By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) – UN Secretary-General António Guterres finds it “crippling to our credibility and protection capacity that women represent only four percent of our military peacekeepers and ten percent of police,” though “over the past year, we have seen positive examples of progress”. Briefing the Security Council’s annual high-level debate on […]
Participation in Landmark NATO Exercise Reveals Iceland’s Dilemma
By Lowana Veal REYKJAVIK (IDN) – Iceland, the most sparsely populated country in Europe, has no standing army. But it is a founding member of the 29-nation North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and is therefore taking part in Trident Juncture 2018, the largest NATO exercise since the end of the Cold War in December 1991. […]
UN Expert Reiterates Call for Investigation of Khashoggi’s Murder
NEW YORK (IDN) – David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, has reiterated the call for an “independent investigative body” to examine the case of the late Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was reportedly killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. He stressed the need for a “credible […]
Land Deal with Russian Billionaire Causes a Stir in Namibia
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | WINDHOEK (IDN) – The Namibian government has leased four farms for 99 years to a company, Comsar Properties SA, owned by a Russian billionaire, Rashid Sardarov. Valued at USD$3 million and measuring a total 42,000 acres, the farms were registered as state property by the land […]
A New Book Proposes an Alternative U.S. Foreign Policy
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – At last a book that attacks the “Blob” and holes it below the water line. Whether it can sink it is another matter. I’m talking about ‘The Hell of Good Intentions: America’s Foreign Policy Elite and the Decline of U.S Primacy’ by the Harvard professor of international […]
Kazakh Initiated Forum Underlines Importance of NWFZs
By Santo D. Banerjee NEW YORK (IDN) – High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu has expressed her “gratitude” to the Kazakhstan for their continued partnership with the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), including through a series of Nuclear Discussion Forums (NDF), now in its eighth year. She was addressing a side event of […]
Full Potential of Nuclear Weapon-Free Zones Has Yet to be Recognised
Viewpoint by Izumi Nakamitsu The following are extensive excerpts from a statement by Izumi Nakamitsu, the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) at a side event on October 18, 2018, organized by the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the United Nations on Consolidating and Enhancing Cooperation among Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones. – The Editor NEW YORK […]
Lesotho and South Africa Among Winners of UN Awards
By Ronald Joshua GENEVA (IDN) – Bahrain, India, Lesotho and South Africa have won 2018 United Nations Investment Promotion Awards for excellence in boosting investment into sectors that will have social and economic benefits and help countries meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Organized by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the […]
Time Out for Nukes!
Viewpoint by Alice Slater The author is a member of the World Beyond War Coordinating Committee and the UN NGO Representative of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. NEW YORK (IDN) – With 122 nations having voted last summer (July 2017) to adopt a treaty for the complete prohibition of nuclear weapons, just as the world […]
A Crisis Within a Crisis for the Rohingyas
By Naimul Haq DHAKA, Bangladesh (IDN) – Despite a well-coordinated effort to address the Rohingya refugee crisis in Cox’s Bazar, a coastal town bordering Myanmar, some major challenges still need attention. The local administration admits that with over one million forcibly displaced Myanmar citizens arriving in such a short time, it is indeed difficult to […]