HUMAN RIGHTS

Photo: Mosques affiliated to Wahabis are fast becoming popular among youth in Kashmir. Source: India Today.

Saudi-Iranian Rivalry and Turkish Ambitions Meet in Kashmir

Viewpoint by James M. Dorsey

James M. Dorsey – a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, an adjunct senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture – offered this viewpoint to IDN.

SINGAPORE (IDN) – Thought that sectarianism was a pillar of Saudi-Iranian rivalry? Think again, think Kashmir where the two countries’ geopolitical rivalry and Turkish ambitions cross sectarian lines.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 31 July 2019

Photo: Polonnaruwa Road near Punani, a small hamlet in Sri Lanka’s Batticaloa district. CC BY-SA 3.0

An Aborted University and Squandered Opportunity in Sri Lanka

Viewpoint by Dr. Ameer Ali

A modern Muslim university is an absolute need of our time, and it will be a sound first step to reform even the madrasas eventually, writes Dr. Ameer Ali, a lecturer in economics at the School of Business and Governance, Murdoch University, Western Australia. The aborted university project in Punanai, a small hamlet in Sri Lanka’s Batticaloa district was a golden opportunity squandered by abuse of political power, subservience to Wahhabism and hunger for profit, he adds.

PERTH (IDN) – About three years ago when passing through Punanai along the arterial road between Habarana and Batticaloa in Sri Lanka, I noticed a few brick structures appearing in a parched land amid thick shrubs and woody trees. It was almost a desolate spot where I could not see any people living close by.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 19 July 2019

Photo: The Jami Ul Alfar mosque in pettah area, one of the oldest mosques in Colombo. CC BY-SA 3.0

Moulding Muslim Culture in Sri Lanka Echoes Chinese Uighur Experiment

Viewpoint by Dr Ameer Ali

The writer is a lecturer in economics at the School of Business and Governance, Murdoch University, Western Australia.

PERTH (IDN) – The July 7 'Rally of the Un-Enlightened', that fizzled out without the expected turnout of 10,000 Buddhist monks, was the most emphatic demonstration yet by the majority Sinhala Buddhists that they would not allow hatred and bigotry to hijack the millennial legacy of peaceful coexistence of different religions and cultures in Sri Lanka.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 10 July 2019

Photo: Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia. Credit: IOM – UN Migration

Continuous Influx of Eritrean Refugees Challenges Ethiopia

Viewpoint by Kristina Melicherová

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Refugee and host communities in Ethiopia came together on June 20 to commemorate World Refugee Day through various cultural activities, organized within refugee camps as well as urban settings. But the reality behind the festivities is that hundreds of Eritrean refugees continue to cross the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia every day.

Despite the peace deal between Ethiopia and Eritrea, signed in July 2018, the internal situation and oppression of Eritrean people, mainly through the indefinite military service, remains intact. The continued inflow of young Eritreans fleeing oppression is putting strain on Ethiopia’s refugee camps.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 22 June 2019

Photo: Relieved and happy to be released from detention, a refugee hugs UNHCR staff as they meet at the Gathering and Departure Facility in Tripoli, Libya. © UNHCR/Mohamed Alalem.

European Union Lambasted for 'Externalising' Migration Policy

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) – More than twenty African and international organizations have signed a letter which slates the European Union and its member states for externalizing migration policy through direct and indirect cooperation with regimes and militia forces that are utterly unaccountable for their actions, and violating its constitutional values and international obligations, including the responsibility to protect.

The letter to the European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, and High Representative of the European Union, Federica Mogherini, appeals for "an EU external policy framework based on European values".

: Reinhard Jacobsen; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 19 June 2019

Photos: A glimpse of the Borobodur festival. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne IDN | INPS

Borobodur in Indonesia has the Potential to Epitomise Religious Tolerance in Asia

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 33rd in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous series.

SINGAPORE IDN) – Thousands of Indonesian Buddhists went on a 4 km procession from Mendut monastery to the historic Borobodur temple in Central Java to pay homage to the Buddha on Vesak day. The procession on May 18 passed a number of mosques with streets lined up with hundreds of local Muslims.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 13 June 2019

Photo credit: Women Deliver 2019 Conference

Ghana’s President Stuns Women with Demeaning Remarks

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – In this day and age of “Me Too” shaking up outdated gender relationships around the world, it was somewhat unsettling to hear Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo demean his country’s working women as insufficiently activist and dynamic enough to obtain better leadership jobs.

Did he really say this at the Women Deliver 2019 Conference from June 3-6 at Vancouver attended by gender activists from around the world? Really?

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 11 June 2019

Image credit: knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu

UN Study Urges a More Gender-Equal Digital Space

Flays Feminization of Voice Assistants

By Rita Joshi

BERLIN | PARIS (IDN) – "I think if we wake up 20 years from now and we see the lack of diversity in our tech and leaders and practitioners [that we see today], that would be my doomsday scenario," said Li Fei-Fei, co-director of Stanford University’s Human-Centered AI Institute and one of the few female leaders in the field of Artificial Intelligence, during testimony to the U.S. Congress.

: Rita Joshi; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 08 June 2019

Photo: 38th Anniversary of the 1979 Revolution in Azadi square, Tehran, 2017. CC BY 4.0

The Security Council Must Stop the U.S. Going to War with Iran

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Amnesty International reported on March 11 that an Iranian lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, has been sentenced to 38 years in jail and 148 lashes. She has dedicated her life to defending women accused of removing their hijabs in public. The persecution of human rights dissidents in Iran appears to be getting worse.

It makes it harder to feel sorry for Iran, even if President Donald Trump is wielding the heavy stick against it, and even though Trump has sabotaged the Agreement to freeze Iran’s nuclear research and uranium enrichment carefully negotiated by President Barack Obama’s team, the EU, Russia and China.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 21 May 2019

Photo: Seven presidential candidates (clockwise): Sadybek Tugel, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Amirzhan Kosanov, Toleutai Rakhimbekov, Amangeldy Taspikhov, Daniya Yespayeva and Zhambyl Akhmetbekov.

7 Candidates Mark Kazakh Passage Through Historical Transition

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK (IDN) – The Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan is living through an historical transition. For the first time since the country adopted the Constitutional Law on the independence of the Republic and held the first presidential election in 1991, Nursultan Nazarbayev is not contesting the forthcoming polls on June 9, 2019.

He was elected for a fifth term in the 2015 elections and was entitled to hold the office of the President until 2020. But he stunned the nation March 19, announcing during a nationally televised address that he would be relinquishing the office he had held for nearly three decades.