Peace & Justice

Photo: Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena summoned Canadian High Commissioner David McKinnon and expressed Sri Lanka’s deep concern over the adoption of Private Member Bill 104. Credit: @MFA_SriLanka, Official Twitter Account of the Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka.

Canada’s LTTE-Inspired Myopic View On ‘Genocide’

By Sugeeswara Senadhira

The writer is Media Advisor at the Presidential secretariat.

COLOMBO (IDN) — Genocide is the intentional destruction of a particular group through killing, serious physical or mental harm, preventing births and/or forcibly transferring children to another group and this term has been applied to the experiences of Indigenous peoples in Canada, particularly in the final reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls inquiry.—The Canadian Encyclopedia.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 14 May 2021

Photo: Dusk approaches in Yangon, the commercial hub of Myanmar (file photo). Unsplash/Alexander Schimmeck.

UN Experts Call on Myanmar Businesses ‘To Take a Stand’ Against Military Junta

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN | UN News) — Independent rights experts of the United Nations have urged businesses in Myanmar to fulfill their human rights responsibilities and pressure the military junta to halt grave human rights violations against its own people.

According to UN News, some businesses have reiterated their public support for the rule of law and human rights and cut ties with the junta in the aftermath of the 1 February coup.

: Caroline Mwanga; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 13 May 2021

Widespread Frustration in Nigeria Would Not Justify a Coup

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) — These days, it seems all right to play with fire. The blaze started as a solitary spark in Mali in August when the streets, the elite, and jihadists banded to remove President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

The former president had discarded election results and written a version that tightened his grip on power. How he thought he could reinvent the Mansa Musa legend in a country riven by violence and poverty only he can tell.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 13 May 2021

Photo: US Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and other members of NATO Ministers of Defense and of Foreign Affairs meet at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Oct. 14, 2010.

NATO Plans to Focus on Russia and China

By Robert Johnson

BRUSSELS (IDN) — “What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO,” French President Emmanuel Macron declared in a blunt interview with The Economist in November 2019. Europe stands on “the edge of a precipice”, he said, and needs to start thinking of itself strategically as a geopolitical power; otherwise, we will “no longer be in control of our destiny.”

: Robert Johnson; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 12 May 2021

Photo: The writer at the Vatican in 2019.

The Nuclear Threat in the New Information Age

Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball

The writer is the executive director of Arms Control Association and publisher of Arms Control Today since 2001. The following is the text of Mr Kimball's Foreword to 2021 Joint Media Project Report of the Non-Profit International Press Syndicate Group with IDN as flagship agency in partnership with Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) — An informed and mobilized public is essential to human survival in the nuclear age—and effective and independent journalism is essential to revealing the hard truths, the consequences, and the choices that nuclear weapons pose for all of us.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 12 May 2021

Photo: The Senegal Special Forces during the pass and review of the 45th Navy Day Anniversary Parade. Photo by Staff Sgt. Flor

Bandits Constrain Nigeria to Seeks Return of ‘Africom’

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Early Pentagon plans for a US military command based in Africa were once firmly rejected by almost every country on the continent. African governments were reluctant to associate themselves with America’s "war on terror" and fearful of US intervention.

Libya and Algeria both refused to host the combatant command. Even Morocco considered Washington’s closest North African ally, rejected the idea, saying it would not welcome a permanent military presence on its soil.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 11 May 2021

Photo: The statue of Duke Ellington in New York’s Central Park. Source: UNAI

Musings on Jazz and the 30th Anniversary of the 1991 Windhoek Declaration on a Free Press

By Ramu Damodaran

The writer is Chief, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) hosted in the Department of Global Communications. Following are excerpts of the OpEd, first published in #WhyWeCare on May 7.

NEW YORK (IDN | UNAI) — Last weekend was bookended by two celebratory observances, the International Day of Jazz on April 30, and World Press Freedom Day on May 3.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 10 May 2021

UNESCO Creative Cities of Music Celebrate Intl. Jazz Day

By Robert Johnson

PARIS (IDN | UNESCO) — As the great Nina Simone said, "Jazz is not just music, it is a way of life, it is a way of being, a way of thinking", says UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It adds: "The story of Jazz is written into the quest for human dignity, democracy and civil rights. It has given strength to the struggle against discrimination and racism."

: Robert Johnson; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 09 May 2021

Photo: Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab hosts the G7 Foreign and Development Ministers' Meeting in London, 3 to 5 May 2021. Credit: GOV.UK

Europe and the US Need to Talk About Sanctions Against Russia

Viewpoint by Agathe Demarais

The writer is Global Forecasting Director at The Economist Intelligence Unit (The EIU). This commentary* was published on the European Leadership Network (ELN) website on May 7.

LONDON (IDN) — Convening in London this week (May 3-5), the G7 foreign ministers expressed their interest in standing together in the face of a variety of challenges, including how to engage with Russia and China.

After four years of bombastic tweets and erratic declarations from Donald Trump, the first 100 days of the Biden presidency have shown that the new US president is more willing to work with European allies than his predecessor was. Yet this does not mean that all is well for the transatlantic alliance.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 07 May 2021

Photo: UN Secretary-General António Guterres briefs the Informal 5+1 meeting on Cyprus in Geneva. UN Photo/Violaine Martin

Cyprus: Toward a Non-territorial Confederation?

Viewpoint by Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens

GENEVA (IDN) — Three days (April 27-29, 2021) of "informal" talks on the future of Cyprus were held in Geneva under the leadership of UN Secretary-General António Guterres. There have been no formal negotiations on the issue since 2017.

The UN-sponsored meeting with representatives of Greek and Turkish Cypriots as well as representatives of Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom—the former colonial power—was to ascertain if there is enough common ground to start negotiations later this year.