Peace & Justice

Photo: Kidnapped Nigerian Schoolboys. Source: 24x7news

More Nigerian Schoolchildren Seized in Second Mass Kidnapping

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Schoolchildren were again the targets of unknown assailants who seized the youngsters as they returned from a religious ceremony in the Nigerian town of Dandume, near Kankara where a similar kidnapping had taken place.

According to published police sources, between 39 and 84 schoolchildren were abducted by the kidnappers after a gun battle between the abductors, security forces and local vigilantes. They were released after 10 days in captivity, press reports say.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 21 December 2020

Photo: The consultation event for the publication at the UN in February 2019. Credit: UN.

A New Handbook on Parliamentary Action for Disarmament

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – Nearly one-and-half years after UN Secretary-General António Guterres launched Securing Our Common Future: An Agenda for Disarmament in May 2018, a new handbook to support disarmament for security and sustainable development has been released. Its approach and focus draw primarily on the Agenda. Titled Assuring our Common Future, published by four international parliamentary organizations and two international policy bodies on November 5, 2020, the new publication offers background and examples of effective policies and parliamentary actions on a wide range of disarmament issues.

: Jamshed Baruah; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 20 December 2020

Photo: File photo | Karnataka State Farmers Association members take part in a protest rally | PTI

India's Farmers Fight for Their Rights and Existence

Viewpoint by Sonali Kolhatkar

This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute. Sonali Kolhatkar is the founder, host and executive producer of “Rising Up With Sonali,” a television and radio show that airs on Free Speech TV and Pacifica stations.

LOS ANGELES (IDN) – India’s farmers are revolting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in a mass movement that has drawn international attention. The world’s largest democracy is witnessing a collective groundswell of protest as hundreds of thousands of farmers, largely from the states of Punjab and Haryana, have laid siege to the outskirts of the capital of New Delhi, determined to occupy the edges of the city until Modi reverses unpopular new laws that they say are anti-farmer.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 18 December 2020

Image credit: International Development Law Organization

Breaking the Culture of Violence to Advance SDG 16 On Peace & Security

Viewpoint by P. I. Gomes*

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (IDN) – In the Preamble of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, reference is made to what is called the 5P’s of People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnership. They capture with such lucid precision what is referred to as “all areas of critical importance for humanity and the planet.”

These are all areas deserving of concerted attention, but the widespread and insidiously yet blatant impact of violence, as the negation of “peace”, might benefit from some reflections.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes - former ACP Seretary-General; OPINION; 16 December 2020

Photo: Ethiopian federal government's "final offensive" against Tigray regional forces. Credit: Ethiopian News Agency

African Women Stress the Need for a Horn of Africa Peace Initiative

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali "for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea." The prize was also meant to recognise all the stakeholders working for peace and reconciliation in Ethiopia and in the East and Northeast African regions.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 15 December 2020

Situation Report EEPA Horn of Africa No. 21

Europe External Programme with Africa is a Belgium-based Centre of Expertise with in-depth knowledge, publications, and networks, specialised in issues of peacebuilding, refugee protection and resilience in the Horn of Africa. EEPA has published extensively on issues related to movement and/or human trafficking of refugees in the Horn of Africa and on the Central Mediterranean Route.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 10 December 2020

Situation Report EEPA HORN OF AFRICA No. 20

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 09 December 2020

Photo: President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev at The First Summit in Geneva Switzerland, 19 November 1985. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Biden Would Do Well to Roll Back the Expansion of NATO

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Top of President-elect’s Joe Biden’s foreign policy list must be Russia. Not China, not Europe. Russia has been the West’s mortal enemy since shortly after the end of World War II, with a short break when Communism was overthrown in 1991, until NATO began its expansion in 1999 and the Cold War, supposedly dead and buried, was resurrected. Only Russia and the US with their massive nuclear arsenals have the power to destroy civilization.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 08 December 2020

Situation Report EEPA HORN OF AFRICA No. 19

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 08 December 2020

Photo: Poster for International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Credit: UN Women

US Policing and Militarism Perpetuate Sexual Violence

Viewpoint by Olivia Pace*

The original version of this article was published on Waging Nonviolence and is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

PORTLAND, Oregon (IDN) – From the forces of policing to the military, these arms of the US state claim to be arbiters of justice and safety in the most superficial way. In reality, not only do these forces fail to create safety or bring justice to survivors of sexual violence. These systems actively perpetuate sexual violence and gendered violence on their own.