IDN-InDepthNews – Page 632 – News for a Sustainable World, Peace and Security

Asia-Pacific2017-10-022023-07-10

The UNHRC Resolution and Implications for Sri Lanka

By Dr Palitha Kohona

The writer is a former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations. The following are extracts from his presentation to the Organisation of Professional Associations, Colombo.

COLOMBO (IDN) – The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted the resolution entitled “Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka” on October 1, 2015, Resolution 30/1. This has been described by some critics as a constitution amendment project for Sri Lanka. Interestingly, it was cosponsored by Sri Lanka. In 2017, Sri Lanka obtained a two-year grace period to implement the resolution, further confirming the country’s acquiescence with Resolution 30/1.

Ominously, this year, the High Commissioner commented that in the absence of progress on the implementation of Res. 30/1, other countries could invoke the “universal jurisdiction” principle to start judicial proceedings against persons accused of having committed war crimes.

Africa2017-10-022023-07-10

Nigerian ‘Unsung Hero’ Honoured with Major UN Award

By Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Zannah Mustapha, a champion for the rights of displaced children growing up amid violence in north-eastern Nigeria to get a quality education, was honoured with the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR‘s Nansen Refugee Award on October 2 for his dedication and commitment to ensuring children and orphans affected by the conflict in Borno State can attend school. A lawyer turned property developer in Borno state, Mustapha also took part in mediating between Boko Haram and the Nigerian government.

Mustapha took home prize money of $150,000, funded in partnership with the Norwegian Refugee Council, the Swiss Government, the Norwegian Government and the IKEA Foundation.

Nuclear Weapons2017-10-022023-07-10

Trump Should Reaffirm That “A Nuclear War Must Never Be Fought”

By Daryl G. Kimball

Daryl G. Kimball is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. This article first appeared with the headline ‘Prohibit, Do Not Promote, Nuclear Weapons Use’.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – At an emergency UN Security Council briefing on September 4 following North Korea’s sixth and largest nuclear test explosion, Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, lectured Pyongyang’s leaders that “being a nuclear power is not about using those terrible weapons to threaten others. Nuclear powers understand their responsibilities.”

Days later, in his inaugural address to the UN General Assembly on September 19, U.S. President Donald Trump called North Korea’s leader “rocket man” on “a suicide mission.” Trump warned, “We will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea” if it threatens U.S. allies in the region. North Korea’s foreign minister replied by saying Trump’s insult makes “our rockets’ visit to the entire U.S. mainland inevitable all the more.”

UN INSIDER2017-10-012023-07-10

A Nuke-free World – Through Inclusive, Step-by-Step Approach

By Santo D. Banerjee

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Six days after the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons – the first multilateral legally-binding instrument for nuclear disarmament to have been negotiated in 20 years – opened for signature on September 20, the General Assembly held a high-level meeting to commemorate the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

Ministers and representatives of 46 Member States, delegations, the United Nations system and civil society took the floor on September 26 against a backdrop of rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, stressing the urgent need for firm political will to advance towards the total elimination of all nuclear weapons by taking to an inclusive, step-by-step approach.

UN INSIDER2017-09-302023-07-10

UN to Review Progress in Achieving Complete Decolonization

By Jaya Ramachandran

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Though more than 80 former colonies have gained independence since the creation of the United Nations 72 years ago, 17 Non-Self-Governing Territories (NSGTs) across the globe, home to nearly 2 million people, remain to be decolonized. The issue will draw the focus of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) of the UN General Assembly from October 2 to 10.

The Committee Chair Rafael Darío Ramírez Carreño of Venezuela said he had received an aide-mémoire containing 159 requests for hearings on French Polynesia, Gibraltar, Guam, New Caledonia, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Western Sahara, which had been circulated to delegations by email. The President of French Polynesia, the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, the Governor of Guam and the President of New Caledonia, or their representatives, would address the Committee, he told the Committee on September 28.

Nuclear Weapons2017-09-302023-07-10

EU Affirms Iran Deal Compliance, Rejects Renegotiation

By Kelsey Davenport

The writer is director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association. This article first appeared on September 21, 2017. – The Editor.

WASHINGTION, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini stated unequivocally after a ministerial meeting between the P5+1 (China, France Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) and Iran that all parties agreed that the nuclear deal is being fully implemented and there are no violations.

She said that the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is delivering on its purpose, and there is “no need to renegotiate parts of the agreement.” Mogherini said that issues outside the scope of the deal should be “tackled in different formats, in different fora.”

UN INSIDER2017-09-302023-07-10

Taking Women, Peace and Security to the Next Level in Africa

By UN Women

UNITED NATIONS (IDN-INPS) – African advocates, pioneers, and thought leaders of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, together with the Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende, took stock of the achievements and challenges for women building sustainable peace on the continent at a high-level event on September 22 during the 72nd General Assembly.

“If peace processes do not include women, civil society and youth, they are not sustainable,” Børge Brende summarized the common understanding motivating all panellists in their endeavour.

When the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) in 2000 and acknowledged the multifaceted role women play for peace and conflict, it was a milestone. In the aftermath, advocates all around the globe pushed Member States for its tangible implementation via National Action Plans (NAPs).

UN INSIDER2017-09-292023-07-10

Sri Lanka Criticised for Not Signing the UN Nuke Ban Treaty

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK | COLOMBO (IDN) – Sri Lanka has refrained from signing the landmark UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that was adopted by 122 countries on July 7, 2017 and opened for signature on September 20 at the UN headquarters in New York.

The decision not to sign the Treaty has triggered questions and concern at home and abroad. “Sri Lanka voted for the resolution adopting this very same Treaty [. . .], when we had a different Foreign Minister and Foreign Secretary. Has there now been a change of policy after a new minister assumed office?,” wonders the Friday Forum, a think tank based in Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka.

UN INSIDER2017-09-292023-07-10

Trump’s Foreign Policy: A Reawakening of Nations

By Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN) – The President of the United States, Donald Trump, made an unprecedented speech to the UN General Assembly endorsing nationalism around the world, and called for a “great reawakening of nations, for the revival of their spirits, their pride, their people and their patriotism”.

Trump told the UN delegates on September 19 that he was going to put America First and that “sovereign nation-states should also put the interests of their own citizens first”. He suggested that governments should cooperate within the UN to make the world better, and to deal with certain rogue regimes.

UN INSIDER2017-09-282023-07-10

The Winner-Takes-Most Menacing Democracy, Multilateralism

By Ravi Kanth Devarakonda

GENEVA (IDN) – Securing a fourth term as German Chancellor is not an easy feat. But Angela Merkel is returning to a different Bundestag (German Parliament) after the dramatic rise of the far right in the German election on September 24. Its emergence as the third largest force in Germany is a wake-up call signifying the erosion of trust in the political establishment.

The AfD or Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany) in many ways comes close to Donald Trump’s White Supremacists in the United States, the PiS (Law and Justice) right-wing nationalist Party in Poland, and the “Knicker-Dharis” of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India. (The Knicker-Dharis is the term coined by the historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam in “Is Indian Civilization A Myth?“, are the extreme right-wing nationalists in India who are known for their “fear-mongering against minorities and immigrants.”). They all have a common ideology and political mission: “Getting back our country and our Volk!”