IDN-InDepthNews

Asia-Pacific2016-08-302023-07-10

Japan Aids Healthcare for Poor Mothers in Bangladesh

By Naimul Haq

DHAKA (IDN) – Twenty-year-old Aklima Khatun gave birth to her first child on August 27 at a small clinic run by the government. The clinic, known as community clinic (CC), offers affordable but reliable maternal health services. Unlike the widely adopted traditional home deliveries, Aklima chose safer delivery in the hands of skilled birth attendants and in a hygienic environment.

All this was possible because Aklima had attended a safe motherhood programme, which promotes maternal healthcare and health education needed for mostly the poor and illiterate mothers. It is part of a Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) funded project. The project aims at improving a maternal healthcare programme by revitalizing and enhancing effective care and monitoring.

DEVNET2016-08-302023-07-10

Japanese Earthquakes Show Need for Disaster Prevention

By Toshiaki Kitazato*

KUMAMOTO, Japan (IDN) – In April this year, two major earthquakes struck Kumamoto on the island of Kyushu, southern Japan, where I live and work as a lawyer.

I was resting in my house when a magnitude 6.2 earthquake with an epicentre at a depth of around 11 km struck at 21:26 on April 14. Less than two days later, this was followed by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake at 1:26.

In fear of my life, I spent three nights in a car outside the house with my family. Luckily enough, all of us were safe and my house only received minor damage, while the walls surrounding my house collapsed. JAPANESE

Latin America & the Caribbean2016-08-302023-07-10

Costa Rica Setting its Sights on Sustainable Development

By Jose Rafael Quesada*

SAN JOSE (IDN) – Costa Rica, a small Central American country with a population of barely 5 million inhabitants, has a high human development index (ranking 69th worldwide) and is considered a consolidated democracy in Latin America.

High investments in education, good development of social security and high levels of openness and competitiveness in international markets make Costa Rica a candidate for membership of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

However, the country is still experiencing serious problems in the area of endemic poverty, a low level of efficiency in the construction of infrastructure, high levels of state indebtedness and high indicators of tax evasion.

ARMAMENTS2016-08-292023-07-10

Kazakhstan Leads the Way to a Nuclear-Weapon Free World

By Ramesh Jaura and Katsuhiro Asagiri

ASTANA (IDN) – As divisions between States on how to achieve nuclear disarmament grow, countries like Kazakhstan must lead the way to common ground and inclusive dialogue. Such leadership is urgently needed to make our world truly secure, said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a message delivered to the conference on ‘Building a Nuclear-Free World’.

Welcoming participants, President Nursultan Nazarbayev explained why Kazakhstan was leading the way: “August 29, 1991 is marked by an event of historic significance both for our country and the whole world. 25 years ago, we legally stopped the most sinister experiment of militarism, which had been tormenting our land and our people for almost 40 years. Several decades before that event, the world tried to lower the threshold of nuclear threat through the processes of nuclear weapons reduction, and a moratorium of its testing.“

UN INSIDER2016-08-292023-07-10

Global Migration Compact Negotiations to Begin in 2017

By Jaya Ramachdandran

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – The forthcoming UN Summit on Refugees and Migrants on September 19 in New York would launch a process of intergovernmental negotiations leading to the adoption of a ‘Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration’.

The intergovernmental negotiations, which will begin in early 2017, are to culminate in an intergovernmental conference on international migration in 2018 at which the Global Compact would be presented for adoption.

As the Third High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development is to be held in New York “no later than 2019”, the draft under consideration pleads for envisaging a role for the High Level Dialogue in the process.

UN INSIDER2016-08-282023-07-10

Ban’s Son-in-law Pledges to Uphold Human Dignity in New Job

Analysis by J Nasranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – An Indian national, Siddharth Chatterjee, is a new star on the horizon at the United Nations, nearly nine years after Shashi Tharoor announced his departure from the UN in the aftermath of finishing second in the 2006 elections for the Secretary-General to Ban Ki-moon.

Tharoor, meanwhile an eminent political leader in India, left the world body after having served for 29 years in different categories. Until 2007, he was a career official at the United Nations, rising to the rank of Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information in 2001.

Africa2016-08-282023-07-10

Zimbabweans Embracing Solar Energy in Remote Areas

By Jeffrey Moyo

MWENEZI, Zimbabwe (IDN) – Deep in Vesera village in Mwenezi district in Zimbabwe’s Masvingo Province, 34-year-old Albert Chindiro emerges from his pole and dagga thatched hut holding a medium size solar panel which he positions on the roof to recharge solar batteries for lighting when night falls.

The house of neighbour Alphios Mhike is linked to power lines from the state energy utility, the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), but has long been disconnected from the after Mhike failed to keep up payments for prepaid electricity supplies. He too has now turned to solar energy.

UN INSIDER2016-08-262023-07-10

Liberia Needs Long-term Security Council Engagement

NEW YORK (IDN | UN News Service) – The United Nations envoy for Liberia has stressed the need for long-term, robust engagement by stakeholders, particularly the Security Council, towards a sustainable peace in the West African country.

Briefing the Council on August 25, Farid Zarif, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), said many Liberians are concerned about the prospect of the Mission’s withdrawal and potential lack of UN support during the October 2017 presidential and legislative elections.

UN INSIDER2016-08-262023-07-10

Reinforcing Nuclear-Test-Ban With Security Council Resolution

Viewpoint by Shervin Taheran*

This article appears in cooperation with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), as part of the initiative ‘Youth for CTBTO’. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the CTBTO. – Editor

WASHINGTON. D.C. (IDN) – Following mass protests against Soviet nuclear weapons testing in Kazakhstan on August 29, 1991, the Kremlin was forced to close the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, where over 460 nuclear tests were conducted, and declare a moratorium on nuclear testing. This, in turn, opened the way for the United States to halt testing and for negotiations on a global, verifiable Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which were concluded in 1996.

USA and Canada2016-08-252023-07-10

TPPA May Fall Victim to U.S. Political Dynamics

Analysis by Martin Khor *

GENEVA (IDN | SouthViews) – The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement has become a political football in the U.S. Presidential elections and with the public mood so against trade agreements, the TPPA faces the real possibility of being discarded.

No country was more active in pushing for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). In the five years of negotiations, the United States cajoled, persuaded and pressurised its trade partners to take on board its issues and positions.

Finally, when the TPP was signed in February 2016 by 12 countries, it was widely expected that the agreement will come into force within two years, after each country ratifies it.