IDN-InDepthNews

Nuclear Weapons2017-06-062023-07-10

Forward to a Mad Cold War with New Nuclear Technologies?

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – It was all smiles out on the range when, against a deep blue sky, an American interceptor rocket took out on May 30 an incoming “enemy” long-range, missile (which in a real attack would be carrying a nuclear warhead). Generals and Congressmen and women jumped for joy.

But what was there to be joyous about? Over the decades of the Cold War the nuclear deterrent was supposed to be the instrument that kept the peace. MAD, it was called- Mutually Assured Destruction.

UN INSIDER2017-06-062023-07-10

Oceans in Crisis Around Africa

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (IDN) – As soon as dusk falls, Petina Dube emerges from her house balancing a sack full of garbage which has been lying uncollected in her yard amid reports that the municipal garbage collectors have no fuel to carry out their job across many residential areas in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare.

At the age of 43, Dube, a resident of Warren Park high density suburb in Harare, apparently does not care where the garbage will go after she dumps it. “I am honestly not worried about where this garbage will end up; I will just dump it by a stream not far from here,” says Dube.

But for many environmental experts like Happson Chikova, who holds a degree in environmental studies from Zimbabwe’s Midlands State University, waste dumped anywhere eventually ends up in oceans and this spells bad news for marine life.

UN INSIDER2017-06-042023-07-10

Kazakhstan Proposes ‘Intensified Dialogue’ With North Korea

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Disarmament, non-proliferation and nuclear security have been the critical priorities of Kazakhstan’s national policy since the Central Asian republic’s independence in 1991 and from the time of joining the United Nations in March 1992.

Also as a non-permanent member of the Security Council for two years beginning January 1, the country has been working with unrelenting determination to promote disarmament and non-proliferation as the sine qua non of the world body.

“The position of Kazakhstan remains stable and consistent,” Ambassador Kairat Umarov, Kazakhstan’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, said at the UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting on June 2.

Africa2017-06-032023-07-10

Water Woes Rock Southern Africa

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (IDN) – Evelyn Mbiza struggles with a wheelbarrow laden with multiple five litre containers filled with water while her eight-year-old child follows behind carrying another container as the two head home after spending several hours queuing for the precious liquid at a local borehole in Malbereign, a medium-income suburb in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital.

For 26-year-old Mbiza, despite the heavy rains that have pounded this Southern African nation, tap water has become a scarce commodity as local authorities constantly cut water supplies in the capital claiming to be doing maintenance work.

“It’s sad; all dams are full of water while we have no water here. It’s humiliating to be queuing for water at boreholes when you are living in the city,” Mbiza told IDN.

ACP Group of States2017-06-032023-07-10

The ACP Celebrates 42nd Birthday and Reflects on the Future

By Klara Smits

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States commemorated ‘ACP Day 2017’ on June 2, reflecting on “development partnership” with the European Union (EU), which it described as “a multi-dimensional and transformative experience”.

These issues were discussed in two panels. But in greater detail in the book – The ACP Group and the EU Development Partnership: Beyond the North-South Debate – launched on the occasion. The book constitutes a systematic and critical assessment of the nature, evolution, and prospects of the development partnership between the 79-member African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) group of states and the 28-member European Union (EU).

OPINION2017-06-022023-07-10

A New UN Nuclear Convention Is In The making

By Sergio Duarte, Ambassador, former High Representative of the UN for Disarmament Affairs*

NEW YORK (IDN) – The timely release of the draft Convention on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by President Elayne Whyte-Gómez well in advance of the start of the second part of the negotiations will permit delegations from Member States and participating non-governmental organizations as well as interested institutions and individuals to study the text and come to the United Nations on June 15 fully prepared to contribute to the finalization of the Convention.

OPINION2017-06-022023-07-10

Why Developing Countries Strive to Embrace e-Governance

By Dr Patrick I. Gomes, ACP Secretary-General

Following are extensive excerpts from the opening remarks by the Secretary-General of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) at the high-level E-Governance Conference on 30 May 2017 in Tallinn, Estonia.

BRUSSELS (IDN-INPS) – Many institutions and organizations (public and private) in developing countries, such as ACP (the African, Caribbean and Pacific) countries, have embraced the utilization of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to address the various opportunities and challenges in the context of their respective development strategies.

Nuclear Weapons2017-06-012023-07-10

Coming Ban-the-Bomb Treaty Promises a Historic Leap Forward

By Daryl G. Kimball

The coming nuclear weapons prohibition treaty is not an all-in-one solution, but it promises to be a historic and valuable leap forward, writes Daryl G. Kimball is the Executive Director of the Arms Control Association (ACA). This appears in June 2017 issue of the ACA’s monthly journal, ‘Arms Control Today’. with the headline ‘Toward a Treaty Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons’. – The Editor

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN-INPS) – Nearly five decades ago, the 1968 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) established the requirement that states-parties pursue “effective measures” to end the nuclear arms race and to achieve nuclear disarmament.

Asia-Pacific2017-05-312023-07-10

Aboriginal Australians Press For Constitutional Recognition

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) – In 1967, in a historic referendum, some 92 percent of Australians voted for the original inhabitants to be recognized as “people” to be counted in the census.

Exactly 50 years later, over 250 Indigenous Australians met in a historic summit overlooking the sacred Uluru rock in Central Australia May 24-26 and called upon the Australian government to change the constitution to give them a voice in parliament and a treaty to recognize their relationship to the land.

Australian Aborigines have come a long way since the 1967 referendum that allowed them to be considered as people like the rest of the Australians.

UN INSIDER2017-05-312023-07-10

Disaster Risk Reduction Must Take Account of People’s Lives

This is the second of two reports from the 2017 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction conference held in Cancun, Mexico, from May 22 to 26.

By Ek Soria

MEXICO CITY (IDN) – Over the last century, population growth and unplanned urbanisation, overexploitation of natural resources and the effects of climate change have dramatically increased the economic, social and cultural costs of disasters.

A disaster should be understood as a correlation between natural phenomena such as earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruption or phenomena caused by industry and people, such as deforestation, environmental pollution, and economic, social and cultural and physical conditions in vulnerable communities, including poor health, poorly constructed homes, unstable soils, poor location of dwellings through ignorance or territorial displacement caused by extractive projects, apathy and indifference, and lack of organisation and popular participation.