EU & Europe

Volunteering Kicks Up a Notch in Kenya

By J W Jackie

RENO, Nevada, USA (IDN) – One of the biggest cross-nation collaborations currently, is between the European Union and Kenya. This unusual pairing provides Kenya with the resources to implement development strategies with a Sh8 billion line of credit (USD 78.922.800,00) from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

While the loan is earmarked for the private sector to improve development, there is a definite need for support in all areas to make these funds go even further. One of the biggest cost items for any development project is labour. While paid labour will still be a component, a large form of relief is through skilled volunteers.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 June 2019

Photo: UN Secretary-General António Guterres receives the Charlemagne Prize in Aachen, Germany on 30 May 2019. Credit: UNFCCC/James Dowson.

The United Nations Need a Strong and United Europe

Viewpoint by António Guterres

The following are extensive excerpts from the Secretary-General's address on May 30, 2019 in Germany at the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen, the ancient continental capital for the Unity of Europe, close to the French border, where he received the prestigious Charlemagne Prize, awarded each year since 1950, for services towards European unification. The European Union, which grew out of the ashes of two world wars, has forged “an exemplary partnership” with the United Nations, said the UN chief, and the breakup of the 28-nation political and economic bloc, “would inevitably be the failure of multilateralism and the failure of a world in which the rule of law can prevail”. – The Editor

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 30 May 2019

Supporting Local Energy Access Projects Across East Africa

By Radwan Jakeem

This article is part of reports by the UN SDG Media Compact of which IDN is a member.

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – UN Secretary-General António Guterres has repeatedly said that it is time to end the fallacy that subsidizing fossil fuels is a way to improve people’s lives, and has called for the private sector to support the climate agenda.

As an example of how business can support the UN’s climate agenda, Portugal-based utility company EDP (Energias de Portugal) has partnered with the UN-backed Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) initiative to fund sustainable and clean energy projects in east Africa, notably in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi.

: Jaya Ramachandran; THE WORLD; Africa; 29 May 2019

Photo: "Baker Shot", part of Operation Crossroads, a nuclear test by the United States at Bikini Atoll in 1946. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

USA Claims Russia Flouting Global Ban on Nuclear Testing Too

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – Amid mounting signs of a new arms race unleashing between the United States and Russia, which together account for 93 percent of the nuclear weapons around the world, a top Trump Administration official has obliquely accused Russia of violating the global ban on nuclear tests enshrined in the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

The allegation comes within days of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message on the anniversary of the launch of his disarmament agenda 'Securing Our Common Future', in Geneva on May 24.

: Ramesh Jaura; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; CTBTO; 29 May 2019

Brexit Sans Theresa May

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Brexit grabs the attention of much of the world, not least because Britain once had an Empire and ruled a great part of the world’s peoples. And it’s the caretaker of the English language, the Empire’s most important legacy. Add to that the BBC, the world’s favourite and most trusted radio and TV station, its top universities, its production of pop music, and its numerous top-flight classical orchestras.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 28 May 2019

Photo: Gathered at the climate summit in Helsinki, from back left: Norway’s Minister of Climate and Environment Ola Elvestuen; Denmark’s Minister of Energy, Utilities and Climate Lars Christian Lilleholt; Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg; Finland’s Prime Minister Juha Sipilä; Iceland’s Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdóttir; Sweden’s Minister for International Development Cooperation and Climate, and Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lövin; and Iceland’s Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson. Photographer: Laura Kotila/Valtioneuvoston kanslia

Generation 2030 in the Nordic Countries Tackles SDGs

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) – On September 5, 2017 – two years after the United Nations adopted Agenda 2030 with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets – the Nordic countries jointly launched the Generation 2030 programme with the aim of speeding up implementation of Agenda 2030 through official Nordic cooperation.

A budget of 1.925 million dollars was allocated for the project, which runs until December 2020.

: Lowana Veal; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 26 May 2019

Photo: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Credit: Kremlin.ru

Uncertainty over U.S.-Russian Arms Control Talks

By Kingston Reif and Shervin Taheran

While Kingston Reif is Director for Disarmament and Threat Reduction Policy, Shervin Taheran is Research Assistant at the Arms Control Association, which carried this report on May 24, 2019.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – Following a May 14 meeting in Sochi, Russia, with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters that the two countries “agreed that … we will gather together teams that will begin to work not only on [the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty] New START and its potential extension but on a broader range of arms control issues that each of our two nations have.”

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 24 May 2019

Photo: Prof. van Reisen addressing the Pan African Parliament. Credit: EEPA.

Europe Must Begin to Recognise the Dark Side of Its History

Viewpoint by Prof Dr Mirjam van Reisen

The following are extensive extracts from Prof Dr Mirjam van Reisen's presentation to the Pan African Parliament, Midrand, part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan, South Africa on May 13, 2019. She is Tilburg University's Chair ‘International Relations, Innovation and care’, Leiden University's Chair ‘Computing for Society’, Coordinator Research Network ‘Globalisation, Accessibility, Innovation and Care’, Member of the Advisory Council on International Affairs, The Netherlands, and Director and Secretary General of EEPA (Brussels).

JOHANNESBURG (IDN) – The courageous founders of the liberated African continent had a dream for a united Africa, from which the scars of European colonisation could be erased.

: Mirjam van Reisen; OPINION; 19 May 2019

Photo: A Sherp crosses flooded plains to deliver 26 tons of food to Buzi in Northern Mozambique. Credit: WFP/Adam Marlatt

International Aid Flows to Southern Africa after Two Devastating Cyclones

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (IDN) – All that she has now is her 12-year old daughter. Her home, and almost all her belongings were destroyed by Cyclone Idai in March. Over a month ago since the tragedy struck, 35-year old Teresa Chizimu who hails from Chikwawa district in Malawi, has sunken deeper and deeper into desperation since she had an encounter with the cyclone.

Not only Chizimu is in this crisis in the southern hemisphere, but also Mozambique’s 71-year old Aderito Abdala from the port city of Beira, is faced with a catastrophic situation, with all his four grandchildren and wife, killed by Cyclone Idai.

: Jeffrey Moyo; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 04 May 2019

Photo (left to right): Neil Paul of Ramphal Center; Sandra Husbands, Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Trade at Government of Barbados; Dr Patrick I Gomes, ACP Secretary-General; Sir Shridath Ramphal, one of the original drafters of the Georgetown Agreement; and Prof. / Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari, Nigeria. Credit: ACP Secretariat.

The Primacy of Institutionalised Unity is Key to the Georgetown Agreement

Viewpoint by Sir Shridath Ramphal

"The truly compelling lesson . . . is how critical it is to pool our resources: political, economic and intellectual in negotiating with countries beyond ourselves: globally, in Europe, in the Hemisphere," says Sir Shridath Ramphal – one of the original drafters of the 1975 Georgetown Agreement that created the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP). The following are extensive excerpts from his Opening Remarks on 26 February 2019, tracing the genesis and the process of unification for the ACP at the Inter-Regional High-Level Consultation in Barbados.