IDN-InDepthNews

UN INSIDER2016-09-292023-07-10

A Bold Move Toward A Nuclear-Weapon-Free World

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – The United Nations General Assembly will consider during the period October 24 to November 2 a resolution to launch formal, multilateral negotiations in 2017 on a “legally-binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”.

Sponsored by Austria, Brazil, Ireland, Mexico, Nigeria, and South Africa, the resolution has been submitted on September 28. “It will likely be approved with more than 120 states in support”, said Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association (ACA). “The proposal may allow for consideration of several options and proposals, including a ban treaty,” he added.

OPINION2016-09-282023-07-10

Next US President Has a Nuclear Option: Scrap the Program

Viewpoint by David Hall and Leonard Eiger

David Hall, of Lopez Island, and Leonard Eiger, of North Bend, are active members of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action and Physicians for Social Responsibility.

SEATTLE (IDN | The Seattle Times) – Have you seen the Seattle bus ads? They read: “20 miles west of Seattle is the largest concentration of deployed nuclear weapons in the U.S.”

In light of recent media attention on who should have their finger on the nuclear button, this statement seems to beg the question: With so many nuclear weapons, what would happen should the president order their use?

OPINION2016-09-272023-07-10

Colombia Shows That Peace is Possible

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The last war in the Western hemisphere came to an end on September 26 with the signing of the formal peace treaty between Colombia and the FARC rebels, a conflict that has raged on and off for 50 years.

Fortunately, the cities have been spared overt destruction – it was the army and individuals who were targeted. In Syria, even though the war has lasted only 5 years, in some cities, such as Aleppo, the bombing and fighting have wrought almost total destruction.

Is the world going to hell in a handbag? If one looks at Colombia the answer is “no”. Moreover, Latin America has long been the most peaceful of all continents. Only East Asia rivals it. Africa after decades of civil wars, at one time being the most violent of all the continents, is increasingly peaceful.

UN INSIDER2016-09-262023-07-10

Neither a Woman nor an East European Next UN Chief?

By Ramesh Jaura

NEW YORK (IDN) – Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antόnio Guterres looks set to succeed Ban Ki-moon as the United Nations Secretary-General in January 2017 if the five permanent members (P5) of the Security Council do not decide to select in the coming weeks a woman or an East European for the world’s topmost post.

By tradition, the job of secretary-general has rotated among regions. Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe have all held the post. East European nations, including Russia, argue that they have never had a Secretary-General and it is their turn.

UN INSIDER2016-09-252023-07-10

Kazakhstan Stresses Diverse Initiatives at General Assembly

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Ahead of joining the Security Council in January 2017 as its non-permanent member for two years, the Kazakh delegation has availed of the 71st session of the UN General Assembly to highlight in general debate as well as in multilateral and bilateral events the Central Asian country’s plans and perspectives.

Addressing the General Assembly on September 24, Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov said: “We take our election to the Security Council as an international recognition of the soundness and maturity of our foreign policy and a deserved achievement of our independence.”

UN INSIDER2016-09-242023-07-10

Ban Ki-moon’s Turbulent UN Years, in His Own Words

By Barbara Crossette* | Reproduced courtesy of PassBlue

NEW YORK (IDN | Passblue) – With a cease-fire in Syria collapsing around him and bombs destroying precious relief supplies intended for the hungry, traumatized survivors of relentless government attacks on the once grand city of Aleppo, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon used his last speech to open a UN General Assembly debating season to lash out at the government of Syria and its supporters.

“Many groups have killed many innocents, but none more so than the government of Syria, which continues to barrel bomb neighborhoods and systematically torture thousands of detainees,” Ban said on Sept. 20, in a rare outburst of anguish and anger from a secretary-general aimed at a member country in this most public of places, as the world watches. “Powerful patrons that keep feeding the war machine also have blood on their hands.”

ARMAMENTS2016-09-232023-07-10

UN Security Council Bans Nuke Tests But Not Bombs

Analysis by Ramesh Jaura

NEW YORK (IDN) – One day ahead of the twentieth anniversary of the opening for signature of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), the United Nations Security Council adopted a Resolution reinforcing the de facto global ban on nuclear weapons testing established 20 years ago.

The 15-member body – comprising the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France as permanent (P5) members with the right to veto and 10 non-permanent members elected by rotation for a period of two years – adopted the Resolution after extensive discussions on September 23 by a vote of 14 in favour and none against but one abstention by Egypt on the ground that the text of the Resolution did not stress on the need for nuclear disarmament.

UN INSIDER2016-09-222023-07-10

FAO, IFAD, WFP Vow to Achieve Zero Hunger Target by 2030

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Two among a spate of events accompanying the 71st session of the UN General Assembly have underlined that the Zero Hunger Challenge, launched in 2012 by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and the Decade of Action on Nutrition, announced in July 2016, are critical to implementing Sustainable Development Goals.

According to the UN, almost 800 million people go to bed hungry every night and one in three people worldwide – nearly 2.5 billion – suffer from at least one form of malnutrition, ranging from hunger to obesity to a lack of critical nutrients.

ARMAMENTS2016-09-222023-07-10

CTBT 20 Years On: Finishing the ‘Unfinished Business’

Analysis by Tariq Rauf

Tariq Rauf is Director of the Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), formerly the Head of Verification and Security Policy Coordination at the International Atomic Energy Agency.

STOCKHOLM (IDN) – On September 21, three days before the 20th anniversary of the opening for signature of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty’s (CTBT), several foreign ministers and other high-level representatives of UN Member States met in New York and united in a call for the prompt entry-into-force of the treaty.

OPINION2016-09-212023-07-10

Kenyan Youth Need Jobs to Stem Radicalization

Viewpoint by Amina Mohamed and Siddharth Chatterjee

September 21 is the International Day of Peace. Ambassador Amina Mohamed (@AMB_A_Mohammed ), the Cabinet Secretary in Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Siddharth Chatterjee (@sidchat1), the United Nations Resident Coordinator to Kenya look into particular relevance of the Day for Kenya – its present and future.

NAIROBI (IDN) – Kenya has the largest number of jobless youth in East Africa, putting a strain on the economy’s growth and also threatening peace and security when hopeless youth gravitate towards violent extremist groups.