Healthy oceans: keeping Asia and the Pacific afloat Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana The writer is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP. BANGKOK (IDN) – Memories of idyllic beaches and sonorous waves may seem far away while we remain at home. Yet, we need not look far to appreciate the enduring history […]
UN Chief Appeals to ‘Common Humanity’ Across All Faiths to Tackle COVID-19
By UN News NEW YORK (IDN) – Our shared vulnerability to the coronavirus pandemic reveals “our common humanity”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told religious leaders in an online meeting to discuss the role they can play in limiting the damage caused by COVID-19. Speaking during the meeting on May 12, Guterres said “it lays bare […]
COVID-19: Should Economy Have Priority Over Migrant Workers’ Health?
Viewpoint by Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) – Many critics have described labour migration as the 21st-century slave trade and Covid-19 crisis has exposed this stark reality. Eastern European migrant labour in Europe. Unpaid construction workers on the brink of starvation in the Middle East. Hundreds of South Asian dormitory locked down migrant labourers infected with […]
Greece Extends COVID-19 Lockdown at Refugee Camps
Viewpoint by Eva Cossé, Human Rights Watch The writer is Western Europe researcher, works on issues related to discrimination, migration, asylum and minority rights, with a focus on Greece. This article first appeared on Human Rights Watch, and is being reproduced with the author’s permission. LONDON | ATHENS (IDN) – The Greek government has begun […]
Tale of a Machiavellian US in the Middle East
The US Has to Work with Russia, Not Against It Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) – The war in Syria has dropped out of the news, like almost everything else, in a time when the Coronavirus seems to dominate all discourse and reporting. But the regime of Bashar al-Assad continues to strangle its […]
Global Civil Society Demands Bolder Action from NPT States Parties
By Jamshed Baruah GENEVA (IDN) – A diverse network of national and international peace and nuclear disarmament non-governmental organisations has in a joint statement urged government leaders, particularly from the nuclear-armed states and their allies, to act with greater urgency and cooperation to meet unfulfilled promises to reduce nuclear risks and advance progress on disarmament, […]
Non-Aligned Movement Aligned Against COVID-19
By Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sr Lanka President The following is the text of the Sri Lankan President’s address on May 4 to the online summit meeting of the 120-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) under the theme “United Against COVID-19”: COLOMBO (IDN) – I am pleased to be participating at this Summit, in support of global solidarity, unity […]
25 Years After the Indefinite Extension of The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: A Field of Broken Promises and Shattered Visions
By Tariq Rauf* VIENNA (IDN) – “I long ago took to heart the words of Omar Bradley, spoken virtually a half century ago, when he observed, having seen the aftermath of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, thus: ‘We live in an age of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We live in a world that […]
Beware of Weaponizing COVID-19
Viewpoint by Jayasri Priyalal SINGAPORE (IDN) – Weapons of Mass Destructions (WMD) were something that USA and UK coalition forces were trying to find in the armouries of Saddam Hussain in Iraq in March 2003. Anglo-Saxon media was painting the fears of death, destruction and sufferings to humankind unless those weapons were destroyed – justifying […]
Do Not Abuse Science for Corona Politics
Viewpoint by Cees Jan Hamelink* This article was originally published on Other News, a vehicle for “voices against the tide” and is being reproduced with thanks. AMSTERDAM (IDN) – As a scientist it is of course gratifying for me to hear that government policy on Covid-19 takes science seriously. And it is gratifying when press […]