IDN-InDepthNews

Africa2016-12-142023-07-10

UN Praises Ghana Polls as New President Awaits Inauguration

By Global Information Network

NEW YORK | ACCRA (IDN) – In a surprise upset for incumbent President John Dramani Mahama, Ghanaian voters turned out strongly for opposition candidate Nana Akufo-Addo, whose campaign for the presidency gave hope to thousands of jobless.

While Akufo-Addo bagged 54% of the vote, Mahama took 44% on December 7. It was the first time in Ghana that an opposition candidate defeated an incumbent President at the ballot box – a reason strong enough for outgoing United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to congratulate Akufo-Addo on his election as President of Ghana.

Ban thanked outgoing President John Dramani Mahama for his role in defusing tensions and preserving peace during the election period. According to a statement issued by his office on December 9, Ban reiterated UN’s commitment to continue assisting the Government of Ghana in consolidating democratic and development achievements.

UN INSIDER2016-12-142023-07-10

UN Report Finds 48 Countries in a Poverty Trap

By Ronald Joshua

GENEVA (IDN) – As the first year of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030 comes to a close, a new United Nations report finds that a group of 48 countries is falling further behind the rest of the world in terms of economic development.

The proportion of the global poor in those countries has more than doubled since 1990, to well over 40 per cent, and that the situation will not be remedied unless the international community takes concerted action.

“These are the countries where the global battle for poverty eradication will be won or lost,” said UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi, launching the Report. “A year ago, the global community pledged to ‘leave no one behind’, but that is exactly what is happening to the least developed countries (LDCs).”

UN INSIDER2016-12-142023-07-10

Funding a Serious Challenge for Malaria Control, Says WHO

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.” This ambitious goal three enshrined in Agenda 2030 that vows to “leave no one behind” has made rather a modest advance – particularly in regard to combating malaria – as countries inch towards marking the first year anniversary of Sustainable Development Goals.

Sustained and sufficient funding for malaria control is a serious challenge, warns the World Malaria Report 2016. Despite a steep increase in global investment for malaria between 2000 and 2010, funding has since flat-lined. In 2015, malaria funding totalled US$ 2.9 billion, representing only 45% of the funding milestone for 2020 (US$ 6.4 billion).

UN INSIDER2016-12-132023-07-10

Gender Parity A Must For New UN Chief Guterres

By Rodney Reynolds

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Antonio Guterres, a former Prime Minister of Portugal (1995-2002) who was sworn in as the ninth UN Secretary-General, will preside over a 71-year-old Secretariat which is badly in need of institutional reforms, including the break-up of a longstanding monopoly of male-dominated high ranking appointments, described as an exclusive preserve of major powers.

Asked about his priorities in the first 100 days of his administration, beginning January 1, he told reporters: “I think that one very important element of the agenda will be to give a clear signal that gender parity is a must.”

OPINION2016-12-132023-07-10

Trump’s Phone Call to Taiwan Pokes China in the Eye

By Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – President-elect Donald Trump has decided to poke China in the eye. He has phoned the president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, assuring her of America’s support. Yes, the US has always supported Taiwan but usually behind the scenes, apart from its arms supplies. It does not recognize it diplomatically. China was angry. After Sunday’s (December 11) news that Trump was reconsidering the US’s long-held “One China” policy Beijing is furious.

When, last November, President Xi Jinping met Ma Ying-jeou, then Taiwan’s president and leader of the Kuomintang Party, I observed that if China continues to play its hand quietly it can, if it is shrewd, in the end win re-unification. But perhaps it will be over Trump’s dead body.

North-South Cooperation2016-12-132023-07-10

Paris Summit Gives Global Lessons in Transparency

By A.D. McKenzie

PARIS (IDN) – If you have always suspected that politicians around the world tend to belong to certain cliques and to have attended particular schools, there is now a digital tool being developed to confirm (or deny) your suspicions.

Called ‘Cargografías’, this was one of the many data instruments presented at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit that took place in Paris from December 7 to 9 and brought together government and civil society representatives working for greater transparency in the public interest.

“The idea is that citizens have the right to know about public officials,” said Pablo Pignolo, a Uruguayan software analyst and developer who works on Cargografías with colleagues from other Latin American countries.

UN INSIDER2016-12-122023-07-10

Nigeria’s Amina Mohammed Slated as New UN Chief’s Deputy

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – António Guterres, who was sworn in on December 12 as the new UN Secretary-General, is expected to appoint Nigeria’s Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, as his Deputy, according to Nigeria’s Premium Times.

Mohammed had formerly served as an adviser to the outgoing UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. She was appointed minister by President Muhammadu Buhari in November 2015.

Nigeria’s Vanguard stated on December 12: A tweet by Pamela Falk, CBS UN correspondent, obtained by News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said that the world body would soon release a statement confirming the appointment of the Nigerian Minister of Environment.

UN INSIDER2016-12-122023-07-10

New Approaches to UN in a Changing International System

By Franz Baumann*

Note: This is a slightly abridged version of Franz Baumann’s Keynote Address at the Bonn International Model UN titled ‘Transformation in the midst of Crisis: New approaches in a changing International System’ on November 30. Bonn, the former capital of West Germany, hosts 19 UN organizations and secretariats in the UN Campus.

NEW YORK (IDN) – There has been a momentous transformation in the past seventy years since the end of WWII and the founding of the United Nations. The UN, to recall, was born out of the second cataclysmic catastrophe of the 20th century.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the opportunity was missed to organize peace: Japan invaded Manchuria, Italy invaded Abyssinia, Germany invaded Czechoslovakia, started WWII and carried out the genocide against the Jews.

UN INSIDER2016-12-122023-07-10

Rights Situation in North Korea Worries UN Security Council

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – Two days after the United Nations human rights wing drew attention to more than 60 years of “involuntary” separation between families from the two Koreas and called for steps to encourage reunion and alleviate suffering, senior UN officials have highlighted the need for the Security Council to pay attention to human rights violations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) adding that the situation is “of great concern”.

“History teaches us that serious human rights violations are warning signs of instability and conflict,” Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said in a briefing requested by nine of the Council’s 15 members: France, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States and Uruguay.