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Photo: Loan schemes help entrepreneurial women like Amina in Kenya establish their own businesses. Credit: WFP/Edward Johnson

Global Food Crisis: Cash Offers Hope to the World's Most Vulnerable

By Edward Johnson | World Food Programme (WFP)

Amid an unprecedented global hunger crisis, cash offers one vehicle to reach the world’s most vulnerable people in ways that can lift communities and economies.

ROME (IDN) — While skyrocketing food prices have fallen recently, they still remain high, with the war in Ukraine driving up the cost of food, fuel and fertilizer. The fallout risks intensifying hunger among the world’s most vulnerable people—compounding the devastating effects of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic on their livelihoods and food security.

: Europe Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 15 September 2022

Photo: Pope Francis addressing the Inter-religious conference in Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan. Credit: Katsuhiro Asagiri | Multimedia Director

Religious Leaders Gather to Find Ways to Heal a Wounded World

By Kalinga Seneviratne

NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan (IDN) — "The whole world is experiencing the ongoing impact of the pandemic, conflicts, sanctions, climatic change and other global issues. We all see the increase in geopolitical tensions and conflicts across the globe," said Maulen Ashimbayev, head of the Secretariat of the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions on September 13. He was addressing a meeting of the Secretariat.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 14 September 2022

Photo: Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milošević addressing the crowd at Gazimestan, Kosovo, 28 June 1989. Source: View East

Looking Back at Yugoslavia with a Critical Eye

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Serbia and Kosovo are at it again. The fragmentation of ex-Yugoslavia appears to be a story without end. Serbia is rejecting US and EU demands to recognize the independence of Kosovo. Belgrade argues that historically Kosovo is a province of Serbia. The ethnic Albanian citizens insist on Kosovo being independent, walking in the footsteps of Bosnia, Macedonia, Slovenia and Croatia.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 13 September 2022

The Culture of Peace Bolsters the Potential for Sustainable Peacebuilding

By Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury

Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury is the Founder of the Global Movement for The Culture of Peace (GMCoP), Permanent Representative of Bangladesh (1996-2001) and Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the United Nations (2002-2007).

NEW YORK (IDN) — 23 years ago today, on 13 September 1999, the United Nations adopted the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, a monumental document that transcends boundaries, cultures, societies, and nations. It was an honor for me to Chair the nine-month long negotiations that led to the adoption of this historic norm-setting document by the United Nations General Assembly.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 13 September 2022

Image: (Left) US Navy Virginia-class SSN, courtesy of General Dynamics Electric Boat Public Affairs, Creative Commons Licence 040730-N-1234E-002); Right: Royal Navy Astute-class SSN, courtesy Royal Navy MoD.

IAEA Safeguards: The Continuing Challenge of Nuclear Submarines

Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf*

VIENNA (IDN) — Coming up to the one-year mark following the announcement of the AUKUS agreement on the supply of nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs) to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) continues to struggle to deal with the challenge to the efficacy and credibility of the Agency’s nuclear safeguards (verification) system created by AUKUS.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 13 September 2022

Photo source: The Johannesburg Review of Books

Zimbabwean Novelist’s New Book – 'A Brilliant Postcolonial Fable'

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Zimbabwean novelist NoViolet Bulawayo is one of six finalists for the Booker Prize, the renowned British literary award, with a post-colonial fable resembling the home city that provides half of her pen name; the other half, NoViolet, links the Ndebele word for “with” to the name of her mother, who died when her daughter was 18 months old.

If she wins on October 17, her fable "Glory" could become the second African piece to be awarded in a row, writes Violet Kupersmith in a New York Times review.

: Global Information Network; Africa; 13 September 2022

Photo: Collapsed wall of the former De Beers diamond mine. Source: Mail&Guardian

South African Diamond Mine Dam Collapses, Killing Three and Injuring 40

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — A mine wall at the former De Beers diamond mine in South Africa’s Free State Province collapsed on September 10-11, killing at least three people and injuring another 40. Nine houses were swept away in a flash flood, according to the Bloomberg news service.

The government said in a statement that search and rescue efforts are continuing at the abandoned mine—a unit of Anglo American (AAL.L).

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 12 September 2022

Photo: Former UK Ambassador Vicky Bowman during meeting with City University of Hong Kong (CUHK) students in May 2016. Credit: Jan Servaes

Myanmar Junta Jails Former British Ambassador Vicky Bowman

By Jan Servaes*

BRUSSELS (IDN) — Vicky Bowman was Britain's ambassador to Myanmar from 2002 to 2006. After completing her role as ambassador, she remained in the country as the founder of the NGO Myanmar Center for Responsible Business (MCRB), which is supported by the UK Institute for Human Rights & Business (IHRB) and the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR). It is a non-profit initiative that advises investors on human rights issues in the country.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 12 September 2022

Queen Elizabeth's Death Stirs Mixed Emotions in Africa

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — The passing of Queen Elizabeth II has not gone unremarked in Africa, where local television and radio stations interrupted normal broadcasting in order to relay events happening in the United Kingdom.

Across the world, nations are paying tribute to the 96-year-old monarch. US President Joe Biden described her as “a stateswoman of unmatched dignity and constancy who deepened the bedrock alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States”.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 12 September 2022

Photo: A project funded by UNDEF in The Gambia works to enhance Media-Government Relations to Improve Legal Environment for Freedom of Expression. Credit: Gambia Press Union

Is Corruption Among the Leading Force of Governance in Africa?

Viewpoint by Rev. Gabriel Odima*

MINNESOTA USA (IDN) — When electoral fraud began to replace the ballot as means to install rulers like the case of Kenya today, corruption, suppression of human rights and freedoms became the leading force of governance in Africa.

In every country where rulers were installed after fraudulent election, the first casualty became the constitution, political parties including its elected parliament. The United Nations Security Council, the international media, human rights organizations and Washington mounted no serious campaign to forestall what has now befallen the people of Kenya.