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Photo: The educational disruptions caused by the COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the crucial role of teachers in maintaining learning continuity. © UNICEF/Jannatul Mawa

COVID-19 & the Global South: From Crisis Response to Sustainable Development

Rachel M. Gisselquist, a political scientist, is a Senior Research Fellow with the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) and a member of the institute’s senior management team. She works on the politics of developing countries, with particular attention to inequality, ethnic politics, state building and governance and the role of aid therein, democracy and democratization, and sub-Saharan African politics.

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 06 October 2021

Kazakhstan Has A Vested Interest In Afghanistan’s Stability

By Akhas Tazhutov

The writer is a political analyst. This article first appeared in Eurasia Review on October 1, 2021.

ALMATY (IDN) — What should be taken into account when analyzing the Kazakh government’s attitude and policies toward Afghanistan? According to Kazakh media reports, Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Kabul, Alimkhan Esengeldiev, met with the acting foreign minister in the Taliban (insurgent group banned in Kazakhstan) government of Afghanistan, Amir Khan Muttaqi, on September 26, 2021.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 06 October 2021

Despite Brexit Europe Will Continue to Come Together

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The lorries have no drivers. The supermarket shelves are emptying. The poor are having their subsidies cut. The British government ties itself in knots trying to square what is a circle in Northern Ireland. Brexit—the leaving of the EU—is failing the nation.

But Europe itself is not failing. In fact, it is about to get stronger.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 05 October 2021

Rwandan Leader Included in 'Predators Gallery'

By Lisa Vives

Global Information Network

New YORK (IDN) — In the years he’s been president, Rwandan President Paul Kagame has never learned to love free speech on the internet. Long before the trial of prominent YouTube commentator and genocide survivor, Yvonne Idamange, the President issued a dire warning: “Those that you hear speak on the internet, whether they are in America, in South Africa, or in France, they think they are far.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 October 2021

Congolese Leader Condemns World Health Group’s Sexual Abuse of Local Women

By Lisa Vives

Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Facing a devastating report by the World Health Organization (WHO) acknowledging sexual exploitation of Congolese women by WHO and local staff, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has called for a "frank" judicial collaboration between national and international authorities on the matter.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 October 2021

Photo: Kenyan President Kenyatta delivering statement on the terrorist attack at Dusit complex, Nairobi, in 2019. Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Pandora Papers Report on How Kenyan Leader and Relatives Stashed $30 Million Offshore

By Lisa Vives

Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — The consortium of cross-border journalists that produced the massive investigation into corruption known as the Panama Papers has released a new work that digs into the proliferation of offshore accounts, the mechanisms used to hide money and the millionaires and billionaires quietly siphoning money into private accounts. The just-released Pandora Papers detail an opaque financial universe where the global elite shield riches from taxes, criminal probes and public accountability.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 October 2021

Back to the Future with the Taliban?

Viewpoint by Amin Saikal

This article was issued by Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

SINGAPORE (IDN) — The defeat of the United States and its allies and return to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan have changed the regional landscape. The configuration of forces has shifted in favour of Pakistan as the Taliban’s patron and China as a strategic partner of Pakistan, confronting India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Central Asian Republics and the main power behind them, Russia, with certain policy quandaries. Yet not all is lost, as both Islamabad and Beijing may find that Afghanistan is a very difficult country to govern and sustain.

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 04 October 2021

Photo: The UNICEF Nutrition Specialist and Emergency Response Team screen for malnutrition in Adikeh in Wajirat in Southern Tigray in Ethiopia. © UNICEF/Christine Nesbitt

UN Implicitly Warns Member States Against Expelling Officials for Political Reasons

By Thalif Deen

NEW YORK (IDN) — Ethiopia’s decision last week to expel seven UN officials, including senior humanitarian officials from the politically troubled African nation, generated an implicit warning to all 193 member states: do not kick out any UN officials for political reasons or declare them “persona non grata”.

: Thalif Deen; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 04 October 2021

Photo: Personal care kits are distributed to families affected by the Beirut port explosion in Lebanon. (file) Credit: UNICEF/Fouad Choufany

UN Announces Humanitarian Plan to Address ‘Living Nightmare’ in Lebanon

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK (IDN) — Lebanon has been assured critical life-saving assistance and protection to some 1.1 million citizens and migrants over the next 12 months. The UN and humanitarian partners have announced an Emergency Response Plan (ERP) worth $383 million.

The ERP covers 119 projects in the sectors of education, food security, health, nutrition, water and sanitation, child protection and protection against gender-based violence.

: Radwan Jakeem; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 03 October 2021

Photo: WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (centre) speaks to hospital staff at the Wazir Mohammad Akbar Khan National Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan. Credit: WHO/Lindsay Mackenzie

Hunger Stalks Afghanistan, Healthcare System on Brink of Collapse

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) — While Afghanistan’s health system is on the brink of collapse, as the head of the World Health Organisation, WHO, has warned, families on the streets of Kabul are suffering from hunger. The fate of the drought-stricken in rural parts of the country is no better.