IDN-InDepthNews – Page 644 – News for a Sustainable World, Peace and Security

Nuclear Weapons2017-08-032023-07-10

U.S. Court Dismisses Marshall Islands’ Nuclear Zero Lawsuit

By J C Suresh*

TORONTO | SAN FRANCISCO (IDN) –The largest of the thirteen courts of appeals in the United States, the Ninth Circuit Court, has ruled to affirm the U.S. Federal District Court’s dismissal of the Nuclear Zero lawsuit, brought by the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI).

The lawsuit sought a declaration that the United States was in breach of its treaty obligations under Article VI of the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and international law, and asked the court to order that the United States engage in good-faith negotiations. Article VI states:

Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.

UN INSIDER2017-08-022023-07-10

Astana World Exhibition Looks To Future Energy As Shared Resource

By Joan Erakit

NEW YORK (IDN) – Sharing seems second nature to the Kazakhs, so much so that one cannot attend a meeting at the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the United Nations without being ushered into the dining room.

“It’s is in our tradition. When someone visits your home, you must offer them food and share a meal together,” Ambassador Kairat Umarov told dignitaries gathered at the mission on July 25.

The occasion to break bread was in part to brief fellow missions and UN partners on EXPO 2017 Astana, currently being held in the capital city of Kazakhstan – an exhibition on “Future Energy” that has already seen 1 million visitors since its opening on June 10 2017.

OPINION2017-08-012023-07-10

Resolving the Imbroglio by Making Ukraine a Buffer State

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – A few recent words from Jack Matlock who was U.S. ambassador to Moscow under presidents Reagan and Bush senior: “The Ukraine crisis is a product, in large part, of the policy of indefinite expansion of NATO to the east. If there had been no possibility of Ukraine ever becoming part of NATO, and therefore Sevastopol (the ex-Soviet naval port in Crimea) becoming a NATO base Russia would not have invaded Crimea.”

He goes on to say: “Americans have lived for nearly two centuries with the Monroe Doctrine [which forbids non-Americans to seize land or intervene in Latin America]. Why don’t we understand that other countries are sensitive about military bases from potential rivals not only coming up to their borders, but also taking land that historically they have considered theirs. These are extremely emotional issues – issues that are made to order for any authoritarian leader that wants to strengthen his rule”.

ARTS & CULTURE2017-08-012023-07-10

Students Send Social Message Through Movement

By A.D. McKenzie

KINGSTON (IDN | SWAN) – Dance has long been a potent force among the arts in Jamaica, with pioneering companies such as Rex Nettleford’s National Dance Theatre Company holding a mirror up to society and promoting Caribbean culture.

Now students are taking the genre to a whole new level with powerful, socially relevant performances.

The island’s top high school, Campion College, is one of the institutions leading the way. Now in its seventh season, the school’s Dance Society performed to packed audiences in Kingston in July with its “Roots” production, which addressed issues such as violence against women and the challenges young people face in building confidence and self-esteem.

Latin America & the Caribbean2017-07-312023-07-10

Environmental Risks Behind Peace Accords in Colombia

By Fabíola Ortiz

CARTAGENA, Colombia (IDN) – The peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) – signed in November 2016 and ratified early December by the Colombian Congress – ending five decades of conflict now poses enormous threats for the environment, according to scientists and experts at the International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB 2017) held in Cartagena July 23-27.

The global forum gathered almost 2,000 scientists to address ecological challenges and present new research in conservation science and sustainable practices.

Colombia, a country with 40 million people, is one of the 17 world’s megadiverse nations concentrating 10 percent of biodiversity with 59 national parks and other protected sites covering an area of 23 million hectares.

Asia-Pacific2017-07-312023-07-10

Sri Lanka Clears Major Hurdle For China’s Silk Route Project

By Kalinga Seneviratne

COLOMBO (IDN) – The signing of a deal between the Sri Lankan government and a Chinese company, basically transferring the ownership on a 99-year lease of the strategically located Chinese-built Hambantota Port and 5,000 acres of land surrounding it for an industrial park in southern Sri Lanka has cleared a major hurdle for China’s ambitious Maritime Silk Route project while at the same time raising concerns about security and sovereignty issues.

The government-owned Sri Lankan Port Authority has signed a 1.1 billion dollar deal agreeing to sell a 70 percent stake in the Hambantota port to China’s state-run conglomerate China Merchants Port Holdings. The Cabinet approved the deal on July 25 and the government signed it at a ceremony opened to the media on July 29.

Nuclear Weapons2017-07-312023-07-10

Treaty Banning the Bomb Takes UN Closer to its Prime Goal

By Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN) – On July 7 2017, 122 member states of the United Nations voted to adopt a Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. It is the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons that may eventually lead towards their total elimination.

All nine nuclear weapons states and the U.S. allies under its nuclear “umbrella” in NATO, Japan, South Korea, and Australia boycotted the negotiations. Netherlands attended the Conference but voted against the treaty, as it is a member of NATO.

The treaty emphasizes the catastrophic humanitarian consequences that would result from any use of nuclear weapons. It forbids participating states to develop, test, use, threaten to use, produce, possess, acquire, transfer, test or deploy nuclear weapons.

UN INSIDER2017-07-302023-07-10

A Long Way To Go Before Zero Hunger Appears Within Reach

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Hunger can be eliminated in our lifetimes: This was the underlying conviction when United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the Zero Hunger Challenge in 2012. The Zero Hunger vision reflects five elements from within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which taken together, can end hunger, eliminate all forms of malnutrition, and build inclusive and sustainable food systems.

Nearly two years after the international community adopted a set of 17 SDGs to be achieved by 2030, some “20 million people are on the brink of starvation”, the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned. “We can only achieve Zero Hunger if we transform the rural economy, put smallholders at the centre and invest in sustainable agriculture and food systems,” said Maria Helena Semedo, FAO Deputy Director-General, Climate and Natural Resources.

Asia-Pacific2017-07-292023-07-10

Women Bear the Brunt of Violence in Papua New Guinea

By Neena Bhandari

SYDNEY (IDN) – Violence is one of the most pressing issues, especially in the highlands, of Papua New Guinea (PNG) – one of the world’s most ethnically and linguistically diverse nations.

“Increased access to high-powered guns such as military style M16s and home-made shotguns, and the breakdown of traditional rules of warfare, has amplified the effects of violence, resulting in dozens – if not hundreds – of violent deaths and thousands of displacements each year, especially in the Highlands,” says International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) chief official in PNG, Mark Kessler. ”We are seeing wounds that one would see in war zones.”

Nuclear Weapons2017-07-282023-07-10

UN Nuclear Ban Treaty and the Vital Role of Nuclear Have-Nots

By Dr. Jargalsaikhan Enkhsaikan

Dr .Jargalsaikhan Enkhsaikhan is Chairman of Blue Banner – a Mongolian NGO devoted to promoting nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament – and a former Permanent Representative of his country to the United Nations. Blue Banner is organizing an ‘International Conference on Nuclear Disarmament Issues: Global and Regional Aspects,’ on August 31- September 1 2017 in Ulaanbaatar to encourage effective strategies to move jointly towards the common goal of achieving a nuclear-weapons-free world.

ULAANBAATAR (IDN) – An event of truly historic importance has taken place at the United Nations Headquarters: On July 7 the text of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was approved at the final session of the General Assembly mandated conference to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons leading towards their total elimination. It is the first legally binding instrument for nuclear disarmament to have been negotiated since the end of the Cold War more than two decades ago.