IDN-InDepthNews

Middle East & North Africa2017-11-062023-07-10

Arab Media Sustains a Heavy Presence at the UN

By Shanta Roy

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – The day-to-day news coverage by the UN press corps represents a virtual political barometer of the outside world – from a UN perspective.

Since most news organizations in the developing world cannot afford either a fulltime or a part-time correspondent at the UN, they have traditionally relied on the mainstream wire services and news organizations such as Reuters, BBC, the Associated Press, Deutsche Welle, Agence France-Presse (AFP) and the Chinese news agency Xinhua — all of them fully staffed and geared for extensive UN coverage.

Middle East & North Africa2017-11-062023-07-10

What’s Going On in the Middle East?

By Pier Francesco Zarcone*

ROME (IDN) – The military breakthrough in the Syrian war appears to be definitive … at least according to Robert S. Ford, former U.S. ambassador to Syria.

Even though the conflict has not yet come to an end, in a recent interview with Foreign Affairs Ford stated that the Syrian army has won the war and the United States must “abandon hopes of supporting a separate Kurdish region” having “no good options in Syria” so that “hopes of getting rid of [Bashar Hafez al-] Assad are far-fetched fantasies.”

The reason for this situation was Russian intervention. An obvious question comes to mind: why and in what way did the Russians succeed? In this regard, it is necessary to clarify a number of points.

Nuclear Weapons2017-11-062023-07-10

UN Takes Yet Another Step Towards a Nuke-Free World

By J Nastranis

Note: This report draws heavily on information and analysis provided by the Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (PNND) and UNFOLD ZERO, a platform for UN focused initiatives and actions for the achievement of a nuclear weapons free world. – The Editor.

NEW YORK (IDN) – As surging tensions between North Korea and the U.S. raise again the spectre of a nuclear war, the United Nations has called on leaders around the world to come together in a High-Level Conference to reduce nuclear dangers and pave the way for nuclear disarmament.

In a resolution adopted by the General Assembly on November 1, the UN has set the dates and mandate for a High-Level conference on nuclear disarmament to take place from May 14-16, 2018 at the world body’s headquarters in New York.

Peace & Security2017-11-052023-07-10

New Report Tells Business How It Can Help Build Just, Peaceful and Strong Institutions

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – Hundreds of millions of people in civil society contribute to peace and justice every day, by public service, supporting thousands of public and private organizations, solid citizenship or leadership, and perhaps most importantly of all, by simply practicing peaceful behaviour in all situations.

However, in an era dominated by large organizations, whether governmental or private, individual contributions to social stability have their limitations. A new report says that companies can play a critical role in helping achieve particularly Goal 16 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

EU & Europe2017-11-052023-07-10

Milestones of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia 100 Years Ago

By Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN | INPS) – The 7th of November this year marks the centenary of the Russian Revolution – an indelible landmark and a turning point in the history of Russia – that established the Communist rule under what became the Soviet Union that is officially known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The revolution shaped world politics of the 20th century, and saved the Soviet Union from the brutal war, and propelled it to superpower status.

It is called the October Revolution as it happened on October 25 (on the old, Julian calendar), and also known as the Bolshevik (meaning majority) Revolution because it was led by Bolshevik Party leader, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924) – a revolutionary, politician and political theorist. The strategy for the revolution was crafted by the Russians – due to intolerable conditions resulting from centuries of serfdom under which the Russian people suffered during the Czarist autocratic rule.

OPINION2017-11-042023-07-10

The Role of Trade and Investment Vital in Fostering SDGs

By Roberto Azevêdo

Trade and investment are inseparable and remain indispensable “twin engines” for economic growth, modernization and development of Africa, says ‘The Abuja Statement’ emerging from the two-day High Level Policy and Private Sector Trade and Investment Facilitation Partnership Forum in Abuja, Nigeria, on November 2-3, 2017. Following are extensive excerpts from WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo. – The Editor

GENEVA (IDN-INPS) – It is encouraging to see many countries – as well as the broader development community represented here – interested in exploring how trade and investment can help promote sustainable development . . . both these elements – trade and investment – are fundamental in helping countries successfully integrate into the global economy.

Global Partnerships2017-11-042023-07-10

Financial and Economic System Reform Key to Achieving SDGs

By Jesse Griffiths*

BRUSSELS (IDN | INPS) – The Sustainable Development Goals are ambitious objectives; business as usual will not deliver them. Speaking on the recent International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, UN Secretary-General António Guterres acknowledged the need for new thinking. “The pledge to leave no one behind will require innovative approaches, partnerships, and solutions,” he said.

But this new model will only come about if we radically reshape the national, regional, and global economies that lie behind many of the obstacles to achieving the SDGs. We must rethink the way we govern and manage the global financial and economic system.

Africa2017-11-032023-07-10

On the Trail of Child Trafficking in Zimbabwe

By Jeffrey Moyo

BEITBRIDGE, Zimbabwe (IDN) – Child trafficking is alive and thriving on Zimbabwe’s southern border. Despite Zimbabwe winning a few “Brownie points” with the U.S. government for rescuing more than 100 female Zimbabwean trafficking victims from Kuwait recently, police at Beitbridge – a border town between Zimbabwe and South Africa – say they arrest between16 and 20 people every day implicated in illegally “transporting” unaccompanied children through Zimbabwe’s border with South Africa.

The Zimbabwe Republic Police (or ZRP) Officer Commanding Beitbridge District, Chief Superintendent, Francis Phiri, said the children recovered from these arrests are handed over to the government’s social welfare department to have them returned to their homes in Zimbabwe.

UN INSIDER2017-11-032023-07-10

Cataclysm Looms Large As UN Climate Talks Convene

By Franz Baumann | Reproduced courtesy of PassBlue

The author is a visiting professor at New York University and a former assistant secretary-general of the United Nations (and special adviser on environment and peace operations). This article originally appeared with the headline: As UN Climate Talks Convene, the Earth Veers Toward Catastrophe. – The Editor

NEW YORK (IDN | Passblue) – Two years ago, the governments of the world unanimously adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a remarkable blueprint of the world’s most pressing long-term predicaments that the United Nations is good at lifting into the global conscience. Cataloguing 17 goals and 169 targets, the agenda contains an inventory of the remedial activities that are expected of all countries, and that includes climate change.

Middle East & North Africa2017-11-022023-07-10

ISIL Members Accused of ‘International Crimes’ in Mosul

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – A UN report has accused the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Daesh) of perpetrating serious and systematic violations in Iraq’s Mosul city that amount to “international crimes”.

Published on November 2 by the UN assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the report is based on direct witness testimony, and documents mass abductions of civilians, the use of thousands as human shields, the intentional shelling of civilian residences, and indiscriminate targeting of civilians trying to flee the city.