UN Insider

Photo: Demonstrators are stopped by police as they try to march towards the border with Rwanda, in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, on June 15, 2022. Source: France 24

New Jersey Senator Seeks Review of Aid to Rwanda For Rights Abuses in DR Congo

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — The Rwandan government's human rights record is under a harsh spotlight over its role in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Sen. Robert Menendez, chair of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he would place a hold on U.S. security assistance to Rwanda in Congress over concerns about the Rwandan government's human rights record.

In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Senator Menendez called for a comprehensive review of U.S. policy towards Rwanda.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 10 August 2022

The Poor Can be Saved from the Coming Depression

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The gathering economic crisis, which the financial papers are sombrely predicting, has too many of the makings of turning into a World Depression and must be a time for mental stock-taking. If we wind back the clock just a few years to the beginning of the century when big banks in Wall Street precipitated the "Great Recession", we could say, looking back, that today’s imminent crash comes after one of the most successful boom periods in history.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 09 August 2022

Photo: Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan, chairman of the Group of 77 and China.

A Briefing on Carbon Capture Technology and Sustainable Energy Transition

By Razeena Raheem

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The Group of 77 and China, the largest single coalition of developing nations, hosted an Ambassadorial-level briefing on carbon capture technology at the United Nations. The briefing, which took place August 1, was titled "Carbon Capture Utilization & Storage—Technology Essential for an Equitable Energy Path Forward."

Addressing the meeting, Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan, chairman of the G77, said: "I think our goals as the Group of 77 and China are clear."

: Thalif Deen; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 08 August 2022

Photo: President of Russia Vladimir Putin meeting with US President Joseph Biden (via videoconference). Source: Kremlin.ru. CC BY 4.0

The Irrevocable End of Russia-US Relations

Moscow says NYET to Washington's "Rules-based Order"

By Somar Wijayadasa*

"After the present crisis in Ukraine, there can be no return to attempts at a rapprochement with the US and its allies". - Alexey Drobinin

NEW YORK (IDN) — Alexey Drobinin, Director of policy planning of Russia’s Foreign Ministry, has published a keynote article on Russia’s foreign-policy concept describing that Russia’s special military operation was a milestone on the way to new world order.

The document entitled "The Lessons of History and the Vision of the Future: Reflections on Russia's Foreign Policy" aptly describes Russia’s thousand-year history as well as the imperial ambitions of Sweden, France, and Germany.

: Somar Wijayadasa; THE WORLD; Russia; 08 August 2022

Photo: (Left) Álvaro Alberto, Brazil's first nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) concept, courtesy of Serviços e Informações do Brasil; (Right): US Navy Virginia-class SSN, courtesy of General Dynamics Electric Boat Public Affairs, Creative Commons Licence 040730-N-1234E-002)

Nuclear Submarines and The Non-Proliferation Treaty: Brazil Gets a Jump on Australia?

By Tariq Rauf*

VIENNA (IDN) — Originally scheduled for April-May 2020, due to postponements because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Tenth Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) finally convened in these turbulent times at the United Nations in New York on 1 August and will conclude its deliberations on 26 August.

NPT review conferences are held every five years to assess the implementation of the NPT across its three "pillars": nuclear disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation, and cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 08 August 2022

Photo credit: Katsuhiro Asagiri. IDN-INPS Multimedia Director

NPT Review Conference Urged to Seek "No First Use" of Nuclear Weapons

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — When academics, anti-nuclear peace activists and civil society organisations (CSOs) met at the United Nations earlier this month to discuss the growing threats of a nuclear war worldwide, one of the underlying themes was captured in the title: "Avoiding Nuclear War: What Short-Term Steps Can be Taken?"

The discussion included a call on the world's five major nuclear powers—the UK, US, France, Russia and China, all permanent members of the UN Security Council—to commit "No First Use" of nuclear weapons.

: Thalif Deen; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 07 August 2022

Coalition Calls for Securing Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Viewpoint by Galina Angarova (Buryat), Executive Director, Cultural Survival

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, USA (IDN) — On August 9, 2022, the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous leaders will launch a new site—www.sirgecoalition.org—as part of the official public announcement of a new coalition to Secure Indigenous People’s Rights in a Green Economy (SIRGE Coalition).

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 07 August 2022

Photo: The Secretary-General António Guterres attends the Peace Memorial Ceremony in Hiroshima. Ichiro Mae/UN Photo

From Hiroshima, UN Chief Calls for Global Nuclear Disarmament

UN News

HIROSHIMA (IDN) — It is totally unacceptable for states in possession of nuclear weapons to admit the possibility of a nuclear war, António Guterres underscored early on August 6 in Japan at a ceremony marking the 77th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

“Nuclear weapons are nonsense. Three-quarters of a century later, we must ask what we’ve learned from the mushroom cloud that swelled above this city in 1945”, he urged during the solemn event at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park attended by dozens of people, including hibakusha, young peace activists, Japan’s Prime Minister and other local authorities.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 06 August 2022

UN Group Urges Support to Most Vulnerable Countries

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) — The UN Secretary-General’s Global Crisis Response Group (GCRG) on Food, Energy and Finance points out that skyrocketing energy prices are compounding an existential cost-of-living crisis for hundreds of millions of people. In fact, as the war in Ukraine continues to rage, the rising energy costs may cost many developing countries, especially the most vulnerable communities, from energy markets.

Despite this alarming situation, major oil and gas companies recently reported record profits, which Secretary-General António Guterres, who launched the brief on August 3, called “immoral.”

: Jamshed Baruah; UN INSIDER; 04 August 2022

Millions of Lives in Peril in the Greater Horn of Africa

UN Health Agency Calls for USD 123.7 million Until December 2022

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA | NAIROBI (IDN) — The UN health agency, World Health Organization (WHO), has launched a funding appeal for USD 123.7 million to carry out urgent life-saving work in the greater Horn of Africa. The region also faces an unprecedented food crisis.

More than 80 million people in the seven countries spanning the region—Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda—are estimated to be food insecure. Over 37.5 million people are classified as being in IPC phase 3, a stage of crisis where people have to sell their possessions in order to feed themselves and their families, and where malnutrition is rife.