UN Insider

Image: Sculpture depicting St. George slaying the dragon. The dragon is created from fragments of Soviet SS-20 and United States Pershing nuclear missiles. UN Photo/Milton Grant

NPT Proves To Be An Exercise In Bad Faith As It Turns 50

By Alice Slater

The writer is the New York representative for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and serves on the Coordinating Committee of World Beyond War.

NEW YORK (IDN) – On July 1, the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) turned 50. In that agreement, five nuclear weapons states – the U.S., Russia, UK, France, and China – pledged to make "good faith efforts" to give up their nuclear weapons, while non-nuclear weapons states vowed not to acquire them. Every country in the world agreed to join the treaty except for India, Pakistan, and Israel which then went on to develop their own nuclear arsenals.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 03 July 2018

Photo: South Island of Lake Turkana, Kenya © Doron CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

UN Sounds Alarm About Ethiopian Dam Threatening World Heritage Site

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Lake Turkana, the reputed birthplace of mankind, has been designated an endangered environmental hotspot by a UNESCO panel. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1997, Kenya’s Lake Turkana stands among such treasures as the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon and the Great Wall of China.

It’s the world’s largest desert lake, a spectacular site whose fossil finds have contributed more to the understanding of human ancestry than any other site in the world. Turkana is an outstanding laboratory for the study of plant and animal communities.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 03 July 2018

Image: Amazon forest landscape. Credit: Ecuador Government

Forests Comprise Large Part of Climate Solution But Receive Meagre Investment

By Fabiola Ortiz

OSLO (IDN) – It has been a decade now that the mechanism for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation – known as REDD+ – has been included in climate negotiations, however investments have not been sufficient for bringing them down.

“Even though science tells us that forests represent thirty percent of the solution to climate change in terms of the mitigation potential of greenhouse gas emission, we are only spending less than two percent of climate finance on forest,” according to senior fellow Frances Seymour of the World Resources Institute (WRI).

: Fabiola Ortiz; UN INSIDER; 02 July 2018

Photo: ACP Secretary-General Dr. Patrick I. Gomes addressing the United Nations Summit for the adoption of Agenda 2030 for global development on 26 September 2015, United Nations, New York. Credit: UN Photo/Amanda Voisard.

79-Nation ACP Exercises Decisive Influence Globally

By Dr. Patrick I. Gomes

Following is the text of foreword by Dr. Patrick Ignatius Gomes, the Secretary-General of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP), to 'Striving for People, Planet and Peace – 2018 Report of the Joint Media Project of INPS-SG-IDN'. Prior to taking up the position of ACP SG, he served as Guyana’s Ambassador to Belgium and the European Community and as Guyana’s representative to WTO and FAO. – The Editor.

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – The ACP Group of States, established by the Georgetown Agreement on 6 June 1975, consists of 79 developing countries composed of 48 from Sub-Sharan Africa, 16 from the Caribbean and 15 from the Pacific/Oceania region, accounting for a population of more than one billion persons.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes - ACP Seretary-General; OPINION; 01 July 2018

Photo: Flags of the Iran Deal Negotiating Partners. Source: Arms Control Association

UN Chief Favours Implementation of Iran Nuclear Deal

By Kelsey Davenport

The author is director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association (ACA). This article was part of the ACA's Newsletter of June 29, 2018.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the nuclear deal with Iran is at a “crossroads” and expressed his deep regret over U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the agreement and reimpose sanctions.

Guterres also called upon all states to support the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), saying “it is important that the withdrawal of one country not impede the ability of others to fully implement their commitments under the [JCPOA] or to engage in activities consistent with resolution 2231.”

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 30 June 2018

Photo: Young talented composers and musicians from Afghanistan, Turkey, the United States, Austria, and Japan with IOM Regional Director Argentina Szabados and Bärli Nugent, Assistant Dean and Director of Chamber Music of the Juilliard School, and UNIS Vienna Director Martin Nesirky. Credit: Lanna Walsh / IOM

UN in Vienna Stages World Premieres by Migrant Composers

By Reinhardt Jacobsen

VIENNA (IDN) – The first-ever musical event of its kind at the United Nations in Vienna has showcased the richness of culture and art that migration brings. Co-hosted by the UN migration agency (IOM) and the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), the 'Voices of Migration' concert at the Vienna International Centre on June 28, featured powerful performances. These included two world premieres by migrant composers from Iran and Turkey, performed by a diverse group of world-class musicians.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; UN INSIDER; 30 June 2018

Photo: President Trump Meets with President Putin at G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. July 7, 2017. Credit: YouTube

Experts Accentuate the Significance of Trump-Putin Summit

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – "We are on the brink of a new cold war," warned UN Secretary-General António Guterres on May 24, 2018 adding that there are no negotiations under way between the U.S. and Russia for further strategic nuclear arms reductions. Whether presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin would turn over a new leaf when they meet in Helsinki, Finland on July 16 remains to be seen.

However, the U.S. Arms Control Association (ACA) is of the view that the two nuclear giants would discuss nuclear risk-reduction and arms control – in particular the future of the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which will expire in 2021 unless extended by mutual agreement, and the compliance dispute over the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

: Jamshed Baruah; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 30 June 2018

Photo: The home of Shumona (right) in Bangladesh has been destroyed by storms four times in the past five years. Credit: Mahmod/ActionAid.

Real Money Crucial for Success of Paris Climate Pact

By Harjeet Singh

The writer is Global Lead on Climate Change at ActionAid International and is based in New Delhi. The commitment and sincerity of developed countries to provide climate finance will determine whether the Paris Agreement will succeed in combating climate change, he warns. Views are personal. This article first appeared on 'India Climate Dialogue' on 22 June 2018, and is being reproduced with due acknowledgement. – The Editor

NEW DELHI (IDN-INPS) – The home of Shumona, 9, and her grandmother in Patuakhali in southern Bangladesh has been destroyed by storms four times in the past five years. She and millions of climate change victims like her in the developing world remain oblivious to the fact that behind her suffering is unthinking industrialisation.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 29 June 2018

Photo: Bora Bora, French Polynesia. CC BY 2.0

UN Warned Against Taking a Case-by-Case Approach to Self-Determination

By Kwame Buist

NEW YORK (IDN) – A case-by-case approach to the issue of the world's remaining 'non-self governing territories' must not be misinterpreted as a rationale for legitimising the political and economic inequality of dependency status, the recently concluded session of the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation was told.

The committee concluded its 2018 session on June 22, having approved a series of draft resolutions and decisions after hearings on the situation regarding lingering self-determination issues in 'non-self governing territories' throughout the world.

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 29 June 2018

Photo: Police and stone-throwing demonstrators clash on a street in Srinagar, Kashmir. July 2016. Credit: VOA News | Wikimedia Commons.

UN Report Bashes India and Pakistan for Multiple Human Rights Violations in Kashmir

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | GENEVA (IDN) – In its first ever report on the human rights situation in Indian- and Pakistan-Administered Kashmir, the UN has listed human rights violations and abuses on both sides of the Line of Control, and highlighted a situation of chronic impunity for violations committed by security forces.

"There is an urgent need to address past and ongoing rights violations and abuses and deliver justice for all people in Kashmir, who for seven decades have suffered a conflict that has claimed or ruined numerous lives," says the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner in a press release issued on June 14.