IDN-InDepthNews – Page 688 – News for a Sustainable World, Peace and Security

UN INSIDER2016-12-062023-07-10

Indian Business Makes Common Cause with UN Women

MUMBAI (IDN | UN Women) – Unveiling a new partnership, UN Women and the IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IMC) organized (on December 6) a high-level event to underline the critical link between women’s economic empowerment and ending violence against women, and the need for urgent and adequate investment in the twin themes.

UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka on a visit to India was the Chief Guest at the conference titled “WeUNiTE: Investing in Planet 50-50”. Private sector leaders, UN officials, gender experts and activists explored how skill development, entrepreneurship and innovation could help achieve gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.

Peace & Security2016-12-052023-07-10

Geneva Conventions Prevent Wars from Getting Worse

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – A new survey finds that an overwhelming number of people living in countries affected by wars believe in the pressing need to impose limits on armed conflicts. Nearly half of those surveyed in conflict-affected countries are convinced that the Geneva Conventions prevent wars from getting worse.

But people in five countries that are permanent members (P5) of the UN Security Council appear to be more resigned to civilian casualties and suffering as an inevitable part of warfare:

The survey titled People on War was published by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on December 5, 2016. It sought to find out how people around the world perceive a range of issues related to war.

UN INSIDER2016-12-042023-07-10

Conference Lauds Kazakh Achievements Over 25 Years

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK | ASTANA (IDN) – As Kazakhstan inches towards celebrating 25th anniversary of its independence on December 16, senior officials from the European Union, Russia and China as well as parliamentarians and experts from several countries have commended the country’s achievements since 1991 and welcomed its new international role as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council beginning January 2017 for two years.

Chairman of the Mazhilis (lower chamber of Parliament) Nurlan Nigmatulin reflected the views of participants in an international conference in Astana, when he said the election of Kazakhstan, as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2017-2018 was a “convincing evidence of the high international authority of Kazakhstan and its leader Nursultan Nazarbayev”.

UN INSIDER2016-12-032023-07-10

Lesotho King Appointed UN Special Ambassador for Nutrition

By Ronald Joshua

ROME (IDN) – King Letsie III of Lesotho has been appointed as Special Ambassador of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for Nutrition. The Organization’s Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, made the announcement at the high-level International Symposium on Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Improved Nutrition December 1-2, 21016.

The Symposium was held to explore country-level challenges and successes in the nutritional reshaping of food production, processing, marketing and retail systems. Malnutrition – including obesity and micronutrient deficiencies – blights the lives of billions of individuals and can trap generations in a vicious cycle of poverty.

UN INSIDER2016-12-022023-07-10

UNIDO Assisting in Sustainable Industrial Development

By Julia Rainer

VIENNA (IDN) – The need for inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID) and the role of industrialization as a driver for development drew the focus of attention as the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) celebrated its 50th anniversary in November.

ISID was decided as the new mandate of UNIDO by its member states in 2013. Since then, UNIDO has been striving to translate it into practice through the Programme for Country Partnership (PCP).

According to UNIDO, the PCP is not a static template, but a custom-built partnership formula with each beneficiary country maintaining ownership of the complete process by defining its needs and required support, and finally ensuring the success of its delivery.

Asia-Pacific2016-12-022023-07-10

An Island Where World’s First Cultured Pearls Were Created

By Ramesh Jaura and Katsuhiro Asagiri

TOKYO (IDN) – To adorn the necks of all women in the world with pearls: this was the “humble ambition” of Kokichi Mikimoto, who died in September 1954 at the age of 96, says Noboru Shibahara, Manager of the Mikimoto Pearl Island, as we stand in front of a bronze statue of the man after whom Japan’s famous island is named.

Mikimoto was fully aware that “in order to realize his ambition, peace and trusted relations among nations have to exist based on democratic principles as advocated by Yukio Ozaki”, adds Shibahara.

Also remembered with his pseudonym ‘Gakudo’, Ozaki served in the House of Representatives of the Japanese Diet for 63 years (1890–1953), and is still revered as the “God of constitutional politics” and the “Father of the Japanese Constitutional Democracy”.

Asia-Pacific2016-12-012023-07-10

A Japanese NGO Keeps Yuki Ozaki’s Spirit Alive

By Ramesh Jaura and Katsuhiro Asagiri

ISE | TOKYO (IDN) – Takako Doi is a warm-hearted, youthful and dynamic woman in her late sixties wedded to the cause of promoting educational and exchange programmes to foster international cooperation and friendship. She is deeply rooted in Japanese culture, and her mind, ears and eyes are open to the global community.

Doi is President of Gakudo Kofu, a not-for-profit organisation (NPO) launched in 2006 and tasked since 2010 with administration of the historic Ozaki Gakudo Memorial House supported by the Ise City, known as the ‘Holy City’ because it hosts Ise Jingu, the Grand Shrine, a Shinto shrine complex centered on two main shrines, Naikū and Gekū, dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu. Read in Japanese

Africa2016-12-012023-07-10

Morocco Hosts the World’s largest Solar Plant

By Fabíola Ortiz

MARRAKECH (IDN) – The ambitious Moroccan plan for harnessing heat coming from the sun in the Sahara desert and turning it into electricity has drawn international attention, also during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP22), held in Marrakesh, between November 7-18.

Two hundred kilometres Northeast drive from the COP22 venue lies the 450 hectares Noor solar complex. When it starts fully operating in 2018, it will power over one million households and curb 760,000 tons per year of greenhouse gas emissions.

UN INSIDER2016-11-302023-07-10

Trump Nominates Nikki Haley as Ambassador to the UN

By Suresh Jaura*

TORONTO (IDN) – First American-born Indian-origin woman, Nikki Haley, made history in U.S. by being nominated to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, by President-elect, Donald Trump, on November 23. She is one of the two women in Trump cabinet, the other is, Ms Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education nominee.

Haley, 44, born as Nimrata Nikki Randhawa on January 20, 1972, is the American-born daughter of Indian immigrants. Her parents, Ajit Singh Randhawa and Raj Kaur Randhawa, immigrated to Canada after her father received a scholarship offer from the University of British Columbia. Her father moved his family to South Carolina after earning PhD in 1969.

DEVNET2016-11-302023-07-10

Facilitating Agricultural Co-ops in Indochina

By Fumiyasu Akegawa*

This advertorial is part of IDN’s media project jointly with Global Cooperation Council and DEVNET Japan.

TOKYO – After ensuring cooperation from associated government ministries in Japan and United Nations organizations such as the UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as well as the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), DEVNET Japan is in the process of launching agricultural cooperatives in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar – the mainland Southeast Asian countries, historically known as Indochina.