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By Jan Servaes*
BRUSSELS (IDN) — Vicky Bowman was Britain's ambassador to Myanmar from 2002 to 2006. After completing her role as ambassador, she remained in the country as the founder of the NGO Myanmar Center for Responsible Business (MCRB), which is supported by the UK Institute for Human Rights & Business (IHRB) and the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR). It is a non-profit initiative that advises investors on human rights issues in the country.
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The seven-month-old war between Russia and Ukraine has notched up a rare first: a nuclear power plant in the middle of a devastating battlefield.
At a Security Council briefing on the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) on September 6, Ambassador Barbara Woodward of the UK said by choosing to invade a nuclear power plant, and putting ZNPP in the crossfire, Moscow is playing "Russian roulette" with nuclear safety.
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – A High-Level Forum on the Culture of Peace, which took place on September 6, had an explicit message to the world at large.
The Forum underlined the importance of peace at a time when Ukraine, a sovereign nation-state, is being annihilated by Russia, one of the world’s major nuclear powers and a permanent member of the Security Council.
Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
BANGKOK (IDN) — Most of the 2.1 billion strong workforce in Asia and the Pacific are denied access to decent jobs, health care and social protection, but there is an array of policies and tools that governments can use to remedy these deficiencies and ensure that the rights and aspirations of these workers and their families are upheld and that they remain the engine of economic growth for the region.
By Caroline Mwanga
NEW YORK (IDN) — The latest available Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 data show that the world is not on track to achieving gender equality by 2030. At the current rate of progress, it may take close to 300 years to achieve full gender equality, according to the new report by the UN Women and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), titled Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The Gender Snapshot 2022.
By Radwan Jakeem with UN News
NEW YORK (IDN) — The United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) has launched five new specialized guides (modules) aimed at the protection of particularly vulnerable targets against terrorist attacks. "Vulnerable targets" refers both to critical infrastructure (for example, public transportation systems, energy sector) and public places or 'soft targets' (for example, tourist venues, urban centres, and religious sites). These guides focus on soft targets.
By Rodney Reynolds
UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — After the invasion of Ukraine last February, Russia has been widely described, particularly by the US and Western nations, as an "international pariah".
The United Nations has been equally critical of the invasion of a sovereign nation resulting in thousands of civilian killings and the destruction of entire cities in Ukraine.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has accused the Russians of a military invasion that was in clear "violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine—and inconsistent with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations".
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — There were high hopes for a one-billion-dollar clean-up of Nigeria’s most polluted region of Ogoniland in Nigeria's Niger Delta region, the third largest mangrove ecosystem in the world when it got off the ground in 2019. It would address the greasy rainbow sheen over the 386-mile wetlands, the continual ooze from dormant wellheads and active pipelines, the once-lush mangroves coated in crude, and the smells of benzene while farmlands stood charred and barren.
By Fermín Koop
This article was originally published on China Dialogue under the Creative Commons BY NC ND licence.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (IDN) — While many had hoped this would be the session to do it, after two weeks of talks at the UN headquarters in New York, from August 15 to August 26, member states have failed to conclude a legally binding agreement to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity on the high seas.
Now, governments will have to keep bridging their differences until a new meeting, for which a date has not yet been set.
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) — The murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, on May 25, 2020, in the US city of Minneapolis, galvanized people worldwide to protest racism and racial discrimination and prompted important global discussions on racial justice. 2020 marked a turning point in how these issues are being addressed at international and national levels.
IDN-InDepthNews offers news analyses, features, reports and viewpoints that impact the world and its peoples. It has been online since 2009. Its network spans countries around the world.