IDN-InDepthNews

Gender Equality2016-03-082023-07-10

OECD Countries to Improve Gender Equality in Public Leadership

PARIS (INPS | OECD) – The 34 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries have strengthened their determination to work towards greater gender equality in public life – including in governments, parliaments and judiciaries – with concrete measures to improve women’s access to leadership and decision-making roles and integrate more of a gender perspective into public policies.

The OECD Recommendation on Gender Equality in Public Life, launched on International Women’s Day and in the spirit of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, calls on member countries to ensure fair pay and equal opportunities for women and men at all levels of government, in parliaments, judiciaries and other public bodies, enacting pay equality laws where necessary.

Gender Equality2016-03-082023-07-10

Rome UN Agencies Vow to Achieve Gender Equality Worldwide

ROME – Leaders of international organizations based in Rome gathered on March 8 to highlight the achievements and the real prospects for achieving gender equality. The speakers all agreed accelerating the empowerment of women everywhere is fundamental to achieving a zero hunger world and reaching the world’s new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The dialogue, ‘Planet 50:50: Step It Up for Gender Equality & Zero Hunger’, was jointly organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Development Law Organization (IDLO).

Individual Journalists, SYNDICATION2016-03-082023-07-12

Is the Koran with ISIS and Al Qaeda?

LUND, Sweden (IDN | INPS) – Is Islam violent? ISIS in Syria and Iraq. In Pakistan, there is Lashkar-e-Taiba and the attempted murderer of the schoolgirl, Malala Yousafzai. Immigrant Moroccan men roughly pushing women and fondling them in the crowd in Cologne. Murderous bombs in Paris. Ayan Hirsi Ali, a Somali female author who was raised a Muslim, writes, “Violence is inherent in Islam- it’s a destructive, nihilistic cult of death. It legitimates murder.”

GLOBAL ISSUES2016-03-082023-07-10

Is the Koran with ISIS and Al Qaeda?

By Jonathan Power | IDN-INPS Viewpoint

Gender Equality2016-03-072023-07-10

‘Step Up Action to Protect Refugee Women & Children from Violence’

BERLIN | NEW YORK | HAMBURG (INPS | World Future Council) – In a powerful joint statement, members of the World Future Council have urged governments, international organizations, humanitarian actors and civil society to step up action to protect refugee women, children and unaccompanied minors from violence.

Signatories including former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador María Fernanda Espinosa, Executive Secretary, UN Convention on Combating Desertification, Monique Barbut, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Scilla Elworthy, former Member of Parliament Tony Colman and Co-Founder of ‘Rising Women Rising World’ Rama Mani, called on world leaders to introduce comprehensive legal measures and services to ensure women’s and children’s safety in transit and reception facilities.

UN INSIDER2016-03-072023-07-10

Plea for a UN Environmental Disaster Rapid Reaction Capability

COLOMBO (IDN) – The worst cyclone on record to lash the idyllic islands of Fiji, Winston, left behind an unprecedented trail of devastation and death. A decade of hard won economic achievements lay scattered in a jumble of twisted steel and shredded plantations. Lives that had at last become more bearable are back to struggling to exist.

Science suggests that deaths and destruction experienced by Fiji, are likely to be repeated elsewhere, more frequently, as global warming and climate change begin to affect the planet’s environment, in particular the oceans. The effects of Katrina and Sandy on the U.S. and Haiyan on the Philippines are still vivid in our minds.

SYNDICATION, UNITED NATIONS2016-03-072023-07-12

Plea for a UN Environmental Disaster Rapid Reaction Capability

By Dr Palitha Kohona* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

UN INSIDER2016-03-062023-07-10

Ban Ki-moon Declares Sahel Region a ‘Top Priority’ of the UN

NEW YORK (IDN) – As Ban Ki-moon inches closer to ending his second five-year term as the UN Secretary-General, he is setting his sights on the Saharan Sahel spanning across eight African countries – Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad – assuring that improving the situation in the region is a “top priority” for the United Nations.

The region is faced with a “triple peril” of environmental degradation, poverty and insecurity, Ban said during a visit to Mauritania on March 4. The UN estimates that one in seven Sahelians lack food, one in five children will die before their fifth birthday, and four and a half million people have been forced to flee their homes. Communities have also been struggling against harsh environmental conditions and worsening climatic shocks. Besides, many of the countries in the Sahel region are dealing with a volatile security situation.

SYNDICATION, UNITED NATIONS2016-03-062023-07-12

Ban Ki-moon Declares Sahel Region a ‘Top Priority’ of the UN

By J Nastranis | IDN-InDepthNews Report

UN INSIDER2016-03-052023-07-10

Youth Campaign for a Legally Binding Global Ban on Nuclear Tests

BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) – An international group of students and young graduates has decided to campaign for North Korea and seven other hold-out states ratifying a global treaty banning all nuclear tests so that it becomes legally binding for all states.

Since the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was opened for signature twenty years ago, 183 countries have signed it, of which 164 have also ratified it, including three of the nuclear weapon States: France, Russia and the United Kingdom.

But 44 specific nuclear technology holder countries must sign and ratify before the CTBT can enter into force. Of these, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the USA are still missing. In fact, India, North Korea and Pakistan have yet to sign the CTBT.