By Neena Bhandari SYDNEY (IDN) – A new campaign is encouraging Australians to urge their superannuation funds to exclude nuclear weapons producers from their investments, consistent with the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which has been ratified by 33 states and needs another 17 ratifications to become enforceable under international […]
Anxiety Looms Over the 10th NPT Review Conference Next Year
Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte The writer is President of Pugwash. Former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. NEW YORK (IDN) – The contentious start of the 74th Session of the First Committee of the General Assembly last October in New York was a harbinger of the difficulties to be faced in the run-up to the […]
End Rape and Usher in A Far-Reaching Shift for Our Society
Viewpoint by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka The following statement by Executive Director of UN Women is for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November 2019. [Also available in ar, es, fr, ru] NEW YORK (IDN) – If I could have one wish granted, it might well be a total end to […]
Greta Thunberg and Schwarzenegger’s Bike Ride Conveys a Climate Message
By J W Jackie RENO, Nevada, USA (IDN) – Greta Thunberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger are two names uncommonly seen together, but they made November headlines after sharing a cycle ride together. Generations apart and from wildly different backgrounds, it would be easy to think the two would have little in common, but they share a […]
The Humanitarian Emergency the World is Ignoring
By Kwame Buist ROME (IDN) – Almost daily violent attacks in the Sahel nations of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have displaced nearly one million people and caused emergency levels of malnutrition, the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned. “Conflict is moving forward and moving fast,” says Margot van der Velden, Director of WFP’s Emergencies […]
Odds Still Stacked Against Poorest Children
By Sean Buchanan NEW YORK (IDN) – Although there have been historic gains over the last 30 years in improving children’s lives, urgent action is needed if the poorest children are to feel the impact, warns a new UN report. The report, published on November 18 by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and released ahead […]
Risks Grow For African Leaders Seeking Extended Term
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – It’s not a piece of cake these days for leaders of African countries plotting to rewrite their constitutions and give themselves another decade or two in power, frustrating efforts by citizen groups to give other leaders a chance to rule. That’s the endgame facing Guinean […]
South African Airlines in Crisis Mode as Workers Strike
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – Unions representing more than half of South African Airways (SAA) workforce called a strike last week after the airline refused to meet wage and job security demands. The unions, representing more than 3,000 workers, walked out on November 15 after the state-owned airline rejected their […]
Be Mindful of Constantly Confronting Iran
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Of all the present foes of America it is Iran which has consistently been over time the number one. Since its Islamic Revolution in 1979 that overthrew the secular-minded Shah and supplanted him with a militant, sometimes warlike, Islamic theocracy, it has been America’s Great Satan. (But […]
Insect Birth Control to Combat Mosquito-Borne Diseases
By Kwame Buist GENEVA (IDN) – A form of insect birth control – Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) – that sterilises male mosquitoes using radiation will soon be tested as part of global health efforts to control diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika. The technique involves the mass production, sex-separation and sterilisation of male mosquitoes […]