Number 08 | 2019

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – People’s rights are under fire “in many parts of the globe,” but there is no need to lose hope, because powerful grassroots movements for social justice have made great strides, according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

While the Human Rights Council was the “epicentre” for dialogue and cooperation on all human rights issues such as civil, political, economic, social and cultural, beyond its doors, other key voices were also demanding their rights and making their voices heard, particularly “youth, indigenous people, migrants and refugees”.

By Ronald Joshua

GENEVA (IDN) – The activities funded by the European Union are making a difference on the ground and are helping countries to develop their capacities against the threat of proliferation of biological weapons by States or non-States actors.

This was one of the conclusions at an EU side event that was organised in the margins of the annual meeting of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in Geneva in December 2018 to present project activities under the EU Council Decision 2016/51 in support of the Convention. "Our aim is to promote universal adherence to this important Convention and support States Parties in their efforts to implement their obligations," said Anne Kemppainen, Head of the Political Section for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation at the EU Delegation in Geneva who moderated the panel discussion.

By Reinhard Jacobsen

VIENNA (IDN) – Enhancing regulatory framework for nuclear security in Africa has been on the agenda of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), nuclear watchdog of the United Nations, for nearly two years.

Against this backdrop, lawyers and nuclear scientists from 10 African countries reviewed the status of their countries’ regulatory frameworks for the security of radioactive material and developed action plans to address any identified gaps during the IAEA’s first School on Drafting Nuclear Security Regulations for African Countries.

By Jaya Ramachandran

ROME (IDN) – In the first-ever report of its kind FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, has presented surging and perturbing evidence that the biodiversity that underpins our food systems is disappearing – putting the global population’s health, livelihoods and environment under severe threat.

FAO’s State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture report, launched on February 22 warns that once lost, biodiversity for food and agriculture cannot be recovered.

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Emerging hypersonic weapon technologies present a challenge for the existing arms control and disarmament architecture at a time when it is already under strain. Because hypersonic weapons do not count towards the limits of the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), which is the key arms control agreement limiting the strategic delivery systems of the two major nuclear powers, Russia and the United States, warns a new study. Nevertheless, several States are actively pursuing novel long-range manoeuvrable weapons, most significantly hypersonic boost-glide systems comprising ballistic missiles equipped with hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs).

Viewpoint by Izumi Nakamitsu

Following are extensive excerpts from a video briefing by Izumi Nakamitsu, the United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), to the 65-nation Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on 7 February 2019.

NEW YORK | GENEVA (IDN-INPS) – 2019 will be a weighty year for the Conference on Disarmament. As a global community we are beset by challenges. In the field of disarmament our progress has slowed to a crawl and is in imminent danger of suffering reversals. Instead of seeking to enhance what binds us, we tend to focus on what divides us.