IDN-InDepthNews

UN INSIDER2016-06-022023-07-10

Conference Adopts Global Education Action Agenda to Implement SDGs

Analysis by Ramesh Jaura and Katsuhiro Asagiri

GYEONGJU, South Korea (IDN) – Five months after the international community began implementing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) endorsed by world leaders in September 2015, representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and academia have finalized and adopted a global education action agenda.

The agenda affirming the importance of Sustainable Development Goal 4 – ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong opportunities for all – is spelt out in the Gyeongju Action Plan.

It was agreed at the 66th United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) / NGO Conference that concluded on June 1, 2016 after three days of deliberations in Gyeongju, a city on South Korea’s southeast coast.

Gender Equality2016-06-012023-07-10

A Violent Gang Rape in Rio: Zero Retribution to Zero Tolerance

Viewpoint by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary-General and UN Women Executive Director

NEW YORK (IDN | UN Women) – The drugging, abduction and violent gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, calls us all to turn the tide of sexual violence against women and girls in Brazil and in every country in the world.

Her silence was broken by the men who boastfully posted their images of the rape, deepening her abuse by showing her body to the world, in the confident expectation of approval by their peers and impunity from punishment.

This is Brazil’s moment to shake that confidence to its core and reassert the rule of law and its respect for human rights. This is the time for zero tolerance for violence against women and girls.

Asia-Pacific2016-05-312023-07-10

Asia-Europe Meeting Spurs Media Dialogue on Connectivity

Analysis by Shastri Ramachandaran

GUANGZHOU | China (IDN) – Twenty years of striving to strengthen understanding, trust and cooperation between two continents through political dialogue, economic cooperation and socio-cultural exchange is a remarkable effort.

In the course of these two decades, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), as the pre-eminent trans-regional forum in this part of the world, has come a long way for its modest beginnings in Bangkok in 1996 attended by 25 Asian and European leaders.

Today, it has 53 members, and more than 200 of their representatives gathered in Guangzhou on May 9-10 for the Media Dialogue on Connectivity held for Promoting Public Awareness and Partnership. It was a milestone on the eve of the ASEM’s 11th Summit scheduled in Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia, in July 2016.

Gender Equality2016-05-312023-07-10

Making Men Understand the Other Side of the Sex Divide

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Over 200 years we have watched with a mixture of fascination and horror the explosion of population in most parts of the world. In the 1960s and 70’s many people were convinced that it was the single most important issue of our times.

Government aid agencies, especially in the Western world, gave overriding priority to distributing condoms wherever and whenever they had the chance. Some people like the bishops of the Catholic Church and the mullahs of Iran got very hot under the collar. Indeed, these two groups would unite together to vote the “no” in UN population conferences.

In the Third World militants argued that this was one more perfidy carried out by the West – to rid the world of dark skinned people.

UN INSIDER2016-05-312023-07-10

LDC Mid-Term Review: No Graduations, But Good Pupils See Light at End of Tunnel

Analysis by Jacques N. Couvas

ANTALYA | Turkey (IDN) – Commitment to continue the effort by the United Nations and the developed economies to help least developed countries (LDCs) overcome poverty and hunger was the main conclusion of the Mid-Term Review (MTR) conference for the Istanbul Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries (IPoA), held in Antalya, Turkey, from May 27 to 29.

The purpose of the meeting was to assess whether and how the targets set by the IPoA in 2011 were being met. The results were mixed.

In six plenary sessions, four thematic round tables and 26 side events, officials from 75 countries and international organisations reviewed the progress made by the LDCs towards stimulating growth and improving living conditions in their respective jurisdictions.

Africa2016-05-312023-07-10

Timber Smuggling Could Eliminate Senegal’s Forests in Two Years

DAKAR (IDN | GIN) – Illegal timber smuggling is devastating the lush Casamance region of Senegal and could strip it completely within two years, predicts Senegalese environmentalist and former minister Haidar El Ali.

Casamance in southern Senegal contains the country’s last remaining forests, an area of 74,000 acres that could be depleted by 2018 as smugglers feed the demand for rosewood furniture in China, said El Ali.

Exporting timber from Senegal is illegal, so traffickers smuggle it to neighbouring Gambia for shipping to China.

Middle East & North Africa2016-05-312023-07-10

Mandela Statue Casts Long Shadow Over Unfree Palestine

RAMALLAH, Palestine (IDN | GIN) – Now that the media circus has moved on, a bronze statue of Nelson Mandela is a curious icon standing impressively tall in the well-to-do city of Ramallah, the economic capital of Palestine.

Weighing two metric tons and rising almost 6 metres towards the sky, the bronze likeness of Mandela stands straight, with his right arm raised and hand in a fist. Created by South African artists Christina Salvodi, Lungisa Khala and Tanya Lee‚ the project was funded by the City of Johannesburg.

The statue took seven months to produce and has been placed on high land for “all the people of Palestine to see,” according to Sowetan Live.

Africa2016-05-312023-07-10

Anti-Mugabe Movement Takes on New Life Not Seen in Decades

HARARE (IDN | GIN) – A “Million Men” march in support of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe that drew thousands in support of the aging leader failed to diminish the impact of an opposition rally last month that brought out thousands of citizens concerned with the country’s troubled economy.

Despite his advanced age, Mugabe has vowed to run for another term in office at the next election in 2018 when he will be 94.

At the “Million Men” march, Mrs Mugabe declared that her husband would rule Zimbabwe even from the grave.

The opposition, meanwhile, has been energized by a Twitter campaign called #ThisFlag, or what The Guardian newspaper called “an accidental movement for change”.

Africa2016-05-312023-07-10

Ghana Still Target of Lethal e-Waste Dumping

LONDON (IDN | GIN) – Digital dumping ground, world’s largest e-waste dump – whatever you call it, Agbogbloshie, a former wetland and suburb of Ghanaian capital Accra, is one the top ten “worst polluted” places on earth where tonnes of discarded electronics, refrigerators, microwaves and televisions, also known as e-waste, end up decomposing in a massive scrap heap.

“Mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic – these are the four most toxic substances [in the world], and they are found in e-waste residues in very large quantities,” Atiemo Sampson, an environmental researcher at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, who has conducted several studies of the Agbogbloshie site, said in an interview with the BBC.

Exposure to these toxins is known to cause a whole range of illnesses from cancers to heart disease and respiratory illnesses.

Africa2016-05-312023-07-10

Chad’s Former Ruler Given Life Sentence for Brutal Crimes

DAKAR (IDN | GIN) – Former president of Chad, Hissène Habré, was sentenced May 30 to life behind bars, ending a long journey for justice by his victims and victims’ relatives who filled the court.

The specially convened African Union-backed court in Senegal convicted him of rape, sexual slavery and ordering killings during his rule from 1982 to 1990.

Victims and families of those killed cheered and embraced each other in the courtroom after the verdict was read.