IDN-InDepthNews

UN INSIDER2016-07-082023-07-10

India Acclaimed for Contribution to UN Mission in Liberia

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The Indian police officers, deployed as part of a Formed Police Unit (FPU), played a critical role in contributing to the United Nations peacekeeping mission’s success in Liberia, according to statements by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and other senior UN officials.

FPUs have three core duties: public order management, protection of United Nations personnel and facilities and support to such police operations that require a concerted response but do not respond to military threats.

The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) handed over security responsibility to national forces on June 30, 2016. Since Liberia’s civil war ended in 2003, UNMIL has been supporting the West African nation to rebuild its institutions so as to enable it maintain stability without its presence.

UN INSIDER2016-07-072023-07-10

NEWSBRIEF: Pretoria Rejects UN Move to Boost Civil Society

NEW YORK (IDN) – The Human Rights Institute of South Africa has expressed disappointment at the South African vote against a resolution by the United Nations Human Rights Council on civil society, reports GroundUp. The resolution, aimed at creating safe spaces for civil society to operate, was passed on July 1, 2016 with 31 votes for, 7 against, and 9 abstentions.

The resolution, known as A/HRC/32/L.29, was introduced by Chile, Ireland, Japan, Sierra Leone and Tunisia. It was widely supported by civil society around the world; 244 organisations signed an open letter urging members of the Council to vote for the adoption of the resolution, including the Human Rights Institute of South Africa and international organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch which have a presence in the country.

Asia-Pacific2016-07-072023-07-10

No Urgency for Sri Lanka’s ETCA Response to Brexit

Analysis by Dr Palitha Kohona

The writer is former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York, previously Head of the UN Treaty Section. Dr Kohona was closely involved with the Uruguay Round of Trade negotiations.

COLOMBO (IDN) – The Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremasingha, has declared that Sri Lanka will sign the proposed Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) with India urgently as a means of cushioning the possible negative effects of Brexit on the country.

As to whether the proposed ETCA will be effective in realising this goal has not been properly discussed. Nor have the deeply felt reservations of the Sri Lankan business and professional communities about the ETCA been adequately addressed.

OPINION2016-07-072023-07-10

U.S.-Egypt: From Idealism to Political Cynicism

Viewpoint by Rana Allam and Sanam Naraghi Anderlini

Rana Allam is WASL Senior Editor and Former Editor of Daily News Egypt. Sanam Naraghi Anderlini is Co-Founder, ICAN.

WASHINGTON DC (IDN) – On July 4 as Americans celebrated independence from a King that “obstructed the Administration of Justice…sent hither swarms of Officers to harass people… kept among [the people], in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of legislatures…and render[ed] the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power”, Egyptians commemorated the rise of just such a king in their midst in 2013, and they wonder why the U.S. continues to support such a repressive ruler in Egypt today, when the same was intolerable for Americans 200 years ago.

With news of daily bombings and crises across the Middle East, it is no surprise that Egypt is absent from the news headlines, but the events that have been unfolding there since 2013 are warning signs of a much greater looming crisis, if attention isn’t paid soon.

UN INSIDER2016-07-062023-07-10

NEWSBRIEF: UN Deplores ‘Brexit’ Vote Inspired Ageist Attacks

NEW YORK (IDN) – A United Nations human rights expert has deplored the wave of ageist attacks in the wake of the United Kingdom’s referendum to leave the European Union, including calls for age ceilings for the exercise of the right to vote, reports the UN News Service.

“We have seen a number of European national newspapers and social media outlets stigmatizing older persons as the scapegoats for Brexit and calling for restrictions on ‘grey’ votes,” said Rosa Kornfeld-Matte, the UN independent expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons. “General exclusions of the exercise of certain rights based on age are unacceptable under international human rights law,” she stressed.

UN INSIDER2016-07-062023-07-10

UN Fighting to Fend Off ‘The Little Boy’ and ‘The Little Girl’

By Jutta Wolf

BERLIN | ROME (IDN) – Three Rome-based UN agencies are keen to avert further havoc wreaked by the twins with euphemistic names – ‘The Little Boy’ and ‘The Little Girl’ – and are calling for governments and the international community to ramp up efforts to safeguard livelihoods of some 100 million people around the world.

“The new pattern of climate events (better known by their Spanish designations, El Niño and La Niña) is exposing weaknesses in our preparedness, in international and government systems and in community infrastructure,” says the newly-appointed United Nations Special Envoy on El Niño & Climate Ambassador Macharia Kamau.

Peace & Security2016-07-052023-07-10

Mass Murder Doesn’t Have to Succeed

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – After Hitler’s Final Solution – the elimination of the Jews – came Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge and the murder of two million of the country’s people. After that came Rwanda when at least a million of the Tutsi people were slaughtered en masse by the Hutus. More recently we have seen large-scale killing in Sudan and now in Syria. The latter two can’t be called “genocide” – the attempt to totally eliminate a people – but the first three certainly were.

However bad that sounds the evidence is, whether it be genocide or mass slaughter, there has been significantly less of it during the last 50 years, despite the fact that most of us recall the horrors – thanks to the TV news producers’ mantra “if it bleeds it leads” – not the steady lessening of its frequency.

South-South Cooperation2016-07-042023-07-10

South-South Cooperation Vital for Right to Development

By Adriano José Timossi *

GENEVA (IDN | SOUTHNEWS) – A Dialogue on South-South Cooperation in the context of the Right to Development discourse and the launch of a new book India’s Approach to Development Cooperation were held on the side-lines of the 32nd Session of the Human Rights Council at the UN in Geneva on June 27, 2016 on the occasion of the commemorations of the 30th Anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on the Right to Development.

Adopted thirty years ago, on December 4, 1986, the Declaration on the Right to Development recognized development as a comprehensive economic, social, cultural and political process aimed at the constant improvement of the well-being of all individuals and peoples, on the basis of their participation in development and in the fair distribution of its benefits. The declaration calls upon states to implement effective development cooperation and for the removal of barriers to development at national and international levels.

ACP Group of States2016-07-032023-07-10

ACP Group to Engage UK Early On Brexit Implications

By Roland Joshua

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The implications of BREXIT on the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group could be far-reaching and may give rise to many consequences for trade, services, investments and development finance assistance, according to ACP Secretary-General, Dr. P.I Gomes.

In each of these areas, the ACP-UK relations have been longstanding and mutually beneficial, not only for Caribbean countries and other Commonwealth member states, but for the ACP Group as a whole.

For instance, as a contributor of some 17% to the European Development Fund (EDF), the UK has been consistent in its support and has argued in favour of making the EDF less cumbersome in its regulations. “With the UK outside of the EDF Committee the ACP will lose an ally of great value,“ Dr. Gomes said.

UN INSIDER2016-07-022023-07-10

UN, Russia, US, EU Urge ‘Meaningful’ Israel-Palestinian Talks

By Jaya Ramachandran

NEW YORK (IDN) – Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority have rejected a report by the so-called Middle East Quartet – comprising the UN, Russia, the United States and the European Union – urging both parties to indulge in “meaningful negotiations that resolve all final status issues”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the report, saying that it “perpetuates the myth that Israeli construction in the West Bank is an obstacle to peace.” The Palestine Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly said the report doesn’t meet the Palestinians’ expectations ‘as a nation living under a foreign colonial military occupation.’

The report was released on July 1, two days after the killing of a 13-year old girl by a Palestinian youth. It calls on Israel and Palestine to “independently demonstrate, through policies and actions, a genuine commitment to the two-state solution” and to “refrain from unilateral steps that prejudice the outcome of the final negotiations”.