IDN-InDepthNews

News for a Sustainable World, Peace and Security

IDN-InDepthNews
Africa

Kenya Targets Children in Steps to Combat TB

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (ACP-IDN) – In Kenya, a high burden tuberculosis (TB) country, infants and young children are at very high risk of developing severe and often fatal strains of the disease, and are estimated to comprise 10-11 percent of all TB cases.

In order to combat the disease, primarily among children but also the population in general, the country is putting mechanisms in place, including better equipment for TB testing, and in 2016 became the first country in the world to roll out child-friendly TB medicines.

Overseen by TB Alliance, an international non-governmental organisation that supports the development of affordable tuberculosis drugs, the medicines are easier for caregivers to give and for children to take and are expected to help improve treatment and child survival.

Global Partnerships

ACP Countries Resolve to Negotiate as a Unified Entity with EU

By Jutta Wolf

BERLIN | BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – Seventy-nine countries from Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) are determined to speak with one voice as they prepare to negotiate a major partnership framework with the 27-nation European Union (EU).

The new accord will follow on the current ACP-EU Partnership Agreement (also known as the Cotonou Agreement), which covers trade, development cooperation and political dialogue between the two parties until 2020.

Leading up to the launch of negotiations for the post-Cotonou period in 2018, there is a clear common interest in aligning future ACP-EU cooperation to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

OPINION

U.S. Administrations’ Long List of Distortions and Lies

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Are our governments economical with the truth, if not maliciously misleading? Do governments the world over lie? Of course yes, because there are always occasions when realpolitik appears to demand it.

Most recently, many are arguing, we have seen an attempt to obfuscate the truth when President Donald Trump ordered missiles to be fired at an airbase in Syria in, he said, retaliation for an attack using sarin gas by the Syrian government on unarmed civilians. Critics blame the rebels.

USA and Canada

Trump Shows His Muscles

Analysis by Pier Francesco Zarcone*

LISBON (IDN) – Not knowing what will happen next, commenting in the immediate wake of the U.S. missile attack on the Shayrat airbase in Syria on the night of April 7 is risky but not sterile, at least to try to understand a bit more than the pre-packaged “petty lessons” of the mouthpieces of the United States, in Italy and elsewhere, were quick to recite.

Coincidentally, the muscular display of [U.S. President Donald] Trump comes shortly after the publication by IDN of an article the essence of which was the substantial uselessness of international law, given that the great powers violate it continually

UN INSIDER

Climate Action Is Imperative, Says ECOSOC Partnership Forum

By Jaya Ramachandran

This report is based on an unofficial record of the Economic and Social Council 2017 Session, Partnership Forum (ECOSOC/6821) on April 5, 2017. – The Editor.

NEW YORK (IDN) – “The clock is ticking and we have no time to waste” amid climate change, rapid urbanization, mass movements of people and other global trends affecting communities and financing worldwide, said Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations in a video message to the day-long Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Partnership Forum on April 5.

The 2030 Agenda had set the bar high and partnerships were key to supporting the Sustainable Development Goals and ensuring their success. In fostering partnerships, critical elements included delivering results on the ground, providing effective financing and garnering significant private-sector investment, the Deputy Secretary-General added.

Nuclear Weapons

Three NGOs Urge Ban on Funding Nuclear Weapons Production

By J Nastranis

This is a revised version of the report titled ‘Ban Treaty Should Stop Funding Nuclear Weapons Production‘ carried on April 2, which inadvertently failed to source quotes properly. In a separate report, we will discuss the origins of the proposal to prohibit the financing of nuclear weapons production. – The Editor

NEW YORK (IDN) – Global consensus on a legally-binding treaty on prohibiting the production of nuclear weapons has yet to be achieved. But three non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are pressing for a ban on the financing of atomic arsenals when such a legal instrument is agreed.

UN INSIDER

Sustainable Energy for All by 2030 Needs Greater Effort

By Santo D. Benerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – A new report has expressed dissatisfaction with the current pace of progress on three global energy goals – access to electricity, renewable energy and efficiency, and stressed that more action is needed to meet energy targets by 2030 as envisaged in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

According to the latest Global Tracking Framework (GTF) report, released on April 3 by the World Bank and the International Energy Agency as part of the Sustainable Energy for All Knowledge Hub, the increase of people getting access to electricity is slowing down.

UN INSIDER

Kazakhstan Focuses on Energy for Sustainable Development

By Devendra Kamarajan

NEW YORK (IDN) – Energy drives and enables national development and the global economy. Energy lies at the heart of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which constitute Agenda 2030 endorsed by world leaders at the United Nations Summit in September 2015.

It is widely agreed that increasing renewable energy production and consumption by 2030 will therefore contribute to climate change resilience, economic growth and poverty reduction. 

Kazakhstan, as a forward looking and staunch proponent of energy security for over half a decade now, will contribute to global discourse and multilateral action by hosting the international specialized exhibition EXPO-2017 on Future Energy from June 10 to September 10 in the country’s capital Astana.

Asia-Pacific

Thailand Discovering the Power of Woman Travellers

By Kalinga Seneviratne

BANGKOK (IDN) – Thailand has long been a magnet for male travellers from the West, but now the kingdom’s tourism authorities are recognizing the power of woman travellers especially from Asia – among others from India, China and Japan.

“Sun is rising in the East (for Thailand),” says Srisuda Wanapinyosak, Deputy Governor for International Marketing (Asia and South Pacific) at Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). “Asian economies are good and people travel. This is a good opportunity for Thailand,” she tells IDN.

With European economies in the doldrums, Thailand has lost much of its former tourist market, but Asians have compensated for the decline, says Srisuda. There were nearly 8.8 million visitors from China in 2016 and 1.2 million from India visiting Thailand. The gender ratio was almost equal.

Peace & Security

On the Right of Peoples to Self-Determination

Analysis by Pier Francesco Zarcone*

ROME (IDN) – Well-meaning people of various countries have long tried to introduce the rule of law in relations among States, placing their trust for this purpose in the instrument of international law.

This is an imperfect, fragile instrument which is part conventional and part covenantal in nature, and works only by leveraging the fear of effective retaliation by other States.

In the context of today, talk of international law more than ever smacks of a joke, given that under the “new world order” of imperialism the issues of legality and illegality have now been relegated to the level of study and discussion for specialists in law, but without any practical relevance. Today, those who can do what they want.

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