IDN-InDepthNews

By Jaya Ramachandran

ISE-SHIMA | Japan (IDN) – Stressing that the empowerment of women and girls and gender equality are indispensable for their equal participation as agents of economic, social and political changes in their societies, the Group of 7 industrial nations have pledged to promote Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEP) of UN Women, the organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women.

A declaration by the leaders of Japan, USA, Canada, Britain, France, Germany and Italy noted that “globally, women and girls still face barriers and discrimination that prevent them from realizing their full potential”.

The Leaders’ Declaration comprises decisions of the two-day G7 summit that concluded on May 27. It focussed to a significant extent on the ways and means of implementing the ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development aiming at 17 Goals and 169 targets.

Analysis by Ramesh Jaura

ISE-SHIMA | Japan (IDN) – Despite President Barack Obama’s call for a “world without nuclear weapons” during his ‘historic’ visit to Hiroshima, the city where the first ever atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945, causing over 140,000 casualties, the United States is nowhere close to prohibiting nuclear weapons.

This was also underlined by ‘Leaders’ Declaration’ emerging from the two-day summit of the Group of Seven (G 7) major industrial nations that concluded on May 27 on Kashiko Island located in Ise-Shima area of Mie Prefecture in Japan.

The Summit’s host, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, chose the venue for its rich culture, beautiful scenery and close proximity to one of the country’s most honoured historical sites: the Ise Jingu, or the Grand Shrine, built nearly 2,000 years ago.

Analysis by Jacques N. Couvas

ISTANBUL (IDN) – The gaping absence of a large number of world leaders, including those of most of the Group of 7 (G7) industrial nations, undoubtedly caused profound disappointment. But the first World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) in the 70-year existence of the United Nations will not go down in history as a shameful debacle for international diplomacy, nor will it be the last conference of its kind, according to experts.

While G7 leaders were conspicuous by their absence, with the exception of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, some 9,000 participants from 173 countries joined the event in Istanbul. They included some 60 heads of state and government, mostly from the developing world.

Analysis by Rodney Reynolds

ISTANBUL (IDN) – The first-ever World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, which Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon proposed as far back as 2012, failed to meet its lofty expectations despite four years of consultations with 23,000 people in over 150 countries.

“This is a 21st century United Nations gathering,” Ban boasted to delegates in his opening remarks. But the two-day summit, which concluded May 24, did not generate any significant funding nor did it receive the whole-hearted political support of the UN’s Big Five – the UK, U.S., France, China and Russia – whose leaders were conspicuous by their absence.

Besides UK, U.S. and France, even the remaining G-7 leaders were missing in action: heads of government from Canada, Italy and Japan shied away from the summit. Only German Chancellor Angela Merkel was in Istanbul to represent the world’s seven industrialized democracies.