IDN-InDepthNews

UN INSIDER2016-12-302023-07-10

UN Establishes Technology Bank For The World’s Poorest

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The world’s 48 most impoverished and vulnerable countries have reason to rejoice. The United Nations General Assembly in New York finally established a Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries.

The Technology Bank is intended to help least developed countries strengthen their science, technology and innovation capacities, foster the development of national and regional innovation ecosystems that can attract outside technology and generate home-grown research and take these advancements to market.

DEVNET2016-12-302023-07-10

Devnet Japan Praised For ‘Innovative Approach’ To Development

By Ramesh Jaura and Katsuhiro Asagiri

BERLIN | TOKYO (IDN) – “My tenure in India was an awakening to me,” says Hideaki Domichi who was Japan’s Ambassador to that huge country with a population of more than 1.2 billion, which is “very poor” but also has “very rich people who are trading globally”.

Having spent some four decades with Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and as a diplomat in the U.S., Egypt, Iran, Indonesia and India, Mr Domichi is not only immune to any “cultural shocks”, as he said, but also capable of shedding prejudices and willing to open up to new ideas and perceptions.

Asia-Pacific2016-12-292023-07-10

India Drives Mongolia Into China’s Submission

By Shastri Ramachandran*

NEW DELHI (IDN) – Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first-ever Indian Prime Minister to visit Mongolia. He may also be the last, as Mongolia now wishes that he had never come.

Thereby hangs a sordid tale of how the cookie crumbled in the steppes; how the itinerant dream merchant fed false hopes to a credulous but friendly and trusting people; and, how Mongolia – when squeezed by China to apologise for the Dalai Lama’s visit and promise to never again invite him – learned the hard way that India would neither come to its aid nor deliver on its promises. Beijing made Ulaanbaatar kowtow, and that was a resounding slap on New Delhi’s face.

Africa2016-12-282023-07-10

Chinese Fishers Going Off With Cameroon’s Catch

By Ngala Killian Chimtom

LIMBE, Cameroon (ACP-IDN) – Henry Maloke is disentangling a couple of black catfish from his fishing net at the wharf in Limbe, a seaside locality in Cameroon’s South West Region. It is a day’s catch after spending close to 24 hours at sea.

Back when the ocean was healthy and teeming with life, the 64-year old fisherman could return home after just a few hours with a full net. The situation has changed.

“Chinese fishermen are going away with everything, leaving our waters empty,” complains Maloke. “It’s a catastrophe,” he adds, casting an uncertain glance out to the ocean’s limits.

Asia-Pacific2016-12-272023-07-10

More Indigenous Doctors Aim To Close Australia’s Health Gap

By Neena Bhandari

SYDNEY (IDN) – Vinka Barunga was born in the Worrara tribe of the Mowanjum Aboriginal community in the remote town of Derby in Western Australia. As a child, she witnessed disease and suicide amongst her people, which made her resolve to one day become a doctor and help break this cycle of suffering. She is one of six, the largest cohort of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) students, to graduate in Medicine/Surgery from the University of Western Australia this year.

Australia has fewer than 300 Aboriginal doctors, but things are gradually changing. Vinka is determined to be the first full time doctor in the town of her birth, situated around 2,400 kilometres north of the state capital Perth in the Kimberley region. It is the gateway to the state’s resource rich north, surrounded by mudflats on three sides, with two distinct seasons.

OPINION2016-12-272023-07-10

Why We Should Be Optimistic About 2017

By Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – What you see depends on where you sit. There are the pessimists who see President-elect Donald Trump who said in his tweet about the need to engage in a new arms race. There are the optimists, sitting on the other side of the room, who believe the kind words uttered by President Vladimir Putin and Trump to each other mean that there well could be a new agreement on reducing their nuclear armories. 2017 will be a lot better than 2016.

When I wrote my history of Amnesty International (“Like Water on Stone”, Penguin, 2002) I was struck both by the staff and activists how positive they were, despite dealing with some of the worst horrors in the world.

Asia-Pacific2016-12-272023-07-10

Suu Kyi’s Astute Move On Rohingya Issue in Myanmar

Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 13th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

BANGKOK (IDN) – With mounting demonstrations in support of Rohingyas in fellow ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) Muslim majority countries Malaysia and Indonesia, Myanmar’s de-facto leader and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi made an astute move to summon Foreign Ministers of ASEAN for a one-day “retreat” to Yangoon on December 19 to brief them on the situation in Myanmar’s Rakhine State where most Rohingyas live.

OPINION2016-12-272023-07-10

The Struggle To Get Dalit Voice Into Mainstream Indian Media

By Jeya Rani*

CHENNAI (IDN) – Even as you read this whever you are, somewhere in India someone is being killed or raped, humiliated or outraged, just because she or he was born in a lower caste (known as Dalit).

The ‘not so changing’ statistics of National Crime Records Bureau say that a Dalit is assaulted every two hours in India. At least three Dalit women are raped every 24 hours. Two Dalits are killed every 24 hours. Two Dalit houses are burnt down.

There is no dearth of breaking news or good TRP ratings in reporting atrocities against Dalits across India. But, why are these stories not getting the coverage it deserves in the country often touted as the world’s biggest democracy?.

ARMAMENTS2016-12-262023-07-10

UN Paves The Way For Conference on Treaty Eliminating Nukes

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA | NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations General Assembly has confirmed that beginning March 2017, it would hold a conference open to all member states, to negotiate a “legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”. The conference to be held at UN headquarters in New York will be divided into two sessions: from March 27 to 31 and from June 15 to July 7.

“This historic decision heralds an end to two decades of paralysis in multilateral nuclear disarmament efforts, and comes at a time when the two major nuclear-armed states are engaging in nuclear-sabre rattling,” noted the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

UN INSIDER2016-12-252023-07-10

Behind Security Council Demand To End Israeli Settlements

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Within days of the outgoing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly criticising Israel’s settlement activities beyond the 1967 line, the UN Security Council has adopted a landmark resolution by a vote of 14 in favour and with the United States abstaining, instead of exercising a veto.

Since the resolution 2234 was adopted on December 23, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pouring anger not only on the current U.S. Administration but also on outgoing President Barack Obama: “Friends don’t take friends to the Security Council.”

“Israel will re-assess its ties with the United Nations following the adoption by the Security Council of a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building,” Reuters quoted Prime Minister Netanyahu warning on December 24.