IDN-InDepthNews

UN INSIDER2017-05-282023-07-10

Promoting Peace and Security Through Interfaith Dialogue

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The Mission of Kazakhstan to the United Nations focused early May on ‘Interfaith and Inter-Ethnic Dialogue as a Key Instrument to Promote Peace and Security, an Inclusive Society and State Building’, with Kazakhstan’s Minister for Religious Affairs and Civil Society, Nurlan Yermekbayev, as a keynote speaker.

The importance of this event on May 12 is underscored by the fact that Kazakhstan is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the two year-period 2017-2019. The Security Council is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, tasked with the maintenance of international peace and security.

Africa2017-05-272023-07-10

Blazing the Trail with Coffee Culture in Cameroon

By Ngala Killian Chimtom

YAOUNDE (ACP-IDN) – Hermine Tomaino Ndam Njoya is arguably Cameroon’s largest coffee farmer. Her farm spans some 150 hectares, and she depends on the labour of a whole village to keep the farm alive.

But what sets her apart is not just the size of her farm. What makes her different is that she is a woman excelling in a venture generally reserved for men.

Growing up in her native Noun commune in Cameroon’s West Region, she saw her parents tend their coffee farm with great care. “So I fell in love with coffee,” she says, smacking her lips after a sip of the aromatic drink.

UN INSIDER2017-05-262023-07-10

A Change of Guard at the WHO

By Laurie Garrett

Since 2004, Laurie Garrett has been a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Garrett is the only writer ever to have been awarded all three of the Big “Ps” of journalism: the Peabody, the Polk, and the Pulitzer. Her expertise includes global health systems, chronic and infectious diseases, and bioterrorism. (Full Bio and Contact). This article first appeared on 25 May 2017.

GENEVA – For the first time in its seventy-year history, the World Health Organization (WHO) will, effective July 1, be led by a nonphysician, an African, and a person from the global South. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia campaigned in an unprecedented election that gave 186 nations equal voice and saw three globetrotting candidates plead their cases.

UN INSIDER2017-05-262023-07-10

WHO Accused of Hiding Positive Report on Israel

GENEVA IDN) – The World Health Organization (WHO), a specialized agency of the United Nations that is concerned with international public health, “decided to hide a positive report on Israel from the public eye” under pressure from Syria’s Assad regime, reports UN Watch, a Geneva-based human rights organization.

The report has been published three days after the WHO Member States elected the first African, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia, as the new Director-General, who will begin his five-year term on July 1, 2017.

USA and Canada2017-05-252023-07-10

Veterans For Peace Mobilise To Resist Militarism

By Brian Trautman*

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – The United States is the most militarized and jingoistic nation on earth. Its foreign policy is guided by imperialist militarism, neoliberal capitalism and racial xenophobia. For more than sixteen years now, three presidential administrations have carried out a so-called “War on Terror” (GWOT), a perpetual state of war that is waged globally, under the depraved reasoning that “the world is a battlefield,” to quote investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill.

As demonstrated by the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the GWOT is conducted through conventional warfare. More often, however, it is executed through covert or “dirty” wars, against groups and individuals in many other nations.

UN INSIDER2017-05-242023-07-10

ECLAC Promotes Caribbean Implementation of SDGs

By Desmond Brown

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (ACP-IDN) – While there have been several activities at sub-regional level aimed at stimulating Caribbean countries to position themselves for successfully implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the pace of implementation has remained slow.

Specifically, the lack of national institutional frameworks for SDG implementation in most Caribbean countries constitutes a major obstacle to effective implementation of the goals.

The SDGs are the cornerstone of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which became effective on January 1, 2016, and is supposed to shape sustainable development efforts globally.

Nuclear Weapons2017-05-242023-07-10

U.S. Prepares To Confront Nuclear Ban Treaty With Smart Bombs

Analysis by Rick Wayman*

WASHINGTON, D.C: (IDN) – On May 23, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued a press release celebrating President Trump’s proposed 2018 budget. DOE specifically lauded the proposed “$10.2 billion for Weapons Activities to maintain and enhance the safety, security, and effectiveness of our nuclear weapons enterprise.”

Less than 24 hours earlier, Ambassador Elayne Whyte of Costa Rica released a draft of a treaty banning nuclear weapons. Ambassador Whyte is President of the United Nations Conference to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination. Over 130 nations have participated in the ban treaty negotiations thus far. A final treaty text is expected by early July.

USA and Canada2017-05-242023-07-10

Trump 2018 Budget Proposes Hike in Arms Spending

WASHINGTON, D.C.(IDN | NAPF) – The U.S. Department of Energy released Trump’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget request on May 23. The budget includes a $54 billion increase in defence spending, including $10.2 billion for supposed “Weapons activities to maintain and enhance the safety, security and effectiveness of our nuclear weapons enterprise.” Details of exactly what is included in the $10.2 billion increase have not yet been released.

While the overall budget includes significant increases to defence spending, it also includes significant cuts to scientific research, medical research, disease prevention and health insurance for children of the working poor. The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) current funding would be cut by more than 30 percent. Planned Parenthood would not receive any Health and Human Services Funding.

Latin America & the Caribbean2017-05-232023-07-10

Ecuador Annuls 16 Investment Treaties To Duck Costly Disputes

By Daniel Uribe*

GENEVA (IDN | SOUTHNEWS) – Ecuador has unilaterally withdrawn from its remaining 16 bilateral investment treaties (BITs). With this decision, Ecuador has concluded the termination of 26 BITs signed by the country since 1968.

The 16 BITS which Ecuador is withdrawing from had been signed with the Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, the United States, China, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela, and Chile.

The Ecuadorian move is part of similar measures taken in recent years by a growing number of developing countries to withdraw from their bilateral investment treaties. These include South Africa, Bolivia, Indonesia and India.

Asia-Pacific2017-05-232023-07-10

Why India Stayed Away From China’s OBOR/BRI Forum

NEW DELHI (IDN) – India was one of the eminent absentees from high-level spate of events organised by China as part of its efforts to help revive the ancient trade routes from Asia to Europe and Africa.

Responding to a query on participation of India in OBOR/BRI Forum, the official spokesperson of India’s Ministry of External Affairs said that connectivity projects such as the one launched by China must be pursued in a manner that respects sovereignty and territorial integrity.