IDN-InDepthNews

SYNDICATION, UNITED NATIONS2016-01-302023-07-12

Ten Experts to Spark Implementation of 2030 Agenda

By J Nasranis | IDN-InDepthNewsReport

NEW YORK (IDN) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has set up a group of ten experts to provide flesh and blood to the Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) that was launched at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on September 25, 2015.

The Mechanism seeks to promote science, technology and innovation to achieve the 2030 Agenda. The group consists of representatives of civil society, the private sector and the scientific community.

TFM comprises a United Nations inter-agency task team on science, technology and innovation (STI), which currently gathers 25 UN entities; an annual multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation; and an online platform that serves as a gateway for information on existing STI initiatives, mechanisms and programmes.

NGOs & CSOs, SYNDICATION2016-01-292023-07-12

Interview: Human Rights for All in an Equal World

Following is the text of an interview Milena Rampoldi of a German NGO, ProMosaik e.V. conducted with Ramesh Jaura, Director-General and Editor-in-Chief of the International Press Syndicate with headquarters in Berlin and associate headquarters in Tokyo and Toronto. Jaura is also co-founder and President of the Global Cooperation Council established in 1983. This interview was carried by Pro Mosaik on 24 January 2016.

Asia-Pacific2016-01-292023-07-10

Sri Lanka Turning Anew into a Geo-Political Battle Ground

SINGAPORE (IDN) – On January 8, 2015 when President Mahinda Rajapakse’s former Cabinet colleague Maithripala Sirisena defeated his old boss in a shock election result campaigning on heralding a non-corruptible ‘yahapalana’ (good governance) regime, people of Sri Lanka took a deep breath, some with euphoric expectations and others with fears of war and terrorism re-visiting the now peaceful island.

Mixed reviews of the anniversary in local newspapers agree that there is a better climate of freedom especially in the media. But it is another question whether democracy and media freedom could eradicate corruption from the political system.

Asia-Pacific2016-01-292023-07-10

Sri Lanka Turning Anew into a Geopolitical Battle Ground

By Kalinga Seneviratne* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

UN INSIDER2016-01-282023-07-10

2030 Agenda Needs a Reformed UN Development System

BONN (IDN | GDI) – The 2030 Agenda, with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, adds new urgency to the reform of the UN Development System (UNDS). If we wish the UNDS to play a decisive role in sustainable development, it must be made fit for purpose. UN member states have recognized the need for action.

In December 2014, they launched a state dialogue in the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in order to discuss the longer-term positioning of the UNDS and present concrete reform proposals by mid-2016. To date, no breakthrough has been achieved. Participating states are opting for incremental reforms within existing mandates and structures, which are unlikely to bring the necessary changes.

SYNDICATION, UNITED NATIONS2016-01-282023-07-12

2030 Agenda Needs a Reformed UN Development System

By Max-Otto Baumann* | IDN-InDepthNews Viewpoint

International Non-governmental Organizations (INGOs)2016-01-282023-07-10

‘Doomsday Clock’ Shows 3 Minutes to Midnight

SYDNEY – At the most recent annual Doomsday Clock press-conference, held in Washington, the Nobel-prize-winner-heavy advisers of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, itself founded by Einstein and Oppenhiemer in the 1940s, revealed that it had been decided to keep the hands of its iconic and symbolic ‘Doomsday Clock’ at three minutes to midnight. This is bad news for civilisation and humans as a species.

SYNDICATION, UNITED NATIONS2016-01-272023-07-12

Addressing Climate Change and Realizing the SDGs

By Dr Palitha Kohona* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

COLOMBO (IDN) – In an unusually mild Paris in December 2015, over 195 countries agreed on a set of broad measures to address the gathering threat to human existence of global warming and climate change.

A beaming UN Secretary-General, for whom climate change has been “one of the defining priorities of his tenure”, described the Paris Accord as heralding a generation with climate hope and a “monumental triumph for people and the planet”.

The global web movement Avaaz, described the Paris Accord as a “brilliant and massive turning point in human history”. The 79-member Africa, Carribean and Pacific Countries group (ACP), most with relatively small economies, enthusiastically welcomed the accord.

UN INSIDER2016-01-272023-07-10

Addressing Climate Change & Realizing the SDGs an Uphill Task

OPINION2016-01-262023-07-10

Buddhist Leader Urges ‘Universal Respect for Human Dignity’

TOKYO – In his annual peace proposal released on January 26, titled “Universal Respect for Human Dignity: The Great Path to Peace,” Daisaku Ikeda, president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Buddhist association, calls for intensified efforts to respond to the needs of humanity’s most vulnerable, including those displaced by conflict in Syria and elsewhere or by natural disasters.

Ikeda welcomes the adoption of the UN’s new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their ambitious aim of leaving no one behind. He applauds the fact that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development explicitly includes the protection of the dignity and fundamental human rights of displaced persons and international migrants.

He urges renewed focus on the protection of children uprooted by conflict and their educational needs, as well as further support to countries that have taken in large numbers of people fleeing armed conflict and persecution.