Speaking Out for People, Planet and Peace

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – A continuing shortage of offers of sanctuary from governments across the world is a vital impediment to the resettlement of refugees. Nearly 1.4 million refugees are estimated to be in urgent need of resettlement worldwide, but only 63,696 or 4.5 per cent were relocated through the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in 2019.

Though the number of refugees resettled in 2019 increased modestly by 14 per cent compared to the previous year, when 55,680 people were relocated, the agency maintains that “a tremendous gap remains between resettlement needs and the places made available”.

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – She’s your pediatrician. He’s your surgeon. She’s a civil engineer. He has a doctorate. She’s an Emmy Award winner. He was a Chicago Bear.

They’re Nigerian-Americans who have set down roots in Dallas, Chicago, Baltimore, Atlanta, Phoenix and Houston – the latter of which has the largest Nigerian population outside Brazil and Africa.

They are the largest group among African immigrants in the U.S. – about 327,000. They’re a tiny portion of the U.S. population, but they rank as the most successful ethnic group in the U.S.

By Jessica Corbett *

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) – Joining global critics of a plan that President Donald Trump unveiled on January 28 to address the decades-long Israel-Palestine conflict, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on February 3 rejected the "biased" proposal and urged members states not to cooperate with U.S. efforts to enforce it.

At a meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the OIC executive committee adopted a resolution which decried Trump's so-called "Deal of the Century," reaffirmed support for the Palestinian people and the Palestine Liberation Organization headed by Mahmoud Abbas, and emphasized that "peace and security in the Middle East region, as a strategic option, will only be achieved with the end of the Israeli occupation."

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Can we be happier? All of us probably experience grave unhappiness at some point in our lives – a bereavement of someone close, a job loss, a bad illness, a vindictive boss, a drop in income or status, a loss of love for or from one’s partner, even a divorce, a standard of living when ends can hardly be met. Every reader can add their own woes to this list.

Yet the world as a whole does appear to be getting happier, except in a few countries where war or fighting has taken over – Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Burundi and Sudan, for example.

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – After years of defending dirty extractive industries such as the mining of coal, large mining companies seemed to have switched sides and joined the Greens, or so it seemed at the African Mining Indaba held from February 3-6 in South Africa.

At the Indaba, the continent’s biggest gathering of one of its most vital industries, the companies appeared less combative than in years past. Among the highlights of the conference was a statement by Mark Cutifani, head of Anglo American, a multinational company based in Johannesburg, South Africa and London.

By Devinder Kumar

JAPIPUR (IDN) – As part of a Decade of Action for accelerating sustainable solutions to all the world’s biggest challenges — ranging from poverty and gender to climate change, inequality and closing the finance gap – the United Nations availed of a new tool end of January: the world’s largest literature festival in India’s eminent ‘pink city’ of Jaipur, the capital of the scenic, almost magical Indian state of Rajasthan. It is known as the Pink City due to the colour of the stone used for many of its glorious palaces and historic monuments.

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW, (IDN) – UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), Mohamed Ibn Chambas, told the UN Security Council’s first formal meeting in 2020 that the West African region has experienced "a devastating surge in terrorist attacks against civilian and military targets". These have "shaken public confidence" and the humanitarian consequences are alarming, he said.

Viewpoint by Douglas Webber*

LONDON (IDN) – Brexit could radically change the UK. Both Scottish independence and Northern Ireland breaking away from Britain are conceivable and Boris Johnson’s government has a lot on his plate when it comes to negotiating the country’s future relationship with the EU, all the while delivering on the promised benefits of independence.

For the EU, Brexit marks more of a return to business as usual. The prospective fallout of Brexit will be rather less far-reaching or dramatic. At the time of the 2016 referendum, there were widespread fears that Brexit would unleash a contagion effect among other member states that could destroy the EU.

Viewpoint by Christos Lynteris and Lyle Fearnley*

LONDON (IDN) – An epidemic of a new coronavirus, yet to receive a proper name by the WHO, has been developing in China and affecting other parts of the world over the past few weeks. So far, we know thousands have been infected, with nearly 200 deaths, with the virus having spread to numerous countries.

As anthropologists who have worked for a long time on diseases that spread from animals to humans (zoonotic diseases) in China, our research can provide insights into the unfolding crisis.

By Zipporah Musau, Africa Renewal

NEW YORK (IDN) – Realising a conflict-free Africa is the dream of every African. In this edition, we highlight the current hotspots; the root causes of conflicts; the various efforts in search of peaceful co-existence and development and the African Union’s quest for silencing the guns by 2020.

In 2013 African Union (AU) member state representatives gathered at its headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the Organisation of African Unity was established in 1963, to celebrate the body’s 50th anniversary.

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Bulldozers have begun demolishing homes built in the shantytowns of Abidjan, the commercial capital of the Ivory Coast, leaving thousands without shelter as authorities carry out plans to build a buffer zone around an international airport.

This comes as large numbers of Ivorians are leaving remote farms and villages for a better life.

The demolitions even destroyed the neighborhood mosque, charged Imam Issa Sankoudouma.

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA | COLOMBO (IDN) – In an exceptional move, Germany has granted funds to Sri Lanka’s Forum on Disarmament and Development (FDD) for the translation of the texts of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban-Treaty (CTBT) to the island state’s official languages Sinhala and Tamil. NPT and CTBT texts were until now available only in official languages of the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

Viewpoint by Fei Chen*

LIVERPOOL (IDN) – On January 23, the authorities of Wuhan City, China, sealed off the motorways and shut down all public transport to stop the corona virus outbreak from spreading. Shortly afterwards, at least ten other cities in China were under quarantine orders, most of them located in the areas surrounding Wuhan.

It sounds unbelievable to quarantine a city of 11 million people, but it may work because movement within and between cities in China relies heavily on public transport infrastructure. Major cities in China are well connected by airports, express railways, motorways and long-distance buses.

By J C Suresh

TORONTO | WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) —In yet another move to reverse former President Barack Obama’s strategies for a more humane world, the Trump administration is poised to rescind his predecessor's 2014 directive to no longer “produce or otherwise acquire any anti-personnel landmines,” known as APLs, according to several media reports. APLs are small explosive devices placed under, on, or near the ground. The new policy would reportedly lift current restrictions on deploying landmines outside the Korean Peninsula.

Viewpoint by Barry Richards*

LONDON (IDN) – Many of today’s politicians appear to appeal to the basic human need for safety, presenting their versions of strong leadership as the best hope for order and safety in a fearful world of growing instability and risk.

Much evidence confirms that this appeal is certainly an important factor in the political landscape.

But alongside this, other psychological dynamics are currently influential in a number of Western democracies – particularly in attracting people to support populist leaders and their agendas.

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) –The World Bank’s executive board cancelled expected action on a $500 million loan to Tanzania where teenage girls can be expelled from school because they are pregnant.

The Bank had been under pressure from rights activists and held a last-minute emergency meeting on January 27 with Tanzanian and international human rights organizations.