Speaking Out for People, Planet and Peace

Viewpoint by Siddharth S Edake

NEW DELHI (IDN) – Today, I can see the forests of the Aravali Biodiversity Park at the far end, under a light blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds. The air is crisp and clear, and close to around 20 yellow-footed green pigeons locally known as hariyal, a rare sighting for Gurugram, are feasting on the fruits of the shehtut (Mulberry) tree in front of me. The sound of traffic is replaced by the chirping of birds and the tinkling of wind chimes as they sway in the light breeze. For a nature lover and environmentalist, this is as good as it gets in a metropolitan city in India.

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – An immense blanket of dead fish stretching across three states has sparked anger and frustration among communities along the Atlantic Ocean coastline in Nigeria. The area is known for oil spills that have polluted the waters and left fish and other wildlife inedible.

The massive die-off was first reported in February when community people from Ogbulagha Kingdom of Delta State raised an alarm on the schools of dead fish floating and littering their shores. The silvery fish graveyard stretched from Delta State through Bayelsa State to Rivers State.

By Kelsey Davenport and Julia Masterson

While Julia Masterson is research assistant, Kelsey Davenport is director for nonproliferation policy at Arms Control Association. The Association's website published this analysis on May 15.

WASHINGTON (IDN) – The United States is considering a range of options to prevent the October 2020 expiration of a UN embargo that restricts arms sales to and from Iran. Those options include making a legal case that the United States remains a bona fide participant of the nuclear deal with Iran that it withdrew from in May 2018 in order to use a Security Council provision to block the embargo's expiration.

Viewpoint by Paula Donovan and Stephen Lewis

Paula Donovan and Stephen Lewis are Co-Directors of AIDS-Free World and its Code Blue Campaign, which seeks to end impunity for sexual offences by UN personnel.

NEW YORK (IDN) – It is a matter of extreme urgency that Burundi's presidential, legislative, and local elections, scheduled for May 20, be postponed. Admittedly, it's the eleventh hour, but the contagion of violence, and the viral contagion of COVID-19, make rescheduling imperative.

Three events of the past several days make an incontrovertible  argument:

Antagonisms, Conflicts and Nuclear Risks After the Pandemic

A Pugwash Document

Signed on May 6 by Sergio Duarte (President of Pugwash), Paolo Cotta Ramusino (Secretary-General of Pugwash), Steven Miller (Chair of the Pugwash Executive Committee), and Saideh Lotfian (Chair of the Pugwash Council). Download a copy [PDF]. As of May 10, 135 eminent personalities including ministers had endorsed the document.

ROME | GENEVA | WASHINGTON | LONDON (IDN) – The new coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has already inflicted great damage on a number of nations and on the world at large, resulting not only in many tens of thousands of deaths but also in economic, financial and social crises.

The what, where, when, why, who, and how of the coronavirus pandemic

Viewpoint by Dr. Dilkhush Panjwani *

TORONTO (IDN) – Humanity is facing close encounters with the unfolding crisis of the novel coronavirus SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. Doctors, nurses, paramedics, and many other essential service providers are on the frontline, risking their lives to save lives through their selfless and dedicated service in their communities and hospitals. These frontline heroes are facing many challenges in performing their noble tasks. Notwithstanding the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), and ventilators in intensive care units (ICUs), they face the risk of contracting the COVID-19 disease due to extensive exposures in their line of duty.

By Mariane Almeida and Sofia Barbeiro

The two writers are part of a team of Young Environmental Journalists covering Africa.

RIO de JANEIRO | LISBON (IDN) – In Mozambique's province of Gaza, 9,240 tons of charcoal are produced every year placing pressure on the region's natural resources. Wood burning for charcoal production has led to high rates of deforestation.

Unfortunately, what is happening in the Gaza province mirrors a nationwide trend. Data from the Global Forest Watch show that Mozambique has lost nearly 3 million hectares – or 10 per cent – of its forests since 2000.

Viewpoint by Sreenath Namboodiri*

The author is Assistant Professor of Law at School of Ethics, Governance, Culture & Social Systems, Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth (deemed to be university), Ernakulam, Kerala, India. He can be reached on twitter @SnathNamboodiri

NEW DELHI (IDN) – Failures of the patent system to meet the public health priorities demand a new approach in research and development (R&D) financing and incentive to pharmaceutical innovations. An R&D model delinking the cost of R&D from the price of the product is the way forward.

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) — The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening to deal a huge blow to global efforts for eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, two of the vital goals of the 17 SDGs. A new UN report expects more than 34 million people to fall below the extreme poverty line in 2020. 56 percent of them will be in African countries. An additional 130 million people may join the ranks of people living in extreme poverty by 2030.

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) – In a recent article in The Atlantic also widely used elsewhere, American journalist, Anne Applebaum, described the pathetic meltdown of US President Donald Trump, especially since the outbreak of the global health crisis, COVID-19.

On April 29, the US President phoned his Nigerian counterpart, Muhammadu Buhari, and promised to help with some ventilators. The next day, an irreverent mascot in a cartoon strip in Leadership, a Nigerian newspaper, asked if Trump was also going send “Dettol vaccines,” a sarcastic reference to the President’s claim that disinfectants could mitigate the effect of Coronavirus.

Healthy oceans: keeping Asia and the Pacific afloat

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

The writer is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP.

BANGKOK (IDN) – Memories of idyllic beaches and sonorous waves may seem far away while we remain at home. Yet, we need not look far to appreciate the enduring history of the ocean in Asia and the Pacific. For generations, the region has thrived on our seas. Our namesake bears a nod to the Pacific Ocean, a body of water tethered to the well-being of billions in our region. The seas provide food, livelihoods and a sense of identity, especially for coastal communities in the Pacific island States.

By UN News

NEW YORK (IDN) – Our shared vulnerability to the coronavirus pandemic reveals “our common humanity”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told religious leaders in an online meeting to discuss the role they can play in limiting the damage caused by COVID-19.

Speaking during the meeting on May 12, Guterres said “it lays bare our responsibility to promote solidarity as the foundation of our response – a solidarity based on the human rights and human dignity of all … and it highlights the crucial role of religious leaders in your communities and beyond.”

Viewpoint by Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) – Many critics have described labour migration as the 21st-century slave trade and Covid-19 crisis has exposed this stark reality. Eastern European migrant labour in Europe. Unpaid construction workers on the brink of starvation in the Middle East. Hundreds of South Asian dormitory locked down migrant labourers infected with Covid-19 in Singapore. Global economy’s lack of compassion for the migrant workers that drives its engines is very much in display today.

Speaking on Al Jazeera’s Inside Story, Thulsi Narayanasamy, head of labour rights at the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) argued that the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the structural inequalities that face migrant workers all over the world.

Viewpoint by Eva Cossé, Human Rights Watch

The writer is Western Europe researcher, works on issues related to discrimination, migration, asylum and minority rights, with a focus on Greece. This article first appeared on Human Rights Watch, and is being reproduced with the author's permission.

LONDON | ATHENS (IDN) – The Greek government has begun easing lockdown measures, given the country’s success in keeping Covid-19 under control. Starting last week, people could leave their homes without authorization, most shops have re-opened, and older students have returned to the classroom.

The US Has to Work with Russia, Not Against It

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – The war in Syria has dropped out of the news, like almost everything else, in a time when the Coronavirus seems to dominate all discourse and reporting. But the regime of Bashar al-Assad continues to strangle its own country. The Russians continue to bomb on his behalf, terrifying civilians and hospitals. The Americans work semi-clandestinely to undermine both the regime and its Russian backers.

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – A new fact-checking industry had its hands full recently in Senegal when a fake news post on social media claimed that children were “dying on the spot” from vaccines against the corona virus.

The post, titled “Scandal in Senegal”, was shared thousands of times on Facebook even as the fact checkers insisted it was a hoax.

"There is a big scandal in Senegal,” the misleading news spot was heard to say on a Facebook video in Wolof. “There is a guy who came into a house to vaccinate kids for coronavirus. He vaccinated seven children who died on the spot."

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – A diverse network of national and international peace and nuclear disarmament non-governmental organisations has in a joint statement urged government leaders, particularly from the nuclear-armed states and their allies, to act with greater urgency and cooperation to meet unfulfilled promises to reduce nuclear risks and advance progress on disarmament, and to realise their commitment to the “complete elimination of nuclear weapons”. The statement coincides with the 25th anniversary on May 11 of the indefinite extension of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

By Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sr Lanka President

The following is the text of the Sri Lankan President's address on May 4 to the online summit meeting of the 120-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) under the theme "United Against COVID-19":

COLOMBO (IDN) – I am pleased to be participating at this Summit, in support of global solidarity, unity and renewed multi-lateral cooperation in overcoming COVID-19.

Sri Lanka firmly believes that this Summit will serve as an important platform for the NAM Member States to support collective global action in combating this deadly virus and sharing best practices and lessons learnt.

By Tariq Rauf*

VIENNA (IDN) – "I long ago took to heart the words of Omar Bradley, spoken virtually a half century ago, when he observed, having seen the aftermath of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, thus: 'We live in an age of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We live in a world that has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. We've unlocked the mysteries of the atom and forgotten the lessons of the Sermon on the Mount. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living'."