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Image: Chief of the Croatian Criminal Police and Deputy Chief Director of the Croatian Police Antonio Gerovac. Credit: HINA/ Damir SENČAR

Beyond the 'Blue Curtain of Secrecy' in Croatia

Conversation with the Head of the Croatian Criminal Police

By Aurora Weiss

VIENNA (IDN) — The esprit de corps, the misunderstood sense of togetherness, means that the police officers cover for one another. In such a culture, valuing loyalty over integrity facilitates misconduct by keeping it concealed. That’s why The United Nations Convention against Corruption calls for independent bodies or persons specialized in combating corruption through law enforcement that can “carry out their functions effectively and without any undue influence”.

: Europe Editor; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 28 January 2023

Image: The historic Ukrainian city of Odesa. Credit: Alexander Alabin

UNESCO Protects Odesa Amid Threats of Destruction from War

By Jaya Ramachandran

PARIS (IDN) — Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, has denounced the decision of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to designate the historic centre of Odesa a World Heritage in Danger site.

Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, criticised the designation, saying the only threat to Odesa came from the "nationalist regime in Ukraine".

: Jaya Ramachandran; UN INSIDER; 28 January 2023

2023] Photo: New Zealand Prime Minister visited grieving Muslim families, wearing hijab as a sign of respect, after the Christchurch Mosque attack in March 2019. Source: Twitter.com

A Unique Leader Quits Prime Minister's Chair in New Zealand

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) — A leader like Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand doesn’t come in tens. Not even in twos. And so, it was such a bright day on October 26, 2017, when she took office as New Zealand’s Prime Minister.

She was 37 years old and also the youngest head of government at the time. What’s there not to love?

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 27 January 2023

Photo: Members of the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists in Princeton, New Jersey, on November 18, 1946, which included Albert Einstein and several of the physicists who had participated in developing the atomic bomb. Copyright 2014, Special Collections & Archives Research Center, Oregon State University Libraries and Press.

Nuclear Weapons and Nationalism: An Incendiary Mix

By Andrew Lichterman*

OAKLAND, California (IDN) — Seventy-seven years ago, the United Nations General Assembly passed its first resolution. The subject the governments represented there thought important enough to be first on their agenda was the establishment of a commission to develop proposals for the control of atomic energy and “for the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and of all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction.”

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 26 January 2023

At the Global Top Table. Will 2023 Be India's Year?

Viewpoint by Herbert Wulf

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

Three developments contribute to the fact that 2023 could indeed become India's global political year: India's chairmanship of the G20 countries, interestingly its role in the war in Ukraine, and the increasingly widespread critical view of China.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 26 January 2023

New UN Report Explores Criminal Exploitation of Human Beings

COVID and Other Crises Obstructing Victim Identification

By Aurora Weiss

VIENNA (IDN) — Though the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises are increasing the possibility of vulnerable human beings easily falling into the trap of criminal exploitation for the sole purpose of economic gain, a new UN report finds that fewer victims of this kind of modern slavery are being identified.

: Europe Editor; UN INSIDER; 25 January 2023

Photo: Outstanding achievements of Sri Lankan Americans are recognized at the Sri Lanka Foundation Award Ceremony held at the Baltimore Hotel in Los Angeles. Credit: Sri Lanka Foundation.

Sri Lankan Americans’ IMPACT ON Life in America

By Nandasiri Jasentuliyana

The writer is former Deputy Director-General of the United Nations.

LOS ANGELES (IDN) — The earliest Sri Lankans to enter the United States were classified as "other Asians." Immigration records show that between 1881 and 1890, 1,910 "other Asians" were admitted to the United States. It is unlikely that many of these were from Sri Lanka. In 1975, immigration records classified Sri Lankans as a separate category for the first time. That year, 432 Sri Lankans immigrated to the United States.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 25 January 2023

Image: "Dawn Reflections" Indigenous art projected on the Sydney Opera House, to kick off Australia Day, 26 January 2023. CC BY-SA 4.0

Heated Debate on Giving a Constitutional Voice to Indigenous Australians

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) — Each year on January 26, Australians celebrate “Australia Day”, a national holiday that marks the day Captain Arthur Phillip sailed into Sydney Cove in 1788, planted the Union Jack and proclaimed the continent for the British Crown.

Later it was enshrined in the Australian constitution that it was “terra nullius” (unoccupied land). But Australia’s Indigenous People claim otherwise, and they have protested in growing numbers in recent decades, calling it the “Invasion Day”.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 25 January 2023

Image: The Church of Abba Afse, Yeha, Tigray Region, Northern Ethiopia. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Split in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church

By Karen Smith

BRUSSELS (IDN) — Three months after the two-year Ethiopian civil war came to an end, displacing millions, the Orthodox Church is facing a split. Three bishops have announced that they will form a separate church with its own decision-making body.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali has criticised "bigotry by religion and place of origin" focused on divisions", according to Europe External Programme with Africa (EEPA), a Belgium-based Centre of Expertise with in-depth knowledge, publications and networks, specialised in issues of peacebuilding, refugee protection, and resilience in the Horn of Africa.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 25 January 2023

Photo: Demonstrators hold placards during a protest to support the Burkina Faso President Captain Ibrahim Traore and to demand the departure of France's ambassador and military forces, in Ouagadougou, on Jan 20, 2023. (OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT / AFP)

Anti-French Sentiment Boils Over in West Africa

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | OUAGADOUGOU (IDN) — French flags were set ablaze in the streets of Ouagadougou as hundreds of citizens of the West African nation of Burkina Faso gathered in the capital city on January 20. Many carried placards with the message “French army, get out!”

Anti-French sentiment has been soaring here, fed by the failure of the French military in the region to protect citizens from jihadist attacks as outlined in a bilateral accord.