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Photo: Mijikenda Cultural Village meeting, Rabai, coastal Kenya. Credit: © Krystyna Swiderska

Protecting Indigenous Cultures for Saving Global Biodiversity

Viewpoint by Krystyna Swiderska*

COVENTRY (IDN) – Species are being lost at about a thousand times the natural rate of extinction. This is faster than at any other period in human history. Ecosystems – the vital systems on which all life depends – are being degraded across the globe.

This crisis of biodiversity loss is finally receiving some attention. But its connection to another loss – that of indigenous cultures – is rarely mentioned. From animals to insects and plants, biodiversity loss cannot be effectively addressed without tackling the rapid disappearance of indigenous cultures. The two are inextricably linked.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 17 February 2020

Photo: Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir, Founder and President of Morocco's High Atlas Foundation, addressing a meeting in Marrakech. Credit: High Atlas Foundation.

Making Democratic Socialism Relatable

Viewpoint by Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir

The writer is an American sociologist who resides in Marrakech, Morocco.

MARRAKECH (IDN) – The phrase "Democratic Socialism" continues to find its way into current national and political discourse of the United States. Vermont Senator and Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders embraces the term, while his opponents, both from within his own party as well as on the Republican aisle, are using the label as a bit of an albatross.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 17 February 2020

Image credit: A march of 2,000 anti-conscription protesters in London,1939. © IWM

Why the Peace Movement Must Be Intersectional

Viewpoint by Tim Gee*

LONDON (IDN) – In 2011, after a racial slur was used on a women's rights march, writer Flavia Dzodan wrote a blog called, 'My feminism will be intersectional or it will be bullshit'. The framing was picked up by others, adapting the title to environmentalism and to activism more broadly but it was far less talked about in the peace movement.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 16 February 2020

Photo: Dr. Agnes Kalibata, Rwanda's Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources from 2008 to 2014. Source: IFDC Website

How Agri-Business Corporations Influence UN Institutions

Viewpoint by Anuradha Mittal

The writer is the founder and executive director of the Oakland Institute.

SAN FRANCISCO (IDN) – As Dr. Agnes Kalibata arrived in Rome on February 10, 2020 to meet with Dr. QU Dongyu, Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), her appointment as the UN Secretary-General Guterres' Special Envoy to the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit was rejected by over 175 civil society organizations from 83 countries.

By 2021, when the UN summit will take place, an estimated one billion people will be suffering from chronic undernourishment while climate crisis is already the defining issue of the century.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 16 February 2020

Photo: Ambassador Kshenuka Senewiratne (right in the front) addressing one day debate at the UN Security Council titled "Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace: Transitional Justice in conflict and post-conflict situations" on 13 February 2020 in New York. Credit: Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the UN in New York.

Sri Lanka at a Juncture of Transition From Separatist Terrorism to Era of Reconciliation

Viewpoint by Ambassador Kshenuka Senewiratne,
Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations

NEW YORK (IDN) — Sri Lanka is presently at a juncture of transition after near three decades of brutal separatist terrorism, to an era of reconciliation and sustaining the hard won peace. Sri Lanka's engagement today is in keeping with the Government's vision, for a country that embodies the universal values of human rights, justice, rule of law and good governance while ensuring economic dividends to its people.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 15 February 2020

Photo: François-Auguste Biard, Proclamation of the Abolition of Slavery in the French Colonies, 27 April 1848 (1849). Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Slavery Not a Crime in Almost Half of the World’s Countries

Viewpoint by Katarina Schwarz and Jean Allain, with Andrea Nicholson*

NOTTINGHAM (IDN) – “Slavery is illegal everywhere.” So said the New York Times, repeated at the World Economic Forum, and used as a mantra of advocacy for over 40 years. The truth of this statement has been taken for granted for decades. Yet our new research reveals that almost half of all countries in the world have yet to actually make it a crime to enslave another human being.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 15 February 2020

U.S. Abrogation of Iran Deal Leaves a Puzzling Legacy

By Bernhard Schell

ISTANBUL (IDN) – Iran has been bashed for its January 5 announcement that it would no longer abide by certain "operational restrictions" on uranium enrichment in the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA. The declaration has also prompted doubts about the regime's activities and intentions and the fate of the nuclear deal.

: Bernhard Schell; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 14 February 2020

Photo: Twenty-two participants from 11 IPNDV partner countries gathered at Forschungszentrum Jülich in Jülich, Germany on September 23, 2019 to participate in the Nuclear Disarmament Verification Exercise, jointly organized by France and Germany. Credit: Forschungszentrum Jülich / Tobias Schlößer.

Towards Nuclear Disarmament with Monitoring and Verification

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK (IDN) – With the international community persistently striving for a world free of nuclear weapons, verification systems and methods are crucial to understanding the complex challenges of accurately monitoring and verifying future nuclear disarmament activities which will likely subject countries to more intrusive verification than ever before.

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 14 February 2020

Photo: SGI president Daisaku Ikeda. Credit: Seikyo Shimbun

Buddhist Leader Calls for Nuclear Weapons Free Security

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | TOKYO (IDN) – An eminent Buddhist philosopher and nuclear disarmament advocate has tabled four critical initiatives to "contribute to the creation of a sustainable global society where all can live with dignity and a sense of security". The initiatives cover four major areas: building support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW); multilateral negotiations for nuclear disarmament; climate change and disaster risk reduction (DRR); and education for children in crisis.

: Ramesh Jaura; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 13 February 2020

Photo: Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald (centre) with former leader Gerry Adams on the Irish border. Credit: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

What Sinn Féin’s Election Success Means for Irish Relations with the EU and Brexit

Viewpoint by Mary C. Murphy*

CORK, Ireland (IDN) – Ireland’s traditionally centre-right conservative political system has been rocked by a wave of support for Sinn Féin in the February 8 general election. The previously small left-wing republican party, with historic links to the paramilitary Provisional Irish Republican Army, now has legitimate ambitions to form part of the next Irish government in coalition with other parties.