UN Insider

Photo: An employee arranges vegetables in a supermarket in Indonesia. © ILO/Feri Latief

Global Pandemic Halts Economic Recovery, Says UN Report

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK (IDN) — A new United Nations report shows that the rapid spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant has halted a rapid recovery, countering signs of solid growth at the end of 2021. The report titled, 2022 World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) report cites problems contributing to the slowing down of the economy: new waves of COVID-19 infections, persistent labour market and lingering supply-chain challenges, and rising inflationary pressures.

: Radwan Jakeem; SUSTAINABILITY; Poverty; 16 January 2022

António Guterres Should Seize the Opportunity to Leave His Mark

Viewpoint by Boaventura de Sousa Santos*

This article was issued by Other News and is being republished with their permission.

COIMBRA, Portugal (IDN) — There is a clear discomfort among international activists and commentators who follow the United Nations, as well as among former UN senior officials and special rapporteurs, with the organization’s growing irrelevance as the world is faced with increasingly complex global challenges.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 15 January 2022

Photo: The Higher Court in Koblenz. Source: Kanzlei Goldenstein.

Historic Verdict in Germany's Prosecution of a Syrian for Crimes Against Humanity

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) — The German city of Koblenz on the banks of the river Rhine has made history. The Higher Regional Court there has convicted a former senior Syrian intelligence officer, for crimes against humanity.

The man, known as was charged with complicity in the torture of thousands of people between 2011 and 2012 in the Al-Khatib Branch of Syrian General Intelligence in the capital, Damascus. 

: Jamshed Baruah; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 13 January 2022

Photo: Bethlehem skyline from Church of the Nativity CC BY-SA 3.0

Israel and the Biggest Single Misthink in Western History

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

BETHLEHEM (IDN) — Perhaps the biggest single misthink in Western history is best understood by standing in the town square of Bethlehem, allowing one’s gaze to pass over the roof top of the Church that covers the stable where Jesus was supposedly born, and let one’s eye drift into the blue sky beyond and thinking:

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 11 January 2022

Photo: Rock-Hewn Churches, Lalibela (Ethiopia) © Ko Hon Chiu Vincent

Historic City of Stone-Hewn Churches Re-Opens to Pilgrims Barred by War

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — A World Heritage Site and Ethiopia’s holy city of Lalibela is welcoming pilgrims once again. Throngs of Ethiopians recently flooded the streets of the town caught up in the fighting between the government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front.

Ethiopia’s Orthodox Christians celebrate the birth of Christ on January 7.

: Global Information Network; ARTS & CULTURE; 11 January 2022

Photo: A 23-year-old Afghan refugee has stitched over 700 protective masks during the COVID-19 crisis to help support his new community in France. © UNHCR/Kate Thompson-Gorry

Preserve Right of Asylum, UN Refugee Agency Urges EU Council Presidencies

By UN News

NEW YORK (IDN) — Amid record global displacement, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has urged European countries to prioritize the better protection of people fleeing war, conflict, and persecution.

UNHCR made the appeal in recommendations to France, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU), and the Czech Republic, which assumes the presidency in July.

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 11 January 2022

Photo: An armoured vehicle is left abandoned on a road in Tigray, Ethiopia, on July 20, 2021. © UNICEF/Christine Nesbitt

UN Chief Urges End to Conflict in Ethiopia

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) — The UN Secretary-General António Guterres is deeply concerned about the impact the conflict continues to have on civilians in Ethiopia. He said he was deeply saddened by reports that more than 50 civilians were killed and injured in an airstrike in northern Ethiopia, on January 7.

: Caroline Mwanga; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 10 January 2022

Five Nuclear Powers Urged to Turn 'Nuke-Speak' into Real Action to Prevent Nuclear War

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK (IDN) — Disarmament advocates working within the Global Council of the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons have called on the five Nuclear-Weapon States Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to follow up the affirmation made by them in their Joint Statement of January 3, 2022, that "a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought". The Abolition 2000 has urged the United States, Russia, the UK, France and China to undertake "genuine action" to change current nuclear-war fighting policies, end the costly and destabilizing nuclear arms race, and eliminate nuclear weapons.

: Radwan Jakeem; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 10 January 2022

Image source: German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle

World's Major Nuclear Powers Pledge to Avoid Wars—Even as they Continue to Upgrade their Arsenals

By Thalif Deen

NEW YORK (IDN) — When the world’s five major nuclear powers—the US, UK, China, France and Russia—pledged to prevent nuclear wars and abandon the pursuit of more weapons, their joint statement released January 3 explicitly left out several of the demands from anti-nuclear activists, including an end to the upgrading and enhancing of existing arsenals.

: Thalif Deen; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 09 January 2022

UN Report Concerned About Hunger and Food Insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean

By Jaya Ramachandran

ROME (IDN) — The rise in hunger and food insecurity levels that have been occurring in Latin America and the Caribbean since 2015, were exacerbated by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The region is now even further off-track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 2.1 to end hunger and achieve food security, according to the latest Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition.