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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) — Climate activist Vanessa Nakate of Uganda, together with several young climate leaders, took no prisoners as they called out political and business elites who failed to move the needle on climate change which has been devastating rich and poor countries alike at the present time.
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.
By Hemali Wijerathne
COLOMBO (IDN) — Sri Lanka’s free education system, which was judged to have achieved the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) for education and is considered a post-independence success story, is now under threat due to the present economic crisis in the country of 22 million people.
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.
By António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General
The following are extensive excerpts from the UN Chief's address to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on 18 January 2023. The focus of the Forum (16-20 January) is on 'Cooperation in a Fragmented World'.
NEW YORK | DAVOS (IDN) — [The Forum's] theme perfectly sets out the dilemma of today’s world: We need cooperation, yet we face fragmentation.
By Caroline Mawanga
NEW YORK (IDN) — A one percentage point increase in the allocation of public education resources to the world's poorest 20 per cent is expected to pull 35 million primary school-aged children out of learning poverty globally, says the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
However, a new report released on January 17 points out that children from the poorest households would benefit the least from national public education funding.
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.
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.