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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.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 26 June 2017

“ISIS is a source of problems for Iran’s capacity to cope with unrest among the Sunni minorities existing in the country”. Map credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Iran and the Jihadist Virus

Analysis by Pier Francesco Zarcone*

ROME (IDN) – The Jihadist (that is, Sunni) terrorist acts of June 7 in Tehran have provoked a degree of anxiety in those Western media which considered Iran a kind of impenetrable fortress for Sunni terrorism. This was an impenetrability that could only seem real because of the lack of attention paid in the West to news diffused in Iran, where the activities of ISIS precede that of the attacks

ISIS is a source of problems for Iran’s capacity to cope with unrest among the Sunni minorities existing in the country. Saudi Arabia could also take action in these matters, and in this regard, it is worth recalling that in May Saudi Defence Minister Mohammad bin Salman had formulated explicit threats to Iran, warning: "We will not wait until the battle is in Saudi Arabia, but we will work so the battle is there in Iran."

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 26 June 2017

Photo: An opium poppy field in Afghanistan, the country which supplies 90 percent of the world’s heroin. Credit: Public Intelligence

Opium Production Up and Cocaine Market Thriving

By Phil Harris

ROME (IDN) – Global opium production increased by one-third in 2016 compared with the previous year, primarily due to higher opium poppy yields in Afghanistan, and coca bush cultivation increased by 30 percent mainly as a result of increased cultivation in Colombia.

Following a period of decline, there are also signs that cocaine use is increasing in the two largest markets, North America and Europe.

These are among the findings reported by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in this year’s World Drug Report, released on June 22.

: Phil Harris; UN INSIDER; 25 June 2017

Photo: Deputy Premier of the British Virgin Island, Dr. Kedrick Pickering (left), with President of the UN General Assembly, Peter Thomson (centre), and Director of the BVI London Office, Benito Wheatley (right). Credit: BVI London Office

British Virgin Islands Leads International Advocacy for Islands

By Desmond Brown

TORTOLA, British Virgin Islands (IDN) – On the heels of the UN Ocean Conference held in New York between June 5 and 9, the British Virgin Islands (BVI) – a tiny British overseas territory – is highlighting the common challenges faced by islands as it calls on international partners to support the efforts of islands to address their unique challenges.

As co-Chair of the Global Islands Partnership (GLISPA), the British Virgin Islands has been at the forefront of United Nations efforts to raise awareness about the challenges faced by islands.

“I take great pride as a GLISPA leader in lending my voice to the cause of islands and the sustainability of the ocean in which islands must exist,” Deputy Premier and Minister for Natural Resources & Labour Dr. Kedrick Pickering told IDN.

: Phil Harris; UN INSIDER; 23 June 2017

Photo: ASEAN members' flags in their headquarters in Jakarta. Credit; Wikimedia Commons.

Culture of Peace is the Lynchpin of ASEAN’s Strategic Diplomacy

By Kishore Mahbubani

The author is dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore and co-author of The ASEAN Miracle. This article first appeared in EASTASIAFORUM on June 18. An extended version of this article appeared in the most recent edition of East Asia Forum Quarterly, ‘Strategic diplomacy in Asia’. – Editor.

SINGAPORE (IDN | INPS) - Try imagining a world where the Middle East is at peace. The thought seems almost inconceivable. Imagine a world where Israel and Palestine, two nations splintered from one piece of territory, live harmoniously. Impossible? This is what Malaysia and Singapore accomplished. After an acrimonious divorce in 1965, they live together in peace.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; OPINION; 22 June 2017

Photo: Violence results in dozens – if not hundreds – of violent deaths and thousands of displacements each year in Papua New Guinea, says Mark Kessler, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) chief official in PNG, seen here speaking to members of the Foreign Correspondents’ Association (Australia & South Pacific) in Sydney. Credit: Neena Bhandari

Violence Surfaces in Papua New Guinea Elections, But Not Only

By Neena Bhandari

SYDNEY (IDN) – As Papua New Guinea – one of the world’s most ethnically and linguistically diverse nations – prepares for national elections from June 24 to July 8, authorities are calling for peace and calm.

Historically, tensions during polling, vote counting and the announcement of winners has erupted into widespread violence, but the phenomenon is not limited to election periods in this south-western Pacific island country.

“Increased access to high-powered guns such as military style M16s and homemade shotguns, and the breakdown of traditional rules of warfare, has amplified the effects of violence, resulting in dozens – if not hundreds – of violent deaths and thousands of displacements each year, especially in the Highlands. We are seeing wounds that one would see in war zones,” says International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) chief official in PNG, Mark Kessler.

: Phil Harris; UN INSIDER; 22 June 2017

Photo: Radionuclide Station RN73. Palmer Station, Antarctica. Credit: CTBTO.

CTBTO Conference to Focus on Nuclear Test Verification

By Jamshed Baruah

BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) - While UN member states are negotiating at the United Nations headquarters in New York a legally binding instrument prohibiting nuclear weapons, experts from around the world will be gathering in Vienna from June 26 to 30 to review monitoring and verification technologies crucial to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT),

The forthcoming gathering – officially known as 'The CTBT: Science and Technology 2017 Conference (SnT2017)' – is the sixth in a series of multidisciplinary conferences designed to "further enhance the strong relationship between the scientific and technological community and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban-Treaty Organization (CTBTO) as well as with policy-makers."

: Jamshed Baruah; UN INSIDER; 21 June 2017

Photo: A bird's eye view of EXPO 2017 Pavillons. Credit: expo2017astana.com

EXPO 2017 Shows the Way to Sustainable Energy Solutions

By Ramesh Jaura

This is the fourth in a series of articles from Kazakhstan which being geographically located both in Asia and Europe, considers itself a Eurasian country. The articles are based on information gathered during a visit from June 7 to June 15 on the occasion of the opening of EXPO 2017 in Astana. Video clips accompany the articles in this series. – The Editor

ASTANA (IDN) - Twenty-five years of independence marked by 25 major achievements leading up to EXPO 2017 that focuses on 'Future Energy' have catapulted Kazakhstan on to the world map, firmly challenging the prevailing view that this, the world's largest landlocked transcontinental country, is still part of the Eurasian steppes.

Touted by some as the 'Disneyland for Adults' and 'a virtual reality beyond science fiction' by others, EXPO 2017 shows the ways to access affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. It is seventh of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to transform our world by 2030, by way of ending "poverty in all its forms" as envisaged in Goal 1. - WATCH THE RELATED VIDEO -

: Ramesh Jaura; UN INSIDER; 21 June 2017

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt (left), King Salman of Saudi Arabia (centre) and US President Donald Trump (right) during the opening of a centre for combating “extremist ideology” in Riyadh. Credit: Saudi Press Agency

After Arms Deal, Trump Unleashes Riyadh in Mideast

Analysis by Emad Mekay

CAIRO (IDN) – The image could have passed for a Harry Potter cover; three powerful leaders with hands on a creepy, lit miniature globe in a darkened room – US President Donald Trump was posing for a photo with two authoritarian Middle East rulers: King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

On a May 20-21 visit to Saudi Arabia, the US president had just vowed to improve ties with Egypt and Saudi Arabia as the three leaders pledged an energised battle under US sponsorship of what they termed “extremist ideology”.

The message from the room was that the head of the world's most powerful nation is now firmly behind notoriously harsh regimes in measures they take in the name of fighting extremism, a crusade that often turned into a justification for cracking down on opposition and broad abuse of human rights.