IDN-InDepthNews – Page 651 – News for a Sustainable World, Peace and Security

UN INSIDER2017-06-192023-07-10

Astana Summit Favours UN Security Council Reform and a Polycentric World Order

By Ramesh Jaura

This is the third in a series of articles from Kazakhstan which being geographically located both in Asia and Europe, considers itself a Eurasian country. The articles are based on information gathered during a visit from June 7 to June 15 on the occasion of the opening of EXPO 2017 in Astana. Video clips accompany the articles in this series. – The Editor

ASTANA (IDN) – Kazakhstan, which is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2017-2018, played a crucial role in the summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), chaired by President Nursultan Nazarbayev, on June 8-9 in Astana.

The United Nations drew much of the focus of the SCO heads of state gathered in the Kazakh capital city. But they also underlined the importance of the Organisation’s further consolidation as an effective full-fledged regional platform aimed at active participation in building a more equitable, polycentric model of the world order.

UN INSIDER2017-06-182023-07-10

UN Defends Saudi Arabia’s Election to Rights Council

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – Questioning Saudi Arabia’s membership on the Human Rights Council is a “distraction,” a “gross oversimplification,” and an “attempt to stigmatize”, according to Philip Alston, a prominent New York University (NYU) scholar who serves as the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.

Alston, who presented a report on June 8 on Saudi Arabia, was responding to a question posed in the plenary of the 47-nation Human Rights Council by Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based human rights group monitoring the world body.

EU & Europe2017-06-182023-07-10

Nordic States Support Sustainable Development Goals

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) – Leaders of the five largest Nordic countries recently announced support of the Nordic countries as a whole for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed under UN auspices.

The initiative, called Nordic Solutions to Global Challenges, was initially flouted in 2015 when the Paris Agreement on climate change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development were adopted. As part of the Agenda, 17 SDGs were outlined.

Since the UN climate change in Paris in 2015 (COP 21), the programme has been further developed and was launched at a meeting of the Nordic Council of Ministers on May 30, attended by the Prime Ministers of Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

Africa2017-06-182023-07-10

Lesotho – Crisis Beyond Polls

Analysis by Sechaba Mokhethi

MASERU, Lesotho (IDN) – Snap elections held on June 3 have ushered Lesotho into a new political era, but the outgoing Pakalitha Mosisili government insists on setting terms for the new administration after losing the election on the heels of its earlier loss of a vote of no confidence on March 1.

The tiny Southern African kingdom has been plagued by political instability since 2014, with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) periodically intervening to restore peace and order – having also called for the 2015 snap election that was envisaged to resolve internal strife.

Latin America & the Caribbean2017-06-182023-07-10

Hubs and Spokes Initiative for Promoting ACP Trade Extended

By Desmond Brown

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (ACP-IDN) – The Hubs and Spokes Programme, an innovative trade initiative for expanding opportunities for business, employment and prosperity in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, is to be extended until February 2019.

Through the Programme, which is a joint initiative of the European Union (EU), ACP Group Secretariat, Commonwealth Secretariat and Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), trade advisers are placed in government ministries and regional organisations to provide support and build local capacity to develop trade policies.

UN INSIDER2017-06-162023-07-10

African Ministers Keen to Halt Migration of Jobless Youth

By Rita Joshi

BONN (IDN) – Senior government ministers from several African countries have emphasized the need for addressing the plight of jobless young people in sub-Saharan Africa. Ignoring their predicament is a recipe for political instability and global insecurity, warned a high-level symposium of Africa’s interior, environment and foreign affairs ministers in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso,

The Symposium on June 15 examined the threats connected to sustainability, stability and security, namely, conflicts linked to access to degrading natural resources, instability due to unemployment of rural youth and insecurity and the risk of the radicalization triggered by social and economic marginalization and exposure to extremist groups.

UN INSIDER2017-06-152023-07-10

UN Disarmament Official Urges Progress on Nuke Ban Treaty

By Izumi Nakamitsu

The author is High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, United Nations. Following are excerpts from her address to the second substantive session of the ‘UN Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, Leading towards Their Total Elimination’ in New York on June 15, – The Editor.

UNITED NATONS (IDN) – In accordance with (the UN General Assembly) resolution 71/258, these negotiations aim to achieve a clear legal prohibition of nuclear weapons. These talks are truly historic, as they represent the most significant negotiations in the area of nuclear disarmament.

Nuclear Weapons2017-06-142023-07-10

Japan Urged to Participate in Nuclear Ban Treaty Negotiations

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – An eminent Buddhist philosopher and peacebuilder, Dr. Daisaku Ikeda, has expressed regrets that the Japanese government did not participate in the first session of the UN Conference to negotiate a nuclear ban treaty, and urged it to work with the Netherlands in the second session from June 15 to July 7, thus making “a unique and vital contribution to the success of the negotiations”.

The centerpiece of negotiations is “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination.”

OPINION2017-06-132023-07-10

Trump has Cards Up his Sleeves to Avoid Impeachment

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – “The best lack all conviction”, wrote the Irish poet, William Yeats, “while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” Is this not true of America today?

Some of the “best” are working to bring down President Donald Trump, yet are they ready to cut to the chase? He has cards up his sleeve. He came to power partly because he won the support of working class and lower middle class whites who were prepared to vote against their economic interest for the sake of the nationalism that Trump espoused. Neither Keir Hardie nor Franklin Roosevelt nor Bernie Sanders were their leader. It was Trump.

Asia-Pacific2017-06-132023-07-10

What SCO Summit in Kazakhstan Means for India-Pak Ties

By Ramesh Jaura

This is the second in a series of articles from Kazakhstan which being geographically located both in Asia and Europe, considers itself a Eurasian country. The articles are based on information gathered during a visit from June 7 to June 15 on the occasion of the opening of EXPO 2017 in Astana. Video clips accompany the articles in this series. – The Editor

ASTANA (IDN) – Within days of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit and opening of the ‘EXPO 2017: Future Energy‘, Roman Vassilenko, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, proudly refers to “25 achievements of Kazakhstan’s diplomacy in 25 years” and speaks of a “truly historic moment” in the country’s “modern history”.