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Kazakhstan Plays a Crucial Role in Making the Nuclear Fuel Bank a Reality

By Tariq Rauf*

ASTANA (IDN) - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Kazakhstan will formally inaugurate a Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) Bank located at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant at Öskemen (formerly Ust Kamenogorsk) on August 29.

This event will mark an important milestone in the long march for the IAEA to set up an IAEA owned and operated nuclear fuel bank as envisaged in the 1957 IAEA Statute. This initiative was proposed in September 2006 by the Washington, DC-based Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) which offered US$50 million to the IAEA, provided by global investor Warren Buffet, to set up an IAEA LEU Bank by raising an additional $100 million.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 25 August 2017

Photo: Miroslav Jenca (right), Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, addresses the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East. At his side is Ambassador Abdel Latif Aboulatta, Permanent Representative of Egypt to the UN and President of the Council for August. UN Photo/Kim Haughton

Senior UN Official Urges Security Council Support for the Two-State Solution to Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

By Santo D. Banerjee

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Despite the scepticism – if not opposition – of the veto-wielding United States to realizing a two-State solution, a senior United Nations official has urged the parties to the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict to recommit to that solution and to ending the occupation of Palestinian lands.

This view was unequivocally supported by the representatives of Bolivia and Uruguay, two of the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council in addition to five permanent members (P5): China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 24 August 2017

Photo: A candle-floating ceremony in memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in which three officials of the Japanese embassy in Reykjavik participated. One of the speakers said there was now a great need for the Icelandic peace movement to encourage the Icelandic government to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Credit: Lowana Veal | IDN-INPS

Iceland, Norway Debate UN Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) – With a population of 344,000, Iceland does not have a military of its own. Nevertheless, it is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and as such was one of the countries that boycotted the discussions leading up to the potentially groundbreaking UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, adopted on July 7.

Prior to the start of the conference leading up to the Treaty, Foreign Affairs Minister Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson replied to a parliamentary question by Left-Green MP Steinunn Thora Árnadóttir on whether Iceland would take part in the UN discussions about banning nuclear weapons, as she felt that the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation Nuclear Weapons (NPT) had not been very successful.

: Lowana Veal; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 23 August 2017

Photo: A Qantas Airways Boeing 747-400 passes close to houses shortly before landing at London Heathrow Airport. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

The Sound of Rain and Bees Murmuring – Not Noise, Please

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - Everyone has their favourite sounds – a ball on a cricket bat on a summer’s afternoon, birds singing, waves breaking on the beach, the coffee pot perking on the stove, children playing scoobydoo. Mine are the quiet sounds of the English Lake District- William Wordsworth’s:

'“A flock of sheep that leisurely pass by one after one; the sound of rain and bees murmuring; the fall of rivers, wind and lakes, smooth fields; white sheets of water, and pure sky.”

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 22 August 2017

Photo: The 383rd meeting of the Committee took place on 8 August 2017. Over 36 Committee Members/Observers were in attendance in addition to several civil society organizations.

UN Committee Highlights Activities Marking 50 Years of Israeli Occupation of Palestine

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) - Fifty years after Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, it continues to control these areas through repression, institutionalized discrimination, and systematic abuses of the Palestinian population’s rights.

Many of Israel’s abusive practices have been carried out in the name of security. Palestinian armed groups have carried out scores of lethal attacks on civilians and launched thousands of rocket attacks on Israeli civilian areas, also in violation of international humanitarian law.

But activities to mark 50 years of Israeli occupation of Palestine and support the two-State solution took the centre stage in recent efforts to quell tensions, especially in Jerusalem, and create conditions for mutual respect, the Palestinian Rights Committee heard on August 8, 2017.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 21 August 2017

Photo: An internally displaced woman and her daughter look over the city of Sana’a, Yemen, from the roof of this dilapidated building they call their new home. Photo: Giles Clarke/UN OCHA

UN Helpless While 'Death Looms For Yemenis'

By Bernhard Schell

AMMAN (IDN) – The United Nations is apparently incapable of pushing for a political solution to the more than two-year-old conflict plaguing Yemen, one of the Arab world's poorest countries, which has been devastated by a war between forces loyal to the internationally-recognised government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and those allied to the Houthi rebel movement.

More than 7,600 people have been killed and 42,000 injured since March 2015, the majority in air strikes by a Saudi-led multinational coalition that backs the president, according to independent sources. The conflict and a blockade imposed by the coalition have also triggered a humanitarian disaster, leaving 70% of the population in need of aid.

: Bernhard Schell; UN INSIDER; 21 August 2017

Photo: The DPRK Civil Aviation Bureau Chief Kang Ki Sop at airports and airfields – together with Kim Jong-un – controlled by the North Korean People’s Army Air Force, underlining, according to the Panel, that the Korean airlines Air Koryo is integrated into the military of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and that the airline’s assets are actively utilized for military purposes. Credit: KCNA and the UN Panel.

Serious Doubts Whether Sanctions Against DPRK Are Effective

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) maintains a tight spider network around the world that enables it "to employ great ingenuity in using formal banking channels and bulk cash transfers to facilitate illicit endeavours," a close look at the Report of the UN Panel of Experts monitoring the implementation of Security Council sanctions against North Korea reveals.

An analysis of the Report covering the period from February 6, 2016 to February 5, 2017 does not give cause for hope that the expanded sanctions imposed unanimously by 15 members of the Security Council on August 5 would achieve the declared objective, which the Resolution 2371 (2017) defined as follows:

: Ramesh Jaura; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 20 August 2017

UN Chief Calls For The Protection of Civilians In Conflicts

By Santo D. Banerjee

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Around the world, conflict is exacting a massive toll on people’s lives. Trapped in wars that are not of their making, millions of civilians are forced to hide or run for their lives. Children are taken out of school, families are displaced from their homes, and communities are torn apart, while the world is not doing enough to stop their suffering. At the same time, health and aid workers – who risk their lives to care for people affected by violence – are increasingly being targeted.

For the World Humanitarian Day 2017 on August 19, humanitarian partners came together to reaffirm that civilians caught in conflict are #NotATarget. Through a global online campaign featuring an innovative partnership with Facebook Live, together with events held around the world, voices were raised to advocate for those most vulnerable in war zones, and demand that world leaders do everything in their power to protect civilians in conflict.

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 19 August 2017

Image credit: Asia Foundation | United Nations

Violence Against Women Is Still An Unresolved Issue

By Afreeha Jawad

COLOMBO (IDN) - Having grown up in a biological family unit that upheld male domination, envied and resented female intellect, with a mother that declared in no uncertain terms that even though crestfallen a male is a male, Fathima's ears soon were not alien to such sexist remarks but the bitterness that swelled inside was inexpressible.

Maternal discriminatory insistence that even vehemently once asked, "if they can tame a wild elephant then why not you?" simply threw this child off board. There was no one in whom she could have faith to spell out all her agony. Fathima's utter consternation, dismay and disgust over maternal sexist expressions licensed continuous harassment even assaults from her biological membership which term she even resents to this day.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 19 August 2017

Photo: Horst Köhler, newly-appointed Personal Envoy for Western Sahara (file). UN Photo/Mark Garten

Former German President Tasked With Bringing Peace To Western Sahara

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Nearly 26 years after a ceasefire was signed between Morocco and the Polisario Front on Western Sahara, the United Nations is hoping that Horst Köhler, former President of the Federal Republic of Germany, can help achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict. France and the Polisario Front share Secretary-General António Guterres' expectation.

Guterres announced on August 16 Köhler's appointment as his Personal Envoy for Western Sahara – located on the north-west coast of Africa bordered by Morocco, Mauritania and Algeria – which has been disputed since 1976, when fighting broke out between Morocco and the Polisario Front after the Spanish colonial administration of the territory ended.