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COVID and Other Crises Obstructing Victim Identification
By Aurora Weiss
VIENNA (IDN) — Though the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises are increasing the possibility of vulnerable human beings easily falling into the trap of criminal exploitation for the sole purpose of economic gain, a new UN report finds that fewer victims of this kind of modern slavery are being identified.
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The UN’s peacekeepers, described as one of the most hazardous jobs at the United Nations, routinely risk their lives either in ongoing military conflicts or in post-conflict war zones.
According to figures released by the UN Staff Union on January 20, at least 32 UN peacekeeping personnel—28 military and 4 police, including one woman police officer—were killed in “deliberate attacks” in 2022.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — A prominent Cameroonian journalist was found dead this week with signs of torture near the capital Yaounde, five days after he was abducted by unidentified assailants, according to the National Union of Journalists of Cameroon and media rights advocates.
Martinez Zogo's disappearance and death was a further sign of the perils of reporting in the African country, union members said.
Viewpoint by Alon Ben-Meir*
NEW YORK (IDN) — The Iranian government continues to commit human rights violations and crimes against humanity in its effort to strike terror into the heart of its people. That the government considers itself a devout Muslim regime is sacrilegious and makes a mockery of Islam.
Viewpoint by Jeffrey D. Sachs
This article was published in The Economist and is being republished with the author's permission.
NEW YORK (IDN) — Neither Russia nor Ukraine is likely to achieve a decisive military victory in their ongoing war: both sides have considerable room for deadly escalation. Ukraine and its Western allies have little chance of ousting Russia from Crimea and the Donbas region, while Russia has little chance of forcing Ukraine to surrender. As Joe Biden noted in October 2022, the spiral of escalation marks the first direct threat of “nuclear Armageddon” since the Cuban missile crisis 60 years ago.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*
LUND, Sweden (IDN) — With unanimous approval in the Security Council, the UN, over the course of December, passed resolutions directed at seven different locations of conflict. Most of what the Security Council ordered doing was to the point. Even at a time of heightened antagonism between the West and Russia, the day-to-day work of trying to bring peace to many parts of the world goes on—from Somalia to Myanmar, from Syria to Yemen.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — A 20-second video showing soldiers throwing dead bodies onto a pile of burning rubbish in northern Mozambique gives just a glimpse of what is happening far from view in this "forgotten war", the human rights group Amnesty International has declared.
It is the "latest evidence of atrocities committed" in the province of Cabo Delgado, which has been plagued by violence from armed jihadist groups for more than five years and where the Mozambican army has been supported since 2021 by Rwandan and neighboring country soldiers, the group said in a statement.
Viewpoint by Herbert Wulf
This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.
BONN (IDN) — Putin's war against Ukraine has not only damaged the cooperative security architecture but destroyed it permanently. The Helsinki Act of 1975, the Paris Charter of 1990 and the NATO-Russia Founding Act of 1997 created a basis for security cooperation in Europe – even "a new era of democracy, peace and unity" as the Paris Charter titled euphorically. At least that's how state leaders saw it at the decade after the end of the Cold War.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*
LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The policies of Iran’s government are not set in stone, as critics interminably suggest. Early December Iran’s prosecutor-general was reported as saying that the morality police were being disbanded. Clearly two months of demonstrations, led mainly by women, and now with open support by Iran’s football World Cup team while competing in Qatar, have made some in the government have a big think about its long-term policies.
By Daisaku Ikeda
The following is the text of the statement by peacebuilder and Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda, who is president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI).
TOKYO (IDN) — The Ukraine crisis that erupted in February last year continues with no prospect for cessation. The intensified hostilities have inflicted great suffering in population centers and destroyed infrastructure facilities, compelling large numbers of civilians, including many children and women, to live in a state of constant peril. More than 7.9 million people have been forced to find refuge in countries throughout Europe, and some 5.9 million have been internally displaced.
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.