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Photo: Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (left) meets Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to Ankara, June 2017. Credit: © Yasin Bulbul

Syria, Qatar and Gaza: Plot Thickens in the Middle East

Analysis by Pier Francesco Zarcone*

ROME (IDN) – We know that international legality goes no further than pious aspirations, so all that counts is force and tactical-strategic capacity of its use.

The Syrian crisis

Well, the United States edged its way into Syria on its own account – that is, without the Damascus government having called on it – in order to achieve two interrelated goals.

First, to save the self-styled anti-Assad Syrian Democratic Forces which had suffered blows from both ISIS and the Syrian Arab Army – to the extent that it was necessary to link it up with the Kurdish militia of Syria to give a semblance of existence.

Second, to break the potential territorial continuity between Syria, Iraq and Iran – that is, the so-called "Shiite corridor".

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 04 July 2017

Photo: Amina J. Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten.

Working Together to Achieve the Africa We Want

By Amina J. Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General

Following are extensive excerpts from Amina J. Mohammed's remarks on July 3 as prepared for delivery to the African Union Summit (June 27 to July 4) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investments in Youth as thematic focus. She was Minister of Environment of Nigeria from November 2015 to December 2016. Prior to this, she served as Special Adviser to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, where she was instrumental in bringing about the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the Sustainable Development Goals. – The Editor

ADDIS ABABA (IDN-INPS) - Our organizations are embarking on two extremely ambitious agendas – Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – along with the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the Paris Climate Agreement.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; OPINION; 03 July 2017

Photo: UNESCO DG Irina Bokova. Credit; UNESCO

UNESCO Crucial to Achieving the SDGs in their Totality

By Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO

Following is the text of the Foreword the UNESCO Director-General wrote for the '2017 Report of the Joint Media Project' of the International Press Syndicate Group, with IDN-InDepthNews as its flagship agency and the Soka Gakkai Internationa (SGI). The Report can be accessed on line at http://www.sdgsforall.net/documents/Striving_for_People_Planet_and_Peace_2017.pdf. - The Editor

PARIS (IDN-INPS) - The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), charts a new vision for cooperation over the next 15 years, to ensure prosperity and well-being for all societies, while protecting the planet and strengthening peace. Inclusivity, integration, and universality. These are three hallmarks of the SDGs, and they represent the most ambitious and comprehensive agenda ever seen – to leave no one behind.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 02 July 2017

Photo: President Juan Manuel Santos; Special Representative of the Secretary-General Jean Arnault; and head of the FARC-EP Secretariat Timoleon Jimenez at a ceremony for the final laying down of weapons in Colombia. Photo: UN Mission in Colombia

Security Council Pledges Support to Colombia in Transition

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – The Security Council has greeted the handover of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army’s (FARC-EP) remaining weapons to a United Nations-backed team as a “true example” of courage and commitment to peace, and pledged to support Colombia as it transitions out of its five-decades-long civil conflict.

Briefing the Council on those recent developments, Jean Arnault, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Mission in Colombia, said on June 30 that, with the June 27 handover of its remaining weapons, the FARC‑EP had officially met its obligations under the May 29 road map.

: Santo D. Banerjee; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 01 July 2017

Photo: Quran Roundabout in Sharjah, which has been named World Book Capital 2019. Credit: TripAdvisor

Sharjah Named World Book Capital 2019 by UNESCO

By Phil Harris

ROME | PARIS (IDN) – Signalling a major achievement for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Arab world, Sharjah has been named World Book Capital 2019 by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

The honour is recognition of the emirate's pioneering role in supporting and expanding the local and regional publishing industries, promoting reading to become an intrinsic cultural practice, as well as embracing intercultural, knowledge-based dialogue.

: Phil Harris; UN INSIDER; 30 June 2017

vPhoto: Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombing survivors submit the petition with nearly 3 million signatures to the President of the Conference who was joined by the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. Credit: Soo-Hyun Kim

Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Nearing Completion

Analysis by Tariq Rauf*

VIENNA (IDN) - On June 27, the second draft of the “Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons” was released at the United Nations in New York. Delegations from more than 130 States will now work to finalize the treaty text by July 7, 2017.

The United Nations Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, Leading Towards their Total Elimination has been meeting at the UN in New York on March 27–31 and June 15–7 July 7. Ambassador Elayne Whyte Gómez of Costa Rica is the Conference President, who has done a masterful job in navigating through the competing and often contradictory positions of both States and civil society organizations (CSO) to produce a realistic and workable draft Treaty text.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 29 June 2017

Photo: A view of the UN Conference. Credit: UN | Paolo Rivas

UN Conference Considers Revised Draft of a Nuclear Ban Treaty

By J. Nastranis

Note: Thus report is based on the UN meetings coverage "for information media. Not an official record." – The Editor

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) –With less than a fortnight for the United Nations Conference to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons to conclude on July 7, the delegations considered a new version of the draft convention on June 27, following the read-through of the earlier version the previous week, when they tabled proposals and suggestions.

Pushing ahead towards concluding with a final version by July 7, Conference President Ambassador Elayne Whyte Gómez (Costa Rica) tabled a revised version of the draft instrument (document A/CONF.229/2017/CRP.1/REV.1), emphasizing that her main focus had been to focus on points of convergence while reviewing the draft 'article by article'.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 28 June 2017

Photo: Espen Barth Eide, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Cyprus during press conference ahead of the Cyprus talks in Geneva. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré.

UN Hopes for Success as Cyprus Talks Enter a New Phase

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – As the delegations prepared to reconvene the Conference on Cyprus on June 28 in Switzerland, the United Nations envoy Espen Barth Eide said the reconvening of the deliberations was “not the last chance” but the “the best chance” of reaching an agreement between Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots.

The talks are taking place following a meeting between the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders early June, when the UN Chief announced that they had agreed on the need to reconvene the Conference on Cyprus in June, in line with the January 12 statement of the conference.

: Jaya Ramachandran; UN INSIDER; 27 June 2017

Photo: Dag Hammarskjöld medal ceremony. International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers 2017. Credit: UN Photo/DPKO-DFS/Steven Bornholtz, May 24, 2017.

Peacekeeping Remains a Challenging Task for the UN

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - The United Nations is often scapegoated for the falling short of its peacekeeping troops and deployments. Why are they not in Syria or Yemen, Libya or along the Palestinian/Israeli border? Why did the U.S. and the UK make it impossible for the few UN troops present at the onset of the genocide in Rwanda to have their numbers significantly augmented? As a result those few on the ground had no choice but to withdraw when some of their members were killed and their genitals stuffed in their mouths.

All good questions if not easy to answer. In Syria, for example, where exactly would they be deployed? But a better question is why didn’t they go in at the beginning of the civil war when things weren’t so complicated and Al Qaeda and ISIS were not around?

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 27 June 2017

Photo: Jayathma Wickramanayake. Credit: UN

Sri Lanka's Jayathma Wickramanayake New UN Envoy on Youth

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) - Jayathma Wickramanayake of Sri Lanka is the new UN Envoy on Youth. She succeeds Ahmad Alhendawi of Jordan. Announcing this appointment, Secretary-General António Guterres said he was grateful for Alhendawi's dedicated service in addressing the needs and rights of young people, bringing the work of the United Nations closer to them.

The success of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development depends on empowering young people as rights-holders, agents of change and torchbearers, Guterres said.