IDN-InDepthNews

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.

OPINION2016-09-202023-07-10

Address Multiple Drivers of Migration As ACP, EU Do

Viewpoint by Dr Patrick I Gomes

Dr Patrick I Gomes is the Secretary-General of the ACP Group of States based in Brussels. Following is a slightly abridged version of his statement at the United Nations Summit on Refugees and Migrants in New York on September 19, 2016.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The 79 Member States of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group (ACP) welcomes this timely and relevant meeting on migration. The ACP-European Union Cotonou Agreement provides for an on-going dialogue on migratory flows which is jointly pursued to address protection of human rights, non-discrimination in treatment of third country nationals, and of strategies to reduce poverty, the basic issue of the ACP-EU Dialogue on Migration.

OPINION2016-09-202023-07-10

US Should Emphasise Harmony with China

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The two American presidential candidates give the impression of being rather hostile towards China. This is counterproductive.

“The US should not adopt confrontation as a strategy of choice. In China, the US would encounter an adversary skilled over the centuries in using prolonged conflict as a strategy and whose doctrine emphasizes the psychological exhaustion of the opponent.

“In an actual conflict both sides possess the capabilities and ingenuity to inflict catastrophic damage on each other. By the time any such hypothetical conflagration drew to a close, all participants would be left exhausted and debilitated. They would then be obliged to face anew the very task that confronts them today: the construction of an international order in which both counties are significant components”.

Asia-Pacific2016-09-202023-07-10

South Pacific: Foreign Logging Spurs Child Sex Fears

This is the first in a series of features on the South Pacific produced in collaboration with Wansolwara, an independent student newspaper of the University of the South Pacific.

SUVA, Fiji (IDN) – Two women’s rights activists have raised alarm bells about the need to protect Solomon Island children, especially girls, from being exploited by foreigners, who are involved in the South Pacific island nation’s logging industry.

The activists, Sister Doreen Awaiasi and Lynffer Maltungtung, say there are countless incidents in which under-age girls and young women are given to foreigners by their parents, or are lured by riches, but not much is being done to stop these or to educate the locals against engaging in such illegal acts.

ARTS & CULTURE2016-09-202023-07-10

UK Lit Fest Spotlights Immigration, Diversity

By A.D. McKenzie

PARIS – While many literature festivals have become predictable in their line-up of bestselling authors, some innovative events have added a social-issues factor to their sessions, raising awareness about everything from climate change to the need for more diversity in publishing.

The Manchester Literature Festival (MLF), taking place October 7-23 in northern England and celebrating its 11th anniversary, is one such event. This regional gathering of authors and book-lovers has increased its focus on global concerns since 2006, and its programme this year includes topics such as immigration, mental health and the urban experience.

UN INSIDER2016-09-192023-07-10

FAO Against Migration Being a Desperate Last Resort

By Jaya Ramachandran

NEW YORK (IDN) – While migration has throughout history been a driver for development, the cost becomes too high when people find that leaving their homes is their only alternative, according to FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva.

“Migration should be an act of choice, and not a desperate last resort,” Graziano da Silva said during the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants on September 19.

Bolstering the opportunities that allow rural people in developing countries to remain at home is a critical component of any plan to tackle the contemporary migration crisis,

UN INSIDER2016-09-192023-07-10

IFAD Launches $110 Million Facility For Refugees

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – An unprecedented 65 million people worldwide have been affected by the current global crisis of forced displacement, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). More than one-third of the displaced – or 22.2 million – are in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region.

With this in view, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has announced the establishment of a new financing facility amounting to $110 million to assist refugees, displaced people and their host communities to address the increased pressure put on rural areas by the influx of millions of people.

OPINION2016-09-192023-07-10

Kenya Moves Ahead to Achieve SDGs With a New Law

Viewpoint by Siddharth Chatterjee

NAIROBI (IDN) – The national implementation plan for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Kenya was launched on September 14. Representing President Uhuru Kenyatta, Mwangi Kiunjuri, Cabinet Secretary of the Ministry of Devolution and planning, said Kenya was way ahead of implementing the SDGs through its Vision 2030, and the devolved system of Governance

Kenya now needs strategic and creative partnerships with civil society networks to raise public awareness and sustain momentum for the Goals’ diverse set of targets.

UN INSIDER2016-09-172023-07-10

Millions of Refugee Children ‘Missing Out’ on Education

by Jaya Ramachandran

NEW YORK (IDN) – Refugee education is in crisis, the UN refugee agency has warned, stressing that more than some six million school-age children under mandate of the United Nations refugee agency have no school to go, and refugees are five times more likely to be out of school than the world average.

“This represents a crisis for millions of refugee children,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a news release issued by his Office (UNHCR).

“Refugee education is sorely neglected, when it is one of the few opportunities we have to transform and build the next generation so they can change the fortunes of the tens of millions of forcibly displaced people globally,” he added.