a Bernie Sanders delegate from California to the 2016 and 2020 Democratic National Conventions. Solomon is the founder and executive director of […]
A New Cold War Between Russia and The West Is Unnecessary
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) — George Orwell, the author of “Animal Farm”, the satire on how a dictatorship can slowly but steadily evolve in a democratic society, and “1984”, a novel about a future dystopian dictatorship, was the first person to use the phrase “Cold War” in a 1945 newspaper article, written […]
With a Rise in Infections, UN Advises Staffers to Work Remotely—and Return to their Homes
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The United Nations, which temporarily dropped its defences and partially lifted its 20-month-old lockdown last month, has reacted swiftly to the rise in COVID-19 infections in New York city by suspending its “flexible working arrangements” and advising staffers to work remotely—from their homes beginning December 20. The new […]
Major New York Buyer of Looted Antiquities Ordered to Return Some Pieces but No Prosecution
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — A golden bowl, a ceremonial libations vessel, a marble statue and a small chest for human remains were among the 180 reputedly stolen antiquities that decorated the homes and offices of a Brooklyn billionaire whose collection of the ancient artefacts was valued at $80 million. […]