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Photo: Protests after U.S. decision CC BY 4.0to withdraw from JCPOA, around former U.S. embassy, Tehran, on 8 May 2018. CC BY 4.0

Trump's Abandonment of Nuclear Deal with Iran Backfires

By Reinhard Jacobsen

VIENNA (IDN) — The quarterly report on Iran released by UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on March 3 has revealed a significant increase in the country's stockpile of enriched uranium since its last report. The stockpile stood at 1,020.9 kg in February, up from 372.3 kg in November 2019, reports Jane's Defence Weekly.

This 648.6 kg increase is raising international concern as it marks a significant breach of the 300 kg stockpile limit imposed on Iran by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed between Iran and the P5+1— China France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States — on July 14, 2015. The nuclear deal was endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231, adopted on July 20, 2015.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; UN INSIDER; 06 March 2020

Photo: Norwegian entrepreneur and project manager Osmund Ueland posing with some farmers at Masukanzi village in Iringa Tanzania. Credit: Kizito Makoye

Unlocking the Potential of Tanzania’s Smallholder Farmers

By Kizito Makoye

IRINGA, Tanzania (IDN) – When Osmund Ueland met a group of farmers to pitch his idea about starting a goat milk project at a village in Tanzania's southern highlands to help poor families improve nutrition and boost incomes, he elicited loud applause from the crowd.

Huddled in a dimly lit mud-walled house in wind-swept Masukanzi village, Kilolo district, Iringa region, local farmers unanimously approved the idea saying it was a good step to take for curbing malnutrition and fighting poverty.

: Kizito Makoye; THE WORLD; Africa; 06 March 2020

Risks and Realities of Extending the UN Arms Embargo on Iran

Viewpoint by Kelsey Davenport and Daryl K. Kimball

This article first appeared as Issue Brief of the Arms Control Association on 5 March 2020. Kelsey Davenport is director for nonproliferation policy, and Daryl G. Kimball, executive director, Arms Control Association.

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) — More than a decade ago, the United States and its partners secured UN Security Council support for a series of resolutions imposing increasingly tough sanctions on Iran as part of an effort to pressure Tehran into multilateral talks to curb its nuclear program and block its pathways to nuclear weapons.

: Arms Control Association; OPINION; 05 March 2020

New UN Women Report Warns That Gender Equality Is Under Threat — Major Women Conference Falls Prey to Coronavirus

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) —While a new UN Women report warns that progress towards gender equality is faltering and hard-won advances are being reversed, the 64th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) has fallen prey to concerns regarding coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

CSW is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. A functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), it was established by ECOSOC resolution 11(II) of 21 June 1946.

: Caroline Mwanga; UN INSIDER; 05 March 2020

Photo: Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena addressing the UN Human Rights Council on 26 February. Source: Colombo Telegraph.

Sri Lanka Challenges UN Human Rights Council's Impartiality

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SINGAPORE (IDN) — Sri Lanka's Minister of Foreign Relations, Dinesh Gunawardena, has officially withdrawn from the co-sponsorship of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Resolution on "Promoting reconciliation, accountability, and human rights in Sri Lanka". His predecessor, Mangala Samaraweera, had co-sponsored it along with the U.S. and a number of European member countries, in October 2015.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 04 March 2020

Photo: Nisar Keshvani. Credit: The Institute of Public Relations Singapore.

COVID-19: Switching to Airplane Mode — Life Lessons From the Unchartered

Viewpoint by Nisar Keshvani

SINGAPORE (IDN) — Like many others around the world, life took an unexpected turn around Lunar New Year. With the world health situation suddenly becoming unpredictable, we've had to adapt to new scenarios, almost by the hour, based on new information. I feel privileged to be in my communications role — effecting interventions, and more often than not, shaping them.

We've had to make tough calls — re-engineer the norm, implement uncomfortable measures, address fixed perceptions and mindsets, adapt to the unknown – together walk into unchartered territory.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 04 March 2020

Photo: Bernie Sanders at an election campaign in March 2020, emphasizing the need for a welcoming and Safe America for All. Credit: Bernie Sanders' Official Campaign Website erniesanders.com

USA Needs Social Democracy or What Sanders Calls Socialism

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – The U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is having trouble with his socialism. The younger voters get it, but many of the older liberally-minded people don't — the kind of people who read the New York Times and probably like its endorsement of Joe Biden and Amy Klobuchar and find socialism rather difficult to swallow.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 03 March 2020

Photo: Students trapped in China because of Coronavirus. Source: Internet

African Students Trapped In China

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — The coronavirus is spreading fast beyond its China borders, with cases now rising in parts of Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Some 90,000 people have been infected in over 65 countries and 3,000 worldwide have died of Covid-19.

As soon as the virus emerged, the World Health Organization named thirteen countries in Africa (Algeria, Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia) at greatest risk of acquiring the virus, due to established direct links or frequent travel to and from China.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 03 March 2020

Photo: Some 90 young women took to the streets in a silent march through Lilongwe, Malawi's capital, on March 2. Credit: AllAfrica | Alice McCool/Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Women In Malawi In Day of Action for 'She Decides Day'

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — It's a day of action and global solidarity.

SheDecides Day takes place annually on March 2 as feminist activism is on the rise in Malawi and around the world.

This year, wearing red t-shirts, some 90 young women took to the streets in a silent march through Lilongwe, Malawi's capital. This year's theme was ending sexual violence after a series of alleged police assaults on women last year.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 03 March 2020

Photo: South African Finance Minister Tito Mboweni. Source: Sunday Times

South Africa Cancels Promised Wage Increase, Angering Unions

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Promises promises. I’m all through with promises promises.

That's the Diane Warwick tune South African public servants will be singing bitterly if a three-year wage deal signed in 2018 is headed for the recycling bin. The promised wage hike was due to start next month, April 2020.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his weekly newsletter, said that cutting the government’s wage bill was a better deal than trimming state spending.