IDN-InDepthNews – Page 699 – News for a Sustainable World, Peace and Security

Africa2016-10-242023-07-10

Kenya Lifts Death Penalty for Over 2,000 Inmates

NEW YORK | NAIROBI (IDN | GIN) – While American leaders bicker over the fate of the death penalty, with 17 inmates going to their deaths so far this year, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has signed commutation documents commuting all death sentences into life imprisonment.

The documents, signed this week at State House, Nairobi, affect some 2,747 death row inmates – 2,655 men and 92 women. The last commutation of death sentences was in 2009 by then President Mwai Kibaki who commuted the sentences of over 4,000 prisoners.

Invoking the Power of Mercy under the Constitution, President Kenyatta also signed pardons and released 102 long-term serving inmates.

Africa2016-10-242023-07-10

Opposition Rebuffs ANC Plans to Withdraw from Global Court

NEW YORK | PRETORIA (IDN | GIN) – South Africa has taken the first steps toward withdrawing the country’s membership in The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) but it faces a tough fight from the Democratic Alliance (DA), the country’s major opposition party.

Parliamentarian James Selfe, a leading member of the DA’s legal affairs group, slammed the move which he said occurred before seeking approval from the South African parliament.

“The Democratic Alliance is disgusted at this decision. We think it sends out an entirely incorrect message around our commitment to human rights and our abhorrence of human rights abuses and of genocide…” said Selfe.

UN INSIDER2016-10-232023-07-10

UN Concerned About Growing Poppy Cultivation in Afghanistan

By Jaya Ramachandran

VIENNA | KABUL (IDN) – The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Yury Fedotov has expressed concern over the rise of 43 percent in opium production in Afghanistan and called “for deepening political commitment within Afghanistan to face down illicit drugs and to stop endemic corruption as well as the proliferation of money laundering and other financial crimes”.

The findings of the Afghanistan Opium Survey 2016 launched in Kabul on October 23 show an increase to 4,800 metric tons in 2016 compared with 2015 levels, which Fedotov said, points to “a worrying reversal” in efforts to combat the persistent problem of illicit drugs and their impact on development, health and security.

UN INSIDER2016-10-222023-07-10

Bold Steps Agreed to Make Land Resilient to Degradation

By IDN-INPS Africa Bureau

NAIROBI (IDN) – A landmark meting of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has decided to ramp up global efforts to curb desertification and drought that are projected to force 135 million to migrate in the next 30 years.

The fifteenth session of the Committee of the Review of Implementation of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (CRIC 15) concluded its three-day meeting on October 20 in Nairobi, Kenya, with the adoption of an outcome aimed at intensifying efforts to combat desertification.

OPINION2016-10-212023-07-10

Upsurge in World Debt Threatens Global Stability

Viewpoint by Martin Khor*

GENEVA (IDN | South Centre) – Debt worldwide has grown to unprecedentedly high levels and has to be brought down to prevent another financial crisis. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) at its annual meeting in Washington October 7-9 highlighted this.

Other problems facing the global economy include the stagnation in world trade, a decline in commodity prices, and the reversal of capital flows to developing countries.

A recently-released United Nations report has analysed the situation as a third phase in the global crisis that began with the United States in 2008, then spread in a second wave to Europe, and is now moving on to the developing countries.

Africa2016-10-212023-07-10

Africa Transforming Agriculture To Combat Climate Change

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (ACP-IDN) – As Africa grapples with climate change induced extreme weather patterns mechanisms to transform agriculture and ensure food security through adoption of innovative ways are gaining prominence.

In Kenya, like most African countries, small-scale farmers who are the majority are opting for sustainable solutions. One such farmer is Albert Waweru, a retired police officer with 1.75-acre farm in Kasarani on the outskirts of Nairobi. He has 50 dairy cows that produce 290 litres of milk daily. He also rears poultry, dairy goats and has several green houses where vegetables are grown.

UN INSIDER2016-10-202023-07-10

FAO-NEPAD Effort to Create Jobs for African Rural Youth

ROME (IDN) – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) have agreed to generate job and business opportunities for young people in rural Benin, Cameroon, Malawi, and Niger.

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency (NPCA) Chief Executive Officer Ibrahim Assane Mayaki signed an agreement for the purpose on October 19. The project to be implemented with the help of a $4 million grant from the Africa Solidarity Trust Fund seeks to foster policy dialogue among countries, regional organizations, development and resource partners.

Peace & Security2016-10-202023-07-10

Faith-Based Groups Make the Case for Disarmament

Analysis by T.K. Fernandes

NEW YORK (IDN) – Since the deadly use of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the international community has been calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons. Despite slow progress, civil society has continued to tirelessly advocate for a nuclear-free world and is in fact one step closer to its realization in principle.

While speaking to IDN, Director of Peace and Human Rights at Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Kimiaki Kawai noted the importance of nuclear disarmament, stating: “We share common global challenges like climate change, poverty, hunger and disasters – so why don’t we utilize our rich resources for more meaningful purposes?”

UN INSIDER2016-10-192023-07-10

OPEC and UN Climate Officials Move To Build Bridges

By Jaya Ramachandran

BERLIN | BONN (IDN) – OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that are known to have been at loggerheads for nearly two decades appear to be building bridges just a few days after the Paris Agreement reached the threshold for entry into force on October 5.

In the run-up to the UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech, Morocco from November 7 to 18, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo visited Bonn to meet with UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa “to enhance cooperation between the UNFCCC and OPEC and exchange views on recent developments”.

OPINION2016-10-192023-07-10

SAARC Falling Prey to Bilateral Disputes

Viewpoint by Sugeeswara Senadhira*

COLOMBO (IDN) – The Indian way of sabotaging the fragile regional cooperation in order to express hostility towards a neighbour due to a bilateral issue is causing concern to the friends of South Asian regional cooperation.

India, not for the first time, ensured that the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit in Islamabad would become a non-event. In the early 1990s India took similar actions to sabotage Dhaka and Colombo SAARC Summits.

On those two occasions what New Delhi did was to get a dependable South Asian friend – Bhutan – to announce its inability to attend the Summit, thus leading to the cancellation of the event as the SAARC Charter is specific on consensus of all seven, now eight, Member States.