IDN-InDepthNews – Page 698 – News for a Sustainable World, Peace and Security

Asia-Pacific2016-10-082023-07-10

Mountain Women Give a Spin to a Prickly Plant

By Stella Paul

In the upper Himalayan villages of India, hundreds of women have been finding a livelihood in the fiber of a pariah plant: the itchy nettle.

MANA VILLAGE, India (IDN) – Under a grey sky in Mana, the last Indian village before the border of Tibet begins, 36-year-old Bhotiya woman Gayatri Raut is trying hard to sell a basketful of knitwear to the visitors. A few more weeks and the entire population of Mana will migrate to a village far down the mountain to avoid heavy snowfall and extreme cold.

EU & Europe2016-10-072023-07-10

Iceland Debates Whether It Hosted Nuclear Weapons

Analysis by Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) – Recently released declassified documents by Washington have unleashed a debate whether the U.S. ever deployed nuclear weapons in Iceland, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since its foundation in 1949.

Experts are of the view that though the U.S. claims to have never deployed nuclear weapons in a country at a strategic juncture of the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, it does not mean that it had no nuclear plans for Iceland. Previous research by Valur Ingimundarson and William Arkin demonstrates that during the Cold War Iceland was considered a potential storage site.

UN INSIDER2016-10-072023-07-10

Guterres’ Choice as Next UN Chief is Profoundly Historic

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – The choice of former Portuguese Prime Minister António Guterres as the next United Nations Secretary-General is profoundly historic, though it has not come as a surprise.

Guterres has not only gathered valuable experience as head of the UN Refugee Agency for ten years until December 2015, and as prime minister of his country in critical times, but also as president of the Socialist International.

This global social democratic organisation played a significant role at the height of the Cold War and in the Middle East under the stewardship of the late Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky and Nobel Laureate and (West) German Chancellor Willy Brandt.

UN INSIDER2016-10-062023-07-10

Laos Adds SDG18 to Handle Unexploded American Bombs

By Kalinga Seneviratne

VIENTIANE (IDN) – U.S. President Barack Obama’s early September visit to Laos helped to focus attention on one of the most horrendous war crimes in history, the bombing of the small landlocked Southeast Asian country during the Indochina War in the 1960s and 1970s, and its massive human and development costs.

The Laotians made use of the visit of both Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon for the ASEAN and East Asia Summits to launch their own Sustainable Development Goal 18 to reduce the impact of unexploded ordnance (UXO) on development and economic activities.

UN INSIDER2016-10-062023-07-10

UN Women Geneva Office to Expand Crucial Partnerships

By IDN-INPS UN Bureau

GENEVA (IDN) – Keen to provide strategic support and boost efforts for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls worldwide, the New York based UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, has opened its Geneva Liaison Office.

Explaining the decision to open the Office on October 6, UN Women said in a media release: “Serving as a gateway to development stakeholders, Geneva is host to over 40 United Nations (UN) entities, more than 400 non-governmental organizations, some 35 international organizations as well as renowned academic institutions, several of which support the promotion of women’s rights and gender equality.”

UN INSIDER2016-10-052023-07-10

Ban Ki-moon Poised to Leave Behind a Climate Legacy

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Over the past decade, Ban Ki-moon has worked ceaselessly to bring countries together to accelerate the global response to climate change. As he is fond of saying, he has visited communities on the climate frontlines, from the Arctic to the Amazon, and has witnessed how climate impacts are already devastating lives, livelihoods and prospects for a better future.

Some two months ahead of relinquishing his post as UN Secretary-General on completion of the second five-year term on December 31, he will have his efforts rewarded, allowing him to leave behind a valuable legacy.

UN INSIDER2016-10-052023-07-10

New UN Initiative to Close Online Gender Gap in Asia-Pacific

BANGKOK (IDN) – The United Nations is implementing a new project to help close the online gender gap in Asia and the Pacific. The project entitled ‘E-Government for Women’s Empowerment’ is the first of its kind in the region to address the gender dimension of e-government.

The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), in partnership with the UN Project Office on Governance (UNPOG) of the Division for Public Administration and Development Management, and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), have joined hands to provide new tools to assist governments to design, develop and implement e-services that can respond to the needs of women.

OPINION2016-10-052023-07-10

Sanctions Will Not Cause ‘Regime Change’ in Russia

Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN) – In the aftermath of the Ukrainian crisis in March 2014, the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions on Russia that have led to unintended consequences.

Crimea re-joined Russia following a referendum in which more than 96 percent of Russian speaking residents of Crimea voted to declare independence based on “the right of nations to self-determination” that is stipulated in Article 1 of the UN Charter.

SYNDICATION, UNITED NATIONS2016-10-052023-07-12

UN Court Rejects Marshall Islands’ Nuclear Disarmament Cases

By Rick Wayman*

THE HAGUE (IDN) – The International Court of Justice has determined that it does not have jurisdiction in the nuclear disarmament cases brought by the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) against India, Pakistan and the United Kingdom (UK).

By an 8-8 vote, with President Ronny Abraham of France issuing the casting “no” vote, the Court declared that there was not sufficient evidence of a dispute between the RMI and the UK, and therefore the Court lacks jurisdiction.

UN INSIDER2016-10-042023-07-10

Russia Cautions Against Forgetting WWII Lessons

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Nuremberg Tribunal decisions, which Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says, “cautions against forgetting the WWII lessons, reminds us of catastrophic consequences of the attempts to determine the fate of the world by suppressing legitimate interests of other States and peoples”.

In a statement to the UN General Assembly’s 71st session on September 23, Lavrov said: “The freedom of expression or peaceful assembly should not be used as a cover for condoning radical movements that profess the Nazi ideology and support the glorification of the Nazi and their accomplices.”